PBP: (EURO 08 Quarter-Finals) Portugal v. Germany [R]

I m surprised that Rolfes' contribution wasnt that recognised.

He was hard working and running up n down the pitch. His one-touch pass was good, and he made some very nice off-the-ball movment and i think he is a big reason why Deco isnt quite effective as the previous games.

Rolfes' postioing was very good. He was there all the time at the central midfield. To be honest, i cant believe thats his first big tournament game ever. He played like a veteran not to mention the enormous pressure behind: people are putting him n Hitz under the spotlight and i think he did even better than Hitz!

Hope we'll se a new Elits there.

 

lol, I guess I could have gone to the local rugby field and explained to everyone that the euros are on....

but I didn't bother.


My cousin is quite lucky he works with a german girl and two english guys, all of which is great. The german girl because she's german and watches football, and the two english guys because they're both very knowledgeable and balanced (one is a liverpool fan actually). So he watches it with them before work.

If borowski was fully ready he would be the starter for me alongside frings.

But for the next game, what about borowski in for hitz if frings isn't 100% comfortable?

 

I agree, I think he was immense today.

 

only if lehmann was injured would it top that.

 

Man, what an awesome game... Definitely the best of this tournament so far.

Germany looked like a completely different team than the one that showed up to the Croatia and Austria matches. There was a real sense that they wanted to win and were going to play as hard as they needed to go through.

Ballack has finally gotten over whatever has been going on for the past two or three games. His passes were good and he even managed to score another goal. Welcome back, captain.

Podolski was great again... maybe he didn't score a goal, but he is creating all kinds of headaches down that left side. The play that led up to the first goal was fantastic and he was largely responsible for that.

This new formation seems to work much better than the plain old 4-4-2. Rolfes did a fine job marking Ronaldo... he was pretty quiet for most of the game. Would like to see Frings in alongside Rolfes in the back if he is able. Ballack and the two wingers all did a good job winning some challenges in midfield.

Mertersacker did not impress me too much today and Metzelder needs to learn to keep his big ass back near his goal instead of running so far ahead... we are going to get smoked if he gets caught upfield against a team like Netherlands or Spain. Lahm and Friedrich were very solid again and I like Friedrich back there better than Jansen since Jansen is a bit of a liability sometimes.

I am kinda hoping we get a chance for revenge against Croatia... provided the team that showed up today shows up for that game. Great performance... big confidence booster going into the semis.

 

I think my taking off of the chicken avatar yesterday helped. I wasn't totally comfortable with it yesterday and pictured a good result when I took it off.

 

Hitz wasnt bad.......just not outstanding. He did some decent work in the defensive midfield along with Rolfes. And i thought he wa everwhere when we defense.

Well, thats a position that good effort rarely gets recognised.

As for Borowski, since is is more attacking, Loew/Flick may have to take Ballack back to the DM to replace Hitz and let Borowski played at the AM. But the thing is Ballack did perfect at AM. He has more freedom to go forward since there are 2 reliable DMs behind him.

Borowski isn't quite as gifted as Ballack in attack tho he is good. And i certainly do not want to see Ballack play at DM like the Protugal match in the last 10-15 minutes. Borowski can be a sub tho, hr can be on when we need a goal and him n Ballack can be the two AMs, and we'll have one DM behind those two

BTW, wasnt Podoslki injured? He played just as good if not better!

 

This is what I kept thinking the whole game. Ronaldo and Deco were kept in check very well for most of the game... except for the first goal which Ronaldo was largely responsible for. I would love to see Rolfes and Frings playing in front of the defense and have Rolfes marking whatever super midfielder the remaining teams have, since almost of them have someone who is a huge threat in midfield.

Definitely relieved to see that we have a quality DM for when frings retires.

 

You removed your avatar? How dare you!!!! You have are now banished from this forum.

 

My one-armed chicken seemed to have worked just fine...

 

it looks like it's pumping a fist in the air!!

by the way, did you notice sami khedira in the crowd? After ballack's goal...about 10-15 seconds...they show a shot and there is one noticeable guy who's pumping his arm in the air and on a level just below him is khedira in a white t-shirt.

ffs we were playing like chickens before i did that!

 

You keep that one-armed chicken because it's so cute. LOL!!!

 

smithfan was at the game and mentioned that Khedira was with them in the fan block.

 

Just looked at Ballack's interview on BBC:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2008/7464818.stm

Hilarious stuff. He looked so embarassed when the reporter asked him if he has pushed Paulo F. from behind. And his answer was," its hard to say..............u know there were lots of pushing inside the box, i have to see it in the TV


Ballack is a devil

 

I thought he was one of the best players on the pitch, a real unsong hero in this game. He did a lot of subtle and quiet work. Loew and Flick did brillaintly before this game to isolate the key to Portugal's attacking game and point it out to the team. He then devised a clever strategy to try and shut down that system. Rolfes was one of the key players in this tactic. When Portugal moves the ball, they move in cells. There is always a triangle of players moving off the ball around the guy who has possesion. That and the fact that they are arguably the fastest team around makes their passing and their game so quick and dangerous.

Rolfes and the rest of the defenders did brilliantly to break those cells up and force the Portugese to hold on to the ball longer, leaving them without an option and ultimately to lose the ball to oncoming defenders. We strangled the Portugese attack so to speak, not giving them the space neccessary to play their game. Of course, when we did give them space they scored (1st goal) but other than that I was very impressed with the defensive organization of this team and Rolfes and Ballack, the two key players making that happen in midfield.

I would rather have Rolfes start and either Frings, Borowski or Hitzlsperger next to him. Rolfes has great defensive qualities. His positional awareness is very good and he anticipates attacks better than Hitz and Borowski would.

 

I don't agree that Frings should replace Hitzsperger. He had a good game as well and was certainly no liability for us. Why should an injured Frings do better than him?

 

Deserved win for Germany.

Clinical performance, defended well, brilliant quick passing on the counters, and powerful set plays. You know what our weakness was( Ricardo in the air and Ferriera who is generally shit) and exploited them perfectly.

Ballack was good today, and Rolfes filled in for Frings admirably!

Germany showed up when it mattered again like I expected..couldnt believe how some of you were all so down on your team, you just have that winning mentality..like you know you well get it done in the end.

It was seen when both teams were coming out of the tunnel at the start..Portugals players looked like they were pissing their pants while the Germans looked calm cool and collected.

Thought Deco was the only one which really troubled you and no one else..we missed our chances, and you took yours in a typical German performance. Set pieces are so important in todays game and you used your advantages in those areas, nothing but applause from this end.

Just one thing..horrible stab by Friedrich stomping on Ronaldos ankle after he fouled him..Ronaldo is injured for 3 months and will need an operation..not sure if it was because of that event though..still, i didnt like seeing that

Good luck the rest of the way, I hope you humiliate Croatia and then defeat Italy in the final, attaining double vengeance!

Peace.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

C.ronaldo said he has been playing with a slight injury for months. So it shouldnt be entirely Friedrich's problem

 

smithfan knows a lot of these players?

 

451 ueber alles finally loew came to hs senses

http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/0,1518,560857,00.html

 

thank you for the sentiments

about the c.ronaldo foul...I am not sure if that was intentional from friedrich. I didn't think it was.

But anyway, I don't think it was the reason for the ankle injury or operation as he played on it after that.