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| Viewing location for 2021 Champions League Final |
Michael B and I found ourselves in the Poconos on the Saturday of the Champions League Final attending the wedding of BFS Fitness Consultant Jeff H's daughter. Jeff was kind enough to schedule the Saturday evening activities (a picnic!) for 6 pm, ensuring that we would be able to take in the final. Ah, but where exactly would we do that in Canadensis, PA? No TVs in our creekside cabins. Fortunately, we found The Pour House (right), a local tavern that was willing to switch one TV from NBA, NFL, NASCAR and other sports to the final. We were joined by two brothers from York, PA attending a family reunion who say they never miss the final regardless of where they are. Also, by an Eastern European - a Man United fan - who came to root for Chelsea to make sure that hated Man City did not win; the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or something like that. The five of us had a grand old time.
Decent final. Thought there might have been a bit more scoring but there was enough good attacking football to make it enjoyable. The 1-0 Chelsea win seemed about right to us. Was Guardiola outcoached by Tuchel? Some seemed to think so.
A Tale of Two Keepers
The final of the other European competition - the Europa League - was pretty cool. Villarreal did a good job of mostly keeping Man United out of the goal and managed to keep things at 1-1 through extra time. At the point, a most intriguing PK shootout began. Five takes for each side and no misses. Five more takes for each side and no misses. Therefore, at 10-10, the keepers would face each other. Geronimo Rulli of Villarreal dispatched his with a plumb aplomb; that's a take worthy of any field player. David De Gea? Not so much. Easily the weakest take of the 22. Never a big fan of PK shootouts for a championship but this was riveting. Have to say Villareal earned it with their defense.
Union Beat Crush Portland
When Jeff K showed me the score during the wedding Sunday night (with appropriate warning so no yellow card for spoilers), I was shocked. Up 3-0? Only saw the highlights but there were some nice set piece goals in there. The expected goals at 538 suggest the result was reasonably fair. So after a weak start to the MLS campaign, the Union now find themselves in second. Depth is still an issue but Gazdag (pronounced gusDOG), will be available after the Euros so that will help. A few weeks off is probably helpful too after the hectic spring.
The Euros!!
By the time you get this, the 2020 European Championships will be underway, with Italy taking on Turkey. There are plenty of reviews and predictions out there. The Supercomputer says France wins it all. Some fun observations from Guardian writers here. With so much info out there, we will do our usual BFS thing and make random observations.
Group of Death
Group F (France, Portugal, Germany and Hungary) clearly deserves the designation but Group A Italy, Switzerland, Wales and Turkey should get some recognition too - the Group of Pain and Suffering? Here's a ranking of each group based on the latest FIFA rankings - we simply added the ranking of each group member.
Group F - 56
Group A - 66
Group E - 81
Group D - 102
Group B - 103
Group C - 125
With the new format, the top two in each automatically advance but so do the best four third place finishers. Kind of like the NBA - the group stage will only eliminate eight of 24. That competition for 2nd and 3rd in some groups could be tough. Aside from the two groups already mentioned, Group C could be tight between Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine, while Group E is no picnic with Sweden and Poland likely fighting it out behind Spain.
Magpies at the Euros
Emil Krafth - Sweden
Martin Dubravka - Slovakia
Ryan Fraser - Scotland
Fabian Schar - Switzerland
"Tastiest" Group Stage Match
Turkey and Swiss
Other Key Group Stage Matches
In some ways they are too numerous to mention but we'll throw out a few
Wales v Switzerland (Sat 9 am)
England v Croatia (Sun 9 am)
France v Germany (Tues 3pm)
Turkey v Wales (Wed noon)
Netherlands v Austria (Thur 3 pm)
England v Scotland (Fri 3 pm)
Portugal v Germany (next Sat noon)
Spain v Poland (next Sat 3 pm)
Speaking of Pitch Invasions...
Courtesy of BFS Keeper Consultant Graham R, we have this video of a parachutist landing at midfield. The best part of course, is the calm reaction of the referee as he shows the yellow for delay of game.
What We Said...
Dennis sends this along - EPL will use thicker lines in determining offside during VAR checks, which essentially will make it harder to overturn the call on the field. In theory it shouldn't favor the attackers or the defenders. However, with the mandate to ARs to hold the flag on close ones to let the play develop, this probably means fewer overturned goals. I believe if you review the BFS archives, we suggested something along these, ahem, lines as a solution to the false accuracy of the VAR process.
Gotta go. When you get this, tune into to see Italy - Turkey if you're not already watching.
liked the Tastiest Match!
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