UEFA EURO 2012

[Matra2]

to start the penalty shootout is a very big advantage indeed
but we could see the portuguese coach doing his list before they knew who was going to start
i guess they could have changed once they realised that spain was going to start
moutinho as the first shooter was a bad idea
the brazilian pepe didn't miss his penalty, maybe he should have taken the first since it's the most important one

They changed the order in the middle anyway. Alves was approaching the ball to take the third then was called back to take the fourth. Ronaldo was involved in the decision. He had a bad night. In that chance he had down the left he had time to move it on to his right foot and maybe even go right on the defender and then shoot yet he just blasted it (way too high) with his left. He rarely does that for Real Madrid.

BTW Coentrao was Portugal's best player.

 

[frederic38]

They changed the order in the middle anyway. Alves was approaching the ball to take the third then was called back to take the fourth. Ronaldo was involved in the decision. He had a bad night. In that chance he had down the left he had time to move it on to his right foot and maybe even go right on the defender and then shoot yet he just blasted it (way too high) with his left. He rarely does that for Real Madrid.

BTW Coentrao was Portugal's best player.

that was dumb
imagine being alves
it must be very hard to score after that
and nani came to the ball running, which is the worst thing you can do to take a penalty (he scored regardless)

 

[Matra2]

It's so crucial for the team starting second in penalties to not fall behind because a lot of it is mental. That's probably the main reason pretty much every team in world football gets their top penalty takers to shoot early on.

Tomorrow it is Germany v Italy. I'll be disappointed if either Boateng or Balotelli are in the starting 11.

 

[Matra2]

and nani came to the ball running, which is the worst thing you can do

His kick was centimetres away from being a replica of Ashley Young's miss. When a player just runs up and blasts it it often means they are too nervous to try to place it.

 

[frederic38]

Tomorrow it is Germany v Italy. I'll be disappointed if either Boateng or Balotelli are in the starting 11.

you will be disapointed by italy then :mmph:

 

[Matra2]

As good as Spain are they are missing some punch up front. Torres isn't the answer. I think they should try Llorente.

 

[frederic38]

As good as Spain are they are missing some punch up front. Torres isn't the answer. I think they should try Llorente.

it's so ridiculous to see them doing all these crosses while there is nobody in the penalty area
i don't get why llorente hasn't been tried, he tried every striker except him
i was disapointed from their first match that he didn't play, now after 5 matches it's getting really annoying

i was surprised at how technically poor the match was
i stopped watching it at 40 minutes in the first half, and tuned in for the penalty kicks
spain is not the best european team, i get the impression that they win because the other teams are not good enough

if they win this year, that would be the victory of a team with defenders in horrible shape, and with no strikers
rebajlo made fun of the last copa america here, but at least the best south american team won it
spain was beaten by croatia and shouldn't be in the tournament anymore

from a racial point of view a spanish victory would be perfect though

 

[frederic38]

apparently boateng starts the match, so i will root for italy

hopefully balotelli will be replaced towards the end of the game, and dinatale will come in and score
balotelli has the worst stats of the euro champs for a striker with benzema, 1 goal out of 20 shots (and that goal was against ireland down to 10 men, already out of the euro champs and the match was over as italy was leading and ireland didn't even try)and in the 20 shots, there isn't even his huge miss vs spain, because he didn't even shoot :biggrin1:

https://twitter.com/OptaJean/statuses/218341573237276672

hopefully he won't score ray:

 

[Arend]

Germany:
Neuer - Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm - Schweinsteiger, Khedira - Kroos, Özil, Podolski - Gomez

Italy:
Buffon - Balzaretti, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini - Pirlo, De Rossi, Marchisio, Montolivo - Balotelli, Cassano

Strange to see Kroos play as a winger. Last time I can remember that he played there was some years ago in Leverkusen, but maybe he will switch positions with Özil. Could also look like this:

---------------Gomez---------------
----------Poldiski---------Özil----------
----Kroos---Schweinsteiger---Khedira----
Lahm--Badstuber--Hummels--Boateng
-----------------Neuer---------------
Anyway I am not to happy to see Boateng and Podolski play, also a bit nervous about what Kroos can do today

 

[Matra2]

Germany's only real weakness is defence. Fortunately for them this Italian team has a hard time scoring. (Gee, wonder why?) Having said that I kind of feel that Italy will come through this. Maybe it's because I can't recall a single occasion when Germany beat Italy - and I can remember these two playing as far back as the 1982 World Cup Final in Madrid.

 

[frederic38]

Germany:
Neuer - Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm - Schweinsteiger, Khedira - Kroos, Özil, Podolski - Gomez

Italy:
Buffon - Balzaretti, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini - Pirlo, De Rossi, Marchisio, Montolivo - Balotelli, Cassano

Strange to see Kroos play as a winger. Last time I can remember that he played there was some years ago in Leverkusen, but maybe he will switch positions with Özil. Could also look like this:

---------------Gomez---------------
----------Poldiski---------Özil----------
----Kroos---Schweinsteiger---Khedira----
Lahm--Badstuber--Hummels--Boateng
-----------------Neuer---------------
Anyway I am not to happy to see Boateng and Podolski play, also a bit nervous about what Kroos can do today

low decided to put more players in the midfield to try to stop pirlo

why thiago motta no longer plays for italy? is he less italian than balotelli?

 

[Freethinker]

I will hold my nose and root for Germany. I hope they win 4-2, 3-2 or 2-1 with Boateng once again lousing up and allowing easy goals. He's an embarrassment to Die Nationalmannschaft.

 

[frederic38]

I will hold my nose and root for Germany. I hope they win 4-2, 3-2 or 2-1 with Boateng once again lousing up and allowing easy goals. He's an embarrassment to Die Nationalmannschaft.

that would be a great scenario because germany (hopefully) wouldn't start boateng for the final

 

[Matra2]

Boateng may have been partly responsible for the cross that led to Balotelli's goal - too indecisive about sticking with unmarked Italian or going after the one who made the cross. Now Balotelli could end up top scorer as he's now only one behind Ronaldo, Gomez, and Dzagoev (Russia).

 

[Matra2]

Balotelli scores his second - now joint top scorer for the tournament. Maybe I should've made a bet after my pre-match feeling (see #693). I think I'll switch over to the tennis.

 

[Jack Lambert]

:mmph::frusty::angry: This game sucks. Ballotelli scores twice... Boateng slipped up to nearly let in a third. Why does ESPN keep showing Ballotelli without his shirt on??

 

[backrow]

****ing Balotelli. great goal, props need to be given (the first one was ALL Cassano, what a great play!) but it's real bad for him to make this his coming out party for Italy - he will remain a fixture even after Rossi is back now, i am sure...

Boateng, now that's just silly. why??? i mean, let's set aside his skin color for a second, what does he have than Bender doesn´t? he even scored a very nice goal in this very tournament...

Matra2, i agree! Llorente could be the answer, i am not sure why Del Bosque has an aversion towards him like that. is it because he's Basque?

Go on Germany! although at this point, Italy is too strong defensively to let them score twice... damn. especially with the risk of counter attack, they could very well tack on another goal.

 

[frederic38]

germany gets exposed as the bad team they are, i'm not surprised
but i have 2 complains: why are they playing a semi-final?
and why does it have to happen against balotelli?

Matra2, i agree! Llorente could be the answer, i am not sure why Del Bosque has an aversion towards him like that. is it because he's Basque?

he was said to be too real madrid so to compensate he plays with fabregas as a striker and the same way barcelona does

 

[Jack Lambert]

****ing Balotelli. great goal, props need to be given (the first one was ALL Cassano, what a great play!) but it's real bad for him to make this his coming out party for Italy - he will remain a fixture even after Rossi is back now, i am sure...

Boateng, now that's just silly. why??? i mean, let's set aside his skin color for a second, what does he have than Bender doesn´t? he even scored a very nice goal in this very tournament...

Matra2, i agree! Llorente could be the answer, i am not sure why Del Bosque has an aversion towards him like that. is it because he's Basque?

Go on Germany! although at this point, Italy is too strong defensively to let them score twice... damn. especially with the risk of counter attack, they could very well tack on another goal.

I have to agree, Ballotelli's second deserves some credit.

Also, I have no idea on Boateng. Honestly, I wouldn't play him, even if he was white. He's just so terrible, it's not even funny any more. It's obvious Low has his favorites picked out in the team.

 

[Arnold Von Winkelried]

Sad to see the "most Italian of all" scores twice, but I do want to see ugly multiculti Deutschland out of the tournament.

Matra2, i agree! Llorente could be the answer, i am not sure why Del Bosque has an aversion towards him like that. is it because he's Basque?

I don't understand this either, but it's not because of Llorente origin : Xabi Alonso plays and he is of Basque ancestry as well. Soldado wasn't selected because of personal issues with Del Bosque, but I don't thin there are such in Llorente's case.

In any case ¡Vamos España!

 

[Zeus]

In the final there will be two Southern European teams (I hope this fat cow Merkel enjoys the match now) and from the total 46 players of the two rosters, there will be 44 WHITE Southern European brothers..............I am more than happy!ray2:

 

[Zeus]

One needs to be insane to have a problem with team Italy of the 21 whites and 2 Negroes.........Balloteli is a decent striker, I have no problem with him.

Let's be realistic, we wish teams of England and US in football and basketball were like Italy's team.........Just one Negro is never a problem, even if he scores all the goals, big deal!

 

[backrow]

i'm sure England and France only started with one black guy haha

but at least Italy doesn't have such a steady supply. have a look at France U-xx teams... Arabs and colonial blacks... ratio is staggering.

 

[frederic38]

Balloteli is a decent striker

no he's not
he's just a black with an italian name, that's the only thing he has going for him

 

[backrow]

no he's not
he's just a black with an italian name, that's the only thing he has going for him

he'd be decent enough with a better attitude, but he is playing well tonight, so that's what Zeus may have meant.