Euro 2020+1
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:11 pm
Might as well talk about some football!
I can't believe how carried away everyone is getting by England beating a reasonable but not great Germany side. I've heard it described as historic, and generation-defining. Even one of the players in a post-match interview said they were glad to be part of making history by winning last night. We're through to the quarter finals of a tournament - that is all. This win will be forgotten in a heartbeat if we lose to Ukraine (or Denmark, or Czech Republic). We beat Germany at Euro 2000 (yes, at the finals), but nobody remembers that because neither we nor they even qualified from the group. In fact it has virtually been written out of history, with all this bogus talk of 55 years of hurt.
Don't get me wrong, I think England have an excellent chance of getting to the final now, and then who knows. But that's unlikely to happen if everyone thinks we've done the hard work with one win over Germany. We'll probably have to beat one of Italy, Belgium or Spain, as well as the aforementioned, if we want to actually win the thing. Now that would be something to celebrate.
My judgement may be clouded by the fact that I didn't see last night's match, so didn't get caught up in the emotion - I had a 5pm meeting, which finished just in time for me to see the added time board being held up. But judging by the match thread on Yellows Forum I didn't exactly miss a classic. Now Monday's matches on the other hand - that's what tournament football is about. Unbelievable stuff. More please!
I can't believe how carried away everyone is getting by England beating a reasonable but not great Germany side. I've heard it described as historic, and generation-defining. Even one of the players in a post-match interview said they were glad to be part of making history by winning last night. We're through to the quarter finals of a tournament - that is all. This win will be forgotten in a heartbeat if we lose to Ukraine (or Denmark, or Czech Republic). We beat Germany at Euro 2000 (yes, at the finals), but nobody remembers that because neither we nor they even qualified from the group. In fact it has virtually been written out of history, with all this bogus talk of 55 years of hurt.
Don't get me wrong, I think England have an excellent chance of getting to the final now, and then who knows. But that's unlikely to happen if everyone thinks we've done the hard work with one win over Germany. We'll probably have to beat one of Italy, Belgium or Spain, as well as the aforementioned, if we want to actually win the thing. Now that would be something to celebrate.
My judgement may be clouded by the fact that I didn't see last night's match, so didn't get caught up in the emotion - I had a 5pm meeting, which finished just in time for me to see the added time board being held up. But judging by the match thread on Yellows Forum I didn't exactly miss a classic. Now Monday's matches on the other hand - that's what tournament football is about. Unbelievable stuff. More please!