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Watching the Euro 2020 final: what's your advice?
Chizz
Posts: 28,331
I have a couple of bits of advice for those watching the final tonight. Look around before kick off and treat the two imposters just the same.
Look around before kick off
Whoever you have chosen to watch the game with, and wherever you are, check out your surrounds before the game starts. Your mood will change inexorably throughout the 90+ minutes, so take some time to draw in who you're with. Because, for the next several decades, people are going to ask you about it.
Friends, strangers, people you meet over the next twenty, thirty or more years will want to know who you watched it with and where you were. Tonight's game - whatever the result - will be a point in time for the rest of your life. A milestone. Make sure you take it in, and remember who you're with.
And, the next time you're together, it will be just with a knowing glance, a look, a nod, with which you will remember that night. You won't need to say anything.
And the memory will resonate with you forever. Whether it's that pass, that foul, that penalty. You will have flashbacks to tonight, forever. Even walking into a Seven-Eleven will, from today's date forward, bring back memories of everything that happens tonight.
Tonight's marks the end of the third age of football. The first, of course was everything that happened up to 26 April 1947. The second was from that day until 30 July 1966. And the third was everything since then, until today. Tonight, football is reborn. A new age, liberally suffused with expectation. Make sure you remember who you spent it with, and where.
Treat the two imposters just the same
Look around before kick off
Whoever you have chosen to watch the game with, and wherever you are, check out your surrounds before the game starts. Your mood will change inexorably throughout the 90+ minutes, so take some time to draw in who you're with. Because, for the next several decades, people are going to ask you about it.
Friends, strangers, people you meet over the next twenty, thirty or more years will want to know who you watched it with and where you were. Tonight's game - whatever the result - will be a point in time for the rest of your life. A milestone. Make sure you take it in, and remember who you're with.
And, the next time you're together, it will be just with a knowing glance, a look, a nod, with which you will remember that night. You won't need to say anything.
And the memory will resonate with you forever. Whether it's that pass, that foul, that penalty. You will have flashbacks to tonight, forever. Even walking into a Seven-Eleven will, from today's date forward, bring back memories of everything that happens tonight.
Tonight's marks the end of the third age of football. The first, of course was everything that happened up to 26 April 1947. The second was from that day until 30 July 1966. And the third was everything since then, until today. Tonight, football is reborn. A new age, liberally suffused with expectation. Make sure you remember who you spent it with, and where.
Treat the two imposters just the same
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
Tonight's game will be won or lost by a memorable, magical, triumphant moment of disaster. A slip. A bad decision. A penalty. A missed tackle. A free-kick.
But, whatever happens, don't blame the individual whose error costs the game - whichever side he's on. If he made a mistake in the final, remember he was chosen to help get his team there; and, without him, they may not have got as far as they did. It's fifty-five years since any England player has been good enough to make a mistake in a final of a major tournament. Celebrate the moment of magic; don't berate the cause.
If England win, it's a great triumph, but it's only the start: there's another, bigger target next year. And if we're runners-up, it's just a staging-post to better things around the corner.
Tonight's game will be won or lost by a memorable, magical, triumphant moment of disaster. A slip. A bad decision. A penalty. A missed tackle. A free-kick.
But, whatever happens, don't blame the individual whose error costs the game - whichever side he's on. If he made a mistake in the final, remember he was chosen to help get his team there; and, without him, they may not have got as far as they did. It's fifty-five years since any England player has been good enough to make a mistake in a final of a major tournament. Celebrate the moment of magic; don't berate the cause.
If England win, it's a great triumph, but it's only the start: there's another, bigger target next year. And if we're runners-up, it's just a staging-post to better things around the corner.
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Comments
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If England win, it's a great triumph, but it's only the start: there's another, bigger target next year. And if we're runners-up, it's just a staging-post to better things around the corner
Absolutely this, and it's why I won't be too despondent if we don't win tonight. Massively disappointed of course, but imagine what this team will be like in 18 months / 3 years time.1 -
It'll be interesting to see what happens with Southgate over the next few years, should we win tonight.
You can certainly imagine expectations being sky high for Qatar next year
Will he be straight out of a job if we dont see a similar performance to this summer, or even Russia 2018... Or and what I hope, is this the beginning of a Joachim Low type Managerial reign where he'll be allowed to try and build a dynasty, with people being a bit more patient now, even if it doesnt always come off for us0 -
Every day I get up and prey to the god Michael Grey. Is that so wrong?Chizz said:...whatever happens, don't blame the individual whose error costs the game - whichever side he's on. If he made a mistake in the final, remember he was chosen to help get his team there; and, without him, they may not have got as far as they did...4 -
Maguire - 28
Kane - 27
Stones - 27
Pickford - 27
Sterling - 26
Phillips - 25
Grealish - 25
Shaw - 25
Chilwell - 24
Rashford - 23
Mount - 22
Rice - 22
Foden - 21
Sancho - 21
Saka - 19
Bellingham - 18
Between today and July 2026 there are - this final, another Euros and two World Cups in 5 years. Some of those named above, in particular the bottom 6 may not have even reached their peak in that time.
What an opportunity - totally agree @Chizz - today is just the start.6 -
And as I always like to say Leaburn - The way English Football is going, this is just the beginning with talented kids breaking through0
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Are these marks out of ten?ISawLeaburnScore said:Maguire - 28
Kane - 27
Stones - 27
Pickford - 27
Sterling - 26
Phillips - 25
Grealish - 25
Shaw - 25
Chilwell - 24
Rashford - 23
Mount - 22
Rice - 22
Foden - 21
Sancho - 21
Saka - 19
Bellingham - 18
Between today and July 2026 there are - this final, another Euros and two World Cups in 5 years. Some of those named above, in particular the bottom 6 may not have even reached their peak in that time.
What an opportunity - totally agree @Chizz - today is just the start.2 -
I will be 93 in 30 years time, I won’t remember what I had for breakfast never mind what’s happening today.However for the record I will be watching the game in a rented converted barn with my wife in Cornwall supping Henry Westons Cider.2
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I hope we win just to see Saka smile for once.😏0
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I’m supposed you can remember what you have for breakfast at 63! Get those westons down your neck and enjoy.eaststandmike said:I will be 93 in 30 years time, I won’t remember what I had for breakfast never mind what’s happening today.However for the record I will be watching the game in a rented converted barn with my wife in Cornwall supping Henry Westons Cider.1 -
Where are your other wives?eaststandmike said:I will be 93 in 30 years time, I won’t remember what I had for breakfast never mind what’s happening today.However for the record I will be watching the game in a rented converted barn with my wife in Cornwall supping Henry Westons Cider.2 - Sponsored links:
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What will Henry Weston be drinking?eaststandmike said:I will be 93 in 30 years time, I won’t remember what I had for breakfast never mind what’s happening today.However for the record I will be watching the game in a rented converted barn with my wife in Cornwall supping Henry Westons Cider.1
