Schmichel, the son, for Denmark. Goalkeeper.

Peru flubbed that pk, now they are in big trouble of losing this with the brilliant Denmark goal.

Peru shoots penalty OVER the cross bar.. no goal.... horrible.... the kicker took a stutter step.

VAR...

Yurray from Denmark missed a fine opportunity there, of course, the ball surprised him. Good chance for the Danes.

The Peru attacker was in the box and took his shot, he could have taken a dive. I really appreciate that some teams in general terms, don't pull these kinds of shenanigans.  Peru is certainly putting up an effort.

I think it shows how Barcelona's vast talent helps Messi so much while here,  Iceland were able to break down the attack pretty effectively.  Man, on our online game, I went to pick a tie than thought, maybe Argentina is a lot better and changed it. I see in late March, Spain defeated Argentina 6-1 in a friendly FWIW. Guy from Norway, scored a lot of points picking Iceland to draw, sort of a homer pick for him I guess.  Looks like Iceland's recent friendlies didn't reflect well on them either.

Netherlands, Italy missing the World Cup,  Argentina Iceland drawing. To me,   there are definitely shifts going on in international football, in the end, one of the recognizable names may win the whole thing but changes nonetheless..... England lost to Iceland, now Argentina draws them.

Draw, amazing.... and here is that one no-call.... the ref figured Pavon might have taken a dive per the BBC's live coverage:

In the box, that Iceland player didn't get any ball on that vs. the Argentine and the Argentine went down,  it almost seemed like the ref made a diving hand sign...to the Argentine. Play on. None of the announcers are mentioning it much. Must have been okay.

How about that! Delaying response if anyone saw that....if some are watching online....

Yes, Iceland making a game of it versus mighty Argentina....I flipped flopped on my predictions, figuring, heck, it's Argentina after all.  Who'd imagine Iceland would continue their little run and with 20% possession only? And Iceland apparently, a man down.... but now back to XI.

I'm glad they have replay or France's 2nd goal might not have counted... like Lampard's goal was not in South Africa 2010. That was a travesty, everyone saw it but the ref.

That penalty was also close to the top of the box, I was watching that too.

Well, how about this... exciting.

Okay, so the penalty call is close, people seeing it different ways. I feel more comfortable with it now.

1-1 yeah, flagrant handball by France, it washes out.... Oz converts PK in case anyone is not following live. We've got a good game now, I wasn't sure how this tournament might go... quality matches.

Just now, Husky said:

VAR penalty? WTF? I thought he should have booked the guy for diving.

Agreed, it looks like he could have stayed up... France 1-0

Penalty, I don't know if that is one.... but so it goes. PK given.

As much as I don't like the German National Team, for making the finals if not actually winning the Cup, they have had the most, include semi-final appearances but it'd be hard to point to specific stars that light up the field.

Europeans have had the much better of the World Cup since after 2002 when Brazil last won, the recent Euros then, should be seen as close to the World Cup, South Americans have not won it in 16 years. For awhile, SA was having the good run.

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The Portugese Ronaldo is a top player, no doubt about that. As a human being - I'm not impressed.

The last Euro final did it for me. He limped off after about 10 minutes. He handed the captains armband to another player, Pepe ? The rest of the team battled on like Trojans without him and eventually won the cup. Who steps up to receive the trophy ? Yeah you've guessed it- the guy who did nothing in the final to win it.

A real captain like Bobby Moore would have said to the guy who took the armband - " You and the rest of the team won the cup, you go up and get it " .

Ronaldo left in the 25th minute, not 10 minutes.

https://uk.soccerway.com/matches/2016/07/10/europe/european-championships/portugal/france/2024891/?ICID=PL_MS_01

Leading goal scorer in that Euro scored 3 goals, Ronaldo 2, so he's up there.

https://uk.soccerway.com/international/europe/european-championships/2016-france/group-stage/r31060/

A defender vs. an attacker. I'm sure Ronaldo was instrumental in the whole Euro appearance of Portugal. I see no reason for him not to go up; especially, if there is a chance he was intentionally targeted. Ronaldo does work for charity. He and Messi both seem to have run into tax problems.

I'm not going to judge Iran as being the weakest team in group A; they seemed to have the better of the action.

Anyway, I love the international game period, for the last few world cups, I have often gone to this forum and read what it's participants say about Iran of I think I remember, they call them Team Melli:   http://www.persianfootball.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?46-Persian-Football-Discussion-Community

These people are primarily those who fled Iran I think, but they still love their national team. Some posters use profanity, so a disclaimer on that but they are passionate about their team but after today's Portugal/Spain game, you've got to figure, Spain and Portugal both should comfortably go on to the next round.

That said, upsets happen. Look at Iceland last time in the Euro, you don't expect it but somewhere we are bound to see one. Next match, France and Australia? Maybe a draw? Could happen. Things have changed, France for a few World Cups were slow out of the gate but I think Les Bleus will win.

Spain is the 2nd favourite to win the World Cup; so to play that way against them... incredible.  I don't know of many players that could have done that. And yes, in the past, there have been jokes of Cristiano going missing.

Then you have the great teams, together everyone achieves more....

'66 England, ''74 Germany yes, with the Kaiser and the last 3 World Cup champions, Germany, Spain and Italy, maybe there is someone you might pick out of the Spanish team but still, none of the names like Pele and Maradona and Zidane,

Pele's great, Maradona are, again, I'd almost think it is too difficult to compare but one thing is for sure, Pele always had some other stellar talent around him.

Brazil had Jairzinho, Rivellino. The classic Brazil teams, even from 2002 and 1994 had a lot of talented stars, so-called expert writers often say Maradona again, dragged that whole team up.

Just now, JacknOry said:

In that single match Ronaldo has done more at international level than Messi has. Messi is a fantastic player, one of the best of all time but he doesnt seem to be able to carry Argentina in the same way that Ronaldo does Portugal. Like him or hate him - this guy is special. He has a major international win already and Messi doesnt.

In years gone by this will be the same debate as Pele vs Maradonna.

Absolutely, Barcelona needs Messi but Messi has needed Barcelona too, they have had a system that draws out that talent, Ronaldo has been a playmaker, helped Portugal win the Euro, if one wants to say he dragged them all up singlehandedly to do that. So, in a way, 2 different types of players.