...go Engla-
Oh who am I kidding.
...go Engla-
Oh who am I kidding.
Pretty sure they have no chance. I could see them winning their group though because I don't really fancy any of the teams in it.
GO GERMANY etc...
We should ask the elephant on who gonna win this euro.
Aaand, it started.
Chen will be proud, Russia had a quite effective debut.
And the spaniard ref was great as well :wacko:
That first foul in the Greece game was totally a yellow card. It's not like it was... you know... a good tackle that wasn't even a free kick or anything. :wacko:Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie Monster
Being Scottish means that you never see your own team qualify for big tournaments, but also means that you can't really root for England. :wacko: So I decided before the tournament that I would root for Ireland as my nearest non-English neighbour, and for France and Russia as two countries with languages I've studied. ^^;;; Needless to say I am pleased tonight. %)))))) Arshavin's wild ups and downs in the Premiership made me forget just how good he is when he plays for Russia. Good to see little Dzagoev having such a good game, too. My younger brother and I have had our eyes on him since his breakout season at CSKA, and we were excited to see him play~ ^^;;;
Makes me feel good about picking Russia to win that group.
@Elin: I like Arshavin, he's a trooper.
The Poland Greece game was a mess, RED CRADZ! Decent result for Poland though, I'd love to see them get through. Motherland and all. ^_^
How the hell is Samaras a national squad player? Is Greece that bad? :lol
Yes. They are terrible. They were terrible last WC and they haven't improved any from what I can tell. Really wish Poland would have got that win.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fer!
Mmm "group of death" time. Dutchies looking strong currently.
It's sad to see mediocre managers like Van Marwijk wasting the almost infinite offensive potential the dutch players have :/
Haha, my younger brother and I have been laughing at him playing for Celtic for seasons now. :'D He's actually quite a gifted player in terms of raw ability, but he's horribly inconsistent and massively wasteful in front of goal. This season they moved him to left midfield, though, and he actually had a good season for them. Which begs the question of why Greece insisted on playing him as a lone striker. :wacko:Quote:
Originally Posted by Fer!
Poland definitely deserved the win, but I'm actually kind of glad that Greece got the result. Their team is mostly rubbish (outside of Sotiris Ninis, who looked like he had a good bit of potential the few times he was given the ball, and Schalke's Papadopoulos, who looked a really smart, confident defender for someone who just turned twenty), but their economy is a shambles at the moment, so it would be nice to see them put on a good showing this tournament. ^_^
Pretty much with Cookie on Holland. :/ They definitely didn't deserve to lose the game, but if you squander that many chances and play such stagnant football with such great players then frankly you don't really deserve to win either. Will be very difficult for them to get out of the group now. Good for Denmark not going down without a fight after being dealt such a crap hand group-wise, though. ^^;;;
0-0 at half...pepe man...that was close
whew...
Heart in throat. I'm about ready to start chanting for Klose.
Gotze would also be a fine sub. Feels like this is about the time where we need a sub.
GOD DAMN IT MEIRELES SHOULD BE IN THE BOOK FOR THAT.
MARIO GOMEZ GOAL POACHING MAGIC OMGMGGGMGGMASIOGMSGOOGMGG HUG ME COOKIE.
Now lets see this out. Nice to see Klose get in.
Nani just gave me a heart attack.
Wow. Poor from Badstuber. :<3: Neuer.
OKAY BADSTUBER, THAT QUALIFIES AS REDEMPTION.
Jesus christ, what a save from Neuer!
Why they didn't call Charisteas instead? He couldn't be worse than him. :lolQuote:
Haha, my younger brother and I have been laughing at him playing for Celtic for seasons now. :'D He's actually quite a gifted player in terms of raw ability, but he's horribly inconsistent and massively wasteful in front of goal. This season they moved him to left midfield, though, and he actually had a good season for them. Which begs the question of why Greece insisted on playing him as a lone striker.
Also, I can't believe how greedy Robben is with the ball. Holland gave a bad game overall (I mean, what was that Van Persie? An ant tackled you?) but I think Robben has been on quite a low form ever since the UCL final, he should be benched for the next game. :/
BLOW THE WHISTLE REF.
There we go.
Denmark and Germany at the top of their group. :O
Would lol if Denmark advanced as long as it's not at the expense of Germany.
:clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by Fer!
With the football level displayed today by Holland, I do believe they're the only ones who don't deserve to advance. Portugal gave a good game even with that loss.
Yeah Portugal played a hell of a game, just some poor finishing at times, bad luck and Neuer being great that created a perfect storm.
Germans controlled most of the game, till that last 20 minutes. Portugal was just going nuts then.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gypsco
Thought it was really negative football from Portugal until they conceded. :/ It was a good defensive performance and I get that they figured getting a point against Germany would be enough after Holland losing today, but it kind of spoiled what should have been a great tie. I'm glad that Germany came out on top in the end, as hopefully it'll encourage Portugal to go out and attack in their remaining two games. Surprised Ronaldo didn't see more of the ball, too. Every time they gave him the ball he looked dangerous, but he didn't seem to see as much of it as you'd expect from a player who is quite clearly Portugal's best (and arguably the best in the world).
Also, lol @ the English media and how much they hate Germany. :wacko: The commentators here were saying that Hummels looked nervous despite him hardly putting a foot wrong all game and putting in some great tackles, and claiming that he was largely unproven despite his being one of the best players in Borussia Dortmund's last two title wins. Also, apparently Neuer's decision making is erratic despite him dealing with every single ball he went for and making a great save in the game's dying moments. :'D
They are just saying that about Neuer because of the one ball he watched hit the crossbar. Other than that did amazing. :top:Quote:
Originally Posted by Elin
Hummels was the man of the match. He performed admirably.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elin
The English are still bitter about last WC. Among many other things. :wacko:
The main problem Portugal have is that they lack goal, they have no reliable forward striker since I can't even remember when... if only they had someone like Benzema! And having to rely exclusively on Cristiano, and partially on Nani, both wingers, makes things very predictable and easy to defend. And it's not that their midfielders are blessed with an innate offensive talent either..Quote:
Originally Posted by Elin
All in all, Portugal did a good match, had their (big) chances to score and who knows what would have happened after that. What Nélson Oliveira missed is unbelievable.
And Germany did what they had to do but was kind of disappointing, we saw nothing of their exuberance when attacking :/ It's true that perhaps this was the hardest rival in the group for Germany. Their future in the group should be more than clear now..
Gomez has to be one of the luckiest strikers in the world. He barely touches the ball, he is more often than not completely isolated and seems to be either lost or playing a different sport than the rest of his friends :wacko: Can't say I like him more than Klose :P
We seemed to lack ideas for how to attack, especially in the middle stretch of the game.
The Dutch defense likely won't be a stern challenge (not saying we can't lose, but both sides will score goals in that game methinks) so I hope it can get sorted before we play a team that will turtle.
I love Gomez right now, because he scored. But yeah, I agree with you here. He will also just bungle chances from time to time. Miro is one of my all time favourites. I mentioned it before but I'd love it if he was sent off into the sunset with a Euro title. He should get some minutes in this tournament, he's too magical not to imo.Quote:
Originally Posted by cookie
Boy, they're missing Pauleta so much. :lolQuote:
The main problem Portugal have is that they lack goal, they have no reliable forward striker since I can't even remember when... if only they had someone like Benzema! And having to rely exclusively on Cristiano, and partially on Nani, both wingers, makes things very predictable and easy to defend. And it's not that their midfielders are blessed with an innate offensive talent either..
Disappointing Spain, playing without forwards, without a reference up there, must be some kind of idiotic experimental football we are going to patent or something. Yeah, this sport isn't good enough, let's make our own to rule forever! :wacko: If someone can do it, that's Spain. We are sooo incredibly good that we can crush any other team without even trying :rolleyes:
Someone tell me, who in his sane mind goes hunting with a toothless hound? that's what this bunch of dwarves are :wacko: What's next, playing without goalkeeper? :wacko:
We know El Niño is no SuperLuckyMario but he alone had more chances to score than the rest of the team together, that's something to think about.
I swear that if they keep playing as slow as today, I'll have to take a siesta in the middle of the next match.
On the other side, Italy was pretty solid, it was good to see Cassano recovered.
Frankly I'm surprised they started without a striker, even more surprising imo is bringing on Torres instead of Llorente. He's really troubling in the box and thats something Spain needed, whilst Italy played a lot better than I expected they looked disorganized and uncomfortable at times at the back. Though I agree they should've played faster, I thought Navas would've brought that but I'll have to wait and see how they do in their next match.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie Monster
The Croats played very well today too though jelavic's goal was lucky, doesn't look like there's much hope for Ireland.
England tomorrow, I see it 1-0 either side or a 1-1. England will play physical but I think France's ability and speed may exploit Englands back 4.
I missed the match (sorry Cookie!) but to me Llorente has been a better forward in Spain than Torres, I remember Del Bosque being hellbent on pairing Torres and Villa but Llorente was a better partner for El Guaje. I'd like to see Vicente trying something new and maybe try Negredo and Llorente? That would be interesting.
I think that would be better than him and Torres, I don't see why Soldado wasn't called up. He's such a good support striker, agile good technique and gets goals!Quote:
Originally Posted by Fer!
In the meantime, Vicente del Bosque blame the pitch, right.
It seems like you are taking this well Cookie. :lou:Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie Monster
Spain will do this to you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Manabu
Don't you mean Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta? They hate it when the pitch is too dry, and when it is, they cry ;_;Quote:
Originally Posted by Muscab
As Pirlo said, they played in the same pitch, quit crying lil girls.
Ok, perhaps that wasn't too literal :wacko:
Very well :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Gypsco
It's exactly the same problem Barça faced this year: what the hell do we do with Cesc? Xavi, Messi and others pushed for him to play in the first team. Guardiola was forced to give the nod to it, Villa went to the bench and Cesc played as forward striker. Del Bosque is repeating the same mistake.
I addition to that Silva wants to play as well, which is a legit expectation. No problem, they all can play together even if the starting team makes no sense...
How did he miss!!!
Hopefully it will be different for the next match.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie Monster
Watching England France now. Very fitting that the two teams with the most unrealistic expectations face off in their opening game.
Probably going to be a 0-0 draw.
Jinxed it too hard. Nice work there England.
Seriously England? Did you pick up the catenaccio that Italy dropped? My god.
Playing scared but it worked and they got a result.
But yeah I hope they open it up in their next two matches. Jeez.
Wow France. And I though Spain played slow yesterday :wacko:
England, like Italy, did what they had to do to get a not so bad result.
At least France have something to celebrate, their greatest musketeer won Roland Garros once again :artist:
Can't say I was too pleased with the ref, he missed fouls on both sides but aside from that England were alright considering the subs and starters. I'm sure France wanted the win and given their ability I'm suprised they didn't
I'm liking Schweden's uniforms.