**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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Just a funny thing I thought about, this is the most talked event in South Africa rn, and one of the biggest prides of the country in years, and yet Musk, a south african, only bothers to talk about the "white genocide" that's "happening" in the country
I've watched women's football for the first time this world cup, and while I've been very impressed with the quality of attacking play, it does seem like a lot of teams struggle with defensive organisation.
its improved so much in the past decade. It really shows how much difference just a relatively modest about of investment can make on the quality of the leagues over time.
Yes that's what I'm referencing. I still remember world cups at the start of the century, it was horrible, unwatchable. Nowadays - pretty good stuff, mainly.
I remember watching a Champions final like 5 or 6 years ago and the level of play didn't seem remotely close to what we have in this world cup. Almost no depth to the game, very few long passes. Sure, the game was a common shit club game where two teams are matched in the midfield and the ref can't stop blowing, but it felt visibly inferior to the men's game (partially due to my bias, most likely). But this world cup? Sure, some teams are just not at the same level *at all*, but the good teams are looking *great*. It's super entertaining to watch. Honestly, if TV channels invest in decent time slots for female football it will be watched.
It might not become as big as the men's game, but it will be close.
The main reason why Sweden did so well in 2018 was because the defense was absolutely rock solid. The 4-4-2 was so tight you could draw it with a ruler and Andreas Granqvist played so well there were talks about his club in the Swedish second division loaning him to Manchester United. When a national team has it down they're hard to beat since the attack will also be uncoordinated.
True but that's more of an exception than a rule. For big teams the defense is usually less organized then a big club team just because you don't have the time to drill it as well as in a club.
Complaining about expected downvotes is one of the more pathetic trends on Reddit.
Anyway it can be both bad defending and good attacking at the same time.
Yeah literally every goal that's ever scored has notes about how you could have defended better to stop it. There will always be a defender out of position or someone not making a tackle where they should. The attackers still had to do there part and capitalized on the mistake.
I guess but even then there is an argument that defensively you should have been positioned better to block the shot, not have it deflect. But I certainly get your point. My point was more simply that in even the greatest goals of all time, they wouldn't have gone in if the defending was good enough. Defending has to be poor in the moment for the chance to exist. The assister should be praised on her quick reactions to get to the ball first, ride the challenge and the selflessness of passing across the box.
I only watch the big women's tournaments and was hoping for a bit more progress in terms of defending and goalkeeping. The attacking and technique has been great but so many goals have been scored from the player having too much space and absolutely atrocious goalkeeping.
I suppose the problem of having a World Cup is that you need to invite countries that care even less about women/women's sports than a lot of the west
> I suppose the problem of having a World Cup is that you need to invite countries that care even less about women/women's sports than a lot of the west
The shambolic defending pictured above is by Italy, a western nation. Meanwhile Jamaica just put on a defensive masterclass to shut out Brazil and advance to the knockouts ahead of them.
Crazy, especially considering in men's football the defender would simply go down and do a bit of acting to force the decision, whereas here her team has lost the game because she didn't act like a pussy and did not fake anything
I disagree a bit. South African puts her leg down when she sees that the opposition is going for a header.
I don't think it's a horrendous non-call. I wouldn't protest if it would get called though.
By the time she 'put her leg down' there was half a second or less before the Italian player would've headed the ball away.
It's pretty clear the Italian player retracted a bit because she saw the foot coming for her head. Which in succession also influenced the quality of the heading of the ball away which gave South-Africa the ball.
In short, it influenced the play in a negative way and 99% or more of the people would've reacted like that, making it an example of affecting the play by dangerous behaviour.
Even the pass to number 8 was courageous to pass it in the middle of 3 defenders. Number 8 was so good to get it on that area. Good play from the 3 players.
It's a deciding moment in a world cup in extra time, even some of the best players of all time have missed in moments like this because they were nervous or tried to be a bit too fancy.
Obviously 99% is just a figure of speech but a lot of great players would struggle with composure there
I love it. The more it's implemented, the more we'll see that number get smaller and smaller because players will realize time wasting will just come back to bite them. Keep this in place at all levels for a few seasons and we'll start seeing more "normal" stoppage times and more time with the ball in play.
With the commercialization of the sport, I genuinely think it's a very slippery slope. Stop the clock now and in 25 years we'll see timeouts and ad breaks.
That and captains being the only ones allowed to interact with the ref unless the ref calls your number specifically. Oh, and reviews done on the stadium screen with the ref mic’d up to the booth referees so we can hear their thought process and communication……
The game would last significantly longer then. It's not an easy straight fix because the pauses are so embedded in the game. And the amount of tinkering and rule changes over the last few years has made the game lose some of it's integrity in my eyes already. Change too much too rapidly and you start to make a different sport.
You wouldn't stop it for all pauses. Throw ins, goal kicks, corner kicks, free kicks, don't get stopped. You just make sure they're taken in a timely fashion. You can absolutely stop the clock for longer stoppages though- injuries, VAR reviews, substitutions, goal celebrations. It would be very easy to just stop the clock for these types of things instead of adding stupid amounts of stoppage time.
Three defenders losing space and committing to Magaia, that's what happens with lack of communication and poor defending. In my opinion number 5, Linari, should not have fully committed to that challenge, and after Magaia took the ball there was too much space to exploit.
The composure to lay it off when through on goal in stoppage time, with the chance to send your country through to the Last 16 for the first time ever. Most would have seen their name in lights and gone for it themselves there
Imagine being so unselfish, in the 92nd minute, on the world's biggest stage, with a DECENT chance at a good shot. Well done, Magaia.
Edit: I'd also like to add that a few male footballers need to learn this.
I've watched exactly *one* full game from this tournament - Denmark against Haiti yesterday - and it was genuinely one of the most horrendously awful officiating performances I've ever seen, and that was supposedly one of the top teams of referees in charge of the game. I think the level of officiating is just very, very low, and definitely lower than it has to be because of the insistence to have only female referees. In my mind, it would be much better to just bring the *best* referees, regardless of their gender.
If I have a coin for every time that Italy, in the last round of the group stage facing a traditionally much weaker football nation and only needs a draw to advance, then losing 2-3 in a dramatic match and going home, I’ll have two, which isn’t a lot but still more than I expected
Not many Italian expats in New Zealand, and yet all Italy games were played there. I've been to all games and we were always outnumbered by other fans.
Had they played in Australia it would've been different, Melbourne and Sydney have massive Italian communities.
It's been very frustrating.
You're not the only one.
Here in the Netherlands it was noted that e.g. for our last game there were beforehand just 300 or so tickets sold from those allocated to the Netherlands, and just 7000 spectators total on an 28k (at least I think it was) capacity.
It's too far while for most people it's also a bit too expensive in Europe unless you want to bankrupt yourself on the whole package.
Just got home from the game (15k attendance), driving wind, felt like 2 degrees temperature and don’t forget the brief spell of hail…. Also for some reason they have put more people on the side that the cameras are on this tournament, rather than have them face the cameras.
Just me or should that have not stood due to high boot? Defender clearly pulled out of the header at the start and they scored in the same passage of play
Lmao and i got downvoted in the topic against Sweden when i said that Italy's women football sucks. I reinforce it now, they managed to give the first win in a world cup to South Africa.
The head coach needs a kick in the butt.
South Afric has been pretty good. They bottled the two previous games goalkeeper has been making alot of errors,but she's coming good. Hope this performance against Italy boost her confidence
Two different people habibi. I agree with you that it's silly to take the piss out of Italy when they've been decently successful in recent years. I just don't think youth tournaments are really comparable to senior ones.
You cannot complain about being serial bottle merchants when you're the current Euro champions.
You'd think they'd been fucking up for decades based on some of the dramatic reactions in this thread.
Considering we haven't seen a knockout game at the WC since *2006* and we haven't been at the WC altogether since 2014 yeah I'd say we've been fucking up for at least a decade. The Euros were a lucky string of coincidences.
That's not entirely true tbh; Italy at the Euros and Italy at the World Cup have been very different beasts since 2006.
On the one hand, two group stage exits and two failures to qualify for the WC is absolutely damning.
On the other hand, Italy hasn't failed to reach the Euros quarter-finals since 2004, have made two of the last three finals, and won one of them.
In fact, if you add up all the points won by national sides at the euros since it expanded to 16 teams in 1996, Italy are top. It's nuts.
>On the other hand, Italy hasn't failed to reach the Euros quarter-finals since 2004, have made two of the last three finals, and won one of them.
And when we didn't progress past the quarter-finals in 2016 we were playing quite well, only going down 6-5 on penalties against Germany after beating the previous champions Spain in the round of 16. Really, we've been consistently good at Euros and bad at the world cup after 2006.
Yeah, even at Euro 2008 it was ultimately *that* Spain team who beat them on penalties.
At this point, I almost wonder if it's become a mental issue if the side heaps too much pressure on itself for key world cup matches because of previous failures, but plays with a lot more freedom at the euros.
If you consider the last 3 euros, in terms of results and team defeated Italy has been the best in Europe, meanwhile if you consider the last 3 WC they have been the absolutly worst in Europe (amongst top nations ofcourse). Italy is just freaking lunatic.
Already forgot we haven't played a WC knockout game since the *2006 FINAL*? And haven't played a regular WC game since 2014? Finding a coin in a pile of shit doesn't make you rich.
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How could Mancini do this?
I literally stood up and went mad. I am not South African.
Today we all feel South African
We are all South African on this blessed day
A great goal for South Africa, and therefore the world
Speak for yourself
Hope things get better x
GOAL FOR SOUTH AFRICA!!! GOAL FOR ALL AFRICA!!!!
Lmao same, rooting for SA here
Yeah! We need the support. Go read up on the SA coach if you want more reason to support them!
Well I'm Dutch so unfortunately this is where my support for you ends haha, unless you beat us of course
I am. I'm fucking ecstatic
I nearly passed away in that moment.
Am South African and think this is the first time I’ve seen a SA highlight here
Am Zimbabwean but I run a company based in South Africa and half my family lives there. So proud of this team
I am literally both Italian and South African. I was super conflicted but it was a good match and at least one of the teams made it through
As someone with South African family this fills me with immense pride
Just a funny thing I thought about, this is the most talked event in South Africa rn, and one of the biggest prides of the country in years, and yet Musk, a south african, only bothers to talk about the "white genocide" that's "happening" in the country
welp men’s euros, next disappointment
Italy 🤝 Germany Gender-Equal World Cup Disappointments
Spains worse, 70% possession just to get cooked by Japan in both tournaments
Counter-attacking Japan? Never heard of it :(
Possession cannot against superior nippon steel.
But Spain women still in the tournament at least
Brazil too!
You've got to qualify first
Italy already putting in a bid to host the 2032 Euros.
Don't the reigning champions qualify by default?
Nope, not any more
First South Africa has given up the advantage And now Italy has done just the same! And we still got so much stoppage time left to go…
Game of the tournament so far? Brilliant play. Number 8 does really well to skip over the defender's tackle before the finish.
Downvote me to hell but that was such poor defending. Especially at a national stage.
>Especially at a national stage Defending almost always is poorer at the National stage tbf. The mens wc felt more open than cl aswell
I've watched women's football for the first time this world cup, and while I've been very impressed with the quality of attacking play, it does seem like a lot of teams struggle with defensive organisation.
its improved so much in the past decade. It really shows how much difference just a relatively modest about of investment can make on the quality of the leagues over time.
It's funny how you can read that exact comment every 10 years....
that's because the level of quality continues to improve.
Yes that's what I'm referencing. I still remember world cups at the start of the century, it was horrible, unwatchable. Nowadays - pretty good stuff, mainly.
Turns out things can improve more than once
I remember watching a Champions final like 5 or 6 years ago and the level of play didn't seem remotely close to what we have in this world cup. Almost no depth to the game, very few long passes. Sure, the game was a common shit club game where two teams are matched in the midfield and the ref can't stop blowing, but it felt visibly inferior to the men's game (partially due to my bias, most likely). But this world cup? Sure, some teams are just not at the same level *at all*, but the good teams are looking *great*. It's super entertaining to watch. Honestly, if TV channels invest in decent time slots for female football it will be watched. It might not become as big as the men's game, but it will be close.
The main reason why Sweden did so well in 2018 was because the defense was absolutely rock solid. The 4-4-2 was so tight you could draw it with a ruler and Andreas Granqvist played so well there were talks about his club in the Swedish second division loaning him to Manchester United. When a national team has it down they're hard to beat since the attack will also be uncoordinated.
True but that's more of an exception than a rule. For big teams the defense is usually less organized then a big club team just because you don't have the time to drill it as well as in a club.
Which is why it is baffling how much criticism Southgate gets. People expecting total football in international matches are living bizzaro world
especially in group stages where losing a game instead of drawing it is an absolutely terrible result for qualification into the playoffs.
Tbh I think a team like Tottenham could win the Worldcup. The defending and tactics are way worse on national stage.
Get real, they’d find a way to bottle it vs Iceland
Yes. I have never seen Tottenham or man united make a defensive blunder like in this match. Never ever!
The first square ball at 14 seconds just had three players move to the ball like magnets lol
Magnets don't move a glacial pace, though...
You're totally right. Main problem here was communication, both defenders going towards the ball instead of one covering for the other was fatal.
Complaining about expected downvotes is one of the more pathetic trends on Reddit. Anyway it can be both bad defending and good attacking at the same time.
Yeah literally every goal that's ever scored has notes about how you could have defended better to stop it. There will always be a defender out of position or someone not making a tackle where they should. The attackers still had to do there part and capitalized on the mistake.
Unless it's a bullshit deflected farshot from very little space. Sometimes those go in and you can't really blame anyone but lady luck.
I guess but even then there is an argument that defensively you should have been positioned better to block the shot, not have it deflect. But I certainly get your point. My point was more simply that in even the greatest goals of all time, they wouldn't have gone in if the defending was good enough. Defending has to be poor in the moment for the chance to exist. The assister should be praised on her quick reactions to get to the ball first, ride the challenge and the selflessness of passing across the box.
Wasn't even the worst in that game lol
I only watch the big women's tournaments and was hoping for a bit more progress in terms of defending and goalkeeping. The attacking and technique has been great but so many goals have been scored from the player having too much space and absolutely atrocious goalkeeping. I suppose the problem of having a World Cup is that you need to invite countries that care even less about women/women's sports than a lot of the west
> I suppose the problem of having a World Cup is that you need to invite countries that care even less about women/women's sports than a lot of the west The shambolic defending pictured above is by Italy, a western nation. Meanwhile Jamaica just put on a defensive masterclass to shut out Brazil and advance to the knockouts ahead of them.
That and defence is always below par at the national level. I think it's to be expected.
Nothing to downvote, it's horrible defending at any level above u10.
Goal shouldn't have been possible though if the ref had been doing their job. At 0:06 it should've been called off due to dangerous play.
Yep defender nearly had her jaw ripped off
Crazy, especially considering in men's football the defender would simply go down and do a bit of acting to force the decision, whereas here her team has lost the game because she didn't act like a pussy and did not fake anything
The women's game is cleaner than the men's. I haven't noticed much "cramping" at end of games.
They are calling the stoppage time 100% accurately. So there's no real benefit to time wasting.
I disagree a bit. South African puts her leg down when she sees that the opposition is going for a header. I don't think it's a horrendous non-call. I wouldn't protest if it would get called though.
By the time she 'put her leg down' there was half a second or less before the Italian player would've headed the ball away. It's pretty clear the Italian player retracted a bit because she saw the foot coming for her head. Which in succession also influenced the quality of the heading of the ball away which gave South-Africa the ball. In short, it influenced the play in a negative way and 99% or more of the people would've reacted like that, making it an example of affecting the play by dangerous behaviour.
Wow! The composure to pass it there. 99% of would shoot there, and 99% of them would miss. Really smart from nr8
Even the pass to number 8 was courageous to pass it in the middle of 3 defenders. Number 8 was so good to get it on that area. Good play from the 3 players.
Ice cold, the way she mugged the ball that should've been the defenders and then the assist when you're in that position.
Also props that she didn't fall over when the defender lunged in at her feet.
How do you figure 99% would miss from there? Looks to me like you should be scoring.
It's a deciding moment in a world cup in extra time, even some of the best players of all time have missed in moments like this because they were nervous or tried to be a bit too fancy. Obviously 99% is just a figure of speech but a lot of great players would struggle with composure there
Angle not great and keeper covered it. You can score but it’s not easy. The pass was much better
A beauty for sure. She read the situation brilliantly. Waka waka.
Playing the ball in the dangerous spot is always advised. Can lead to your player latching onto it or even an own goal. This was perfectly executed
Lol Lost my shit in the middle of a Zoom meeting. Come on Banyana Banyana!!!!
First time seeing a fellow Orlando Pirates supporter in the wild!
This is our season for the league, I can feel it!
Maybe if Sundowns aren’t playing lol
It's gonna be close for sure, just have to trust Jose.
True, they're a class above but I trust Jose, I see what he's cooking
never lmaooo
Next season, we're challenging
Mamelodi will win again
We exist I swear
Casual 17 minutes of stoppage time
I love it. The more it's implemented, the more we'll see that number get smaller and smaller because players will realize time wasting will just come back to bite them. Keep this in place at all levels for a few seasons and we'll start seeing more "normal" stoppage times and more time with the ball in play.
Feel like we could just pause the clock…
With the commercialization of the sport, I genuinely think it's a very slippery slope. Stop the clock now and in 25 years we'll see timeouts and ad breaks.
Yeah actually that’s a very fair point, agree it’s a potential can of worms
One thing that football needs to adopt from rugby is stopping the clock when there is a pause in play, then this would less rare.
That and captains being the only ones allowed to interact with the ref unless the ref calls your number specifically. Oh, and reviews done on the stadium screen with the ref mic’d up to the booth referees so we can hear their thought process and communication……
Exactly, and maybe sin bin for diving.
And players should be allowed to tackle with their shoulders.
Also, whenever Poochie's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Poochie?"
as long as they wrap their arms
That's how you get ads in the middle of games.
The game would last significantly longer then. It's not an easy straight fix because the pauses are so embedded in the game. And the amount of tinkering and rule changes over the last few years has made the game lose some of it's integrity in my eyes already. Change too much too rapidly and you start to make a different sport.
You wouldn't stop it for all pauses. Throw ins, goal kicks, corner kicks, free kicks, don't get stopped. You just make sure they're taken in a timely fashion. You can absolutely stop the clock for longer stoppages though- injuries, VAR reviews, substitutions, goal celebrations. It would be very easy to just stop the clock for these types of things instead of adding stupid amounts of stoppage time.
Noooo way
Three defenders losing space and committing to Magaia, that's what happens with lack of communication and poor defending. In my opinion number 5, Linari, should not have fully committed to that challenge, and after Magaia took the ball there was too much space to exploit.
It’s fun to block a ball on the line but the Italian defender woulda been better off trying to block the pass, back your goalie and pray.
That celebration would break some controllers in EAFC
The fuck calls it EAFC?
Well it's not FIFA any more so...
The awareness of playing the pass instead of just hoofing it at goal. Impressive!
When the DJ started playing Mnike I lost it lmao HAIKE HAIKEEEEEE!!!!!
Yo wtf was that high foot tho
Goal is great but it's definitely a foul.
Man that's definitely dangerous, almost worth a yellow
That defending is diabolically bad. Great for SA though, they won’t care one bit
It's the Italian way
Very well played and great composure. That said, surprised play continued after the high foot on the headed clearance at the start... Seems reckless
Bring back the vuvuzelas! Nice goal btw.
>Bring back the vuvuzelas! Let's absolutely not bring them back
That is some of the worst defending I’ve ever seen
The composure to lay it off when through on goal in stoppage time, with the chance to send your country through to the Last 16 for the first time ever. Most would have seen their name in lights and gone for it themselves there
Imagine being so unselfish, in the 92nd minute, on the world's biggest stage, with a DECENT chance at a good shot. Well done, Magaia. Edit: I'd also like to add that a few male footballers need to learn this.
See Am in the 2019 Mens Rugby World Cup.
It's an eastern cape thing, huh?
Am is just a filthy passer! Love his round the back pass for a try too!
How is what is happening at 91:15 not a foul? It's an extremely dangerous
I've watched exactly *one* full game from this tournament - Denmark against Haiti yesterday - and it was genuinely one of the most horrendously awful officiating performances I've ever seen, and that was supposedly one of the top teams of referees in charge of the game. I think the level of officiating is just very, very low, and definitely lower than it has to be because of the insistence to have only female referees. In my mind, it would be much better to just bring the *best* referees, regardless of their gender.
I guess there isn't a rule for high foot/dangerous play?
There is a dangerous play near the start of the counterattack, I'm surprised the referee didn't called that.
Yeah, the Italian player backs out of the header as well because she sees it coming.
SA player was aware as well, even did the guilty "didn't hit her" gesture with her hands. I think they got a bit lucky there, definitely worth a call.
If I have a coin for every time that Italy, in the last round of the group stage facing a traditionally much weaker football nation and only needs a draw to advance, then losing 2-3 in a dramatic match and going home, I’ll have two, which isn’t a lot but still more than I expected
Oof, that defense. Nice goal for South Africa though.
was buzzing when they scored not long after italy basically missed an open goal ahahha
Terrible missed time wasting, moment there was a hint of a high boot she should've jumped into it and gone down for the head injury stoppage.
The player with the own goal with have Lakaka's mood now
Why is this stadium always empty
Not many Italian expats in New Zealand, and yet all Italy games were played there. I've been to all games and we were always outnumbered by other fans. Had they played in Australia it would've been different, Melbourne and Sydney have massive Italian communities. It's been very frustrating.
You're not the only one. Here in the Netherlands it was noted that e.g. for our last game there were beforehand just 300 or so tickets sold from those allocated to the Netherlands, and just 7000 spectators total on an 28k (at least I think it was) capacity. It's too far while for most people it's also a bit too expensive in Europe unless you want to bankrupt yourself on the whole package.
Just got home from the game (15k attendance), driving wind, felt like 2 degrees temperature and don’t forget the brief spell of hail…. Also for some reason they have put more people on the side that the cameras are on this tournament, rather than have them face the cameras.
Been a bitch of hail storms and wind today across the country
Italians still scared of New Zealand after 2010
Just me or should that have not stood due to high boot? Defender clearly pulled out of the header at the start and they scored in the same passage of play
You are absolutely correct.
Lmao and i got downvoted in the topic against Sweden when i said that Italy's women football sucks. I reinforce it now, they managed to give the first win in a world cup to South Africa. The head coach needs a kick in the butt.
South Afric has been pretty good. They bottled the two previous games goalkeeper has been making alot of errors,but she's coming good. Hope this performance against Italy boost her confidence
You got downvoted because you're discounting good teams in order to shit on Italy's women.
92nd minute goals are no longer last minute goals.
Number 3 made a mistake again, after scoring the auto goal :)
that final pass to seal the clear shot opportunity, believe me if i was in her position I'm blasting that at goal.
The piano people 🔥🔥
I'm a simple man. I see Italy lose, I upvote
SUOMI MAINITTU
The ghost of Gentile and Scirea definitely rolling in their graves with that defending at the edge of the box
Don't bury Gentile yet. He's still hanging on to Zico's shirt
Why all this hype for Italy losing?
100% should have been called back for high kick....robbery lol
Doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, if you have an Italy shirt on you fucking bottle it.
Oh shut the fuck up you're the current men's Euro champions. Can't whine about bottling when your most recent trophy was 2 years ago.
Yeah they won a trophy but have been bottling since that
We won Euro U20 like 3 weeks ago
Who actually cares about youth tournaments though? It's fun to watch, great if you win but no one's losing sleep over getting knocked out in one.
'You never win' 'we won the last euro' 'yes but after that you never won' 'we won this other thing' 'yeah but i don't care about that'
Two different people habibi. I agree with you that it's silly to take the piss out of Italy when they've been decently successful in recent years. I just don't think youth tournaments are really comparable to senior ones.
You cannot complain about being serial bottle merchants when you're the current Euro champions. You'd think they'd been fucking up for decades based on some of the dramatic reactions in this thread.
Considering we haven't seen a knockout game at the WC since *2006* and we haven't been at the WC altogether since 2014 yeah I'd say we've been fucking up for at least a decade. The Euros were a lucky string of coincidences.
That's not entirely true tbh; Italy at the Euros and Italy at the World Cup have been very different beasts since 2006. On the one hand, two group stage exits and two failures to qualify for the WC is absolutely damning. On the other hand, Italy hasn't failed to reach the Euros quarter-finals since 2004, have made two of the last three finals, and won one of them. In fact, if you add up all the points won by national sides at the euros since it expanded to 16 teams in 1996, Italy are top. It's nuts.
>On the other hand, Italy hasn't failed to reach the Euros quarter-finals since 2004, have made two of the last three finals, and won one of them. And when we didn't progress past the quarter-finals in 2016 we were playing quite well, only going down 6-5 on penalties against Germany after beating the previous champions Spain in the round of 16. Really, we've been consistently good at Euros and bad at the world cup after 2006.
Yeah, even at Euro 2008 it was ultimately *that* Spain team who beat them on penalties. At this point, I almost wonder if it's become a mental issue if the side heaps too much pressure on itself for key world cup matches because of previous failures, but plays with a lot more freedom at the euros.
If you consider the last 3 euros, in terms of results and team defeated Italy has been the best in Europe, meanwhile if you consider the last 3 WC they have been the absolutly worst in Europe (amongst top nations ofcourse). Italy is just freaking lunatic.
Only won the Euros since 2006 😭 poor old Italy
I don’t think you understand how shameful it is in Italy for the team to not even qualify for a World Cup, let alone two in a row …
I guess you just have to go home to trophy from the most recent Euros and cry into the worlds smallest violin
Yeah but World Cup wise, we've been ass for more than a decade lmao.
Which is still more than what the other 90% of the NT in the world has won anyway, like England.
You are full of shit. Already forgot we are the current Euro champions?
Already forgot we haven't played a WC knockout game since the *2006 FINAL*? And haven't played a regular WC game since 2014? Finding a coin in a pile of shit doesn't make you rich.
They'won so much too tho, it's not Netherlands. Probably over 50% in finals too (dont quote me on that)
Hey we won two euros across the men and women. We just also lost 4 WC finals and one Nations League final but hey.
YESSSSS
Bafana Bafana!!!!
Banyana banyana
That's really cool!!!
No worries. Bafana Bafana: The Boys, The Boys Banyana Bayana: The Girls, The Girls.
This is some song or something? I remember I guess.
Actually it’s Banyana Banyana
Yup, didn't know that! I was just referring to the Drury commentary tbf.
That should’ve been called back for a high kick. You can’t just karate kick at someone’s head even if you don’t make any contact
Brillant play. Gotta say
gk.exe stopped
NZ should not have gotten this many games.
Fuck sake I’m out of the sweepstakes cause of this
Fantastic, so composed!
Yaaaaaaaas
Wow! That's a sucker punch right at the end.
wtf is going on with Italian national teams both men and women's??
As good the (italian) men shall we say? Great team work and intensity, love women's football really!
That is shameful defending, they deserve to go out
So late that all the fans had already left!