Ignacy:
Today I pay respect to the Player. We often complain that celebrities earn too much. We complain that they are spoiled, that they are doing stupid shit, that they lost form, or lost engagement, or whatever.

And then, once in a while, they prove they can play. We can still complain about their salaries, about their celebrity status, we can complain about many things, but we must agree on this one thing – they became celebrities because they can play.

In this situation yesterday, 999 out of 1000 players would kick the ball to score a goal. 673 would hit a defender. 247 would hit the goalkeeper. 13 would hit the goalpost. 62 would kick towards the sky, far from the goal, 3 would miss the ball, and Neymar would dive for a penalty.

And then there is Kevin De Bruyne, cold minded player, who ran into the penalty area, who made everyone think he is going to try to score, and then he passed the ball to another player who was in a better position.

Cold-minded brain with the perfect analysis of the situation on the pitch. That’s why Belgium scored, and 999 other teams would never score in that situation. That’s why Kevin earns that much.

Because when there is this one split second that defines the whole 90 minutes match, he makes a difference.

Thomas:
I believe it was 2016 that I decided to go for it.

For your information: I’m watching Belgium play Denmark right now, but I’m disappointed in our southern neighbors this time. 0 – 1 down, and boring lousy play. So I might as well type you a little story.

I had always been designing lighter games, such as UGO! and Tavern. I wanted to do something different. Something I really liked, without thinking of what would be commercially best. Not thousands of boxes, but only a couple of hundreds. Just to purely enjoy designing your own favorite kind of games.

I looked at my Kallax. It was full of more complex games and mostly solo. I looked at my pc. It got too old to do any of the newest games. I’ve always been inspired by pc games for my designs. What complex game would I really enjoy as a board game? Of course. It had to be a football manager. And it had to be solo. I published the game myself. Only 100 copies were made at first. I didn’t have to do anything! People told each other the game was good. Soon I did another 100 copies. The game stayed the same, but the quality got better. Again, they went all over the world.

One thing I was surprised about was the love of football in the US. I’m sure most of the games were played over there.

BGG said people still wanted the game. At a certain point, there were more people wanting it than having it. But I really wanted to do something different. And I already had sent a copy to Ignacy because I was convinced it fits Portal Games like a Polish football jersey.

In the meantime, I started my next project, 'Everything Lost’, the same way. Never change a winning team. Although it’s a big cliche quote, this one proved right. (You should check it on BGG:-) )

But then I got this e-mail from Ignacy. It was very short. Something like:

„We really like your game. We want to publish it worldwide.”

From there, it all started. Eleven was born.

And I can assure you if you thought Club Stories (which was the original name) was good, Eleven takes it off from there. It will be playable solo and competitive multiplayer. It takes the good things of Club Stories and puts new layers on top of it.

I’m sure you will enjoy it.

In the meantime, I see the referee blowing his final whistle. A 2 – 1 win for Belgium. It’s not always necessary to play well to win a game. Mmm… did we add this in Eleven?

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Let’s pick up the subject which Ignacy talked about yesterday. He showed us stereotypes aren’t always right. But are they true at all? Let’s pick one.

“Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

This is what Gary Lineker said after England lost the semi final against Germany during the World Cup of 1990.
It became a very famous quote, and although there wasn’t any evidence to prove it, it became a well known fact. I believed in it as well. I was brought up with it.
I remember my father warning me as a boy: “Don’t cheer too early, they are Germans, you know!” But I can’t really remember a moment in which this really happened.. Did Gary Lineker create a myth by himself?

Now let’s do some science.

In 2019 scientists at the Ghent university analysed more than a 1000 games in recent history, played in the Champions League and Europa League. And what do you know? German teams don’t score more goals in the final minutes than clubs from other countries.
Spanish and French teams are less likely to concede a goal in the final minutes.
The same goes for English teams… but only if they have an English coach. Sometimes facts can be just as fun as stereotypes.

How does this work in Eleven? We believe that form and morale can be of a big influence on a game. We’ve implemented it in Eleven. If you have a team with a high morale, you are more likely to score in the dying seconds of the game. And if your team is fitter, you will be able to give more, and increase your chances of winning by activating different abilities of the players.

Earlier Dutch Research investigated national sides. Argentina, Italy ánd Germany are more likely to score in the dying seconds, but Germany is also more likely to concede any goals.

Therefore: Busted

So, let’s change that quote: “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Italians or Argentines win.”

I guess now we know who’s gonna win the cup.

Yesterday’s game against Switzerland only confirmed it.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Ignacy:
We discuss tactics. We argue if 4-4-2 is better than 4-5-1, we debate about choices managers make, we spend countless hours talking about who should play on that position and that position and if this player is better from that player. We discuss football all day long, and there are as many opinions as there are fans.

Poland lost against Slovakia yesterday, and as you can imagine, the whole country is debating. We debate manager personal choices. We debate tactics. We debate if our goalkeeper made a mistake. We argue why Lewandowski didn’t score a goal. The Internet – as expected – literally exploded after the match.

That’s all bullocks. Tactics, personal choices, individual player mistakes are all bullocks if there is no heart left on the pitch. There is no tactics that win the game if you don’t run. There is no winning personal choice, if the team plays no pressing. There is no football without giving everything you got on the pitch.

The heart makes a difference.

That’s why Ukraine, which lost against the Netherlands, gained thousands of new supporters last week.

That’s why no one could care less for Poland after their bland, boring, uninspired performance.

We should not discuss tactics. We should not discuss personal choices. We should discuss if that’s the performance of a person whose lifetime dream was to play in the National team during the EuroCup. Did we see that? Did we see the fire, the passion, the manifest of the moment of their life.

In Eleven we have Team Spirit stat. It breaks the rules. Unlike all other stats, it has no fundamental function, no general description. It’s freaking magic. It allows you to do everything. It allows you to break almost any rule in the game. If your team has high Team Spirit, you can do crazy things.

Watching my National team having Team Spirit on level 1, the lowest possible, was a dreadful experience. I am sorry if you also had to watch it.

Thomas:
19-year-old defender Jurriën Timber was in the Dutch starting line-up in the game against Ukraine. At the start of this season, he only played in the second division of the Dutch league. What is it that makes a player grow?

In Eleven we have young players as well. They are eager to learn from the other players on the pitch or from a good coach. Make sure you put them in the line-up, train them, and they probably will become better.

At the beginning of the game, your veteran players form the trusted core of your team. They are essential for the team. They have great abilities, but will get older once you use them. Soon there will be other players developing themselves to take over their roles.

(of course, we are still in the middle of the development of Eleven, so keep in mind things may change!)

This Euro2020 day I watched 2 matches. I missed the one between Sweden and Spain.

The first match of the day was Scotland – Czech Republic. It was played at beautiful Hampden Park. It is home to Queens Park, the oldest football club in Scotland that still exists. After Rangers and Celtic, it has won the most Scottish cups (10), all won during the 19th century. The stadium is also home to the Scottish national team.

It all started well. The national anthem of Scotland was played, and all 15 000 Scots in the stadium sang loud and proud. Beautiful.
The absolute star of the Scottish team was Robbertson. He led his mates in battle. They were the better team in the first half, but it didn’t bring them any goals. And just before halftime, Bayer Leverkusen’s striker Patrik Schick scored at the opposite end of the pitch.

It was a great start to the second half, with chances on both sides. But then Schick struck again. He saw the Scottish goalkeeper was outside the penalty box and took a shot from a great distance. It resulted in the best goal of the tournament so far.

I liked the Scottish way of playing, but they lack a world-class striker. The Czech Republic has one. He goes by the name of Patrik Schick. I will remember him.

Next up was Poland – Slovakia. All members of the Portal Games team were probably watching this one nervously. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t of the highest quality. The best players on the pitch were Zielińsky (Poland) and Hamsík (Slovakia). They brought movement into the teams and functioned as a connection between midfield and front. Poland had the most of the possession, but Slovakian winger Mak scored the first goal.

Right after halftime, Poland got back into the game by scoring the 1-1. Poland got their hope back. But then Krychowiak got his 2nd yellow card, and a couple of minutes later, Slovakia scored again. Poland tried to fight back. Bednarek missed the biggest chance in the 91st minute to equalize. Full time 1-2. Without having great players, Slovakia managed to defeat better quality players by playing organized and being a better team.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Thomas:

Let’s get back to football and board games today.

After 2 days of the tournament, I am most impressed by Belgium and Italy. To me, Belgium is getting more and more used to the fact they belong among the big ones. They have an experienced team, with great talented players. Lukaku was great against Russia. He contributed both in attack and defense. Italy made a good impression as well. But it took a while to break through the Turkish wall. For the neutral football fan, these kinds of matches can be intriguing…

When you play Eleven, you can send scouts to watch the opponent’s team. This way you learn if it is a strong team and in which line up they play. If you are about to meet the favorites for the league title, you may choose a defensive lineup with defensive tactics. One of them is called ‘Play for a draw’. It boosts your defense and decreases your attacking power at the same time. lt often saves you, and sometimes you even steal the victory. Imagine the Turkish own goal didn’t happen and Turkey scored in a counterattack.

Have you ever been on that side as a fan? Remember how you exploded in joy? Or burst into tears, if on the other side. That’s football.

I bet Turkey would have chosen these tactics too if they had the card available.

Of course, yesterday I was looking forward to the game in my home country: The Netherlands.

I remember the first moment I got interested in football. It was in 1988. The Dutch team won the Euros that year. I was… Eleven.

I literally remember every single game. For us, the semi-final was the real final. We won against Germany with a superb goal from Marco van Basten. For the Netherlands, it was revenge for the lost World Cup final in 1974 against Germany.

This year our team is OK. We’ve had a better team, but they can definitely grow during the tournament.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch England – Croatia. I took my kids to the playground. We had a great time. Some things are more important than the beautiful game. Nevertheless, England managed to win without me watching. Raheem Sterling scored the only goal. They took their revenge for the loss against the same opponent in the World Cup semi-finals 2 years ago.

I was really interested in North Macedonia. I’m an underdog man. And I hope they will do well. And become… 2nd in the group. Right behind the Netherlands of course.

They played against Austria, a team which is ranked about 40 places higher in Fifa ranking. The first half was full of mistakes but was entertaining. Austria had better players, but North Macedonia fought hard as a team. Austria opened the score with a beautiful goal, but Macedonia scored the equalizer in a way that looked more like pinball than football.

In the second half it could have gone both ways, but substitutes Gregoritsch and Arnautovitz showed why they should have been in the lineup by both scoring one more goal.

Full time: 3-1. I have been entertained, but I don’t expect these teams to reach the quarter-finals.

I put on my orange 2010 World Cup finals jersey. I was ready for the game. In the first half, the Netherlands were off to a good start. 3 chances in about 7 minutes. But the blue wall got thicker each minute. Sometimes it opened in a flash and the Ukrainians came out for a dangerous counterattack. It was clear the Dutch had the better players, but Ukraine used the ‘play for a draw’- tactics card with thought.

Finally, in the second half, the Dutch broke down the wall. Wijnaldum and Weghorst each scored a goal within 5 minutes. Everybody waited for the third Dutch goal, but instead, Ukraine scored. Twice! They tried the ‘play for draw’ card again, but it didn’t work. In the 85th minute, Dumfries scored the final goal of the game for the Netherlands: 3-2. Ukraine worked hard, but the Dutch took the victory in the end.

Satisfied, but a bit worried. I‘ve seen some good attacks, but although they played with 5 defenders, defensively it didn’t look great.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Thomas:

And then you realize: In life, there is one thing more important than football and board games: It’s life itself.

During the game between Denmark and Finland, Christian Erikson suddenly fell down on the pitch and had to be reanimated. He was fighting for his life. Thousands of people in the stadium, friends, and family, and millions of people watching at home, were shocked. Erikson was brought to the local hospital. After a while, rumors suggested, Christian was conscious, but no one knew for sure. About an hour later, the good news came out: Christian Erikson was awake and was even able to talk. A huge sigh of relief.

I couldn’t imagine the rest of the game would be played that night. But it happened. Players decided to play again. It was said, Erikson also wanted the game to continue.

It was great to see the fans of Finland and Denmark, sharing their emotions together. Shouting Erikson’s name. When the Danish team entered the pitch again, the Finnish players applauded for them. It was a terrible event, but there were some beautiful moments.

I once experienced myself, there was a situation with a fan who had to be reanimated during a match of my hometown club. It’s shocking, but at the same time, it’s great to see how many people want to help.

Of course, Denmark was shocked. There’s only one subject to talk about on the streets today. For the Fins it was a strange evening as well; This, being their first-ever match in a big tournament. They will never forget. But of course first of all it’s about Christian and his family. I hope they get through this and I wish them well.

Finland won the game 0 – 1. But who cares today. I hope Denmark will pick themselves up and play a fantastic rest of the tournament.
Tomorrow I will talk about board games (Eleven) and football again. Somehow it feels less important today.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!