Best game of the competition so far. Loew, this is how you take the game to Spain. Prandelli's tactics have been able to contain Spain quite well.
I have to agree. Best game so far.. thanks Italy and Spain for such a great technical game. except you Torres, you just suck! FT 1-1
Torres had better chances on his own than the whole spanish team against us. Italy was of course better going forward but it did come with a price and overall I don't think that we should or could play like Italy today.
I'm with you on that, yet it was the most entertaining match. Chances galore, and some great tactics and counter tactics. And our frame of comparison thus far has been 1) Poland vs Greece - Battle of the ultimate minnows spiced up by poor refereeing 2) Russia vs Czech- Good game, but only 1 team was ever in it. 3) Denmark vs Holland - zzzzzz 4) Germany vs Portugal - This was surely the best game so far.
Entertaining game - some really horrible missed chances from both sides, although I would say Torres deserves the CotM (Choker of the Match) award. I bet on Spain to win, but I'm not that miffed about the result - if they keep playing this bad, we don't have to worry about them all that much. I'm sure they'll pick it up, though.
I'm not sure I follow the first bit. It was Torres who scored against Germany in the EC08 final. And he wasn't in the team that played Germany at WC 2010. I don't think he started or was used as a sub. But I agree with you on Italy being more dangerous going forward. Apart from a chance that Kroos had, Germany had no real attack to boast of in the WC game. Italy took the game right to Spain. Till the final whistle, they looked as likely to score as Spain did. This style of constantly pressing the opposition and not letting them play their backline too high maybe the long sought after antidote to the tikki takka after all.
Amazing match - I thought it was one of the best football match I've ever seen! - I always thought Italy should not be underestimated and they showed today why. Italy played like lions and I consider them unlucky not to come with a win. At some point especially in the first half I thought they were actually outplaying Spain at their own game. And all this with a 3-5-2 formation, as well as a makeshift centreback in de Rossi! So much for their tactical acumen. - Spain did ok in my opinion even with a ridiculous striker-less formation. But their defense misses Puyol a lot! Ramos was a muppet for most parts of the game and they had to rely on Casillas to bail out. - Iniesta was untouchable. Pirlo, Buffon, Casillas and Chiellini also had monster games. - Not trying to be pessimistic, but the display on show today by both sides had me thinking how we compare with!
Torres (today, against Italy) had better chances on his own than the whole spanish team against us (against Germany in 2010).
Italy played themselfes officially on the map today. Still lots of Work to do for Jogi and the Boys, yesterdays replay was shit for most parts. I could see Spain fail in the Quarters actually and Italy and France becoming our biggest concern.
Absolutely agree with you - Italy definitely impressed today and France are very much underrated, in my opinion. I think it's likely that we will meet one of them in the semis.