UEFA EURO 2012

[frederic38]

that foul on battiston was horrible
how the referee "didn't see" this?
it shows that soccer can be a very dangerous sport, something that is not obvious at first glance
it is more dangerous than rugby because in rugby you expect to be hit by the other player so you protect yourself
in soccer you are focused on the ball, and BOOM, the other player hits you
battiston lost multiple tooth and broke various vertebral bones (that's what they say in the video)

If everyone feels the need to inevitably dissect Germany's lack of tournament triumphs since Euro 1996, here is something to ponder. Germany's game - and, most significantly, their defence - traditionally placed great emphasis on a ruthless, "win at all costs" philosophy characterised by the often brutal kicking of opponents, cynical fouling, et cetera. This was a somewhat "South American" approach, having a lot in common with the roughouse "styles" of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay who routinely used such spoiling tactics to disrupt their opponents' rhythm and dictate the tempo of the game.

European sports journalists, especially those in England, rather euphemistically labelled the Germans' openly nasty play as "physical", "determined", and "efficient", while unhesitatingly decrying the abovementioned South Americans (with the notable exception of Brazil) as "dirty", "unsportsmanlike", and even "savage". The difference in the two sets of descriptors can possibly be attributed to the Germans' general lack of histrionic diving, rolling about on the ground clutching feigned injuries, spitting at opponents and other such charming hallmarks of South American football. Nevertheless, referees often permitted the Germans to get away with quite startling numbers of fouls, something which was undoubtedly a contributing factor to their successes up until the mid-1990s.

what i have read about germany's playing style is that it was very efficient, pragmatic (that only cares about victory) and that there was a lot of cohesion

what you described might look like the playing style of uruguay and white-brazil (the south)

[video=youtube_share;XJ8KJgrliZk]http://youtu.be/XJ8KJgrliZk[/video]

http://youtu.be/J4SSl1mkcQ4

"dirty" and "savage" can be said about uruguayan football and white-brazilian football, although they don't really do it on purpose, in a "pragmatic" way, to win the match at all cost

argentina plays more like italy i think, they are the ones who deliberately try to get on the nerves of the other players to get them sent off
they are also the ones who dive the most and cheat the most

in france we are (were) the opposite of germany, like most latin countries we played fotball for fun and victory was not as important for us as it was for germany
the french also have the reputation of speaking and writing about football more than they play it, while the germans don't talk, they act on the field (well, that was before the rise of the "new germany")

 

[frederic38]

something that i forgot to say about the german defense and that might explain why lahm was bad:
lahm played as a right back at bayern munchen, and at these eurochamps he played as a left back
boateng played as a central defender with bayern munchen, and as a right back for germany

this comes from the fact that it was mandatory to play with boateng, but they didn't want him to play in a central defender position because he is too bad
so they put him as a right back and lahm had to play on the other side (left back)

 

[Giles Daldanus]

Wow, I was impressed by Italy, they really managed to raise their level of play for this semi-final…the game reminded me a bit of the 2006 semi-final between the two sides (Germany were the more attacking side and seemed to be in control, but Italy were very dangerous on the counter). Germany started quite brightly and were actually slightly unlucky not to get a goal (Pirlo was once again rather decisive with his goal line clearance), but the whole complexion of the match changed when Italy took the lead. The second goal was very well-taken (however, the German defenders were quite naïve in this situation and should have done better in their attempts to prevent the striker from unleashing his thunderbolt shot). Balotelli was actually quite good in his hold-up play and also helped out his defenders in a number of instances. I thought that he would not be much of a threat in this match, but he certainly deserves the plaudits for his performance. I saw his photo on the front pages of all the major British newspapers, so this game has certainly elevated his profile. I think that Loew shouldn’t have been so quick to substitute Gomez (the German coach should have gambled and gone gung ho on the Italians by playing both Klose and Gomez, he could have taken off a defender at halftime). This may not have worked, as the Italian defense was quite solid, but it may have been worth the risk (even when playing with one striker, the German defense was still rather vulnerable and the match could have finished 0:4 if Marchisio and Di Natale had been more clinical). It has to be mentioned that Buffon did not have to make that many saves until the 80[SUP]th[/SUP] minute of the match. Balzaretti was possibly MOTM, with Reus the best player in the German side. The Germans shouldn’t despair, as they had the youngest team at this tournament (their average age was <26 years) and they will of course be among the major contenders in Brazil. Players like Goetze, Schuerrle, Draxler, Schlaudraff, Beck and Kiessling should see more playing time over the coming years, but I think that veterans like Klose, Lahm and Schweinsteiger will still be the heartbeat of the team in 2014. Italy vs. Germany was probably the best match in the eliminatory phase (in terms of quality of play and excitement offered)…however, I am in agreement that the traditional powerhouses have been somewhat underwhelming in this tournament and the general level of play has not been that high. Euro 2000 and Euro 2004 offered a greater number of nail-biting games.


@Frederic, well put, I personally don’t mind defensive-minded teams (as long as they don’t play dirty) and if a team decides not to be faithful to the way it traditionally plays (just for the sake of appeasing critics) and tries to reinvent its style, it could backfire…It’s also a pity that we no longer get to see the libero in action.

i'm going to take the example of spain and their 2 main clubs, real madrid and barcelona, and the players they produced in their youth teams, to show how sometimes it looks like organized crime:
-did you know that sergio busquets was the son of a professional goalkeeper who played for spain and barcelona?
-did you know that piqué was the grand-son of the former barcelona chairman?
-did you know that bojan krkic was the son of a professional football player and scout

-did you know that both alcantara brothers, who play for barcelona, are the son of a former professional brazilian player who played in europe?
-did you know that the 3 dos santos brothers, 2 of them playing for barcelona (another one in mexico) were the son of a former brazilian professional football player?

To be honest I think that having family members who were professional footballers could work both ways (due to the burden of expectations placed on the players and the greater difficulty of proving themselves)…for example, I have watched a number of FC Barcelona games and Victor Valdes has generally struck me as a rather capable goalkeeper. However, he is third choice (behind Pepe Reina) in the Spanish national team and my impression is that fans generally underrate him in comparison to Spanish goalies who ply their trade abroad (their assumption is that he doesn’t concede much only because of Barcelona’s possession-oriented game, but there have been a number of matches in which he has been quite decisive – like the 2009 semi-final against Chelsea when Valdes made a number of good saves and he also held his nerves in the final against Manchester United, denying Cristiano Ronaldo on two occasions). Valdes may never receive much credit unless he proves himself with another club or with the Spanish national side.

Gerard Pique initially felt that he won’t get that many opportunities with Barcelona and played for Manchester United before returning to Spain and signing his first professional contract with Barcelona.

Bojan Krkic was indeed given many chances by the Barcelona coaches, but Pedro Rodriguez eventually dislodged him from the starting position and I can’t say that there has been favouritism in favour of Bojan once Pedro established himself as a star player. Btw, I think that Krkic may have made a mistake in choosing to play for Spain, he could have opted for Serbia (he has only been called up to the senior Spanish side on one occasion).

Sergio Busquets used to be an understudy to Yaya Toure before becoming a starter for Barcelona…however, I think that he is among the best defensive midfielders in the world and has been impressive in both Barcelona and Spain colours.

You may be right when it comes to the other examples (and I have to say that in the cases of Pique, Krkic and others, a bigger factor than family connections may be ethnic belonging, as Barcelona tends to favour Catalans as well as other Spanish players).

In my opinion, while there may indeed be unfair privileging of certain players at the expense of others (due to influential parents and biological ties to uncles or grandfathers who were past greats), Eastern European fans (in my experience at least) tend to be overly dismissive of players who have “formidable relatives” (in the sporting realm) even if they are genuine talents and well-behaved local lads. For example, in Balkan countries quite a few supporters are cynical and tend to prefer foreigners (youth footballers are frequently and often unfairly tarred with the “family connection” brush).

In essence, I partly agree with you and the lack of meritocracy could be an issue, but unfortunately what I have noticed (at least in Eastern Europe) is a dangerous trend - fans tend to be way too suspicious of allegedly “well-connected” local footballers and this causes them to pressure club owners and coaches to buy foreign players. So, the worst case scenario becomes a reality (neither those locals with unknown family names nor those with important parents get to play for their team due to competition with foreign players or if they do, they are booed or criticized by supporters). I am generalizing of course, but I have some friends from Balkan countries who have told me of such cases (e.g. Berbatov was initially not well-received by some of the CSKA Sofia supporters for reasons connected to what I mentioned above and it took him a while to win them over).

However, it’s nice to hear that South America appears to combine the best of both worlds – the principle of meritocracy is not compromised and at the same time teams in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina tend to be quite representative from an ethnic and racial standpoint. I think that Argentina and Uruguay will be even stronger in 2014 (than they were during the 2010 World Cup).

As for the refereeing, I am not sure it is biased (I remember instances in which Russia and England have borne the brunt of poor refereeing decisions against small countries like Slovenia and Romania), but I concur that it’s rather inconsistent and certain South American sides like Peru (that play with a blend of finesse and physicality) may be unfairly punished on occasions…Btw, if I recall correctly that Antonio Rattin’s sending off for “violence of the tongue” during the 1966 World Cup and Rudi Voeller’s red card (despite not retaliating after being spat upon in a 1990 match vs. the Netherlands) made the list of “top 10 unfair dismissals in the history of the game” a number of years ago.

@Thrashen, I agree, Denmark could have gone far in this tournament if they had benefited from a better draw…(and the same applies to the two host nations, I personally think that while they did not do their fans justice, they still showed that they have a lot of talent at their disposal).

Perquis only indicated an interest in playing for Poland when he was 24 years old. In fact, you may recall that he looked like a prize fool upon being initially interviewed (naturally, in English) by Polish journalists, as he knew virtually nothing about Polish football and couldn't even name the national team manager. Some "Pole", eh? Oh, but now he's sooooooo proud to represent Poland.

He's so ****ing patriotic that he even knows how to say "hello", "I proud play for Poland" and "we play match good" in the tongue of the nation whose colours he wears.

@Rebajlo, nicely put, I personally don’t have much of an issue with players who have proper ethnic connections with a specific country (this means that they have at least one parent who is from the country in question, strongly identify with the nation and speak the language). However, players who do not try to hide that they are simply mercenaries insult their own fans. I remember that Salomon Kalou had publicly declared (in 2005) that he wanted to represent the Netherlands (however, he was unable to obtain Dutch citizenship and so was eventually left without a choice and decided to don the Ivory Coast colours). Another example – Arteta made it very clear: “I am Spanish first, I would prefer to represent Spain, but if no such opportunity arises, I would be glad to play for England”. I don’t think that those who make such statements should be considered for selection (even if they were ½ Dutch and ½ English). It’s unfair to local lads who are truly patriotic and want to play for their home country.

@Matra, I agree, it’s generally more difficult to predict the outcome of matches involving national teams…those who coach national sides should be capable of understanding player psychology (that’s why distinguished club coaches like Louis van Gaal and Rafa Benitez who are known to be harsh disciplinarians have not cut it/will likely find it difficult to manage at the international level).

@Zeus, indeed, Greece bowed out honorably and they are now quite consistent (have qualified for ¾ of all the major tournaments in the past eight years), they will continue to improve their game.

Looking forward to the final, I think that Spain will win after extra time - it will be a very tactical game, but the Spaniards' attacking prowess will pay off (I expect to see Pedro and Llorente, they will make decisive contributions). Balotelli, Cassano, Pirlo and Di Natale won't see a lot of the ball.

 

[Matra2]

Italy were the first dirty team I ever saw. It was the late 70s, I think I might have been in my first or second year of school, and I knew nothing about Italy. I'd never heard of pizza, spaghetti, Ferraris or Sophia Loren. My first impression of Italy was a football match against England at Wembley and I had never seen such brazen cheating and fouling in football. Nothing in the English league prepared me for it. I remember saying to my dad how can you support such a dirty fouling team? (His answer was that they were playing England so he didn't mind). His coloured my perception of Italy and Italians for a long time. (BTW I like them today...for the most part!)

What made catenaccio so awful was that back then you could foul constantly throughout the match (under most, not all, referees) and not receive a yellow card. To get a red was almost posssible. So when an Italian team got the lead (or when they just wanted a draw) they just fouled their opponents so there would be no flow to the match just a few seconds of play followed by one stoppage after another due to persistent fouling.

Rebaljo:

The second round saw them beat Paraguay 1-0, with that slim scoreline repeated against the United States and South Korea in the next two rounds.

IIRC there was an uncalled German hand ball on the line in the US match near the end when the Americans were all over them.

The majority of blindly loyal Irish fans didn't mind and predictably lapped it all up, but not all Irishmen were keen on such a policy. In my younger days (****, I'm sounding like some kind of old man...) i often moved in Irish circles and many hader-core nationalists abhorred the notion of "plastic Paddies" representing their country.

Those "harder-core nationalists" living in the US and Australia are often themselves dismissed by people in Ireland as "plastic Paddies" even if they were born in Ireland. Even those raised in Ireland but who moved abroad in their twenties for a decade or two can sometimes get the "plastic" label, especially if they've picked up new habits - eating different food, watching American/Australian sports. Yet these very same born, bred, and still living in Ireland "real Irish" who mock "plastics" fell head over heels in love with Jack Charlton and English-accented players wearing the green. (Don't almost all of those Ireland team players live in England today?) It's the same attitude we are seeing from Italians today. They used to make monkey sounds at black players but if a black player scores for their team it changes everything. (I heard a guy on the radio say Balotelli shirts were selling like hotcakes now). Last year blacks rioted throughout England today as long as one scores for the Three Lions all is forgiven.

 

[Europe]

ESPN is obsessed with Mario. They said he has planetary football respect.

How did ESPN choose Wigan manager Martinez as a analyst? Is it because he has a Spanish accent for the Mexicans in America to feel comfortable with.

 

[Europe]

Look at this comment from the Steve Sailer Blog

"I had to leave before the 2nd half against Germany and followed the game (well, the score) on an Italian radio station. My Italian is piss-poor but I could easily make out the euphoric announcers screaming "tu sei uno di noi, tu sei uno di noi!" (you're one of us, you're one of us) after the match ended, referring to Balotelli."
6/30/12 6:56 PM


Here is another comment:

"
You don't score two superb goals against a team like Germany if you are not supremely skillful. His other goal, against Ireland, was also a stunner. He is tied for the most goals scored in the Euro Cup."

 

[Europe]

I can't stand Ian Darke.

 

[Europe]

Signing the National Anthem is stupid. Italy should never have been a country. They should have just kept the separate kingdoms.

I guess some think the same for Spain.

 

[backrow]

Signing the National Anthem is stupid. Italy should never have been a country. They should have just kept the separate kingdoms.

I guess some think the same for Spain.

no it's not.


they don't sing at all

 

[Zeus]

It seems like Spain saved the best for the end........very dominant first 10 minutes for the 23 white brothers of Spain!

 

[backrow]

Silva! nice play by Cesc!!!

 

[Zeus]

FANTASTIC GAME BY SPAIN............FREDERIC, MON POT, I HOPE YOU START CHANGING YOUR MIND ABOUT SPAIN'S ABILITY AND SKILL (in this tournament)

Guys I have come to a conclusion, Spain's this generation (football, basketball, tennis, formula-1, Moto GP) is so freaking dominant and athletic, especially in football and basketball, that they pick in which game they will play their full 100% and in what games they won't.........They do the same in basketball tournaments all the time as well, I expect them to dismantle the African- American team this year at the Olympics!

VAMOS SOUTHERN EURO BROTHERS

 

[Europe]

Is anybody else's ESPN down?

 

[Highlander]

ESPN is obsessed with Mario. They said he has planetary football respect.

Yeah, I was at the gym this morning and they had that Caste sports media outlet, aka BSPN, on multiple TV's and their coverage of him was on-their-knees, mouth-wide-open, nauseating. Their budget for tissues to constantly clean their faces must be enormous.

While reading the close-caption during their gross coverage of him they said "Mario has turned the soccer world on its ears". Really? For finally doing his job and producing a couple of goals in a game? So no one else has done that before? The bar must surely be low for people that share his ugly-a** mug. He was lucky he had a perfectly-placed assist on one of them so he could actually score.

Go Spain!

 

[Zeus]

Incredible Spain, but I was expecting it!

Like I was saying all these days (and i was called a Negro-Lover for it) Ballotelli (has even touched the ball tonight? hahaha) is just one Negro who will be in the losing team of 22 whites.........Now the ones who kept complaining about one meaningless Negro with no real talent, I hope you realize that all white Spain tonight is making history as the first team in history winning 3 straight major titles.........Not even Brazil (1970) of the magic Negro and media's sweetheart Pele never achieved such a thing........I hope you realize that this team of Spain might now go down as the greatest and most dominant football team in the history of the sport.........a team of 24 whites (coach included)

This site is supposed to demonstrate the dominance of our people in sports, not complaining if a single Negro gets coverage from the "chosen" media for doing "good' what 500 white brothers can do better than him..........if you know what I mean ​

 

[backrow]

now Balotelli needs to get yanked in favor of DiNatale and then maybe Italy can score a consolation goal. what a great play by Jordi Alba, did you guys see the speed?

 

[Arnold Von Winkelried]

If Spain keeps playing this way Italy is going to lose 4-0.

¡Arriba España!

 

[Zeus]

now Balotelli needs to get yanked in favor of DiNatale and then maybe Italy can score a consolation goal. what a great play by Jordi Alba, did you guys see the speed?

Yes, speedy Gonzalez hahahaha!

I predicted Spain 2 Italy 0, it's here in one of my previous posts........now I consider that a 4-0 is possible as well if Spain doesn't slow down!

Who's Balotelli that you guys keep mentioning in this site? Has he ever won a major international title? A golden ball? Is he in the top 20 highest paid stars of the sport? Is he on the same level with giga-stars ala Messi, Ronaldo or Iniesta etc? I don't know this guy and in all honesty I believe he's more popular in this site than anywhere else :arms:

 

[frederic38]

FANTASTIC GAME BY SPAIN............FREDERIC, MON POT, I HOPE YOU START CHANGING YOUR MIND ABOUT SPAIN'S ABILITY AND SKILL (in this tournament)

oh yes, i'm watching it and enjoying it
it's way better than the portugal-spain match

balotelli is totally useless, the commentators say that he always tries to score on his own while there are players in better position, and he should pass
it would be great to see his stats from the first half, how many balls did he lose? probably a lot, more than any other player

arsene wenger said that iniesta was the best player of the tournament if you look at the number of completed passes, dribbles, passes forward, ect

funny stuff highlander:

Yeah, I was at the gym this morning and they had that Caste sports media outlet, aka BSPN, on multiple TV's and their coverage of him was on-their-knees, mouth-wide-open, nauseating. Their budget for tissues to constantly clean their faces must be enormous.

While reading the close-caption during their gross coverage of him they said "Mario has turned the soccer world on its ears". Really? For finally doing his job and producing a couple of goals in a game? So no one else has done that before? The bar must surely be low for people that share his ugly-a** mug. He was lucky he had a perfectly-placed assist on one of them so he could actually score.

Go Spain!

that balotelli mania is so ridiculous, it's actually funny at times

@europe:

Signing the National Anthem is stupid. Italy should never have been a country. They should have just kept the separate kingdoms.

I guess some think the same for Spain.

that's also what i think
even in france, to a lesser extent, regions are put together but have nothing in common
the french state forced our ancestors to speak french, the local languages were mocked and forbidden at school
that's why i'm not very patriotic

 

[Highlander]

This site is supposed to demonstrate the dominance of our people in sports, not complaining if a single Negro gets coverage from the "chosen" media for doing "good' what 500 white brothers can do better than him..........if you know what I mean

This site is about many things and exposing unawakened people to the fact that the "chosen" media even exists and how they perpetrate the existing Caste paradigm is one of them.

That being said, there seems to be a lot of criticism in the media about Spain's style of play. Personally, I love it. When I was watching them dismantle the powerful German team during the 2010 World Cup I was amazed at their proficiency and prowess in passing the ball and in ball control. That isn't easy. They play together as a team. It parrallels to me seeing a White basketball team doing the same thing...excellent passing and ball control skills coupled with knocking down jump shots from every range and angle on the court and hearing the resulting "swish" of the net. That's beautiful basketball to me...not a bunch of tattooed street thugs constantly trying to take it to the hoop and slam it in over someone else. But, of course, that's considered a "boring" style of play today for the ADD-riddled population at large.

 

[Matra2]

I wonder if Motta had a proper warm up. Normally our commentators mention when players are warming up long before the substitution is made. Tonight there was no mention of Motta before hand. He just suddenly came on.

 

[Deadlift]

SPAIN!!!!

 

[Zeus]

What I was just saying...........the Greek reporter just stated : "Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012, first team to ever achieve that and based on titles we are now officially talking for the greatest football team in the history of the sport"

With such achievement of 24 great white brothers tonight, if I hear from any of you the name of Balotelli again I will scream LOL:frusty:

 

[Europe]

This site is about many things and exposing unawakened people to the fact that the "chosen" media even exists and how they perpetrate the existing Caste paradigm is one of them.

That being said, there seems to be a lot of criticism in the media about Spain's style of play. Personally, I love it. When I was watching them dismantle the powerful German team during the 2010 World Cup I was amazed at their proficiency and prowess in passing the ball and in ball control. That isn't easy. They play together as a team. It parrallels to me seeing a White basketball team doing the same thing...excellent passing and ball control skills coupled with knocking down jump shots from every range and angle on the court and hearing the resulting "swish" of the net. That's beautiful basketball to me...not a bunch of tattooed street thugs constantly trying to take it to the hoop and slam it in over someone else. But, of course, that's considered a "boring" style of play today for the ADD-riddled population at large.

I like how Spain plays too, but I was a little bored with them in a few games this tourney. However, they are attacking more today.

What I also like is they have smallish white players who are very skilled, not a bunch of fast black guys just running around.

Did you see the thread with the video on how Barca plays which is like Spain?

 

[backrow]

wow, did you see this ****in idiot Balotelli just now? pushed some Italian assistant coach and just took off.

noone here is surprised. i hope there will be outlash for that and not "oh, it's what he does"