To call lost final a failure?

[Turefu]

They made final. It's an expetional achievement. They've put up hell a lot of fight. I didn't expect footbal team to reach that far. It's not failure, they've done great.

@safariboot

I think England got to the final on luck as much as skill. Didn't really face any of the other top teams until the final, and had virtually all the matches at Wembley. (OK Denmark were not to be underestimated).

England won't get another chance that favourable for decades to come, and they blew it. So often England have been on the wrong end of "groups of death" or of bad refereeing, but not this year.

Give over

They beat Germany! They only conceded two goals in the whole tournament. The game against Italy had to go to penalties. They were excellent and an equal match for the eventual winners.

I think they should keep playing like Wimbledon. But then I know nothing about football to comment really! Just think penalties are not the way to end a championship, previous rounds, yes, but final, no.

@PhillipPhillop

I think they should keep playing like Wimbledon. But then I know nothing about football to comment really! Just think penalties are not the way to end a championship, previous rounds, yes, but final, no.

Penalties are are very harsh way to lose a tournament but I'm not sure what else they could do, they have already played for two hours and will be knackered.

@SmidgenofaPigeon

You can’t really compare it to the Olympics though. A bronze and silver and gold are all different levels of podium winning. In the euros and world cup there is one level of winning.

Normally in the World Cup there's a 3rd place play-off between the semi-final losers, so there's a formal 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th place (there's also the same sort of match in the Summer Olympics to determine the bronze medal winner).

Don't have that in the Euros, though.

@PhillipPhillop

I think in a final after extra time it should be first to score a goal not penalties. After each 10 minutes, change ends, and just keep going until a goal is scored. The guilt of the players who miss the penalties and also the goalkeeper who has let the penalties in must be immense even though it's not really their fault.

They did try Golden Goal for a short while but decided to stop. Theoretically it could go on forever. Silver Goal was even less successful.

Ultimately they need a way to make sure it finishes at some point. If nothing else, they need to know when everyone can go home!