Euros and Copa America 2024 soccer thread

#1      

OrangeBlue98

OrangeBlue98
Des Moines, IA
OrangeBlue98
Probably suitable to have a single thread for both events. Germany and Scotland kick off at 2 PM CT today (Friday). The US plays its first game in the Copa America Thursday, June 20th.

My picks are France in the Euros and Uruguay in the Copa.
 
#2      

OrangeBlue98

OrangeBlue98
Des Moines, IA
OrangeBlue98
Germany making a statement early, up 2-0 on Scotland (who I thought would frustrate the Germans for a while) after 19 minutes. Two German youngsters - Wirtz (Leverkusen) and Musiala (Bayern) scoring. Could get ugly for the Scots.
 
#4      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Quite a good start from the hosts today.

Was listening to Ian Darke mention today that Spain has a young player named Lamine Yamal. He is only 16 (would turn 17 the day before the Euro final) and has come up through Barcelona's youth academies. He made his debut for Barcelona's senior team during the 2022-2023 season and got more extensive playing time this past season for Barca. Once he makes his first appearance in this tournament, he will become the youngest player to ever appear at the Euros.
 
#7      

OrangeBlue98

OrangeBlue98
Des Moines, IA
OrangeBlue98
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
Quite a good start from the hosts today.

Was listening to Ian Darke mention today that Spain has a young player named Lamine Yamal. He is only 16 (would turn 17 the day before the Euro final) and has come up through Barcelona's youth academies. He made his debut for Barcelona's senior team during the 2022-2023 season and got more extensive playing time this past season for Barca. Once he makes his first appearance in this tournament, he will become the youngest player to ever appear at the Euros.
Click to expand...
Just got home from the gym to see Spain putting Croatia to the sword 3-0. Will watch Italy in an hour.

Croatia, oof. Maybe one tournament too far for a great group of players.
 
#9      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
OrangeBlue98 said:
Just got home from the gym to see Spain putting Croatia to the sword 3-0. Will watch Italy in an hour.

Croatia, oof. Maybe one tournament too far for a great group of players.
Click to expand...

The thing about it is that Croatia really only had a bad half in the 1st half. They played a lot better in the 2nd half and got back to what was more of their game. They still have a chance to make the knockouts with 3rd place teams being able to get through in this tournament.

No matter what happens, this is probably the last major tournament for the entirety of this generation of the greats for Croatia. Modric is likely done as he'll be 40 by the time the World Cup rolls around. Perisic will be 37 so he could still play.
 
#11      

OrangeBlue98

OrangeBlue98
Des Moines, IA
OrangeBlue98
So far, it's been a pretty entertaining Euros. Even in some of the games that have been blowouts, the team doing the blowing out has looked good (Germany and Spain specifically).

And yes, considering Christian Eriksen needed his heart restarted on the field in front of thousands of people the last time he played in a Euros game, an amazing moment. And really a great game between Slovenia and Denmark. Really entertaining with some fantastic goalkeeping at both ends of the field.
 
#14      

OrangeBlue98

OrangeBlue98
Des Moines, IA
OrangeBlue98
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
Had our biggest upset by FIFA ranking in Euro history today with Slovakia defeating Belgium 1:0. Slovakia was ranked #48 coming into the match. Belgium was ranked #3.
Click to expand...
I wasn't sure about Belgium possibly cratering, but the warning signs heading into the tournament were definitely there with Thibault Courtois and head coach Domenico Tedesco butting heads and Courtois not being on the roster. Who's decision that ultimately was, I'm not sure we'll ever know. But Belgium is another aging team.
 
#15      

wettsten

wettsten
Chicago
wettsten
OrangeBlue98 said:
I wasn't sure about Belgium possibly cratering, but the warning signs heading into the tournament were definitely there with Thibault Courtois and head coach Domenico Tedesco butting heads and Courtois not being on the roster. Who's decision that ultimately was, I'm not sure we'll ever know. But Belgium is another aging team.
Click to expand...
that's exactly what de bruyne said going into the world cup. and then they lost to morocco.
 
#20      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Copa America starts tomorrow with Argentina-Canada in Atlanta. Most of the matches will air on Fox or FS1 with a handful in the latter part of the group stage airing on FS2.

Here's the U.S. schedule for the group stage (all times Central):
-June 23, 5:00 PM, FOX: vs. Bolivia (AT&T Stadium, Arlington)
-June 27, 5:00 PM, FOX: vs. Panama (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
-July 1, 8:00 PM, FS1: vs. Uruguay (Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City)
 
#21      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
They just mentioned on commentary that Messi has never scored an Olympico goal in his professional career. For as long as he's been around, you'd think he would have done that at some point at least once.