They're my other sweepstake team and Belgium were a bust so I ****ing hope so.

Lucky you, I fancy your chances much more then my own!

This Belgium team isn't under performing as much as some say it is.
Hazard and De Bruyne are very good at club level but they never shine at this level.
Lukaka can't trap a bag of cement. Laughable to see the kind of prices being quoted for this level of player.
And they are their star players.

No idea why Liverpool fans feel the need to defend Origi. He's not playing for them.
He wasn't very good at all, though not quite as poor as Lukaku.

Belgium are the same as ever. They really need a better manager. This guy just continues to fail to deliver. He can't get the best out of his players. It's pretty obvious.

As for Italy, well organised as ever and a great desire.

I think we may see the Belgian bubble burst at these Euros. They had a disappointing WC 2014 and now they're off to a dreadful start here. With any luck, they'll start falling down the FIFA rankings and people stop talking about them as a "world class" team.

The Belgian performance reminded me of some of England's most frustrating ones. Lots of good players below par. KDB who's a great player had a Rooney style nightmare. Hardly anything came off for him. Couldn't get a shot in and passes always seemed heavy. Hazard did nice tricks but that was it. Strikers couldn't hit a barn door. Defence constantly caught out.

It's a bit like the "Golden Generation" stuff from 2006. A supposedly fantastic group of players on paper who all play for big clubs but who simply don't gel or play well as a team.

Wonder if Origi is on the mafias payroll? He must claim the most influential sub award of tournament so far. Without him Italy wouldnt have won

It does look that way. But i think the belgians feel even more urgency to do well as they probably believe they'll never have a bunch of players even with a tenth of this lots talent ever again.

Was it USA who knocked them out in WC2014? And have they changed managers since? Because if Belgian football fans are anything like the english the belgian manager better not go back to belgium ever.

Thought it was funny when Immobile came on - thought, he's not gonna add much pace.

I got my predication shockingly wrong. After watching Belgium I no longer have any belief in them, they don't function very well and looked really rubbish. Well done Italy for seeing out the game and getting that last-minute goal.

Fantastic game. As an Italian supporter, us Italians tend to be very negative about everything. "Go in with low expectations". That was the calmest I felt during an Italy match for a major tournament, ever I think. Usually, they **** us up and make so many mistakes.

They played class football tonight.

Why do people even listen to the rankings and the bookies? The fact that Italy were below the likes of Belgium and England in both of them is laughable. Every single time the World Cup and Euro's come around, England always has shorter odds. Why? it makes no sense.

How far out were Italy on the build up to WC 2006? They were certainly not faves! And neither were they in Euro 2012 (i pretend the final didn't happen though)

Argentina in fact and Marc Wilmots has been the manager since 2012.

Something is not right though, they're certainly not playing like a world class team and haven't really done at any point.

No it isn't don't be so silly. They have excellent players and if they don't gel that is the fault of the guy picking the team. If you score 25 league goals or are the player of the year or are the main player in one of the worlds richest teams then only a fool would judge your talent based on an international game. Exactly the same as fools who buy players no one had heard of based on tournament performance and are surprised when the turn out to be less than average over a season.

obviously because we're in England and the bookies expect to have a lot more bets on England so they offer much lower odds than they should be

they're in the business of making money not giving a true reflection of various team's chances

Wilmots is ruining them. You've got a CB partnership in Vertonghen and Alderwiereld who played the majority of last season for Tottenham together, who ended up with the joint best defence in the league, and he splits them up. Vertonghen is not a left back. He hates playing at left back. I have no clue why you would willingly play him out of position there. And then you have Dembele, who was immense all season, and he doesn't even get on the pitch.

I'm not judging them on just one match. They were extremely ordinary in the last WC and never look anything more than a very ordinary team.
I don't care if Lukaku scores league goals. His first touch is shockingly bad, he's lazy and imobile and against quality he has always looked way short of top class. He's OK at a certain level where he looks like a big fish in a small pond, but no way would o want a lump like that leading my team.

What they have is a lot of players of Fellaini's level. He's a very average player in a very average UTD team. The two players of higher quality - Hazard and KDB - just don't or can't cut it at the highest level.

If we are talking about a small nation who really did produce a quality team then go back to the Danish side. They always looked well balanced and played a really smooth, flowing style of football from back to front. They looked quality and produced the goods. This Begium team don't look quality and don't produce.

Your insightful post got me thinking about Wilmots. After an incredibly brief spell of club management at Schalke 04 (3 months) he then had 6-7 months (including the long summer break!) as manager of Sint-Truiden before being sacked. This inglorious record in club management is followed by 4 years where there seems to be no record of him in club management at all and then he is appointed assistant manager of the national team (2009) before eventually taking over in 2012.

I know club management is not the same as managing at international level, but I would have thought being a failure in the former would not be a stepping stone to the latter. Perhaps someone who knows more about Wilmots' managerial career (not as a player) can explain how the hell he worked his way into the national team management. where he appears well on the way to destroying the chances of a gifted generation of players.

Vertonghen at full-back for Belgium isn't new, and were Kompany fit then Alderweireld may well have been out wide too. Wilmots hasn't split them up, they just don't play together as a partnership except at Tottenham. whether or not they play together isn't really Belgium's issue though. like I said before the tournament even began what is killing them is having no proper full-backs. attacking full-backs would make a massive difference to the system, creating more space and options for the players further forward. without them, they are extremely one-paced and predictable.

also, how Fellaini keeps being played in advanced roles for what are supposed to be good teams is a complete mystery to me. he is not good at all.

I know it's not new, and I know Toby usually plays at RB for them. I meant split them up in terms of following on from them having played the vast majority of the season together for us. Last season was the first time they have played together as a CB partnership at club level since Wilmots has been head coach, and yet despite them doing so well, he's still chosen to keep them at full back, injuries for Belgium permitting.

Fellaini is one of life's great mysteries.

personally I'd have swapped Vertonghen and Vermaelen, as I think the letter is slightly better going forward, and Toby and Jan already have a partnership, but at the end of the day it's still square pegs in round holes. without natural full-backs they're doomed.

I'm amazed at the people I know that lumped money on Belgium to win this tournament.

Until they play as a team, they wll achieve nothing.

Great performance by Italy and I have them to top the Group so great start!

As a Chelsea fan, really enjoyed watching Conte and how his team is set up.

Saying that, we have Brana, like to see how he organises him!

They have quality players who demonstrate their quality week in week out. If they are underachieving as a nation then its foolish to say "the players aren't good enough" when they demonstrate in a far more logical environment that they are.

Performing wonders at club level is not much use if you can't do it for the national team as well. You can't call yourself a great international player unless you're proving it by having great games for your country in big tournaments.

I'm not defending Origi - he was poor in terms of his finishing & touch once he came on but at least he put himself about. I just had an issue with the usual serial sniper who seems to drop in inane comments that just incite things and add little value.

Belgiun appear to be the new Spain - firstly they were dark horses, then they have the squad that "should" get to the latter stages of tournaments but always fall short. Spain eventually overcame this stigma but think Belgium need a real force in central midfield before they'll do the same. Their stellar talents going forward are all timid on the pitch - why they made Hazaed captain God only knows - hardly one for the trenches!