Baphomet wrote:The referee had a mare. The free kick for Damsgaard's goal was soft (great hit though), and when Kane was brought down in the box in the second half after his penetrating dribble, that was far more of a penalty than the one they actually gave on Sterling.
On the balance of play, England deserved to win despite a courageous first half from the Danes. They had very few serious attempts to speak of, where it felt like England were knocking on the door for a while in the second half. It was actually an enjoyable game, I think, only really threatened by the standard puzzling refereeing decisions.
I think England have been exceptional this tournament and have genuinely surprised me, borefest against Scotland aside, and people who have posted here for a while know how rarely I actually praise England. They're the team whose consistent and Groundhog Day-like failures caused me to lose interest in international football in general. Despite the footballing quality of the tournament being far greater than the turgid Euro 2016, I would argue that all the key teams besides Italy, England and Denmark have been below average to disappointing. There haven't been any other standouts, so belittling England's quality of opposition feels like missing the forest for the trees.
It feels special to have bypassed two of England's greatest hoodoos: Germany and semi-finals. The final is one heck of a task though. I don't even think the Italians are particularly special on an individual level, despite their unbeaten run. Better than England, perhaps, but this isn't the team of Del Piero, Totti, Nesta, Pirlo, Buffon, Cannavaro, etc. What worries me is their incredible tactical discipline and mental strength under Mancini. England have been defensively resolute in this tournament, but they're going to need to be far more clinical going forward to beat Italy. Spain huffed and puffed but despite making chances they couldn't manage it.
Just wanted to give a shout out to Sterling. Man has been possessed in this tournament.
My problem with England is the silly turnovers they do. Like they don’t hit a pass hard enough and the opposing player gets it. Only a matter of time those turnovers cost them.