Almost as if people like different things in TF2? Who knew.

Enjoy it, it goes to show you don't need the best players, you have to be resilient.

I watched Hungary vs Portugal and A Seleção were defending so poorly, but suddenly Ronaldo found his scoring touch, and from watching it I thought "takes some character to fight back from behind, but they don't look like a good team, should lose to someone better". Goes to show you're only as good as your last match even if you have the better players. Pepe, Carvalho, Guerreiro, Fonte, Jaoa Mario and Rui Patricio, all absolute stalwarts in defence. I would argue from the whole tournament your best player was Guerreiro or Pepe.

To be fair to France, they didn't turn up - when your best player on the night is Moussa Sissoko you know you're probably going to lose

So many kind people I have met, could not list them all without spending an hour thinking of all of the people I have met.

Furbo is probably the teammate that sticks out along with Bulle & of course Polk.

Ironic because first England tournament I saw was Euro 96' - Talk about building false expectations.

I didn't see that performance coming, in the other 3 games we may have lacked cutting edge but at least we played somewhat decent. That was the worst display I have ever seen, to say Iceland looked comfortable is an exaggeration - They play like Leicester - Undedog mentality, good at set plays and actually push players forward in the midfield, their 2nd goal had more quality in it than I have seen from England - One touch, two touch in our final third. Well played to Iceland, I hope you go on and beat France, you look a decent side.

England though - It wasn't that we were peppering the goal and camped in Iceland's half, It was actually woeful, and I know woeful I watched West Ham play for years, but they couldn't pass a ball. Nobody wanted the ball either, Hodgson puts on Wilshere, puts him as a deep playmaker, Rooney seemed to be playing the same role - but they both gave the ball away for fun, then neither of them wanted the ball when our wide men had it - No movement ahead of them, everyone just went into their shells. The England players reaction to going behind was that of a team devoid of leaders - Rooney is meant to be our captain and he's hiding away, doesn't want the ball.

First thing we need with England whoever the manager is - Get a new captain, someone with guts. I don't care if he isn't the best player in the world, but put a leader in that side. It was so bad I would have rather seen us have Andy Carroll on the pitch and knock long balls up to him, that is how dreadful we were.

My England rant is over - Have to say it's been an amazing tournament so far - Shame I just witnessed the worst England performance I have ever seen.

The one thing that ails me about this is the amount of Brits calling this our "Independence Day" - Nigel Farage made one of the most over the top speeches I have heard since I watched....the movie "Independence Day" - as if we were shackled down to the evils of the EU, with Angela Merkel coming into our houses and stealing our children's food.

He also called it a victory for "decent people" - Sorry my values on multiculturalism and diversity don't make me "decent". The only good thing to come out of this is to see Pig Fucker Cameron go. Hopefully to be replaced by Theresa May, not Boris Yeltsin Jnr.

ZOOB

Yeah I have great respect for people still doing things like this, another thing you can have a look at and cross reference on Comp.tf is how newbie cups effect signup numbers for both gamemodes, generally the trend is positive - I am amazed there have not been more of them done on the scale of Archimedes Cup which was another event mainly organised by people who I see in the HL community.

Funny because my post actually provides evidence, albeit very minute amounts something yours is lacking. But people on different sides of arguments with different agendas will always dismiss others that disagree. It's not a big deal, my post won't persuade you that you are wrong, yours did not persuade me, but it will at least show the community there is another train of thought to be found outside of this forum.

Forgive me I have turned this into a 6v6 vs HL discussion - It should be a discussion about a great opportunity for people to learn the skills needed to play in competitive TF2 and I hope people signup and participate.

I also hope there is another Archimedes Cup with 100% less TF2center and Masternoob.

This would be true if only the game was actually going to be a recognised eSport.

Because it's a community based game where the majority of top players will leave after a few years and move on, the survival of the scene depends solely on the influx of new players into competitive TF2.

When I cherry picked some data a few months ago to try and persuade Kkaltuu to do something or other (I usually try and persuade him to do a lot of things he doesn't want to do, like play Engi for me at LAN), in Season 23 of ETF2L 6v6, 1 in 4 players who started in Prem had their first competitive team in Highlander, when you went to Season 23 High, this number was 1 in 3, I can only imagine the trend continues.

Highlander Open will only boost numbers for the competitive scene. The existence of the scene is part of the lasting legacy of the game, choosing not to cover it is your organisations prerogative, all I can say is I am disappointed because before you made that decision I had people like Brooky willing to work with me to produce an "On the Point", version for Highlander. Now I can't even find him on my friends list anymore. I used to be able to approach people like Admirable or yourself and say "I want to put on a Highlander event can TFTV help", now I know it's impossible. There was a point we weren't as divided as we are today and it's because of you making a decision and getting your staff fully behind it.

You've made a big decision not to cover Highlander events for your gaming organisation, you have come out and said Highlander can't be considered competitive TF2, even though I have massive respect for you and what you have done for the game, at the end of the day what your opinion boils down to is your version of competitive TF2. It isn't shared by everyone. The only difference is you're head of a gaming organisation that provides the best quality coverage with the best talent and the biggest viewership base.

We're not an eSport, don't pretend we are - We are the billiard game of the eSport world - Everyone knows about Cue sports, but not everyone knows that it has several variations - 8-ball Pool, 9-ball Pool, Chinese 8-Ball and Billiards as well as the most successful cue sport of them all - Snooker, which takes more skill and ability to play than any of these games, but will always be confined to a minor part to play in the sporting calendar.

Every argument ever made to why TF2 hasn't worked has been made but blaming Highlander for existing despite the fact it's the only competitive gamemode that plays all the classes, the only competitive gamemode that plays the most popular gamemode in payload, the competitive gamemode that started it's life from 1 tournament that was actually designed to boost 6v6 player numbers - this is the worst argument I have heard.

My opinion on this won't be popular here, I am in 6v6 territory (By the way I still love 6v6 and play it) but go to other places I know I will be supported.

"Because Europeans legitimately have no clue how to play Highlander"

If I was a betting man, cheeky bet on Croatia to win the Euros, excellent footballing side, well drilled - can play direct, can play on the counter, can play possession based, can play a high pressing game and easier route to the final.

Germany/Italy/Spain/France/England in the same side of the draw - going to be a sudden death from the QF onwards, as an England fan we got a decent side and we MIGHT be able to hurt the better teams but we got to be a lot more clinical, strikers like Kane/Vardy we bigged up need to deliver - still as long as we play attacking football and with passion, I don't mind.

TF2 is such a constant and integral part of my life and I have played for so long, I could honestly write a book about all my time and experience in this game. The best community I ever been a part of, met some of my best friends in this game and to this day I don't think I will have better times in gaming, sorry Overwatch.

Hopefully the story has a few chapters left.

Doesn't tell me the full story, luckily we have Whatsapp groups Craig. Typical IT support level of service there.