Euro 2008

[Hildegard]

Got to give kudos to Turkey though, with the likes of Emre, Servet and Nihat on I think they really would have won.

 

Well with that logic, no they wouldn't because if Eduardo played for Croatia Turkey wouldn't even be in the semifinals

[Tigranes]

Fair enough.

[Walsingham]

Good heavens. Teamwork and discipline make a difference? Blimey.

 

Well at least England has individual qualities

 

By indidvidual qualities I presume you mean a neanderthal in shorts.

[Hildegard]

By indidvidual qualities I presume you mean a neanderthal in shorts.

 

Well I mean the majority of the English team, all great names and individuals but you seem to lack what Germany has for an example, effective teamwork and discipline.

Edited June 26, 2008 by Hildegard

[Walsingham]

By indidvidual qualities I presume you mean a neanderthal in shorts.

 

Well I mean the majority of the English team, all great names and individuals but you seem to lack what Germany has for an example, effective teamwork and discipline.

 

There I agree absolutely. Your wisdom (in that it reflects my own) is perfect.

[Pidesco]

I have to say that I think the individuals aren't all that good either.

 

England has no depth in defense, the goalkeeper is middling, the midfield is good I guess, and up front your best player is Rooney.

[Jediphile]

Wow! 0-0 between Spain and Russia by half time, but very exciting.

 

Actually, compared to the Germany vs. Turkey yesterday, this is a primary example of why you cannot measure football by the goals scored. Yesterday it was 1-1 by half-time, but the game was just terrible. Today the first 45 minutes flew by with excellent play from both sides, but no goals.

 

But I think Spain will win. The russians seem to think they could just go in and continue the game against Holland, but of course Spain has watched and won't be caught off guard, which is the chief reason why Arshavin (Russia's no. 10) has been very anonymous in the first half. Pavlyuchenko is still deadly in his raids against the spanish goal, though - what an excellent forward. Torres has been pretty dangerous too, though. A shame Villa had to be taken out.

 

No bookings, though. Surprising, because it's a game where neither side pull their punches, and there have been some nasty fouls already. If the ref doesn't put his foot down hard from the beginning of the second half, this could become a truly ugly, nasty game, considering what is at stake.

[Gorgon]

Spain +1

[Jediphile]

Yep, I called it

 

Must that 3-0 was a lot more than I expected. Too bad for the russians, who seemed to just lose faith as Spain scored.

 

A lot people I've talked to thought Russia would be deadly, but while they played a great match against Holland, I think the dutch are a great team on the offense with a so-so defense, which is what Russia exploited. And naturally Spain had read their game and taken their precautions - Arshavin was totally absent in this game, kept in check by the spanish defense. The russians have played a great tournament, and I have no doubt they'll be a major force in euro and world championships for the next decade.

 

The spanish goals were marvellous, though. Especially the last one was high class and showed the vast ability of Iniesta to read the game - with one pass he totally destroyed the russian defense.

 

Now, Spain vs. Germany in the final. Well, considering who made it to the semi-finals, it's the final I wanted. And Spain will own Germany!

[Tigranes]

The forced sub of Villa did hurt Spain as Torres has been a 'nearly man' for all of the tournament - but it got Fabregas on early, which is what won them the game ultimately. Aragones has no idea how he's supposed to use *any* of Xavi, Cesc and Iniesta, so in the first half they were all stranded, but they sorted it out in half time with Cesc sitting back as he wants, Iniesta coming inside more, Xavi making the occasional forward run - elements which produced the first two goals. Marcos Senna was excellent again, and along with the other midfielders really choked off the Russians.

 

Rather disappointed that the Russians couldn't adapt their game - Spain has a very superior defence to Holland on any day and tend to be more resilient, and they just couldn't cope with that.

[Meshugger]

The last 20 minutes of the game was more or less like:

 

(Spanish team) "Hey guys! Wanna score another goal?" "Nah, let's run for a while"....."Okey-dokey, now i feel like scoring!" *goal*

(Russian team) ...how the hell do you guys manage to be all over the place at the same time?...

[random n00b]

WOOHOO!!

 

The forced sub of Villa did hurt Spain as Torres has been a 'nearly man' for all of the tournament - but it got Fabregas on early, which is what won them the game ultimately. Aragones has no idea how he's supposed to use *any* of Xavi, Cesc and Iniesta, so in the first half they were all stranded, but they sorted it out in half time with Cesc sitting back as he wants, Iniesta coming inside more, Xavi making the occasional forward run - elements which produced the first two goals. Marcos Senna was excellent again, and along with the other midfielders really choked off the Russians.

You know, Aragones' decisions are indeed controversial, and even over here, he's drawn a lot of flak for them. Everyone seems to know how to do things better than him, but he's the only coach that's been able to accomplish anything worth mentioning...

 

Luck or wisdom, I can't make up my mind...

[Atreides]

Aragones is an asshat but he can manage the Spanish egos. As for Domenech, I really think he should be fired for incompetence. Donadoni not so because he's been quite decent in selection. Italy doesn't have as much obvious talent.

 

Looking forward to Scolari at Chelsea next season. They're coming to Malaysia on preseason and I may get to watch them live for the first time in my life.

[Pidesco]

Looking forward to Scolari at Chelsea next season.

 

That will be a complete disaster.

[Tigranes]

You know, Aragones' decisions are indeed controversial, and even over here, he's drawn a lot of flak for them. Everyone seems to know how to do things better than him, but he's the only coach that's been able to accomplish anything worth mentioning...

 

*shrug* I'm perfectly willing to accept an argument that tells me why Aragones' decisions are actually astute, since I know I'm not the best armchair manager around. But what you say doesn't really persuade me - Domenech got France to the World Cup finals, but is he really a good manager, and was it really his tactical aptitude that took them that far? On the contrary, I think France got to the finals despite Domenech's decisions.

 

Note that I'm not judging Aragones as a whole, since I know nothing about his off-the-field stuff, which can be just as important. But on-field, theres just no reason not to field Fabregas. If somebody knows why, feel free to tell me!

[Meshugger]

....and that's it. Congrats, Spain Sadly, this game goes down to one of the more boring ones in history.

[random n00b]

WOOHOO!!

 

Moar goalz would have been nice, though.

[Jediphile]

Yea - Spain wins and are champions. They totally deserved it too - far better than the germans today. Congrats.

 

[Tigranes]

Yep, Spain definitely deserve it and it was good to see them actually win for once, maybe the Dutch can do it next time (:crai:).

 

It was a pretty odd game first half - Aragones fields Xavi, Iniesta AND Fabregas, but the midfield becomes such a quagmire Spain ends up booting the ball over it. Great work by Torres and a magnificent finish. Some people seem to blame Lehmann every time Germany concede, but he's been as solid as ever and can't be blamed I think. Germany had a nice spell around 50-60 minutes but otherwise never really looked like scoring, and their efforts in the last 10 minutes were quite disappointing. Spain has a very nice squad which worked well as a team today.

 

Hats off to Ballack for stepping on everybody on the Spanish team except Casillas within 30 minutes, then managing to get Casillas booked. What a captain. Rather disappointed that Podolski and Fabregas could not contribute more, I thinkw e'd have seen more goals otherwise but neither side really played their 'normal' game.

[Xard]

WOOHOO!

 

That was AWESOME game

 

And right team won

[mkreku]

I thought the game was a bit on the boring side. Spain has played better before (twice against Russia!). Still, they are very well deserved winners!

 

Congratulations, Spain!

[Hildegard]

Finally those Germans are eliminated, congratulations to Spain....

[Gorgon]

Finals are usually boring.

[Xard]

well this wasn't. One of the best matches. It was pure awesomeness from beginning to end.

 

lol@Silva headbutting though. Zidane started the new trend! Without one headbutt it ain't final at all!

[Guest The Architect]

Well done Spain. They dominated the match, creating much more than Germany. Could've easily been 2 or 3 nil.

 

Too bad they won't win the World Cup in 2010.