Originally Posted by -Adam- Originally Posted by Hayo the boring bastards who think its interesting to discuss the managerial side of it.
Apparently it's interesting to some people. If some people don't like football fine, I respect them, but respect works both ways. And just because a couple of thugs decide to fight about it doesn't mean every football fan is like that so I don't think it's fair to use that as an argument to trash the sport.
Also a big competition like this one lasts less than a month and only happens every two years. There is garbage on tv all year long, so personally I don't see that as a tragedy even for someone who doesn't like football.
If you don't understand it, you just don't like it. There's a lot of interesting aspects to the managerial side. I do hate club football, though, it's all about who has the most money.
Anyway, I'm hoping Germany win this one. Spain/Italy for the lose, both are probably the most boring 'good' teams in football, and are dragging the rest of the teams down to stupid possession tactics. While Germany plays risky football, they play good football, but the recent games haven't been so great, probably because of the competition they're facing.
Netherlands for second place hopefully, but doesn't look good for them now.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Anyway, I'm hoping Germany win this one. Spain/Italy for the lose, both are probably the most boring 'good' teams in football, and are dragging the rest of the teams down to stupid possession tactics. While Germany plays risky football, they play good football, but the recent games haven't been so great, probably because of the competition they're facing.
Finally, someone who's not just kissing Spanish butts all the time!
To me, Spain look mediocre. They pass the ball around just for the sake of it, without ever looking like scoring (Ireland don't count). It's exactly the same with Barcelona, who people talk about as being the best team in the world, and yet they were eliminated by a 10-man Chelsea side.
I'd love it if Spain were eliminated by Croatia (Italy beating Ireland is a given, pardon the pun), but I'm sure if that were to happen, UEFA would just deduct points from Croatia to ensure that Spain go through anyway (ostensibly as a penalty for the behaviour of their fans).
Germany are a great counter-attacking side, but they have trouble against teams like Spain who play very negatively, without ever attacking.
I have no idea about the Holland situation. It's very likely that 3 teams will finish that group with 3pts, but trying to figure out which of them qualifies makes my head hurt. I'm hoping Denmark...
I'm quite pleased with how Group A turned out. I like the Czech Republic and it's always nice when a nation with problems off the pitch does well on it (like New Orleans winning the SuperBowl right after hurricane Katrina). It's a shame the co-hosts, Poland couldn't go through too, but I'm glad Russia are out.
Heh about Spain and Barcelona, they have 1 way to play and people have now figured out how to counter it. As soon as Spain come up against a good defense they'll struggle just like they did against England in that friendly a few months back.
I don't see how a team that has the majority of the possession, shots, corners etc can whinge about the other team's negative tactics like they do. If you've had the better of the game it's your own fault for failing to win.
I stand corrected. France-Spain was the most boring game of football I've ever seen. About 1000 passes and literally zero shots on goal (the 2 goals were from a header and a penalty). They should both be embarrassed.
France talked themselves up and failed to even play. They won 1 game out of 4 in the entire tournament... Spain were pretty poor too though. They kept losing possession cheaply but were lucky that France hardly even turned up.
Yep, very excited about England-Italy.
I do kind of wish England had finished behind France in the group stage though - wouldn't have to face Italy or Germany then.
I think England are actually better equipped than most teams to deal with Spain. Teams like France and Portugal play the same way as Spain, only worse, so they don't have much of a chance. England on the other hand, are used to having about 25% of the possession, regardless of who they're playing, and their style of route-one football actually works against Spain (who have a strong midfield but talentless, midget defenders) - if you saw the Spain-Croatia game, there were numerous Croatian goal kicks(!) finding their way to forwards and leading to good chances (which weren't taken unfortunately).
I'm expecting us to beat Italy, and then lose to Germany - most likely on penalties - because that's just what England do...
So far England seem to have been very efficient with their chances. Which to me is better than looking great going forward then missing all of your chances.
We have the 4th least amount of shots on goal but the joint 3rd highest goals scored. All with the 3rd least possession.
Sad for the English anyway - the Scots are probably celebrating.
Overall, I think it went about as well as could be expected really. It's pretty obvious Germany are going to be tournament winners now.
Anyway, on to the next - Wimbledon has just started, and you don't even have to like tennis to appreciate hotties in little dresses.
Err... you've pretty much missed it now - there's only one game left.
I'm amazed Germany lost, but on the plus side - we now just need Italy to beat Spain in the final, and then England will be the undisputed second best team in Europe (since we came closer than anyone to beating Italy, it's obvious that Spain/Germany/etc would have been no match for us).
Italy were the better team by far when they met Spain in the group stage (Spain were incredibly lucky to scrape a draw), so it's not unlikely at all.
And yeah, I'm glad Nadal's out too - he's a sore loser, a boring player to watch (this seems to be a theme with Spanish sportsmen) and he looks like a capybara.
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Edited by AndyUK
