OFFICIAL EURO SOCCER/Football Championship Thread

[overst33r]

Whoever said Spain games are boring is so right. They just pass around and from time to time try to score.

Goal is to score not to control the ball entire game.

Spain plays the least entertaining games IMO.

Many times this frustrates their opponents and this can lead to mistakes in Spain's favor.

 

[palswim]

What an end to "Ronaldo's Tournament"!

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Total bs, as usual... Portugal dominated Spain in regular time though, they had no real goal chance at all, something Ive never seen before

Unfortunately, I dont know what happened but Portugal completely stopped playing during after time, and then penalties... Yeah, forget it... The only team Portugal would ever win against in penalties is England, but then again everyone does

Stupid Spain, does NOT deserve to be in the finals, and I hope they get raped by Germany

 

[Gooberlx2]

I dont know what happened but Portugal completely stopped playing during after time

I think they ran out of gas and simply bunkered for the PKs. Definitely a failing strategy.

 

[KMFJD]

What an end to "Ronaldo's Tournament"!

Yup

 

[pelov]

Total bs, as usual... Portugal dominated Spain in regular time though, they had no real goal chance at all, something Ive never seen before

What game were you watching? Spain had more shots on goal, more possession (though this doesn't matter much) and over the course of the game were the better team. Portugal played well in regular time but they certainly didn't outplay Spain. Over 90' it looked to be roughly equal and no team was "dominating." Extra time Spain really stepped it up and I think they deserved to win.

I dislike the way these teams approach their respective games against Spain. Opting to sit back and absorb pressure works well but only if you threaten on the counter attack. Spain has conceded only a single goal all tournament and it was to a well executed counter attack with the ball at the feet of Pirlo. The Spanish defense is weak. Ramos is not a true center half and Pique is coming off a pretty poor season for Barcelona so you'd think that teams would pressure them rather than wait and absorb pressure for a counter attack. I can see the reasoning but I think it's flawed.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Hum... What game were YOU watching? LOL Spain did NOTHING to threaten Portugal throughout the whole 90 minutes, they could barely leave their side without losing the ball... The only reason they had more ball possession is because of their stupid pass pass pass play style that everyone hates because it makes football about as boring as Americans claim it to be

Did you wonder why people kept booing Spain whenever they had the ball? Did you think those were Portuguese fans? NO LOL they were mainly Ukranians, because the whole freaking world is tired of seeing Spain play

It blows my mind that you can claim they were the better team... Bah the only reason they do so well is that half of the team is in Barcelona anyway, so they play together all year, versus groups that just play together in these big competitions...

I think pretty much the whole world is gonna be rooting for Germany on this one (and yeah, no one even considers Italy because they are playing like crap)

 

[BrokenVisage]

WTF, Spain better not win ANOTHER fucking championship, haven't they won the last 3 big ones or something? I'm glad it's not Italy or England but enough is enough, the German's need to take them down.

 

[Via]

Just watched the game.... Spain is setting back European soccer decades.

If I was new to watching soccer I'd see no reason to watch another match.

 

[sdifox]

What an end to "Ronaldo's Tournament"!

:biggrin:

I think he was saved from replacing Baggio for shooting at an airplane.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voT5W9Doa-s

 

[Gooberlx2]

Spain is setting back European soccer decades.

In terms of entertainment? Sure, I hate it too. But it's clearly a winning style.

 

[KMFJD]

Hum... What game were YOU watching? LOL Spain did NOTHING to threaten Portugal throughout the whole 90 minutes, they could barely leave their side without losing the ball... The only reason they had more ball possession is because of their stupid pass pass pass play style that everyone hates because it makes football about as boring as Americans claim it to be

Did you wonder why people kept booing Spain whenever they had the ball? Did you think those were Portuguese fans? NO LOL they were mainly Ukranians, because the whole freaking world is tired of seeing Spain play

It blows my mind that you can claim they were the better team... Bah the only reason they do so well is that half of the team is in Barcelona anyway, so they play together all year, versus groups that just play together in these big competitions...

I think pretty much the whole world is gonna be rooting for Germany on this one (and yeah, no one even considers Italy because they are playing like crap)

RoFLMAO take of your homer shades....Portugal did not outplay them, they only kept up with them for 90 minutes, they had their chances just like Spain but never capitalized...

 

[Via]

In terms of entertainment? Sure, I hate it too. But it's clearly a winning style.

Germany's been cultivating a style to break down that defensive possesion game they play. It's had some growing pains, but when it's on it looks tremendous. I hope it's on for the next two games.

 

[abaez]

Hasn't Spain only lost like twice since 2006? Say what you want about their play, but it wins games and that's all that matters.

 

[Via]

yeah, they haven't lost much. I think the US beat them.

Germany hasn't lost in like 16 straight competetive matches either (I don't feel like looking it up), and I think that means no ties either. I hope their positive soccer prevails and stems the tide of boring keep-away football.

 

[EvilYoda]

So it turns out I'll be on the road with my family for vacation during the final match...but first, Germany/Italy! I have 4-5 friends meeting up with me at new local pub and it should be a great time.

To me, Spain winning is like when Duncan and the Spurs were dominating...boring as hell but very effective.

 

[pelov]

Spain plays this way because on defense they kind of suck. Their midfielders only play defense for 5 seconds at a time, their center backs aren't very good and their left and right backs are far more effective going forward than they are getting back.

Spain plays defense the same way Barcelona do. If you lose the ball you press for 5 seconds and if you haven't gotten the ball back then you drop back. Spain's best defense is their ball possession. So long as the other team doesn't have the ball they can't threaten your goal. It's effective but teams just keep sitting back and letting Spain play this way. You'll never win this way and the best you can hope for is a draw or PK shootout. I'm hoping Germany approaches the game more aggressively since they certainly have the talent to do so. If they do I can see Deutschland winning 2-0 easy.

 

[Vdubchaos]

That was the least entertaining game of the Euros IMO.

I hate the way Spain plays (although they did show some signs of quality in OT for 5-10 min).

What a snoozer

 

[velillen]

Already a better game than yesterdays. Much more action so far.

And leave it to balotelli...beautiful header. Always liked his skill but his attitude can really annoy me

 

[BrokenVisage]

Ugh, I-tailians already up 2-0, give me a break.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Unfreakingbelievable... Italy winning by 2-0, AND they deserve it too... Im honestly blown away at how solid they are in this game

What the hell happened? Its like they got an overnight ass spanking after the England game and suddenly woke up... Lets see what happens in the second half!

 

[sjwaste]

Unfreakingbelievable... Italy winning by 2-0, AND they deserve it too... Im honestly blown away at how solid they are in this game

What the hell happened? Its like they got an overnight ass spanking after the England game and suddenly woke up... Lets see what happens in the second half!

People will bitch no matter what. It's always been that Italy plays boring, defends and just plays opportunistic, dives, whatever. Now that they're running around and scoring, people will find something else. Pretty sure that most soccer fans just don't like the Italians, for whatever reason.

 

[pelov]

People will bitch no matter what. It's always been that Italy plays boring, defends and just plays opportunistic, dives, whatever. Now that they're running around and scoring, people will find something else. Pretty sure that most soccer fans just don't like the Italians, for whatever reason.

Well, this year's Italian team isn't the same that one the World Cup. Their World Cup winning tournament they played pretty much all defensive and relied on PKs to win but this time around they look very solid in attack.

People don't bitch about Italy because of their defensive game. They aren't playing defensive but entertaining free-flowing football. That's not the issue people have with the Italians.The issue people have with Italy is that they dive more than any other team on the planet and even in this game where they've played very well they're still diving. It's only going to get worse in the second half as they try to keep their 2-0 lead with a more aggressive Germany.

 

[abaez]

God I hate Italy.

 

[palswim]

I was explaining the difficulty of rooting for a team in this tournament to some friends:

• Nobody likes Italy
• Nobody likes Germany
• Nobody likes Portugal
• Nobody likes Spain any more
• Nobody likes the Dutch after the World Cup (2010) Final
• Nobody likes England, because they're pathetic
• Nobody likes France
• Nobody likes Greece
• etc