Tag: Dirty Tackle

The galvanizing madness of Antonio Conte propels Italy past Spain

Spain dismantled Italy in the Euro 2012 final, winning 4-0 to claim their third consecutive major trophy. Two years later at the 2014 World Cup, both nations made shocking exits in the group stage with one win and two losses each. At this point, Spain decided to stay the course with the firmly entrenched and historically successful Vicente Del Bosque, but Italy made a change, replacing Cesare Prandelli with Antonio Conte. And two years after that, Italy have now beaten Spain 2-0 in the Euro 2016 round of 16. And this reversal of fortunes is largely down to the men in the technical area.

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Steve McClaren illustrates the delusion of superiority that contributes to England’s failure

Despite claims that England’s loss to Iceland is “one of the greatest shocks in the history of soccer,” anyone who has watched Iceland over the last couple years or England over the last 50 should have been able to predict the result of their Euro 2016 knockout-stage meeting.

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Leo Messi misses penalty in Copa America Centenario final, becomes saddest man in the history of existence

After a grueling 120 minutes, the last 78 of which were played 10v10, Chile and Argentina went to penalties in a Copa America final for the second straight year. Sergio Romero gave Argentina a huge boost by saving Arturo Vidal’s shot to start things off, but then the unthinkable happened: Leo Messi missed the goal entirely. Argentina went on to lose the shootout. Again.

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Thierry Henry tries to play it cool as he gets a ribbing for Ireland handball incident

Ireland’s Euro 2016 knockout stage opener against host nation France got off to a karmic start as they were awarded a penalty in the opening minutes that Robbie Brady converted to give them an early 1-0 lead. This gave the BBC studio team of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Rio Ferdinand a chance to rib their colleague — Thierry Henry, the man whose infamous handball for France helped keep Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup.

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Shakira, Peter Crouch take credit for Xherdan Shaqiri’s Euro 2016 wonder goal

Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri scored a brilliant overhead kick before his side lost to Poland on penalties. It invited a warranted amounted of praise, but it also inspired some jokes. 

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