France and toothache

It's only been seven days and it seems that we already have some certainties.

And I say "it seems" because in a short tournament like the Eurocup you go from certainty to disaster in a few minutes, in an isolated action, in a badly shot offside, or in a goalkeeper slip.

Let's review my certainties:

By teams:

it would seem that Italy has done very well not going to the 2018 World Cup in Russia to rebuild its cash, rebuild its squad, bet on many young players, without forgetting the veterans who dominate the tempos of the game to show themselves solid , fast and, oh, surprise, sharp on the attack. If the Italian League had already shown itself as one of the most scorers, its selection follows that same trail. And we already know that a team dressed in

azzurro

is always a very serious candidate.

In the same vein as the Italians we could put the brilliant Belgium (I am writing this before their emotional match against Denmark), the efficient Portugal and the solid France, that France that I don't know if the same thing happens to you but that to me He always gives me the impression of being able to play something more brilliant because of the squad he has, but which is a toothache when he gets ahead and can fight back.

It will be necessary to see it when the result is unfavorable.

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By positions: it

is certified that the most delicate positions in these great struggles are those that are directly related to the goal.

Center forwards, or scorers, call them what you like, and goalkeepers are the most watched subjects.

Well, that and the benches, of course.

Looking only at the group from Spain we will see that Morata, Berg and Lewandowski have been very damaged in the first 90 minutes. We can say the same about Szczesny or the solidity of the Spanish defensive line with those chances granted, isolated, but too clear to travel with ease through this high competition. If you let me look at the goalkeeper for a while, I would say that this is the main issue to balance because the success of the last shot, the last shot or the last pass is usually linked to the individual and the punctual while the defensive is usually a structural issue.

And if we look at the benches, I have the feeling that the next eccentricity that we can see is that of a team that changes their coach after the first game, when there are still mathematical possibilities to qualify.

All for the sake of the result, of the effectiveness, of the immediate.

Here and now.

And period.

By importance:

we always said that football is the most important of the least important but seldom have we found ourselves so facing that reality as at the moment when Christian Eriksen fell collapsed on the grass and all secondary issues disappeared so that only the health of the Danish player was a priority.

Perhaps that is why it is surprising how quickly UEFA continues with the game with the players, and the public, in

shock

.

He could extend it to the French defender Pavard continuing to play despite his concussion and with a written protocol regarding how to act in these situations and which clearly determined that the brave French defender should have been substituted.

Was it necessary to keep playing in Copenhagen and for Pavard to stay on the pitch?

Does the show always have to go on?

I wonder and more, much more, in these times in which we have heard so much about the values ​​of football as a sport confronted with what has been called football as a business.

But it is the facts that confirm and shape the values, not the discourses.

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