This is the first time in history a Euro final has ended 0-0 after 90 minutes.

Portugal finished 3rd in their group, failed to beat Iceland, Austria and Hungary, only won one game in 90 mins against mighty Wales and have won the European Championships through a goal by fucking Eder.

Platini, who changed the rules of European Championship has ironically costed his home country the victory as it allowed Portugal to sneak through as the 4th best 3rd placed team.

he didnt cost his team anything.. they cost themselves by not finishing a single fucking chance in the final

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

Massive win for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal! He helped his country win their first ever major trophy, something that neither Eusebio nor Figo managed to do. Meanwhile Lionel Messi's Argentina, a team loaded with attacking talent, lost three straight major finals in which they didn't even score.

MistaT wrote:

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

i disagree.  they didnt even remotely look like the better team for any of the match until the end when they were killing off the game. 

Portugal were not the better team until extra time.

Claudius wrote:

Delighted for Portugal. What some describe as boring was great organization throughout. And Pepe was a colossus in central defense. Congrats to the better managed team.

I know you backed Portugal from the start so I'm not having a go but that's exactly the sort of revisionist logic that people applied to Chelsea's CL win in 2012 and it's not true. An example of that sort of organisation this tournament would have been Italy - not Portugal - but unfortunately they were in the tougher arm of the knockouts.

Mirth wrote:

Biggus wrote:

Deschamps did well the players let him down, I wouldn't mind him here.

Not sure that's true. The first part of that sentence anyway.

Well at the end of the day he did fail so must bear some of the responsibility.

USArsenal wrote:

MistaT wrote:

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

i disagree.  they didnt even remotely look like the better team for any of the match until the end when they were killing off the game. 

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

Biggus wrote:

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

No, no. That's the winning team. Just like in life, the best team doesn't always win.

Although it's hard to say France were 'better' - they brought this on themselves.

Didn't see the match as I qas too knackered to stay up. But boy do some of you sound awfully sour.

One can commend a team's organization if they keep out an attacking team. France barely attacked with any commitment the whole game. That too at home. No one spoke of Portugal's organization when they conceded in the group stages when the likes of Hungary attacked in numbers.

I don't blame Portugal, France at home were the cowards.

yeah I'm more upset for Kos and Giroud than for France as a whole, meh.

Portugal were rubbish from day one though - ironically enough given that Platini and co pushed for an expanded tournament, Portugal would have been knocked out in the group stage were it only 16 teams. They lucked their way to the final, and then France didn't show up. Them's the brakes. This is just as blechhhh as Greece in 04, I think.

Mirth wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Delighted for Portugal. What some describe as boring was great organization throughout. And Pepe was a colossus in central defense. Congrats to the better managed team.

I know you backed Portugal from the start so I'm not having a go but that's exactly the sort of revisionist logic that people applied to Chelsea's CL win in 2012 and it's not true. An example of that sort of organisation this tournament would have been Italy - not Portugal - but unfortunately they were in the tougher arm of the knockouts.

Yeah. It's always easier to defend in numbers than to be the one on the front foot trying to have ideas to break through. Just ask the most impressive group stage team Croatia who had no answers to Portugal's defensive tactics.

When you look back at this 10 years later, the only attribute you can pinpoint to is luck. There are no outstanding individuals or game changing tactics, it's similar to the Greece victory of defending and hoping for the best.

France lost this match? Oh wow what a bunch of losers. After surviving the german onslaught in the semis they should've been raring to grab this opportunity at the trophy. Guess that goes with the nature of the crap tournament.
Kudos to everyone who watched the whole match.

i didn't think portugal were bad. france underperformed, portugal pretty much played to their level. i thought fonte, pepe, guerreiro, and rui patricio were very good

sissoko was the only one to turn up for france

Even off the pitch he was the most entertaining aspect of the game.
France froze, Portugal were canny enough to go for the jugular just at the right time.
Deschamps subs bar Martial weakened a team that already needed a spark.
Coman? Gignac?  Not what their game needed.

Disappointed because I really wanted France to win but ultimately I think they weren't brave enough.

Mirth wrote:

Biggus wrote:

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

No, no. That's the winning team. Just like in life, the best team doesn't always win.

Although it's hard to say France were 'better' - they brought this on themselves.

The object of the the game is to put the ball into the goal more times than your opponent, the team that achieves this is the best.

This simple fact is obscured by those who like to talk and pour over statistics over analyse and look for complex reasons why things have happened when there aren't any.
Football is more than technique more than athleticism more than hard work more than confidence it is all these things of course but it is also more, and its these intangibles (the crowd support the weather and who is up for it more on the day etc)  that makes the game so interesting for me.