Soccer thread 07/08

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:09 am

fsquid wrote:
I thought that Star Sports company owned it there. Did ESPN buy them?

Several years ago, as I recall.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:26 am

Argentina is in the middle of a few friendlies with a good win over Mexico 4-1 a few days back, plays Ecuador next week which follows a match up with the one everyone wants to see; Brazil. I thought that both the USA and Argentina needed better execution and despite the final score it was an entertatining one for the fans. Nice to see 75.000 fans at the Giants' stadium and Tim Howard was awesome.

Argentina is a very young team in formation, they missed their play creator in Riquelme and they started with a 3-5-2 formation changing to a more conventional 4-3-3 in the second half. Julio Cruz had several good chances and I was surprised to see F. Gago and J. Mascherano playing together as they both have same characteristics.

Good game for Donovan, USA played with a lot of grit and heart, in the end it was a fair score.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:36 am

fsquid wrote:If anything, I think Gray thinks footballers in this day in age are not near as tough. I can tell when the snide comments about footwear, cards for minor fouls, etc. happen

His comment on footwear was that he had more protection in his day, todays boots have much less which is why you see the metatarsal injury more for example.

And a lot of the over exagerated leaps and falls comes from player not wanting to get their studs or feet caught in the turf on these tackles.
No need to roll around screaming tho if your not hurt. Thats just to get a breather or trying to gain an artificial advantage with a yellow or a red , now that is chicken s***.

The game is different now players like Ronaldo are mostly allowed to play remember what happened to Pele back in his day.

Oh to see pele in todays game would be something. Especialy with this plastic ball they use now.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:22 pm

Current EURO 2008 Assist Leader:

Dirk Kuyt

ROFL

Thank you, Italy - haven't laughed that hard in a while. Couldn't have happened to a nicer team.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:53 pm

They're going to hammer Wayne Coyne, err..Roberto Donadoni in the papers tomorrow!

Oh, what a glorious game!!

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:46 pm

I was just puzzled how the Azurri team seemed nonchalant at the beginning of the second half when they were already down 0-2. They finally played with some desperation the last 15 minutes of the game as Toni was the most dangerous guy for them, but overall a very poor performance by Italy.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:24 pm

RobVarak wrote:They're going to hammer Wayne Coyne

LOL, Great Call - never thought of that one! C'mon Spain/Torres.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:14 pm

Isn't it largely the same lineup which won the WC?

But supposedly, the coach wouldn't play some younger players who happened to all be from the south of the country.

Instead went with over the hill Milan players.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:25 pm

Italy showed its age today.

I wouldn't crown the Orange Euro winners just yet. This might give them momentum but I don't think Italy is as tough as they we in WC 06.

On the flip side, of all the top teams, most don't have a stalwart defense. Germany has some holes, France doesn't seem to have a clue tactically, Italy showed it's slow and Portugal is only as good as Ronaldo -- so it might be a year were the Dutch can win the tournament.

I think it could be another dark horse year, where a low seed sneaks into the finals.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:58 pm

I wouldn't write off the Italians just yet. They have a habit of starting slow in International games. Luca Toni maybe 31 but I think he's just a late bloomer, Pirlo was the best player for the Azurri but their usual strong D was suspect today. If you want to talk about a team that's aging look at France's D. They proved again that they have problems scoring and Henry still needs to reproduce at the International stage.

The Dutch potential finally became a reality, and they just outmuscled the Italians today. The other team I am interest to see is Spain. If their D doesn't collapse and if their midfield sparkles, they could be in the final four in a walk. Germany has the easiest schedule among the big guys and they'll be in the semis as well. Portugal? Shut down Ronaldo and you have a chance. Deco and Nani must play along as the team ages.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:06 am

I think the Italians would need to get a win and a draw. That means a win against France and a draw against Romania.

Four points is going to be excellent the group of death, and maybe Italy has the easiest final two games. France has to play Italy and Netherlands and that's going to be difficult to get 3 points from each game.

Thinking about it France's draw is a lot worse than Italy's crushing defeat. Sure they got a point but now you have to face an embarrassed Italy and a confident Dutch team.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:10 am

JRod wrote: Thinking about it France's draw is a lot worse than Italy's crushing defeat. Sure they got a point but now you have to face an embarrassed Italy and a confident Dutch team.

Bingo!

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:21 pm

My thoughts on Holland V Italy

Holland - good, but flattered....Horseface's goal was yards offside, apart from this little known rule about someone leaving the field of play without the refs permission being active, which meant Christian Panucci, who was sat behind the goal getting treatment after a collision. And here's the chance of seeing Van Bronckhorst ever make another run like that again. Nil.

One thing that makes me think about rushing out to the bookies is that we have had that bi-annual event...the Dutch Tournament Bustup. From the Poolgate scandal of 74, Cruyff's alteration of his own kit. the disintegration during Euro 96, you can pretty much guarantee one per tournament, as so long as Van Persie attempting to hospitalise Schneijder in training was it, they might get away with it.

Italy just looked tired, and crap. The defense looks poor without Cannavaro (and I'm sorry, but Panucci will always be crap), the midfield looks great on paper but can't work together, and Camorenesi must have dirt on senior figures in the Italian FA because he goes to every tournament and looks like he couldn't score in a Turkish brothel. Toni was poor as well.

Lovers of on-the-field altercations might want to set their recorders for Turkey v Switzerland...they played in a playoff for qualification to the 2006 World Cup, and some of the assaults were superb as Switzerland triumphed in Turkey.

The true connoisseur of such matters will, of course, always treasure the legendary 'Battle of Santiago' in the 1962 WC between Chile and Italy, which has to be seen to be believed.

And youtube again turns up with the goods, action from the game complete with David Coleman's hysterical (in both senses of the word) introduction to the highlights shown later during the same day on British TV

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtL1m1o_ok

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:32 pm

10spro wrote:
JRod wrote: Thinking about it France's draw is a lot worse than Italy's crushing defeat. Sure they got a point but now you have to face an embarrassed Italy and a confident Dutch team.
Bingo!

Great point...though Id still rather be France.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:04 pm

Nice to see Greece make an early bid to wrestle the 'most awful team in the tournament' title from Turkey, particularly the comedy second goal. I was more surprised the ref didn't give a penalty and send the no 16 off when he and the Swedish no 4 went up for the ball, as the Greek player made no attempt to even look at the ball, but just jumped at the Swedish player.

Nice of Samaras to remind prospective buyers just how hopeless he is, the swine.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:23 pm

davet010 wrote:Nice to see Greece make an early bid to wrestle the 'most awful team in the tournament' title from Turkey, particularly the comedy second goal. I was more surprised the ref didn't give a penalty and send the no 16 off when he and the Swedish no 4 went up for the ball, as the Greek player made no attempt to even look at the ball, but just jumped at the Swedish player.

.

No miracle tournament for Hellas this time around...that air tight D from 2004 is dead.

They did look like clowns. That first goal was almost as comical as the second . No one follwed Ibrahimovic after he passed the ball to Larsson leaving him all alone for the pass back and his strike.

You are right. If they dont play that suffocating D they are pretty worthless. Worst team is a possibilty.

Glad I left work early to watch the game ...

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:24 pm

Nice win but Spain's defense looked shaky - Sergio Ramos makes Wes Brown look like Cafu.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:48 pm

davet010 wrote: And youtube again turns up with the goods, action from the game complete with David Coleman's hysterical (in both senses of the word) introduction to the highlights shown later during the same day on British TV

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtL1m1o_ok

Thank you Dave!

Agree with you on Holland, though to be fair they did not have their full strength lineup. That was a pretty astonishing save by Van der Sar off the free kick.

Best wishes,

Doug

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:52 pm

The pitch is going to be trashed after this Switzerland-Turkey match. One hell of a downpour! It may even end up down at Stamford Bridge level...totally unacceptable

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:06 pm

not a bad game, considering the appalling condition of the pitch. Turkey deserved the win, though Switzerland once again missed a bagful of chances. Nihat was almost back to the form he was showing a few years ago when he helped Real Sociedad to a 2nd place finish in La Liga.

Oh, and it was announced that Chelsea have gone with current Portugal manager Phil Scolari as manager from 1 July. Not sure how that will go, he's got no track record of club management and never stays anywhere long.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:06 am

The Swiss will be fine one the Hitzfeld gets in there.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:02 pm

fsquid wrote:The Swiss will be fine one the Hitzfeld gets in there.

Maybe he can stop and fix Die Mannschaft first?

Wooohoo!

I'd like to congratulate the referee for being the only person on the pitch who manged to avoid getting kicked by Ballack. I hope Ballack's wife, kids and puppy are ready when he gets home. LOL

Fair play: SHAME on Leko for going down like a...well, like a soccer player when Lahm smacked him. Sure it drew the red he was looking for, but no need to stoop to that level.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:16 pm

With a years supply of beer on tap for an Austrian goal im guessing their striker is a tea totaler.

Id have scored a hatrick already against poland.

I dont feel sorry for them anymore should have won their first game and now so many missed chances already against poland only can blame themselves... or maybe their forwards.

And as i type they go 1 down.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:46 pm

Dunno what happened to Germany - only about half of them looked like they could give a crap (albeit Croatia's second was fortunate), and the gamble of playing Lahm at RB and that other fella to LB didn't look good in the first game, never mind here.

The front two were abysmal - that Gomez character reminds me of the quote about 70's British boxer Joe Bugner..."he's got the body of a Greek statue, and the same moves". Nice to see Podolski putting in extra effort to try and secure his move to Man City

Knock Ballack all you like, but at least he put a shift in. Too many of the others were lackadaisical at best, and if there is a more anonymous half an hour than Odonkor put in, then I'd hate to see it.

Squid - what's happened to Schweinsteiger ? He looks to have regressed siginificantly in the last couple of years, and I don't think he even starts for BM any more. Time for him to move on and kickstart his career ?

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:54 pm

I thing the fact that six starters for Croatia play in the Bundesliga gave them a bit of an edge. Germany will still advance but they better be ready for the next round.