UEFA Euro 2020 Quarter Finals ** spoilers ** [2nd - 3rd July 2021]

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Serious question, as I don't really follow football, but surely Germany was one of the harder draws in the first round of the knockouts? Yes, last nights was easy and for a Semi, you can't really ask more than for a team like Denmark I think, but Germany was a tough draw?


Well no disrespect to the current German team, but they are not the same team they were years ago, but you can only beat what is in front of you, but having the Denmark game and Final in England, it is a nice advantage, they will never have a better chance, saying that the run Denmark are on with what happened is great and Italy Spain would be another tough one
 
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We've had talent before tho haven't we. Gerard, Lampard, Beckham, etc. And before that. We've had a couple of so-called "golden" generations, in my lifetime..
The difference with England now is the squad depth, when Beckham, Gerard or Scoles got injured or were having an off day who did we have that could replace them? Now with this latest squad we have a couple of good players for every position and being able to make 5 subs per game is a big advantage for us at this tournament.
 
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If we meet Italy I'll be extremely pessimistic about our chances in the final. They look superb.


They genuinely don’t look as sure or consistent as England.

If they turn up it’s definitely a difficult team to beat but England are proving to be a dangerous side that’s very difficult to break down.

At Wembley I wouldn’t be pessimistic at all.
 
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I'm hopeful we will beat Denmark and reach the final.

I'm less optimistic about our chances against Spain or Italy though to be honest.
 
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I'm hopeful we will beat Denmark and reach the final.

I'm less optimistic about our chances against Spain or Italy though to be honest.
Same here, I’m hoping we beat Denmark but the final will be another thing entirely. The way Spain and Italy are playing, it’s hard to not see one of them as the euro winners.

But 25 yrs after our last semi final in the Euros and England have slowly won me back. If we beat Denmark in the semi then I will truly start believing. I’m just not counting my chickens just yet….but football could be coming home :p
 
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You can only beat who is put in front of you.

Germany may not be as good as they were 4 years ago, but to be honest they are on par with Spain and better than Belgium - whatever the rankings say. England are managing games very well. In the past we would give the ball away and spend 5 minutes chasing around trying to get it back, now we are doing it to other teams.

I would rather face Spain than Italy if we get through to a final, although I feel we are the best team left out of the last 4. Southgate is doing a remarkable job of keeping the players focused.
 
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Italy have lost Spinazola, that is a bonus for us. Now if Chielini and co can crock Morata and Ferran Torres that will help. As would a ref sending off immobile for play acting. Whoever wins let's hope their dive fest goes to extra time so they're as tired as they can be.
 
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Same here, I’m hoping we beat Denmark but the final will be another thing entirely. The way Spain and Italy are playing, it’s hard to not see one of them as the euro winners.

But 25 yrs after our last semi final in the Euros and England have slowly won me back. If we beat Denmark in the semi then I will truly start believing. I’m just not counting my chickens just yet….but football could be coming home :p

Yeh, it is certainly the best i have seen England play in a long, long time.

Even just being in the final would be a massive achievement really.
 
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Spain have hardly been great, has nobody watched them?!

Italy would be a tough match but one we’re more than capable of winning.
 
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Italy have incredible amounts of energy, forward drive, skill, and capacity for cheating and conning referees.

Italy if they reach the final will reveal previously unimagined levels of playacting and hopefully prompt some kind of action from the - thus far toothless on this subject - FIFA.
 

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fez

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The difference with England now is the squad depth

The current squad depth is insane. We have borderline a full second XI that is better than most teams in the tournament.

I'm less optimistic about our chances against Spain or Italy though to be honest.

Spain have looked bang average whenever I have seen them play. Sketchy at the back and very hot and cold going forwards. Not a patch on any of the Spanish teams of the past 20 years.

The only team we should fear at this point is Italy and we have plenty enough in the squad to beat them. We can bring on the likes of Grealish, Foden, Sancho, Saka, Rashford, Bellingham to change games. No other team has anything close to the talent coming off their bench. Kane is finally looking like the top striker he is and as long as Southgate has the balls to play in the final we should win it. I just fear he will be petrified of losing and go for another Germany-esque lineup and tactics and I think that will suit Italy.
 
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Well I'm very positive about the squad and their current performance so I think we certainly can win it.

The only thing I really wish is that we'd had a team that had been tested a bit more up to now and ideally they had come back from a goal behind to equalise and win.

I'm a little concerned that the clean sheet may be an achilles heel for us and that there is the possibility of a little panic if we go a goal behind.
 
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