The Official Football Thread

[Blablabla]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Robben and Persie, if they are at their fullest, are scary.

And why Anelka on the bench and Henry on the left wing most of the time puzzled me. And forgive me, but who is that substitute Gomis?

A young Saint Etienne player...likely put in the team thanks to the very good play he did vs Colombia. First play with France, 2 goals (the lastest fr player who managed this was Zidane in 1994).
So Domenech may have though that this young one could be a good "thumb card"..

Anyway... wonderful play but it's good for french-boys to see that putting goals as soon as they can is the absolute way to win.

ITA-FRA next Tuesday will be very fun.

[Kinny Riddle]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...546667&cc=4716

I find it amusing that there's a possibility that the population of the eight Swiss and Austrian host cities have now been outnumbered by the supporters of the other countries. Don't expect the same for the Olympics in Beijing though, whose population is over 17 million.

[alamarco]

You guys also forgot that Romania beat the Netherlands twice in qualifying with the Netherlands playing their full squad. So with the Netherlands due to rest players against Romania I think the possibility of Romania winning is really high.

I'm hoping Villa can get another hat-trick. Only player I like on Spain and as much as I like Ibra I dislike Sweden .

[Blaat]

Romania only won once and drew once. Anyway Sweden 1 - 1 Spain, Spain is already bottling it up (although I do think they should have gotten a penalty)

[Alleluia_Cone]

The whole issue with the Netherlands being able to 'choose' their semifinal opponent has already been remarked on by many commentators, and I have to agree with the majority sentiment in saying that the way the European Championship is set-up has many flaws, none greater than this one. Instead of having Groups A and B play each other immediately in the next round, as well as Groups C and D, they should cross the groups up, so that the first round does not have potential semifinal match-ups, which is plain ridiculous. Imagine if Germany were to beat Portugal in the quarterfinals, and the Czech Republic were to beat whoever they face in their quarterfinal, we would have a rematch of Germany and the Czech Republic again in the semifinal.

[WONDERMIKE]

they changed the system after the last EURO where two teams from the same group faced each other again in the final match, idk if it's better this way now, the fact Portugal had to play against Greece a second time in the final match didn't bother me at all

[Shinndou]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

That said, I think Romania will just beat Holland and pass. We have experienced this sensation in Euro2004, whereas we would have passed 1st stage unless Sweden-Denmark ended 2-2. And guess what, it did end 2-2.

[KiNA]

OH GOD.. That was a thrilling game there..

2-1 to the Spain.

Villa <3

[Eps~]

Sweden without Ibrahimović and his quality really shows

[Kinny Riddle]

While I'm a big fan of Ikea furniture, and the Swedish did give us the Caramelldansen, I can't say I'm too impressed with Sweden's style of football. Maybe they're slightly better than the "anti-football" of Greece. So congrats to Villa once again climbing to the top of the goalscorer table with the amazing last minute goal. Great relief for them as well, as they'll avoid the Dutch in the QF.

Now to see if Hiddink can break open the stubborn shell that is Greece.

[Fei-san]

Spain deserved the last goal, mainly because of the handball at the end of 1st half
Then again imo the judge seemed to favor Spain alot after that moment on. Strange that all of a sudden Sweden seem to hang onto Zlatan to make the goals, usually it's up to Larsson. Age and all that

[Alleluia_Cone]

Despite the victory, I think Spain has tangible weaknesses, starting with their midfield. While it is perhaps the most technically gifted in the entire tournament, too many of the players on the line are duplicates of each other (i.e. small, skillful ball-handlers and passers, very little shot power). I know they have Senna in their to protect the back-line, but he is rather small as well. As for their defense, if Puyol is not healthy, they run into a lot of problems. Casillas and Sergio Ramos are some of the best in the game, but, for whatever reason, they are prone to sloppiness at times, which can cost them (as it did on the Ibrahimovic goal). I think Spain will have a lot of problems with teams like the Netherlands and Germany, especially in the center of the park.

[WONDERMIKE]

I feel sorry for Greece, even though they rely on their defense and therefore don't show sensational football. Hopefully Rehagel will continue as coach.

[Eps~]

Apperantly the greek coach will continue his job until the next best thing - FIFA world cup 2010. At least what I heard on TV.

Speaking of the match Greece vs Russia, both team played better than on their first match.

[Sazelyt]

Wow, Greece is gone (can't say I am sorry, more like haven't felt anything, especially when Portugal is doing just fine). Now, if Romania and Austria can win, it will become more like South American national teams dominating the European ones.

[Isegrim]

I feel sorry for Greece, even though they rely on their defense and therefore don't show sensational football. Hopefully Rehagel will continue as coach.

Hum... Rehakles is teaching oldschool football. Greece people were lucky in 2004, nobody thought of football being THIS antique.
Germany - Austria should not show any difficulty for us. Should...

[WONDERMIKE]

idk what you call "oldschool" football, I always thought his tactics were fitting since the team isn't that good at all and the 4-3-3 formation kind of compensates the generally defensive tactics(the "trap" is meaningless unless you score some goals). I agree it's not exactly fun to watch, but teams of that level should have every right to play this way. As an outsider you should know your place or you will end up like the Russians against Spain.

I hope our team will eventually grow some balls, they always go emo and rather need a psychologist, not a coach.. but even so, I bet you will win, but I'm not so sure about the next match against Portugal

[Sazelyt]

Quite surprising result for Turkey. The same is true for the Portugal game. Just because they are organizing the tournament, losing to Swiss....forget about the surprise, quite disturbing actually.

Anyways, Turks may do what the Greeks had done the last time. As mentioned in the Turkish newspapers, in the last three championships, winners of a Czech game won the championship. So, if this trend continues, either Portugal or Turkey will win the championship. I don't mind either......

[Sheba]

Turkey vs Czech was fcking epic!!!

It has 2 - 0 that would have get other teams go "GG, *takes the plane*", all balls out comeback then the last fatal blow.

And goalkeeper who got red carded ftl ;/

[WONDERMIKE]

What a match.. the referee missed a penalty, you can't lift your leg much higher, can you? Now they have to face Croatia in Vienna, haha, this will end in a civil war on the streets, Vienna has a lot of Croatian/Turkish immigrants.. I don't think Turkey will stand a chance, they lost their goalkeeper and the rest of the team has yellow cards or is injured(that's what you get for playing unfair/brutal ). Knowing the Turkish mentality I'm not sure they can stay peaceful after a loss.