Euro 2020: Round of 16 Thoughts

Hmmm, well I guess I need to rethink this post because I was sure that Germany were going to beat England.  So let's start with that:

- A headline I saw before the game read "England vs Germany vs England Neuroses", and I thought that was hilariously accurate.  And then I read a headline after the game saying "England advances to quarterfinals with impressive win over Germany", and I thought that was hilariously inaccurate.  Impressive?!?!  Come on now.  Let's not get carried away - yes to beat Germany in a major tournament for the first time in forever is a big deal - but we were so so lucky.  Germany had the better chances, and were slightly better during what was a tight and tense game.  I still see so many faults with England's selection and formation - how Jack Grealish doesn't start is beyond me, he is a game-changer, and I don't think Harry Kane should be captain or a starter.  For a team with a preponderance of young, exciting, offensive players, we should be playing as many of them as we can and play an attacking style at a much higher pace and tempo.  And, most importantly, we should be playing in our red jerseys - our best jerseys.

- And let's look at the draw, what an amazing opportunity it is for England.  Their half of the draw is so open - perhaps even Denmark are the favorites on that side now after their demolition of Wales and having the most to play for.  It's yet another quirk of how messed up the tournament structure has been.  England can probably feel justified in playing this horrible conservative way if it gets them to the final - and despite not being the hosts, have had this important advantage over everyone else of playing all but the quarter final game at home.

- I didn't expect this, but France going out was a big shocker.  In fact, a lot of the favorites kind of struggled - Italy and Spain had to survive extra time, Holland and France disappointed.  Those 2 games on Monday involving Spain and France were really chaotic and really good - such massive momentum swings.  Being engrossed by those games definitely helped me endure the baking temperatures.  Whereas the theoretically more interesting Portugal-Belgium game was such a snoozefest that I actually fell asleep during it and missed most of it.  But Belgium got through, and they are still my big favorites to win it all.