Friendlies

[Lorric]

Brazil hit the post.

[Lorric]

HT 0-0. Both teams' composure in front of goal has been bad. Brazil have had the best chances, it's been a scrappy game with both teams having periods of being on top and even stats.

Gordon has had a good debut so far. Chilwell has been comically terrible striking the ball.

[Lorric]

Bowen showing the Brazilians some fancy skills, beating 3 men including a nutmeg on the second.

Mainoo just came on for his England debut. I know nothing about him, but he's got a lot of hype in the press.

[Lorric]

Pickford saves a one on one with Vinicius, but it goes straight to Endrick to sidefoot into the empty net, 0-1.

[Lorric]

Brazil win 0-1. Breaking a 20 game home undefeated streak for England.

Endrick apparently is the youngest player to ever score at Wembley. That includes club football.

[BurningStorm]

Germany leading 1-0 at HT in France after an early goal after 8 seconds, a Kroos pass (nice way to return!) to Wirtz who finished in a great way from outside the box. After the goal Germany concentrated on the defense which makes sense against France away. Lets see if the favorite can turn it around.

We can say one thing, against bigger opponents we don't look that bad. Against smaller ones we have our problems.

[BurningStorm]

2-0 FT. Wirtz and Havertz. Kroos makes us better, without a doubt. And Wirtz starts to shine also in the NT. But again, the games against big opponents were not our problem. It was always the likes of Japan or South Korea. However, one of the best performances since the WC win!

[Tazmania]

Do you mean one of Germany's best performances since 2014?

I have been telling people that if they don't win EURO 2024, Germany will go very close!

[BurningStorm]

Do you mean one of Germany's best performances since 2014?

I have been telling people that if they don't win EURO 2024, Germany will go very close!

At least the best friendly, along with the 5-2 against Italy. (edit: this was Nations League, but for me it's like a friendly anyway)

Hopefully. First we have to survive the group and then there is probably the first hard opponent. Denmark or England if we win the group, or one of Italy, Spain, Croatia if we are 2nd. Hard enough...

[Oldelpaso]

Bookmakers make odds, not necessarily because of who they think will win, but because of who they think people will bet on. And it is likely that they are more bettors who will put money on San Marino instead of St Kitts and Nevis.

Why? Why would the general public favour a team that loses all the time over a team that wins plenty of games?

I am guessing these are betting companies from Europe, or at least the majority of bettors are European. So the reason can be continental bias (the bettors think European teams are better), name recognition (people know San Marino but do not know St Kitts and Nevis), or just some sort of moral support (people want San Marino to finally win a game so are willing to put a few pounds/Euros/dollars on them).

Bookmakers regularly make mistakes with ultra-minnows. San Marino are routinely priced at 1.01 to lose in qualifiers, yet before this scoring run were often 1.20 to lose to nil, despite scoring in less than 1 in 10 matches. People act like these teams lose every game 10-0, underestimating how obstinate their defending can be.

[amenina]

23 March 2024

Zambia 2-2 (5-6 pen) Zimbabwe
Malawi 0-4 Kenya
Cote d'Ivoire 2-2 Benin
Republic of Ireland 0-0 Belgium
Slovakia 0-2 Austria
England 0-1 Brazil
Denmark 0-0 Switzerland
Basque Country 1-1 Uruguay (non-FIFA friendly)
France 0-2 Germany
Tunisia 0-0 (4-5 pen) Croatia (FIFA Series)
Dominican Republic 2-0 Aruba

[amenina]

Slovakia 0-2 Austria

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68648461

Christoph Baumgartner scored after six seconds to record the fastest ever goal in international football as Austria beat Slovakia in Bratislava.

The 24-year-old midfielder skipped past three challenges from the kick-off and fired a low shot past home goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

His effort was a second quicker than Lukas Podolski's strike for Germany against Ecuador in 2013.

....

Baumgartner's remarkable effort was almost equalled later on Saturday evening when Florian Wirtz put Germany ahead in France, with a 25-yard effort that appeared to deflect off Dayot Upamecano before clipping the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

....

His goal was also two seconds faster than when Davide Gualtieri stunned England by scoring for San Marino after eight seconds in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 and Christian Benteke's goal for Belgium against Gibraltar in 2017.

....

Video: https://x.com/ballsdotie/status/1771667 ... 60876?s=46

[amenina]

https://www.nfsbih.ba/en/news/football- ... cancelled/

The international friendly match, part of the Euro 2024 playoffs, set to be played at the stadium Grbavica in Sarajevo on March 26th between the BiH and Israel's national “A” football teams, has been cancelled.

Following consultations with relevant authorities, due to the current security situation and the high risk associated with playing the match against the Israeli team, it was decided to cancel the match in Sarajevo. UEFA has also consented to the cancellation, fully understanding the new circumstances. Our national 'A' team will play a new friendly match at one of the upcoming free dates in the UEFA calendar this year.

Consequently, all media activities that were planned for this match are also cancelled.

[dandeer]

2-0 FT. Wirtz and Havertz. Kroos makes us better, without a doubt. And Wirtz starts to shine also in the NT. But again, the games against big opponents were not our problem. It was always the likes of Japan or South Korea. However, one of the best performances since the WC win!

Then here is to hoping Hungary will play like Japan or South Korea against Germany.

[dandeer]

Turkey played really well against Hungary btw. The 1 goal was scored from a penalty due to handball.