258 replies to this topic

[sachmoney]

I know I'm fairly new at this (maybe in the puberty of my football life?), but man have I grown to dislike Italy. The diving, the pulling of shirts, the faux-outrage over every call or non-call that didn't go their way, I really starting hating them on a personal level, something generally reserved for the Yankees.

I like the Russians a lot. They beat my rooting interest (Dutch) but, again my pubescent football emotions are taking over, they seem like a very likable team. Young, attacking, straight-up. I can root for Russia.

I actually dislike their play, but I did start to like them solely on their goalkeeper. I couldn't stand their diving and the way they took advantage of that terrible referee, but Buffon won me over as the tournament went on. Let's be honest though, Spain has been my team since the very start. They have my favorite player on the team, Fabregas, and they play a nice style of football.

I believe that Spain-Russia could be a great game. I think that Spain is younger and more athletic than the Dutch, and that there will be less problems that the Russians cause. I think it can be a back and forth game, unlike the Holland-Russia game, where Russia got to every 50-50 ball and just pound van der Sar's net. I would love to see Fabregas hit another winner for these guys.

So today is the first day in over two weeks that there isn't any football on TV, and I feel kind of empty. I know it leaves me free time to do other things, but watching football every day was for me like eating cake at work for Elaine on Seinfeld. I know I'm going to miss it, and I'm going to need a fix. I guess I'll just youtube highlight videos of my favorite club team.

[fletcherpost]

So today is the first day in over two weeks that there isn't any football on TV, and I feel kind of empty. I know it leaves me free time to do other things, but watching football every day was for me like eating cake at work for Elaine on Seinfeld. I know I'm going to miss it, and I'm going to need a fix. I guess I'll just youtube highlight videos of my favorite club team.

I was thinking the same thing. No footie. The Euros are a kind of starter for the world cup in two years time. that's the big show. Three sometimes four games in one day, a month of solid football, players of many many nations, a protracted group stage and a last sixteen knock out instead of a last eight.

But this has been good.

[Apisith]

So today is the first day in over two weeks that there isn't any football on TV, and I feel kind of empty. I know it leaves me free time to do other things, but watching football every day was for me like eating cake at work for Elaine on Seinfeld. I know I'm going to miss it, and I'm going to need a fix. I guess I'll just youtube highlight videos of my favorite club team.

I woke up today not knowing what to do

Granted, I am on my holidays but most of my days have been or are planned around dinner and the football, but not today. And not tomorrow, as well.

[Spacemans Bong]

I know I'm fairly new at this (maybe in the puberty of my football life?), but man have I grown to dislike Italy. The diving, the pulling of shirts, the faux-outrage over every call or non-call that didn't go their way, I really starting hating them on a personal level, something generally reserved for the Yankees.

I like the Russians a lot. They beat my rooting interest (Dutch) but, again my pubescent football emotions are taking over, they seem like a very likable team. Young, attacking, straight-up. I can root for Russia.

Oh man, I love Italy. Well, love's too strong a word. I wasn't sitting there last night in a Marco Materazzi jersey.

But I love the way they play football. It's a very clever, very realist version of football - at least when they play like they did last night, which isn't always the way they play. Italy are chancers, they basically dare the ref to be on his game and to have a spine. And most times it works, because referees will puss out.

They come there to stop you in a number of ways. They're almost an ultimate winning comes first team (while they play on or over the edge of the rules, they usually don't try and break anyone's legs). As they see it, the referee is someone there to be manipulated. If a referee has his back turned, they'll pull your shirt. If a referee has a bad angle, they'll fall over and scream in pain.

But, when it comes down it, they are fucking great defenders. I watched Paolo Maldini play at Arsenal in Feburary. He's one of the greatest defenders ever and at 39 years old he was outplaying every Arsenal defender (except Senderos, of all people). He was making headers, he was closing down the right flank for Arsenal and when cornered with the ball, he dodged and dribbled around Eboue to pass it to his midfield. Italians know how to position themselves brilliantly, they're great in the air (it's a shame Cannavaro wasn't playing because he's masterful in the air despite being about 5'9"), and they're masters of the little things to keep a striker off his game.

As well, they don't just send four lunkheads out there to kick the ball into Row Z. If they win the ball they're usually capable of threading out good passes to their midfielders or even going up themselves. The Italians were one of the first countries to regularly feature wingbacks (Facchetti). So they're good all around players. And when Italy wants to it can play a strong and varied offensive game - the number of creative, brilliant Italian strikers are plentiful (Cassano was the best Italian attacker for me last night - he's one of them).

I think Italy, defending-wise, are like watching Spain or Arsenal offensively. And for that they're interesting and likable.

[sachmoney]

I was thinking the same thing. No footie. The Euros are a kind of starter for the world cup in two years time. that's the big show. Three sometimes four games in one day, a month of solid football, players of many many nations, a protracted group stage and a last sixteen knock out instead of a last eight.

But this has been good.

Yeah, well the Euros has so many of the top 20 teams. It's been really exciting. The excitement isn't as high as the World Cup, where even casual followers of football watch and cheer. This has been a great event so far. Hopefully, we're treated to what I think could be a fantastic finale (Germany-Spain), or a underdog final (Turkey-Russia). I think we as fans are in for a treat.

I woke up today not knowing what to do

Granted, I am on my holidays but most of my days have been or are planned around dinner and the football, but not today. And not tomorrow, as well.

I'm not going to lie, Euros have been kind of ruining my work out schedule. In the group stages I would leave to work out during half time, and watch the second half as I did my cardio. Last week during the quarterfinals, I missed four straight days of working out. Today, I was able to go straight to the gym, so that was nice. However, I feel like the day is kind of empty, even though there is a Red Sox game tonight. I need my fix.

Oh man, I love Italy. Well, love's too strong a word. I wasn't sitting there last night in a Marco Materazzi jersey.

But I love the way they play football. It's a very clever, very realist version of football - at least when they play like they did last night, which isn't always the way they play. Italy are chancers, they basically dare the ref to be on his game and to have a spine. And most times it works, because referees will puss out.

I do appreciate how they play, and I've said this before (not on this forum though), I would love to have a strategy like Italy's. I think there's nothing more heartbreaking than giving up a goal. There's such a change in momentum. I really enjoy the counter attacking style. You sit back, do what you do, and then counter, BOOM GOOOALL!!! Then you go back and do what you do again. If you're a team that relies on your offense, once you score a goal, you have an identity crisis. Keep trying to score, and risk giving up a counter attack goal. Or try and do something you're not necessarily comfortable doing.

What I don't like about the Italians is the way they act on the pitch.

[Snakebauer007]

I never understood where the attitude comes from amongst fans that attacking teams are more deserving.

Mind boggling

[Spacemans Bong]

Everybody can appreciate a good goal, not everybody can appreciate defending so good such an opportunity never arises.

Sorry if that sounds snobbish but defending is half the game. It needs to be cherished.

[Nick Kaufman]

1. I enjoy the Euros more than the World Cup. It wasn't always that way, only after it became a 16-team tournament. The 2000 and the 2008 were the best international tournaments I ve ever watched. I also think it's a combination of teams, passion, relevance and time of play.

2. I am ambivalent about the Italians. I respect their school, but it's a mixed can of worms. Sometimes, most times, they are beyond boring for the neutral; no matter how much you appreciate the little things one does on defense, people want to see some spectacle and that's not what Italians did last night. Or in the WC final in 06 for that matter. I ll tell you what though. I did love the 2000 semi-final versus Netherlands; that was an awesome defensive display and it was a bit like a chess play with live pieces where you could see the determined defense of the Italians along with the Dutch cerebral effort to try unlocking the combination. Ditto for their final versus France.

3. Re Spain. I root for them, they may win it, but I am underwhelmed by them. Yesterday they played a 4-4-2 with a double pivot which is really more of a variation of the 4-2-3-1 than the 4-4-2. This means that the two central midfielders stay in the back providing a formation base for the attacking right/left midfielders and the center forward to roam around in the creative freedom. The problem yesterday was that Aragones probably stank by the long series of early exits played it conservatively having the two wing-backs staying mostly in place. Capdevilla did have a more free role as he had the slow Toni on his side, whereas Ramos who had the most creative and faster Cassano never really made his mark up front.When Aragones tried to go for it, he didn't push the wing-backs upfront, but substituted Fabregas for Xavi, with Fabregas having more freedom to make forward runs.

Perhaps this sabotaged the Italian plan of counter-attack as the space just wasn't there; one also has to imagine that Italy suffered by the lack of Pirlo's play-making.

However, like the game versus Sweden, I thought that Spain had a lot of useless possession which didn't amount to too much; I think that most of the Spanish players are still winded by the long La Liga season. Against two closed defenses they were just good enough to grind lucky wins. Will this be enough?

4. Being winded down doesn't apply to the Russians who just started their league play. I think that their better physical condition along with the superb talent of players like Arshavin has made them the best team of the tournament so far. Though to be fair, I didn't think they ll pass Holland due to their defense lapses, which I still think will cost them at some point.

5. And speaking of Holland, why weren't they able to capitalize on said Russian defense or execute their fast counter-attacks? I do think that Van Basten cost them the game with the Afelay substitution for Engelaar. This meant that the already out-of-form Van de Vaart moved from the hole to the defensive midfielder slot where he helped cut Holland in half; for a good 10-15 minutes after that Holland was a shapeless embarrassment of a team. Afelay wasn't that spectacular either. I think Holland would be better served by getting Van de Vaart out.

Edited by Nick Kaufman, 23 June 2008 - 06:18 PM.