Think this needs a thread …

Watching the Italians do their stuff today against Turkey ... and happy to note that my cable TV subscription gives me all the right channels to watch every game 🙂 ..... looking forward to 9am Monday morning (my time) for our turn … 

6 minutes ago, Robert said:

I agree Scotty, it’s Lineker and his pals that wind me up. It used to be John Motson 

What a game tonight between Italy and Spain. Sheer class by both teams and you couldn’t grudge either winning.

Spain will feel they did enough to win, but Italy will take some beating!

Lineker and Motson can indeed be irritating but neither can hold a candle to the late Jimmy Hill when it came to condescending and arrogant jingoistic attitudes.

Who who witnessed it can forget Dave Narey's 'toe poke' from 25 yards against Brazil.

I still remember that toe poke !! I was (a lot) younger then and when I jumped high into the air in the living room my fist left a mark on the ceiling! 

13 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Lineker and Motson can indeed be irritating but neither can hold a candle to the late Jimmy Hill when it came to condescending and arrogant jingoistic attitudes.

Who who witnessed it can forget Dave Narey's 'toe poke' from 25 yards against Brazil.

I had successfully erased Jimmy Hill from my memory until I read your post!!

I lived in England for many years, loved the area we were in (still not a patch on here though) and the people we got to know were great.

It is just a shame the BBC (and at times ITV) forget they are broadcasting to the full country, not just to England. That’s what winds me up. 

Edited July 7, 20214 yr by Robert

A second successive hugely entertaining semi final but that was emphatically not a penalty.

Unusual to get two good semis in a major tournament. Must admit, England deserved to win based on the 120 minutes overall.

I make Italy favourites for Sunday, but who knows what will happen. 

Anything but an Italy win will be a loss for football. Despite their undoubted wealth of talent England still can't play good football - the Danes easily passed the ball through them and only began to fade towards the end,as they subbed their best players off.

Englands plan A, get it to Sterling wears thin pretty quickly, and if it wasn't for the pace of Kyle Walker they might have been in more trouble at the back.

I respect how far Southgate has taken them, but his tactical limitations seem apparent as he has very creative players that are playing  within a system that doesn't use them to the best of their abilities 

There is no doubt that Italy are far more pleasing on the eye but, with home advantage yet again, I would say that England are favourites.

Home advantage and the match officials on their side, it seems! Modern day equivalent of a dodgy Russian linesman (Azerbaijani, actually) is a dodgy VAR official.

Beam me up Scotty, well not you Scotty but the Scotty who can beam people up! Starting to get a bit unbearable already down here.

Like Kingsmills I've also never been in the ABE camp with my wife being Ingerlish and my kids born down here but the arrogance is starting to get to all of us in the Canary household. I'm meeting very few people showing any respect for the opposition (including the upcoming Italians!), no humility at all and absolutely zero tolerance when it comes to accepting that dodgy decisions have gone their way. Apparently Messrs Kane and Sterling have no idea what diving is! As far as most I've spoken with are concerned it was a done deal before the competition even started.

So my apologies to the Gringoes and any of the other lovely English folk we have following the CaleyJags but I'll be having pizza for dinner on Sunday and the Morettis are already chilling in the fridge - Salud!

Edited July 8, 20214 yr by CaleyCanary
I'm a perfectionist like Harry Kane - great penalty by the way Harry!

You are right Mr Canary, it is unbearable down here. It's all you hear whenever you turn on the TV or radio. Why they have to bang on and on and on about 'that year' is beyond my comprehension - so annoying. No need to apologise to me...I might have Pizza tomorrow night too.

Really bad start, now its just a case of sitting in and waiting for the counter.

Not coming home then...

Another thoroughly entertaining game with Italy deserved winners.

Just now, Satan said:

Not coming home then...

It did. To the only nation in the final where it had been before.

Italy deserved to win, but penalty shoot outs are cruel. I will never forget how it felt when we lost the League Cup final on penalties.

Thankfully we have avoided the media hype that would have happened if “it had come home”.

The poor kid who had the last kick saved will hopefully not be turned on by the English media.

How a 19 year old was put in that position is ridiculous, whilst the others who failed to score were only on the pitch for seconds.

Italy were the best team on the night, and thoroughly deserved to win, and ought to have won without needing to resort to penalties. 

Mediocre team with easy route to the final with 6 home games to boot!  Fortunate to get through the semi final  also. Won against a German team that is well past its best had one good game against a 3rd rate Ukraine and didn’t have a convincing group stage. Italy probably deserved the Cup with great play overall and looked winners in every game although Spain were at their level in the Semi final. 

3 minutes ago, GoliathGrunt said:

Mediocre team with easy route to the final with 6 home games to boot!  Fortunate to get through the semi final  also. Won against a German team that is well past its best had one good game against a 3rd rate Ukraine and didn’t have a convincing group stage. Italy probably deserved the Cup with great play overall and looked winners in every game although Spain were at their level in the Semi final. 

I think that is a bit harsh on England.

Yes, they had the advantage of playing all but one of their games at home, but they are a very decent side who probably were the second best in the tournament.

Yes delighted they were second , but only best out of the bottom route to the final. Would they have got past Spain or Belgium or France?

England are a very good side but as usual, the only thing coming home for them is disappointment.

Sadly, all to predictable but thel social media platforms and criminal authorities need to pull out all the stops to to identify those England 'fans' who have been directing abhorrent and disgraceful racist abuse at the three young men who either missed penalties or had them saved and, once identified, they need to be properly punished with, in the worst cases at least, significant custodial sentences.

Enough is enough.

10 hours ago, Satan said:

Not coming home then...

Not all good news for us It’s back to more years of watching and hearing about 1966 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ah well the Morettis went down a treat in the end. Actually enjoyed the encounter, despite the Italian dominance England were always a threat on the break and one day soon they'll give someone a right doing. They should pose a threat in every tournament for the next decade and if we can find someone to put the ball in the net then so can we!

Such a great pity that once again so much of the after match talk is about the disgraceful behaviour of yobs and racist online abuse. Doesn't look like they'll ever be able to shake off the ugly side that seems to follow them everywhere.

3 hours ago, CaleyCanary said:

Ah well the Morettis went down a treat in the end. Actually enjoyed the encounter, despite the Italian dominance England were always a threat on the break and one day soon they'll give someone a right doing. They should pose a threat in every tournament for the next decade and if we can find someone to put the ball in the net then so can we!

Such a great pity that once again so much of the after match talk is about the disgraceful behaviour of yobs and racist online abuse. Doesn't look like they'll ever be able to shake off the ugly side that seems to follow them everywhere.

I am sure that the great majority of England fans are decent people but there remains an element of yobs and racists.

The Scottish national team is followed by many fewer yobs than England but we have our fair share of racists even among fans of ICT.

Things are, without doubt, better than the days when Mark Walters got pelted with bananas from the terraces with only a passing mention and very little outrage in the Scottish media but there remains work to be done and progress to be made.