Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Come on, man.

You are here: Home / Sports / Euro 2020 Football (Soccer) / Euro 2020 Round of 16 Open Thread: Croatia v Spain

Euro 2020 Round of 16 Open Thread: Croatia v Spain

by | 56 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Spain seems to be favored by the betting sites, maybe?

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  3. 3.

    cope

    Croatia 2-1 over Spain, France 2-0 over the Swiss. Total guesses because in this tournament, I have been consistently wrong when I tried to think about games ahead of time.

  5. 5.

    piratedan

    hope that the quality of the play and officiating are superb, that no one suffers grievous injury and that those who have the ability to follow the beautiful game are able to do so in comfort and health…. (trying to start off the week with a positive mindset)

  6. 6.

    Cacti

    Since it’s an open thread:

    For any fellow PNW juicers, please stay safe and seek out somewhere cool if you need to.  Today is the peak day of a lethal, record breaking heatwave, with outside temps expected to hit between 110 and 115 this afternoon.

    Damned climate change.

  7. 7.

    VeniceRiley

    Laporte, Garcia, and Torres all starting for Spain?  Gotta root for my Man City boys!

  11. 11.

    burnspbesq

    Dubravka is off the hook. We have a new leader in the competition for most farcical own goal.

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    @cope:

    Don’t feel bad about that. The form book can only tell you what to expect; but knockout-stage matches are unpredictable because anything can happen in the 90 or 120 minutes. I speak as a Liverpool fan who witnessed The Miracle of Istanbul.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    @Leto:

    They’ve tightened up since then, but you get the impression Spain just need to crank their pass pass pass pass passy passy pass pass up by a notch or two and they’ll be in again.

    OTOH, Croatia are well capable of splitting the Spanish defence with one ball and doing them on the break.

    Good game this.

  20. 20.

    Leto

    @Tony Jay: yeah, Spain needs to be a bit more creative in the final third and actually capitalize on the chances that present themselves. Less shots going wide/over, more on target for those possible rebounds. Croatia is definitely capable counter striking fast, playing some good through balls that are dangerous, and just generally making the Spanish back line look lethargic/geriatric.

    Next 45 should be fun.

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    When this tournament is over, we’ll need a highlights video featuring all the own goals — and not just the ones resulting from player errors.

  22. 22.

    Tony Jay

    Spain have passed the ball so much it’s deflated!

    ETA – And now they’ve made it

    2-1

  25. 25.

    VeniceRiley

    Nice cross Torres. He’s been such a difference maker last couple games. Glad they rewarded him with a start after he did so well as a sub.

  26. 26.

    Tony Jay

    @Leto:

    Really really really cannot stand the stupid offside rule they’ve brought in. What is the use of playing on when a player is offside? You’re going to blow a whistle on the play whatever happens, all keeping the linesman’s flag down does is radically increase the chances of someone breaking an ankle or suchlike in a last ditch challenge inside the box.

    It’s daft.

  27. 27.

    Tony Jay

    Bloody hell, there’s route one and there’s route 0.5. How bloody easy did they make that for Spain?

    Bye bye Croatia

  31. 31.

    Leto

    @Tony Jay: agreed; also the off-sides calls where it’s a person’s elbow that’s offside… Croatia is trying. If they can get around the Spanish flops, then they might have a chance.

  32. 32.

    VeniceRiley

    @Leto: Agree on the offside needing reform. Why can a body part that cannot touch the ball be offside?

  33. 33.

    Leto

    OMG…

    You know, I was going to go swimming between matches but apparently I’ll be here for extra time shenanigans!

  36. 36.

    Tony Jay

    Croatia have got back into this with maximum effort. What have they got left for extra-time?

  38. 38.

    Leto

    @Tony Jay: as we await the extra time, thought I’d pass this along article. Read it earlier today and thought of you:

    Sir Elton John ‘livid’ as Brexit hits musicians

    As with everything else, Flobobob didn’t have a plan for this either. The last part of the article got a loud guffaw from me (italics mine):

    The government has issued the same response to every criticism of the EU touring situation, saying: “We want musicians and other creative professionals to be able to tour easily abroad.

    “Short-term, temporary visits for paid performances by UK musicians are possible in at least 17 EU countries, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, without needing visas or work permits.

    “However, we recognise the difficulties still being faced by the sector. That is why we are working closely with individual member states to encourage them to adopt a more flexible approach, in line with the UK’s own rules which allow creative professionals to tour easily here.”

    Looool; the other member states aren’t going to give you special treatment, you nimrods.

  40. 40.

    Leto

    @Tony Jay: seems like Croatia has the momentum as they’ve come back from two down. Spain can’t stay off the ground long enough to put anything meaningful together.

  41. 41.

    Tony Jay

    The whole offside system needs rejigging in the age of VAR. Fractional offside calls that take five minutes for the boys in the booth to find that one angle that might have a toe or a knee a millimetre off, depending on where they draw the line and when they judge the ball to have left the passer’s foot are making a mockery of VAR’s purpose.

    Line down the centre of the hips of the last defender and the goal scorer. Is the goalscorer’s line clearly past that of the defender? No? Then it’s not offside.

    Also get off my lawn and turn that thumpy-thumpy music down!

  42. 42.

    Leto

    Good lord that was a strike; great deliver, great finish. Ok, now lets see if they can keep it.

  44. 44.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Morata! Wouldn’t have bet on him breaking the draw. Good for him with all the crap he’s been getting from the fans.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see more goals before this is done.

  45. 45.

    Leto

    Well, that should seal it. Sloppy defending and they’ve paid for it twice. Of course we said that about 20 mins ago, so…

  47. 47.

    VeniceRiley

    2 just like that. Spain taking their frustrations out now. What a match. Phew.

  48. 48.

    Tony Jay

    @Leto:

    Yup. They were told this would be a problem. Repeatedly. But dismissed it again and again with an airy “there’ll be an agreement signed that’ll sort it all out”. Turns out, as with everything else to do with Brexit, the only agreement it’s supporters had in mind was one where EU member states agreed to whatever the UK wanted, because #britishsovereignty

    Wankers. And when flapslappers like Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, Paris based fan of Brexit, whine that they never thought cutting the UK off from Europe might effect their bottom line I start humming Huey Lewis songs and fingering my axe.

    Harrumph!!!

    And now Spain have surely done it. Croatia can’t possibly do it again. Can they? (Ed – Don’t be silly)

  55. 55.

    Tony Jay

    @burnspbesq:

    You know, I tried to make Lockdown my “finally learn guitar” period, but I soon discovered that I suffer from the same stumpy-fingered affliction as Malingerer Caligula. It’s like trying to sew up a wound with javelins.

  56. 56.

    VeniceRiley

    Bleep bloop. 2 great exciting games. Swiss WIN!
    Mbappe needs a disguise to escape the shame.

Comments are closed.