UEFA Euro 2020 Football Championship

Hi,

My thoughts were/are that Portugal was not coached well and they did not utilize their players properly when considering that at least one was in the bench at the start and he almost could be considered the best player in the EPL this year. The fact that it appears that him and Ronaldo did not connect and get some results is a bit weird and from a coaching perspective it might suggest that the coach wanted a more defensive team to ensure they could withstand a Belgium onslaught. As it turns out, that worked, but it did not help their ability to move forward enough to make a difference. Portugal did not visit the front a whole lot, specially when they are very good at getting penalties called ... which Belgium probably was prepared for, but still ... I think that the Portugal game design was not the right idea and they could not adjust enough to make it work as the game went on. Kudos for the great goal that Belgium got!

Certainly in Spain, Busquets & Ramos are master practitioners of the dark arts. The English are certainly no saints in regard to this but tend to be less subtle and get spotted by the referee more easily.

Unpredictable?   veering on poor. 

Were it not the temperatures at around 110 degrees around here, I might actually enjoy these games! I'm trying my best to stay cool ... but it's hard! I would think that Belgium has the edge, but Portugal might pull off a surprise if all of a sudden they can steal a goal or two, which they did against Germany to get to this round. They can not play like that again and expect to make it through.

I'm curious to see if England can live up to it being favored. I'm thinking that they will fall sort of like Wales did ... badly!