July 10, 2016

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 07:00 AM - 6 comments

Andy Murray provides Briumph at Wimbledon to help lessen the sting of recent Brefeats.

Now on to Sunday Breverages.

posted by beaverboard at 12:39 PM on July 10, 2016

My 1/8 Portuguese ancestry leaves me very satisfied with the outcome. I cannot help but believe the extra day of rest might have had a bearing on the outcome in extra time, but then France had more than a few chances to win it in regulation. Many will argue that Portugal did not deserve to make it out of the group stage, let alone into the final, but you play to your strength. Soccer is perhaps the only game in which the saying 'you play to win the game' is not completely valid. Much more accurate is to say'you play to give your team the best chance of improving its position in the standings, and ultimately its best chance to win the game in the knock out stage'. Don't fault Portugal for doing exactly what was necessary.

posted by Howard_T at 05:44 PM on July 10, 2016

Deschamps screwed up by having France go hard the first portion of the match despite the scant recovery time they had after the exhausting meeting with Germany. That used up a lot of what precious energy they had in their legs. When they couldn't get an early goal from the effort, they were less than their usual selves the rest of the way.

posted by beaverboard at 07:03 PM on July 10, 2016

Howard - just got back to Chicago from a week in a part of coastal Rhode Island for which the nearest "big" city is Fall River, MA. Enjoyed some of the vestiges of the Portuguese influence there, although New Anglicized. I salute Portugal but still wanted France to win.

posted by holden at 11:46 PM on July 10, 2016

posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:13 AM on July 11, 2016

nearest "big" city is Fall River, MA

Ha, I was just wondering today how Fall Rive reacted. Not like they're spoiled for good news.

posted by yerfatma at 02:52 PM on July 11, 2016

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