You wouldn’t want to. Route One "HOOF"ball all the way. It’s all percentage football, very negative, but with little by way of a backup plan if strangling the game isn’t working.
This is my favourite Sam Allardyce moment, from maybe three years ago:
http://kaktackle.co.za/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Allardyce-laugh-Chico.gif
Trying to goad Swansea’s Chico Flores into taking a swing at him after Flores had gone down like he’d been shot.
So we’ll have a final
Okay with me, but this French team is not on the same level as the 1984 champions team (Platini, Giresse, Tigana and the rest) or the 1998-2000 Chamions (Zidane & the rest). Pogba was great, Griezmann was fantastic, but the rest of this team didn’t impress me. (Okay, Lloris is a good goal keeper)
In my opinion Germany lost the game in the first half. They were clearly the better team for about 30-35 minutes and had a few good (if not easy) opportunities, but failed to score. It’s btw odd that a football nation like Germany with so many players, and so many great players, doesn’t have a goal scorer of international class (Gomez isn’t the real deal either). In the second half Germany seemed to lack conviction, belief. Maybe a lucky goal could have broken the deadlock for them.
Germany lacked the efficiency in this game, actually also in some of the games before (North Ireland, Poland and in parts also against Italy), but France only won with luck due to 2 stupid, at least superfluous mistakes. France has a strong offensive, and they were always dangerous, but still did not develop enough good chances to deserve the win.
And Germany had too many losses due to injuries and a not justified ban, due to a yellow card which clearly wasn’t one. In this tournament, or actually in this one game, they couldn’t afford to lose Gomez (who was pretty good and dangerous before) and Hummels, and then also Boateng.
And Müller was in the whole tournament not as great as he often was, especially in regard of goals.
Maybe if Kimmich’s shot against the post had been a goal, they could have come back, but so it was again bad luck.
France plays an highly efficient football, but Portugal can beat them.
I have the feeling that ¨Portugal can win the final as well. France is simply too vulnarable at the back, especially when they have to take the initiative, and Portugal won’t push them back like Germany did yesterday night. And Griezmann will not get so much space to develop his game, I’m afraid (for him)
I agree with most things you say about the game and the players (I don’t remember the yellow card for Hummels so can’t say anything about it). Gomez is not my kind of player (Giroud isn’t either) but they could’ve used him yesterday. Those thirty minutes in the first half were impressive though, among the most impressive performances I have seen during this tournament: Germany was in total control. I have only seen such dominance from Spain (in their games aginst Czech Republic and Turkey, too lesser opponents).
I’m not sure about the penalty. At first I thought it was a ridiculous decision, or at least very harsh (even on French television the commentator called it ‘sévère’ = harsh), but when I saw the incident from another angle, I wasn’t so sure anymore. It still feels like a dubious decision, but let’s say that Schweinsteiger’s action wasn’t very clever either. The second goal was of course an after-effect of the injury of Boateng (and the disarray it had caused in the defensive line), but it was still an incredible stupidity at this level.
Schweinsteiger had his hand on the ball, and that is a penalty, but like the strange accidental handball of Boateng against Italy, it wasn’t a hand playing which had had any influence on the game, it wasn’t hand to prevent a goal.
And really, in both cases nobody knows, and I’m sure both know either, why such experienced players have their arm at a place where an arm does not belong in football.
I was never fond of Gomez too, and he often had a hard time with the German fans, but he had shown some qualities here which even surprised his critics (who don’t like to get surprised 
). I think he could have made the difference against France on this evening.
Well it’s been an atypical tournament so far:
• No Holland
• Germany winning over Italy
• Germany losing to France due to lack of efficiency
• Iceland and Wales reaching the quarters and semis
• Even England traditional early departure was more out of the context than their usual ones
So with this type of narrative it might just happen we can beat France
Portugal would deserve the title. They constantly played good football in the last 20 years, and it would be a kind of compensation for 2004.
But only if they are better this evening. And I think they have the potential to do so.
And now for something completely different …
A few remarks:
I think Germany was the best team and it would have been logical to see them in the final, but they failed to score against France and conceded two unneccessary goals, and in that case it’s goodbye Christine. They’re having the Dutch or Hungarian disease, so to speak: getting all the compliments, but failing to win the title.
Apart from all this it gives me a good feeling that Europe’s best player of the past decade, Ronaldo, and the most spectacular player of the tournament, Griezmann, are present in the final.
As said before, the French team hasn’t been able to convince me: Griezmann and Pogba are both world class, Payet is a very good player if he has a good day (he hasn’t really been consistent throughout the tournament) and Lloris is an excellent goal keeper, almost - but not completely - on the level of a Neuer or Buffon. Most people will agree when I say that I have seen better French national squads in the past.
But hey, I’ve seen better Portuguese teams as well, even in recent memory. I still find it hard to understand that the ‘Figo generation’ didn’t win a major title. Maybe the actual team needed this humiliation of the World cup 2014 (when they really ridiculed themselves) to stabilize their game and attitude. Some players like Pepe, Quaresma and even Ronaldo may have seen better days physically, but they look focussed these days. Pepe hasn’t done anything stupid (like getting a red card for a head-blow or something) and Ronaldo has not yet reached his very best form, but he stood up when the team needed him, in the games against Hungary and Wales. Quaresma will probably not start, but if he is brought at the right moment, late into the game, he can still hurt any defense, and most certainly this shaky French defense.
In other words: Yes, I think Portugal can beat France, and I think they have a good chance to do so.
My prediction: the game goes to extra-time and penalties, and Portugal wins the penalty shootout
Good luck, @El_Topo
If I were a strict neutral I would pick France as the favourites for this but I have a Portuguese friend who I am very fond of so I’m cheering on Portugal tonight.
Surely this little fella is smiling now.
Congratulations Topo! Enjoy.
A great day for Portugal and @El_Topo (senior & junior)
Congratulations!
Congratulations El Topo! A well deserved win for Portugal.
Thank you all mates, I’m so Happy I can’t express it by words
I’m going to party all week
I felt like that in '88, our glorious moment in Munich. Actually I still remember the day, the hour and the moment quite well. You’ll remember this for the rest of your life as well.
Massive congrats to @El_Topo and to his fellow Portu-geezers everywhere 
.
I’d be lying if I said that I thought they were the best and most deserving side at Euro 2016 but Portugal is a proper footballing nation who have certainly earned their moment of glory in the wider sense of their contribution to the global game. They’re always there or thereabouts and it’s about time they had something to show for that.
As to the final itself - one of the more torpid and disappointing games from the ones I watched, but of course that’s so often the case with finals.
Congratulations! Have been waiting and hoping for this to happen for 25 years since Portugal won the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship
+++++
++++
Bench: Neuer - Pepe - Draxler - Jao Mario - Dzudszack
Best Goal: Shaqiri (Switserland - Poland 1-1)
Best Match: Germany - Italy
Most spectacular match: Portugal - Hungary
Biggest deception (team): Engeland (even Belgium couldn’t beat them in this category)
Biggest deception (player): Hazard
Nicest surprise: Iceland
Biggest upset: Iceland beating England
Best young player (-21) : Renato Sanches
Well a bit more calm now, it realy started bad with a tie with Iceland, Ronaldo missing a penalty and the atypical game with Hungary, just made desbelieve in the all thing. But then Santos being a engineer himself engineered another team with Sanchez and Adrien Silva in the midfield, in that crucial game with Croatia, that was the most difficult game we had to play. Actually we had a very difficult knock out stages Croatia problaby would have won the tournamnet if it wasn’t for us, Poland is a very consistent team, and Wales was the surprise team, with one of the world best players, in the line of those that can make a difference.
Adrien actually dried out some of the best midfielders of the world, Modric the Polish one whose name I would not dare to say. This was the Euro of those teams who defended better, that was our strategy.
My Euro 2016 team (based only on the tournamnent)
RuI Patricio
(is not just the fact he’s Sporting goalkeeper a real giant)
Kimmich * Pepe * Chiellini * Guerreiro
William Carvalho
Bale * Modric * Kroos
Griezmann * Ronaldo
Kind of a 442 with a losangle in the midfield
Deception?