Italy couldn't crack our defence.. Took pk's to see them through... Germany has a much rougher go with the Italians however..
Germany had a better go in the second half than England because they had to, but look at all the space they left behind, it was shocking. You can actually see in some ways see why England defended so deep later on. Germany were exposed like a sissy in the prison showers. Italy are a great counter attacking team.
funny old game, isnt it? plenty of post match wisdom on here, but i don't think anyone was predicting that, certainly i would have made a hash of any predictions. are italy better than germany now? was it just a case of 'on your day'? was it the management that made the difference, not the player quality? so many questions.
I think England put up a much better fight against Italy than Germany. England had to wait till the penalties and Germany had really already lost in the first half
So, yet again we lose to the finalist.. doesn't look so bad when you put it like that I think that recently German teams have developed a losing mentality as soon as they get to the semis or finals... how many semis/finals have Schweinsteiger and Lahm lost in their careers? They've lost the WC semi in 06, the final in 08, the semi in 10, the champions league final in 2012 and then another semi in 2012.
Which is clearly a loser mentality other than those teams that didn't even reach these stages of a tournament. Following that logic all teams are losers depsite those 11-23 players of the winning side. Bit of a one dimensional argument, isn't it?
Aside from the poor tactics the level of performance from the Germans was a notable choke. Is there a single player in their squad who has won the CL, let alone an International tournament?
I'm joining your post to dage one , cause i think they are related.......well, germany in 02,06,08 and 10 wasn't the best team , so i wouldn't considerer their defeat in those tournament a failure. However, in this euro they were the most impressive side by far , a team full of talent from the goalkeeper to the strikers, they had the best mix between young blood and experienced but not old players......lahm,poldi,schweni,gomez.......in short, the team was perfect, may be even too much....... Loew's tactic was absolutely shambolic ...there is no need to say more , however, what shocked most people is the players reactions......there is no doubt that germany got more talented players than italy , nevertheless, yesterday game exposed their mental weakness, which is .....at this point was.....one of the force of deutschland football....... germany with a frail mentality , is like england without fighting spirit, brazil without tekkers...........absolutely shocking.
Not sure they are better than Germany, but it was more than just Italy's day. This can't be a big surprise to anyone who has watched Italy and, in particular Pirlo & Balotelli, play throughout the tournament. They have no glaring weakness. Neither does Germany I suppose, but their defense isn't as solid. And sorry but Ozil is no Pirlo. Never will be.
By far..??? not to me. I thought they were slightly fortunate to beat Portugal 1-0.....and their arrogance and over-confidence yesterday led to them getting knocked out....by a better team.
Really? Italy's defense was definitely a weakness, on the wings. Does it not count because the Germans failed to exploit because they kept trying to cross it? That Italy decided to pack the middle and Germany refused to change their tactics? It was still a weakness.
Good point. That's the problem with 1 leg KO games. Look at the champions League and how often results are reversed in return games. Arsenal battered in Milan, batter Milan in London. I think we are all guilty of jumping to quick conclusions about teams because of the short nature of the tournament. Any team can have an off day or run sh!t hot like Portugal and Italy despite awful previous form. That's why we love football.
I agree. Although I think England could have been a lot better in the second half. I have been saying this on other threads. Germany were far worse than England in the first half, they were 2-0 down! Yet many still like to imagine England were worse. While Germany were better than England offensively in the second half, they were totally exposed. It's a shame England were so slack and bad in possesion in the second half, it erased the memory of the decent and promising first half.
Let's face it, England were sh!t and would have been equally embarrassed by the Germans, it was a travesty that the game against Italy went to pens, we parked the Chelski bus and hoped to hit them on the break. Route 1 didn't work, but it was our only option, because we couldn't pass it to each other. Germany got hit on the break twice, by exceptional finishing and poor defending, but I think we all expected them to score more than they conceeded. Huge kudos to the Iti's, but let's not try and kid ourselves it makes us look any better, that they beat the Krauts more convincingly, we defend exceptionally, but do fcuk all else Haven't missed a match so far, looking forward to the final and don't give a toss who wins.......oh happy days.......have a good weekend everybody...xxx...
It's the nature of the tournament that makes it such a crap shoot. For comparison let's look at two sets of results from the EPL last year. Team 1 Game 1 - home - Lose 3-2 v Man Utd Game 2 - home - Lose 1-0 v Liverpool game 3 - away - Win 1-0 v Wigan Game 4 - home - Win 3-2 v Spurs Game 5 - away - Draw 2-2 v Liverpool Game 6 - away - Lose 1-0 v Everton Team 2 Game 1 - home - Win 4-0 v West Brom Game 2 - away - Win 6-1 v Norwich Game 3 - away - Win 2-0 v Wolves Game 4 - home - Win 1-0 v Man Utd Game 5 - away - Win 2-0 v Newcastle Game 6 - home - Win 3-2 v QPR Both series of games happened over about the same period of time as this tournament. Now, which team would you say was best? For me I'd say the first but there's a problem with that... it's the same team http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/fixtures/_/id/382/season/2011/manchester-city?cc=5739 Fact is there's an awful lot of luck in these things. As you say, the 2 legged competitions offer a much better idea of the relative quality of the sides but they're impractical. The other thing that strikes me is that there's a greater level of success if you work the percentages and base your play on defending because there's a greater chance of success in stopping the other side scoring and grabbing a goal on the break than trying to score yourself. Fact is you only need to go ONE goal up and, because it's only one match, the other side HAS to come out and throw men forward. That's pretty much how the Italians have been doing it for years and they seem to have done OK. I think that's also partly why we haven't been that successful over the years because we're used to end to end play with each team trying to overrun the other. Of course, that's not what's been happening this time with us but, tbh, maybe that's why our record in this competition this year, (as opposed to our level of performance), hasn't been that bad. There's more chance of success if you sit deep as LONG as your attackers can break and score.
Not meaning to blow my own trumpet, but I predicted it. I also maintain that I would have rather England played Spain that Italy in the QFs.
There isn't a German player still playing that has won the CL. Last one was Hamann with Liverpool. Ryan Bertrand has one CL medal at this point.
So a player who hasn't even been capped for England has won more big trophies than the entire German squad put together. Something to remember next time their fanboys start mouthing off, I guess.
I think they will unless Del Bosque does something stupid. They can play without a striker but they must have Navas or Pedro in the team to give some width and attacking play. If he lines them up as poorly as he did in the first halves against Portugal and Italy in the group, they can lose it.
Well, I tipped Spain before the tournament, and see no need to change my mind. Even when they aren't playing at their best, they seem to be able to get the required results. Going by their first game against each other though, it should be close.
