Not my crowd, if you followed my political posts. Now, that instead of saying "yes, it's disgraceful" your first and only thought is to counter-attack is actually very disappointing. Ours, by the way, got 400 indictments. We'll wait to see if England will identify and punish these savage beasts. And, @Talon I don't understand your observation of my being dragged down to their level. Are you actually equating speaking against it, to actually doing it (the beating?). No, I'm way above their level.
Official: EURO 2020 Best XI Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy) Defenders: Giorgio Chiellini (Italy), Harry Maguire (England), Luke Shaw (England), Joakim Maehle (Denmark) Midfielders: Paul Pogba (France), Granit Xhaka (Switzerland), Federico Chiesa (Italy), Raheem Sterling (England), Kasper Dolberg (Denmark) Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) EURO 2020 individual player awards Player of the Tournament: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy) Young Player of the Tournament: Pedri (Spain) Golden Boot: Cristiano Ronaldo* (Portugal – 5 goals, 1 assist), Patrick Schick (Czech Republic – 5 goals, 0 assists) *Ronaldo wins Golden Boot on assists tiebreaker
It is disgusting but suggesting that the England team should face sanctions for the actions of a few thugs trying to get in to see the match is an over reaction.
Yes, you are above their level which is why I said what I said, and no I'm not equating criticism to physical assault. What I had in mind when I posted that is something Martin Luther King, Jr., said: Let no man pull you so low you hate him. I'm not saying you hate England or the English, but blaming the entire country and people for something they're not responsible for is what the hooligans did. I'm sorry I didn't articulate myself more clearly earlier and I meant no offense.
Did you actually read my post? These were not thugs trying to get in. They were waiting for the Italians to leave after the game and were beating them up one by one. And yes, the FA or whoever was responsible, not ensuring the safety of the visitors while organizing this event are absolutely to be blamed and must be punished. For much less, teams lose home field advantage and are made to play behind closed gates. This is way beyond the events that have been met with such punishments so this must be punished much more rigorously. By the way, about the behavior you picked to counter-attack, we've indicted 400 people and they are getting prison sentences.
Lock up as many of the people who stormed Wembley as you can identify and if FA officials prove negligent you can throw the book at them too but leave the team out of this. They weren't responsible and shouldn't be punished with exclusion from future tournaments. That's just guilt by association.
Then, change the rules, because under current rules teams *are* punished for their fans' behavior. And if the FA can't guarantee fan/visitor safety then they shouldn't be hosting anything.
I hate when that **** happens. Some friends and I managed to get up front at a general admission Van Halen concert many moons ago and the mob behind us kept pressing forward and people started getting crushed against the barrier between the crowd and the stage. One kid literally passed out and we had to push him over the barrier so security could revive him and get him out of there. It was awful.
Unfortunately, that could very well happen. England might not be hosting another Euro for a long time.
By the way @Montegriffo , did you hear Southgate's comments talking about Nazi Germany and WWII when you beat current day Germany (a NATO ally) and talking about an invasion? That fuels the xenophobia and contributes to these events.
Ok guys, calm down grab a Bier. This has been such a wonderful thread. CF, my friend you get once in while a bit emotional, so relax, please. I understand and dislike what happened in London. But one has to look at the overall picture. Covid and Brexit. People were looking for a relief of the Covid crisis and Brexit has created a toxic climate towards foreigners with some groups. Than the kneeling did not fly with some politicians. This was all like block of C4 with a fuse and a battery lying beside it and some big shots did not have the sensitivity. Lets not allow such misserable behavior and the explosive times we live in, what great tournaments we have been able to watch, Copa and Euro. Both finals have been nail biters. For England a bitter repeat. For Italy like the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Brazil dominated the Copa for many years, Argentina always in the runner up position or even worse, despite Messi. This time they were united and played for Messi. I was surprised that he took the pitch as beaten up as he was. But that inspired the team, made it a team. That's why they had him on their shoulders. Great moments Disappointments for me Germany, I thought after the Portugal game that they got into the tournament groove, but than Loew made such bad decisions, player and tactics. France, were was the World Champion with his three Musketeers, that overwhelming offence of super sonic speed. They trapped themself in their own glory, died of arrogance, napoliesc.
Yes, that was the most dumbest think I have ever heard and it shows a mindset which I do not understand. I served as a Special Forces NCO with British Special Forces in Scotland and not one time came this crap up. Even that I am the son of a Special Force Officer, whos regiment under his command completely wiped out said regiment in a nasty hand to hand fight. The British I served with for close to a year never brought up that crap from the past. Its a matter of professionalism, or a matter of fraternity, we are football players, it does not matter were you come from, or what lays in the past. Southgate is not even old enough to have grown up in post WWII Europe, what a fooooking idiot
All the footage labelled ''Italian fans attacked'' turns out to be England fans attacking the people forcing their way into the stadium. You can hear one fan shouting at a steward telling him to do his job and keep them out.
I'm not based on any "footage" you may have watched. A friend of my wife's, an Italian woman, sent to my wife her own video clip that she recorded with her own phone when she was EXITING the stadium AFTER the game. Given that it's her private video that she sent on iPhone format and didn't post to YouTube, like I said I do not have a link to it. By the way, Italian fans had tickets... And "the people" you are referring to, are not the ones I'm talking about. ENGLISH fans stormed the stadium and invaded it, forcing their way in. Those are NOT the fans I saw being beaten up. I would like to know what English fans wear blue Italian jerseys, have facepaint in red, white, and green, and wear soccer scarfs with words like ITALIA and FORZA AZZURRI. Weird English fans, those, huh? Those are the ones being beaten up in my wife's friend's video. And I would like to know why the hooligans were all quiet when other English fans passed by, and only jumped to action again when an Italian came by, immediately walking to the person and punching the person. She filmed from a safe distance but there are sufficient details to know that only the Italian fans were being beaten. Obviously from the beginning you've been addressing my post as if I was talking about the invasion of the stadium by people who wanted to watch the game, when I repeatedly said that the event I'm talking about was AFTER the game, while fans were EXITING. So basically you are countering what I'm saying, by using a completely different and unrelated event. If you want to find some sort of excuse for this behavior, be my guest. Carry on, from this point on. As per gnoib's request, I'll drop the matter. Over and out.
PS - just saw the allegedly mislabeled "footage." Completely different from what I saw. Different location, different people, different incident.
That's the only footage I've seen so it's the only footage I can comment on. Storming the stadium is disgusting. The scenes of barriers getting pushed down and outnumbered security fighting a hopeless battle were very reminiscent of Jan 6th. I'm sure the footage you've seen but can't share is disgusting too. All I can say is I'm as ashamed about our hooligans as you must be about yours. They are not representative of all England fans anymore than the Jan 6th rioters are representative of all Americans.
Fair enough. Let's agree on this and move on. I praise our friendship and don't want to damage it from the strong emotions our respective nationalities bring about regarding these still recent events. You're obviously the good kind of Englishman and I believe that I'm the good kind of Italian-American man. So, sorry for the generalization, and I'm back at congratulating the English players for a great performance in Euro 2020, boding well for your chances in Qatar. Cheers.
I miss the soccer discussion. Two other important tournaments are going on right now, the Olympics in Japan, and Copa Libertadores (the South American equivalent of the Champions League). I watched 3 games from each tournament in the last 3 days so I created a new thread to comment upon them, and I invite my buddies from this thread to join me there, in case you're watching these games. http://www.politicalforum.com/index...japan-2020-2021-and-copa-libertadores.590221/