Euro 2020 General Discussion

[wpdavid]

Thought his wonder volley was against the Soviets in the final?

It was, but any goal beating Jerry in a WC semi-final is p.d. special in its own right. Especially when the match is being played in Germany. See also Grosso's goal for Italy in 2006.

 

[Furball]

Euro 88 semifinal too (although I'm not sure how getting beaten by *that* van Basten goal bred bad blood)

Might have been some of their grandads' racism from the Germans against Rijkaard and Gullit too

Euro 88 was revenge for losing the 1974 World Cup Final, which should have been revenge for the Second World War (the Dutch commentator for the 1974 final exclaimed 'they've tricked us again' when Gerd Müller scored the winner.)

 

[Furball]

It was, but any goal beating Jerry in a WC semi-final is p.d. special in its own right. Especially when the match is being played in Germany. See also Grosso's goal for Italy in 2006.

The Italian commentary for that goal is absolutely epic.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Parents arguing, Benzema tensions and a hotel that wasn't fancy enough - the extraordinary story of France's Euro 2020 exit

The fallout from France's Euro 2020 exit has been dramatic and shocking. This is the full story

theathletic.com

 

[sledger]

Parents arguing, Benzema tensions and a hotel that wasn't fancy enough - the extraordinary story of France's Euro 2020 exit

The fallout from France's Euro 2020 exit has been dramatic and shocking. This is the full story

theathletic.com

Sounds interesting but paywalled

 

[Howe_zat]

Sounds interesting but paywalled

Some excerpts, as collected on reddit

• “There have been other stories about divisions within the dressing room, friction between players and a lack of togetherness that can be demonstrated, perhaps, by the fact Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann and Clement Lenglet were allowed to fly off on holidays rather than travelling back with the rest of the squad, as is the norm.”
• “One of their issues from Euro 2020 was that they did not feel settled at their Marriott hotel in Budapest and, barring one evening on the rooftop bar, did not have enough opportunities to relax together. Apparently, some of the players were unhappy about their city-centre location and wanted more luxurious facilities. One complaint was that the bedroom windows did not fully open. The squad were initially meant to move to Gardony, 40 miles south, after their group game against Hungary and take up residence in a hotel on the shores of Lake Velence. Instead, they remained in Budapest to play their final group game against Portugal. According to a near-forensic post-mortem in the French sports daily L’Equipe, Pogba had made it clear to Deschamps that the players ‘hated’ the accommodation and wanted to leave as soon as possible.”
• “Rabiot’s mother is known to be very sensitive and very close to her son and she didn’t appreciate what Pogba’s friends were saying about one of the touches of Adrien,’ says one well-placed source with inside knowledge of the French camp. ‘So she blamed Pogba for the loss of the ball in midfield (leading to Switzerland’s third goal). Then she went to Mbappe’s father, ‘You better take care of your son because he has a big head and too much protection from the press and I think he’s arrogant.’ So it’s a mess and she is well known for that at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.”
• “At one point, she wrote to Deschamps to complain that her son was not being picked enough. Or there was the time when PSG would not let her accompany her son on a trip to Qatar midway through his first season. Outraged, Veronique took up a position outside Carlo Ancelotti’s office, waiting for the coach to arrive so she could let him know exactly what she thought of it.”
• “The dispute involving Veronique [Rabiot] is said to have lasted, on and off, for 20 minutes, including a ‘heated exchange’ with Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari. The families of the other French players were reportedly ‘shocked’ by Veronique’s conduct and particularly the timing of it, having just watched the team crash out of the tournament. But it is also worth knowing the background here and one of the reasons, perhaps, why she is so protective of her son and takes such a prominent role in his career, representing him in all his contract negotiations and regularly speaking on his behalf in the media. She, indeed, negotiated his first professional contract when he was a teenager, sitting face-to-face with PSG sporting director Leonardo. In 2007, when Rabiot was a 12-year-old in the youth system at US Creteil, his father, Michel, suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome, a condition that meant he was completely paralysed. Michel, a PSG supporter who used to run his son to youth-team matches, was left in a wheelchair and could communicate only by moving his eyelids. He died in January 2019. ‘What you have to understand here is her background,’ says one person with close knowledge of the family. ‘She singlehandedly raised three boys with a handicapped husband, and I mean seriously handicapped. Her husband was in hospital most of Adrien’s life. He was very poorly. He had his brain but could not talk. He was in a cocoon. This woman suffered a lot. She stands her ground. She goes overboard but she raised her boys and took her son everywhere for football, no matter if it was minus five degrees and snow. And she is an honest woman. She gives money to church. She was (from a) very poor upbringing. She is really hard-nosed. She is not a prima donna. She gives back to people who helped her before. Is she too loud? Yes. But she has a lot of baggage. The context is everything. She is not a bad person. And she will always defend her son to death.”
• “Various observers have told The Athletic they believe Benzema’s return to the squad had a number of consequences. How, they ask, must Giroud have felt, as the second highest scorer in France’s history, to be displaced almost overnight by a player who had openly derided him?”
• “One long-time follower of the national team describes it as a ‘vicious group.’ Deschamps had previously dropped Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa after taking the view they were not suited to play ‘squad football.’ Now questions are being asked about whether there might have to be some more tough decisions.”

Most of these are very funny but probably the sort of thing that would get no attention if it weren't for them being about the French, who are very fond of the inter-squad drama in seemingly all sports

 

[WICFan]

Always seems to be success or internal conflicts with the French, which probably wouldn't shock many of us.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Seems the writer(s) of the article wanted to blame Benzema somehow, but couldn't find any actual grist for the rumour mill, so fell back on Giroud's (probably imagined) hurt feelings based on something Karem said over 5 years ago.

The tl; dr version is, essentially, Pogba is a bit of a coq and a prima donna, and Rabiot's mother is overprotective to a borderline psychopathic degree.

 

[sledger]

Why on earth is Rabiot's mother indulged at all? Couldn't she just be ignored as a total irrelevance?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Why on earth is Rabiot's mother indulged at all? Couldn't she just be ignored as a total irrelevance?

I guess it's hard for a grown child, especially from one with Rabiot's tragic background, to tell their parent to eff off, no matter how much of an embarrassment/pain s/he is.

He's not the first sportsperson to have a parent like that either. Jelena Dokic's old man was very much the arsehole's arsehole and (I think) ended up doing time for threatening to bomb the Australian embassy in Belgrade after some real or imagined slight.

 

[sledger]

I guess it's hard for a grown child, especially from one with Rabiot's tragic background, to tell their parent to eff off, no matter how much of an embarrassment/pain s/he is.

He's not the first sportsperson to have a parent like that either. Jelena Dokic's old man was very much the arsehole's arsehole and (I think) ended up doing time for threatening to bomb the Australian embassy in Belgrade after some real or imagined slight.

Yeah I get it from Rabiot's perspective, but how on earth does she get access to coaches etc? Should have thought people like Deschamps could just say "You are nobody. Goodbye."

 

[honestbharani]

Some excerpts, as collected on reddit

• “There have been other stories about divisions within the dressing room, friction between players and a lack of togetherness that can be demonstrated, perhaps, by the fact Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann and Clement Lenglet were allowed to fly off on holidays rather than travelling back with the rest of the squad, as is the norm.”
• “One of their issues from Euro 2020 was that they did not feel settled at their Marriott hotel in Budapest and, barring one evening on the rooftop bar, did not have enough opportunities to relax together. Apparently, some of the players were unhappy about their city-centre location and wanted more luxurious facilities. One complaint was that the bedroom windows did not fully open. The squad were initially meant to move to Gardony, 40 miles south, after their group game against Hungary and take up residence in a hotel on the shores of Lake Velence. Instead, they remained in Budapest to play their final group game against Portugal. According to a near-forensic post-mortem in the French sports daily L’Equipe, Pogba had made it clear to Deschamps that the players ‘hated’ the accommodation and wanted to leave as soon as possible.”
• “Rabiot’s mother is known to be very sensitive and very close to her son and she didn’t appreciate what Pogba’s friends were saying about one of the touches of Adrien,’ says one well-placed source with inside knowledge of the French camp. ‘So she blamed Pogba for the loss of the ball in midfield (leading to Switzerland’s third goal). Then she went to Mbappe’s father, ‘You better take care of your son because he has a big head and too much protection from the press and I think he’s arrogant.’ So it’s a mess and she is well known for that at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.”
• “At one point, she wrote to Deschamps to complain that her son was not being picked enough. Or there was the time when PSG would not let her accompany her son on a trip to Qatar midway through his first season. Outraged, Veronique took up a position outside Carlo Ancelotti’s office, waiting for the coach to arrive so she could let him know exactly what she thought of it.”
• “The dispute involving Veronique [Rabiot] is said to have lasted, on and off, for 20 minutes, including a ‘heated exchange’ with Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari. The families of the other French players were reportedly ‘shocked’ by Veronique’s conduct and particularly the timing of it, having just watched the team crash out of the tournament. But it is also worth knowing the background here and one of the reasons, perhaps, why she is so protective of her son and takes such a prominent role in his career, representing him in all his contract negotiations and regularly speaking on his behalf in the media. She, indeed, negotiated his first professional contract when he was a teenager, sitting face-to-face with PSG sporting director Leonardo. In 2007, when Rabiot was a 12-year-old in the youth system at US Creteil, his father, Michel, suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome, a condition that meant he was completely paralysed. Michel, a PSG supporter who used to run his son to youth-team matches, was left in a wheelchair and could communicate only by moving his eyelids. He died in January 2019. ‘What you have to understand here is her background,’ says one person with close knowledge of the family. ‘She singlehandedly raised three boys with a handicapped husband, and I mean seriously handicapped. Her husband was in hospital most of Adrien’s life. He was very poorly. He had his brain but could not talk. He was in a cocoon. This woman suffered a lot. She stands her ground. She goes overboard but she raised her boys and took her son everywhere for football, no matter if it was minus five degrees and snow. And she is an honest woman. She gives money to church. She was (from a) very poor upbringing. She is really hard-nosed. She is not a prima donna. She gives back to people who helped her before. Is she too loud? Yes. But she has a lot of baggage. The context is everything. She is not a bad person. And she will always defend her son to death.”
• “Various observers have told The Athletic they believe Benzema’s return to the squad had a number of consequences. How, they ask, must Giroud have felt, as the second highest scorer in France’s history, to be displaced almost overnight by a player who had openly derided him?”
• “One long-time follower of the national team describes it as a ‘vicious group.’ Deschamps had previously dropped Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa after taking the view they were not suited to play ‘squad football.’ Now questions are being asked about whether there might have to be some more tough decisions.”

Most of these are very funny but probably the sort of thing that would get no attention if it weren't for them being about the French, who are very fond of the inter-squad drama in seemingly all sports

And I thought cricket was over-covered in India. This thing has enough ridiculous drama to be an Indian soap writer's wet dream.

 

[andruid]

Germany/Czech in 96 too

Also Algeria and Senegal bin the lastAfCON

 

[wpdavid]

A propos of nothing, has there ever been a more misjudged celebration than Pogba's posturing after putting France 3-1 ahead against Switzerland?

 

[Howe_zat]

A propos of nothing, has there ever been a more misjudged celebration than Pogba's posturing after putting France 3-1 ahead against Switzerland?

Would have to be a case of our football only, those celebrations happen after every score in gridiron, regardless of result

 

[Uppercut]

A propos of nothing, has there ever been a more misjudged celebration than Pogba's posturing after putting France 3-1 ahead against Switzerland?

Pardew dance.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

The City one against Spurs in the CL was quite funny when it was disallowed two minutes later.

 

[wpdavid]

Pardew dance.

Yeah, not a bad call. I reckon that Pogba shades it, but eye of the beholder and all that.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Why aren't Australia playing in this? Having been a member of the Eurovision Union since 2018, it seems a bit discriminatory to leave us out.

 

[Teja.]

Is this English side better than the 2002 WC side? IIRC, that side was utterly dominant until it went up against a very OP Brazil in the quarters. 2004 Euro and 2006 WC sides were perhaps better sides on paper but were hit by injuries and mismanagement and didn't translate to the pitch quite as well as the 2002 WC side.

Where does this English side (say 18 WC - 20 Euros) rank among historical English sides?