Euro 2008

HaziLPTonz

New member
the newspaper article statd they left him out due to Bojan telling them he was simply too tired to continue after his first full season, alot of players are tired but are continuing to to be picked and expected to play, the selectors had said they felt bojan was abit too young at this stage, but were going to pick him due to his impressive form, and when Bojan told them he was too tired, it made their decision easier as they had been left undecided

dont ask, just read the article and inferred that while bojan was a possible inclusion, the staff still had a few doubts

i think spain have made a mistake not to at least include him in the party like they did with Iniesta,Cesc etc for WC06, those 2 didnt play and were there merely to gel with the team and gain first team expiereince, cesc i think only made 1-2 sub appearances. consider if they lose either villa or torres, they are in ALOT of trouble up forward and bojan(even in a sub appearance) would at least have kept teams guessing, their second mistake is leaving fox in the box Raul out, hes a real class act and will be missed i feel, regardless of his age, hes shown to be mor than capable with Real. guiza,while in great form, is no Raul and is still relatively untested

there have been talks of a spanish 4-1-4-1 formation, allowing Torres to roam free up forward with an attacking quartet running behind him. while as good as it may sound to be able to squeeze xavi,cesc,iniesta and co in the one team, to hve Villa an Guiza possibly sitting on the bench seems a tad proposterous, as good as torrres is, he still needs another strong forward presence to allow him freedom-take example of Manchester United game when Stevie g went missing and Torres was ripe for Vidic+Ferdinand for the picking, this IS euro08 here, not some middle table premier league team

 

Jeezy

Active Members
so...it started

Switzerland - Czech Republic - 0:1

Portugal - Turkey - 2:0

Austria - Croatia - 0:1

Germany - Poland - 2:0

yeah

 

HaziLPTonz

New member
considering i just watched the netherlands TOWEL the italians BIG time, theyd hafto shorten in terms of odds, like i;ve said, Italy are TOO slow, and got caught TWICE on the counter with sheer pace outdoing them, hollan may well NOT win the tournament, but with Arjen Robben still to come back into the team and Dutch League top scorer Huntelaar and Celtic hitman Venegoor waiting in the wings, i could well EAT MY WORDS about this dutch side

France playing Anelka instead of Henry or GOmis...that is SUCH a big NO NO from Domenech, hes made a MASSIVE blunder playing a HACK like Anelka while Henry and Gomis sit on the bench,Trezeguet and Ben Arfa cooling their heals at home, this french side looked a lil jaded, they struggle to break down a well organised Romanian side and they may continue to struggle given Hollan just towelled Italy and Italies defence and attack would easily outshine Romanias, france need to be alot more positive, throw in Henry, send Anelka home and allow Nasri alot more game time and we will see a much better, if not at least MORE fluent french side,France are one of the favourites, but if they continue to shackle their stars and not find the proper combinations, they will flouder heavily

portugal...hmmm...ronaldo doesnt look into it tbh, the whole real madrid thing is clearly weighing him down(his teammates have gone on record saying ronaldos been abit recluse lately), and its a major worry that quaresma has fallen behind simao and nani in terms of flank power, given portugals thereby lack of up front strikefore, theyre gonna need something drastic to defeat a heavy weight, cause lets be honest, turkey arent exactly a heavy weight of world football, while their win was faily easy, its nothing more than covering the cracks atm,call me harsh, but portugal are prolly the favourites in this tournament and players like quaresma and ronaldo need to get their heads out of their arses or they face an embarasing early exit

 

GraDoN

New member
hmm Germany and the netherlands looks like the teams to watch this year.... i mean i didnt expect them to win against italy nevermind 3 - 0.
 

Linkin_lp_park

New member
Hahaha yeah I didn't expect it either, but while I was watching a movie I heard 3 big screams, so I already thought they won 3-0 XD
 

HaziLPTonz

New member
spain cleaned up russia 4-1

and sweden overcame greece 2-0

spain looked deadly, but then again, russias defence was shoddy at best,never...EVER...EVER have your backed turned to david villa...well...for that matter...ANYONE wearing a spanish jersey, it was clinical finishing. defensively spain were helped by the woodwork and some **** poor finishing by the russians, but had russias defence been any good we woulda had a great match, this was probably the match of the tournament so far cause russia really put a pipe up the spanish, just couldnt score when it counted (at 1-0 down, semshov i think missed yards wide and then he hit the post from close range) and defensively so frail, hiddinks got a massive headache now i think. aragones will be thinking hes found the perfect strike combo after torres and villa tore the russians to shreds. Direct.Fast.Clinical. thats what summed up the spanish attack all night. but aragones wouldnt be getting too carried away, wasnt the best defensive display by the spaniards and the scoreline flattered them tremendously. A glut of talented midfielders that forced fabregas to the bench(and later to play as a winger), a strike force of Villa and Torres...have this Spanish team finally got what it takes to win?

greece...hmmm...cup holders...perhap the luckiest team to win a tournament...ever. sitting back and hitting on the counter may hve worked in 2004, but it was clear that the 2008 tournament is find the early goal, sit back and THEN hit on the counter as teams like holland and spain have done,thts not to say Sweden had the perfect game themselves.... Greece hardly threatened and need to be alot more proactive if they hope to have ANY hope of defending their trophy, though they could still pull a shock if spain let their guard down and with russias frailties in defence,anything can still happen

 
i told u before, portugal is not made only by ronaldo ;)

and indded, shame that quaresma are being left being... :(

netherlands...

Wow! didnt expect that! great game

same to germany :)

well... portugal's time today once again ;)

wish us luck!!!

 

HaziLPTonz

New member
portugal won, good game, open ended, good finishing, cech beaten by ronaldo...again...wowww

ronaldo had a good game, a goal and technically 2 assists...i wouldnt call decos goal an assist...but some people are claiming it since it was ronaldo who did get some form of touch onto the ball before deco scored

portugal through to the next round

turkey V czech republic is going to decide who goes through to 2nd round with portugal afer turkey accounted for hosts switzerland 2-1, guess it wont be any fairytale for the swiss and austria like last WC02 joint hosts SKorea and Japan

 

GraDoN

New member
^ ya and USA also had that good run, they should have won vs germany but ref didt see that clear handball in penalty box :<

and croatia 1 up on germany o_O didnt expect that

 

HaziLPTonz

New member
germany...well well...beaten

i must say it probably wasnt that unexpected, but at the same time, germany were the favourites for euro08

germany will take heart from this defeat though, bit of luck with one goal, a few misses and a dodgey red card for schweiny...BUT

germany lack a real...playmaker, a person in the middle with FLAIR and a good passing game, ballack is good, but hes not going to unlock defenses like...Ronaldo with his runs, or Iniesta with his passing, germany today were shown to be lacking in terms of attack, decent strikers-gomez,podolski,klose and kuranyi, but no real quality deliveries to get there, croatia probably didnt deserve the 3 points, but germany didn help their own causes today, 19yr old TOni Kroos should be a good addition for future tournaments, he was a real startlet at the last U17 world cup

are germany tht short on keepers than jens Lehmann iis in goals? hes not the safest bloke on the planet, and given the young talents of Rensing and co. was lehmann REALLY the no.1? i know its hard to compare to someone like oliver kahn, but the bloke has no positional play and really didnt take command too well, some nice shots but the parry is a worry

in terms of the tournament and what this means, germany are NOT the force everyone was expecting them to be, no real directness in their attack(other than lahm, who toiled hard all day for no reward), their midfield lacks penetration and their goal did come seemingly from nowhere, while no doubt a threat to anyone who will face them, they certainly dont deseve the favourites tag at this stage, like holland(who have exceeded expectations) however, theyve got 1-2 games left to prove me wrong

right now its holland,spain and portugal who look most likely, but france,italy(assuming either of these 2 make it out of the group of death), germany wont be too far behind if they get their act together, one trend that has been set among the contenders and the also rans is the PACE of ball movement and directness and flow in attack

 
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