Euro 2008 - TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT!!

[teamwork]

Euro 2008 was a great tournament, that I sat down and enjoyed whilst watching some brilliant football and not having to worry about the results. The best players in Europe took to the stage and fulfilled the expectations that were upon them, but who really stood out and got a mentioned. My Euro 2008 team of the tournament is below.

Cassilas (Esp)

Bosingwa (Por) Marchena (Esp) Pepe (Por) Lahm (Ger.)


Ballack (Ger) Fabregas (Esp) Sneijder (Hol)


Arshavin (Rus)

Villa (Esp) Torres (Esp)


Podolski ( Ger)
Pavluchecnko (Rus)
Senna (Esp)
Xavi (Esp)
Zhirkov (Rus)
Frings (Ger)
Modirc (Cro)
Van Der Sar (Hol)

Manager: Slaven Bilic.

[DaveyGorgeous]

Euro 2008 was a great tournament, that I sat down and enjoyed whilst watching some brilliant football and not having to worry about the results. The best players in Europe took to the stage and fulfilled the expectations that were upon them, but who really stood out and got a mentioned. My Euro 2008 team of the tournament is below.

Cassilas (Esp)

Bosingwa (Por) Marchena (Esp) Pepe (Por) Lahm (Ger.)


Ballack (Ger) Fabregas (Esp) Sneijder (Hol)


Arshavin (Rus)

Villa (Esp) Torres (Esp)


Podolski ( Ger)
Pavluchecnko (Rus)
Senna (Esp)
Xavi (Esp)
Zhirkov (Rus)
Frings (Ger)
Modirc (Cro)
Van Der Sar (Hol)

Manager: Slaven Bilic.

Not a bad lineup but I have two major concerns: Torres had a pretty decent tournament but I'm not sure about him having a starting role. He should be on the bench. Also, I dont think Lahm should be a starter either. He played well offensively but poorly defensively. He was beat in both the Turkey and Spain games and his mistake cost Germany a goal in each game.

[KumarsS]

------------------------------akinfeev------------------------------
-------------------carvalho-----------puyol-----------------------
-altintop-----------------------------------------------------lahm-
-------------------------------senna--------------------------------
------------------------deco----------xavi--------------------------
-schweinsteiger------------------------------------------podolski-
--------------------------------villa---------------------------------

[0-Point]

The spanish 11 they all played boomb.

[impalemeplz]

The spanish 11 they all played boomb.

i would exclude iniesta and put in sneijder

[phil80]

i would exclude iniesta and put in sneijder
:confused: he was one of their best players in the semifinal and final

[argentine soccer fan]

-----------------------Casillas
--------------Puyol-------------Pepe
Bosingwa-----------------------------------Lahm
-----------------------Senna
--------------Altintop----------Xavi
Sneijder-----------------------------Arshavin
---------------------- Villa

Subs: Buffon, Marchena, Ballack, Fabregas, Podolski, Pavilychenko

[soccerislife7]

----------Nihat---------Pavluchenko---------
---------------Archavin--------------
-----Sneijer-----Tuncay----Schwiensteiger---
--Aniukov--Puyol--Carvaliho--Ramos-----
-----------------Casillas-----------------

Subs: Buffon, Kovac, Senna, Fabregas, Ballak, Van Nistelrooy.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

------------ Villa
-- Ronaldo --------- Arshavin
------ Sneijder - Ballack
----------- Senna
Lahm - Chiellini - Pepe - Anyukov
--------- Van der Sar

[ChelseaForTheCup(s)]

------------ Villa
-- Ronaldo --------- Arshavin
------ Sneijder - Ballack
----------- Senna
Lahm - Chiellini - Pepe - Anyukov
--------- Van der Sar

Just wondering....why Ronaldo? He did next to nothing compared to the likes of Xavi, or even Silva/Iniesta.

[MavadoDribblez]

I can't see how Lahm could be included in any starting eleven....yeah he scored a goal, but his defense was atrocious at times. As for Van der Sar....he couldn't have possibly have had a better tournament than Casillas. Yes, he made some nice saves against Italy, but he wasn't even needed against France or Romania. I can't see how a keeper that went out in the quarterfinals could be a starter over Casillas, especially when Van der Sar had three goals scored on him against Russia (albeit not his fault). I felt that Torres had a better tournament than Villa, but most of the other picks make sense....you could argue for or against.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Just wondering....why Ronaldo? He did next to nothing compared to the likes of Xavi, or even Silva/Iniesta.

Ronaldo was heavily involved in 5 out of the 7 goals Portugal scored.

I can't see how Lahm could be included in any starting eleven....yeah he scored a goal, but his defense was atrocious at times. As for Van der Sar....he couldn't have possibly have had a better tournament than Casillas. Yes, he made some nice saves against Italy, but he wasn't even needed against France or Romania. I can't see how a keeper that went out in the quarterfinals could be a starter over Casillas, especially when Van der Sar had three goals scored on him against Russia (albeit not his fault). I felt that Torres had a better tournament than Villa, but most of the other picks make sense....you could argue for or against.

Lahm's defensive was not atrocious by any stretch of the imagination. What was atrocious was the complete lack of tracking back by Podolski (amongst others) which initially led to Jansen being continually exposed to double teams and eventually led to the same happening to Lahm. The key difference was Lahm was good on the opposite flank and aside from two incidents was a lot better than Jansen on the left as well. Lahm was the entire German left flank in both a defensive and offensive capacity. He did it on his own and with little help from his teammates.

I felt Van der Sar was more influential for his team than Casillas was. He also made a big impact in terms of both defensive and offense. His distribution was a key component of Holland's counterattacking game.

Torres had a poor tournament for me. His usual movement but he lacked cutting edge and I was not surprised to see him substituted time and again. Even in the final he lacked cutting edge until he pulled Lahm back and Lehmann made yet another horrendous error by coming out and making it easy for Torres. I personally think Lehmann cost Germany another title.

[ChelseaForTheCup(s)]

Lahm was less than poor in the final. I have no idea what he was thinking when Torres scored.

[phil80]

Just wondering....why Ronaldo? He did next to nothing compared to the likes of Xavi, or even Silva/Iniesta.
Ronaldo was not the best on his team, if anyone from portugal should be on there it should be deco

[KumarsS]

Lahm was less than poor in the final. I have no idea what he was thinking when Torres scored.

The error was Lehmann's for coming out, and Torres was physically pulling Lahm down trying to outrun him.

[ChelseaForTheCup(s)]

The error was Lehmann's for coming out, and Torres was physically pulling Lahm down trying to outrun him.

Erm......not really. Lahm held off himself, his fault through and through.

[phil80]

Erm......not really. Lahm held off himself, his fault through and through.
it looked like lahm had good positioning and would have gotten to it first but he clearly slowed down because he saw ridiculous lehmann charging out for the ball. if anything lahm should have shielded the ball better while lehmann was coming out, but imo most of the blame is on lehmann

[ChelseaForTheCup(s)]

it looked like lahm had good positioning and would have gotten to it first but he clearly slowed down because he saw ridiculous lehmann charging out for the ball. if anything lahm should have shielded the ball better while lehmann was coming out, but imo most of the blame is on lehmann

Hardly.

Lahm should've cleared, and that's that. Attempting to shield a ball when you're 5 foot something against Fernando Torres is not a good idea.

[Perú FC]

Ronaldo was not the best on his team, if anyone from portugal should be on there it should be deco
Also Simao was better. Ronaldo had only a regular tournament, he couldn't be in a best eleven.

Neither I wouldn't put in Casillas, Bosingwa, Lahm, Cesc Fábregas, Ballack or Torres, I think were at least two better performances by each of their positions.

My best team would be:

------------------ van der Sar ----------------
---------- Marchena --- Chiellini ----------
-- Anyukov --------------------- Zhirkov --
--------------------- Senna --------------------
--- Iniesta ----- Sneijder ---- Podolski -
-------------- Villa ------ Arshavin ----------

Substitutes: Boruc, Pepe, Puyol, Hamit Altintop, Pranjic, De Rossi, Xavi, Arda Turan, Modric, David Silva, Semih Sentürk.

[SirManchester]

I'll give it a shot.


-------------van der Sar
Altintop---Ignashevich--Chiellini---Lahm

--------------Senna---Ballack
Sneijder--------------------------Zhirkov
-----------------Arshavin
--------------------Villa

Not too good a tournament for central defenders. I could easily have gone with Ujfalusi or Pepe.