Football - Euro 24 and Copa America chat

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Handsomedan

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#315096 13-Jun-2024 10:29

With the two biggest football tournaments about to start (Euro 24 this week and Copa America the week following) I thought I'd start a discussion thread on the beautiful game and all things Euro/Copa.

https://copaamerica.com/en

https://www.uefa.com/euro2024/

Time for some civil discourse on all things footy...

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#3248287 13-Jun-2024 10:37

First up - Euro 24 (as it kicks off in less than 48hrs)

Who (in your mind) are the tournament favourites?
Who are the potential dark horses (i.e. the new Greece or Iceland)?
Which is the "group of death" and which is the "easy group"?

For me, it's a hard call as I'd love to say that England are favourites, but we all know they're not.

so in my head I see the following:

France - stacked team, play nice football, odds-on favourites for me
Turkiye - they have the potential to upset some of the big boys on their day...just not sure if they will turn up
Group of Death = Group B. Any of Spain, Coatia or Italy could win this group. Easy Group = well, we know there's no such thing, but the easiest path to the next round for me has to be from Group E. Belgium should walk it out of that group in theory.

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thermonuclear

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#3248366 13-Jun-2024 11:25

Handsomedan:

For me, it's a hard call as I'd love to say that England are favourites, but we all know they're not.

England are big favourites if you look across the English media. Of course, some of them didn't specify whether that was favourites to win the tournament or favourites to fail spectacularly as they normally do! Didn't seem like they had inspiring results in the warmup friendlies.

Football isn't my forte besides a casual interest in the fortunes of Arsenal and now Wrexham. France sounds like a pretty solid bet to make the final, if not win it. I'd think Germany could also be a pretty good shout on home turf once they get to the business end. So many very good football teams in Europe, it could go anywhere if a team gets a roll-on.

Hope that was vague enough for you. :)

Asteros

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#3248566 13-Jun-2024 21:09

Allez Les Bleus

elpenguino

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#3248624 13-Jun-2024 23:00

Exciting stuff.

Is the Sth American stuff available for free anywhere?

Looks like some euros will be on FTA NZ.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

caffynz

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#3248718 14-Jun-2024 10:42

elpenguino:

Looks like some euros will be on FTA NZ.

All 51 games will be live on TVNZ+

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/06/14/euro-2024-everything-you-need-to-know-about-footballs-big-event/

Handsomedan

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#3248730 14-Jun-2024 11:16

elpenguino:

Exciting stuff.

Is the Sth American stuff available for free anywhere?

Looks like some euros will be on FTA NZ.

Google says that TVNZ+ has the Copa (a number of sites state this), but on their site there's nothing.
Also nothing on BeIN.

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elpenguino

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#3249100 14-Jun-2024 16:35

DOH. I will have a look at the FIFA app installed on the TV after the women's world cup last year and see what that says.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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TwoSeven

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#3249106 14-Jun-2024 17:00

I don’t really follow mens international football all that much these days being a Lionesses supporter and they have already won the Euros :)

However, It will be interesting to see how Germany are doing since the world cup - a couple of good games for me will be England vs Denmark and France vs Netherlands.

With the Olympics also coming up, the Ferns will be playing Les Bleues and the Canucks (Canada). Die Nationalelf (Germany) will be playing both the Matildas (Australia) and USWNT (USA) - and an interesting match will be when As Canarinhas (Brazil) play La Roja (Spain)

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WWHB

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#3249225 14-Jun-2024 21:08

I live in hope Scotland can make an impact for once on the international stage.

WWHB

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#3249323 15-Jun-2024 11:16

Scotland seem to be really good at never failing to disappoint. We have some of the most passionate supporters in the world and that was a tough watch this morning.

Handsomedan

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#3249328 15-Jun-2024 11:32

WWHB:
Scotland seem to be really good at never failing to disappoint. We have some of the most passionate supporters in the world and that was a tough watch this morning.

It was a tough watch as an England fan. I hate to think how it felt to the Scots.

Ze Germans are clinical. And they look to have peaked at the right time.

They never really got out of third gear. I really felt for the Scotland team today. They were simply outplayed, outmuscled and outdone.

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invisibleman18

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#3249413 15-Jun-2024 16:18

The effect of increasing to 24 teams is that there are probably a few teams not really at the level so there will be more one sided non contest games. Although Scotland did come 2nd and qualify automatically in fairness but probably wouldn't have won a two leg playoff against another 2nd place team under the previous system.

TwoSeven

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#3249419 15-Jun-2024 16:55

I think Germany playing with two wingbacks and two wide-midfielders (forwards) will be interesting to see going in the next game vs Hungary. It gives them the option of going down the wings, or playing through the center.

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Handsomedan

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#3249809 17-Jun-2024 09:31

Spain also look dangerous. 3-0 against Croatia isn't something to be sniffed at.

I think England beating Serbia 1-0 was about the right outcome, but they don't look like world beaters. Southgate playing yawn-ball again.

Netherlands have managed to squeak through with a late goal from Weghorst and Switzerland look pretty dangerous against lesser-fancied opposition. Will be interesting to see how they go against sterner opposition.

I flet like Italy were fairly pedestrian in their win over Albania. They'll need to up the work rate I think.

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Senecio

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#3249898 17-Jun-2024 11:55

caffynz:

All 51 games will be live on TVNZ+

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/06/14/euro-2024-everything-you-need-to-know-about-footballs-big-event/

I haven't watch much sport on the TVNZ+ app since they took over a lot of the Spark Sport offerings. But watching the Euros this week really does highlight just what a poor offering SKY Sports Now is in terms of video quality. SSN has improved quite a bit from the days of providing sport in 25fps but the low bit rate is a night and day difference to the video quality of TVNZ+. The Euros look amazing in such detail.

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