Euro 2020(1)

[Chris2K]

And that should be it. What a shambles from Holland.

[DanishmadePunk]

RIP Netherlands

[The Kraig]

Lovely football from the Czechs again. Another goal seemed inevitable.

[DanishmadePunk]

Czech yourself before you wreck yourself

[DavidMarrio]

Two relatively straight forward goals but very well worked at the same time. 

That knock and run completely took out the majority of the defence.

De Ligt should get hammered after that red card because I honestly don't know why he let it bounce that many times just get rid of it as far as you could. Red card has been a big part but Holland have been poor in the second half. 

[Dang117]

This Czech Republic team have been quite solid throughout surprised England managed to come out with victory against them potential semi final match depending how the bracket goes and if England do manage to get past Germany, Tuesday might be on paper the easiest route to a final you could ask for 

[Chris2K]

Almost looked like Dumfries was trying to Maradona that in.

[gunnar hendershow]

Really doesn't seem like the Dutch deserved to win this one. Good work by Czech Republic.

[Gazz]

4 minutes ago, damshow said:

Really doesn't seem like the Dutch deserved to win this one. Good work by Czech Republic.

They've been channeling De Boer-era Crystal Palace.

[DanishmadePunk]

That quarterfinal with Czech Republic and Denmark should be fun 

[Bobfoc]

This is some serious underachievement by the Netherlands since 2014. Two unsuccessful qualification attempts and a defeat in the Round of 16 isn't what you'd expect for a team with these players.

[Gazz]

Based on how the games have gone so far, tonight I'm expecting Belgium to not show up and Portugal to shithouse a victory.

[DanishmadePunk]

in 92 they were defending Euro champs, had Van Basten, Guillit, Rikjard, Bergkamp and so many others, and have been underwhelming ever since

[Bobfoc]

I don't think I'd agree with that. They've reached a World Cup final and a few major semi-finals since 1992.

[The Kraig]

4 minutes ago, DanishmadePunk said:

in 92 they were defending Euro champs, had Van Basten, Guillit, Rikjard, Bergkamp and so many others, and have been underwhelming ever since

The early 2000s Dutch team was tremendous as well. Bergkamp, van Bronckhorst, Mols, Numan, Stam, van der Sar, Kluivert, van Nistelrooij, Davids, etc etc. This current squad is nowhere near that level. De Vrij, Wijnaldum, Depay and the de Jongs might get into those squads, but they're missing a lot of their former strength.

10 minutes ago, DanishmadePunk said:

That quarterfinal with Czech Republic and Denmark should be fun 

Denmark are getting a really good run of opponents so far! All the way to the final, let's go!

[Malenko]

4 minutes ago, The Kraig said:

The early 2000s Dutch team was tremendous as well. Bergkamp, van Bronckhorst, Mols, Numan, Stam, van der Sar, Kluivert, van Nistelrooij, Davids, etc etc. This current squad is nowhere near that level. De Vrij, Wijnaldum, Depay and the de Jongs might get into those squads, but they're missing a lot of their former strength.

Denmark are getting a really good run of opponents so far! All the way to the final, let's go!

I don't know if you forgot or didn't mention him on purpose, but Seedorf in my opinion was better than most of those. Deserved a mention. 

[Bobfoc]

The bottom half of the draw looks extra interesting now. Germany are the only former winners left, and most of their fans would be pleasantly surprised to make the final.

[The Kraig]

34 minutes ago, Malenko said:

I don't know if you forgot or didn't mention him on purpose, but Seedorf in my opinion was better than most of those. Deserved a mention. 

I could have went on for quite some time, but Seedorf and Bergkamp were arguably their best. Forgot to mention Overmars as well.

And Ricksen! RIP.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

I was a bit curious based on the chatter about the Dutch national team. Since the rise of total football in the 70s the Netherlands have reached the last four of 5 Euros (though we can subtract the one that only had 4 teams I suppose) as well as the last four at 5 World Cups. Without looking it up I will wager the latter mark is a record for a nation to have never won the World Cup. All this is to say they've had generations of very strong teams, that for the most part also wound up running into other very strong teams.

This current generation doesn't feel like one of those classic Dutch sides littered with superstars, and I'm not sure if they're going to grow into that. Overall though, every 10-12 years there's a new crop of (usually) Ajax products who take the world by storm. Maybe over the next half decade that generation will ascend to fill out the squad with some of the younger talents they have like De Ligt (today notwithstanding).

[The Kraig]

I'm feeling Portugal for this one. If they're strong enough to wear that awful kit, they're strong enough to beat Belgium tonight.