The Greeks could unfortunately not resist the German dictatorship and give their suppressed people (400% more suicides over the past two years) some joy. The German team is frighteningly fit.
You're quite right. Mea culpa. Alzheimers, you know. And with no Villa (the head) and no Puyol (the tail), there is only the torso in midfield to score goals. Sergio Ramos is a disaster waiting to happen. Unless Torres can suddenly find his confidence, Spain will probably surrender to the German juggernaut, if not sooner.
I'm afraid Germany will win it. They have now the most citizens and also the best and most expensive educational facilities in the world.
More than China? (of course I know you are referring to the Euro zone) I don't think that they can be defeated by a team that plays anti-football since they have such good general possession skills when they get the ball. Even on a day when Schweinsteiger was absolutely dreadful (lots of bad passes and general poor play) they still won with relative ease. Löw is emerging as a very good tactical manager and his replacement of all three front line players yesterday was interesting. A little better shooting by Schurrle and they would have had 2 more goals early on.
I think so too but I am not a fan of del Bosque. Löw may be a better tactical manager but I'm not convinced his back line is defensively strong enough to handle the Spanish attackers.
I don't like del Bosque's approach to the offensive side of football as I think this Spanish team could do much better but boy do they play defense. They don't press as much as Barca do but they get double teams in place so fast that France really couldn't do anything. If I didn't count the players myself I would have said there were 15 Spanish players on the pitch, it was just that difficult for their opposition. I missed the Italy match but judging from their other three matches, it is going to be quite difficult to score against this club. It sure will be interesting to see what CR7 can do against this team and who they will play at striker since Postiga is out of the semifinal match.
I think Spain press much better than Barca did at times this season. It's actually more interesting tos ee them off the ball than on.
Germany really gets a huge advantage now. 48 hours extra rest and facing a team that had to play 120 minutes. UEFA really screwed up the scheduling here!
Italy has had the most chances. England had a few themselves. Nobody is putting them away. Italy has made all subs already ... Game on.
Yes, very strange scheduling. They change it every new tournament, which is the strangest thing. They have not a format fixed for five editions or so, no, they change it every new tournament. Amateurish, or just a fix.
Criminal if England win this one; they have been so outplayed it isn't funny but I guess that's football for you
Italy deserved it, no arguing about that. I was cheering for them because they had the bigger will to score. Yes, especially because this wasn't the case 4 years ago. I remember we lost to Russia and their next opponent (Spain) played the day after.
Hart was in Italy's mind, Italy had to do something and Pirlo showed up. He needed to bring Hart's confidence down and his own team's up and also score his penalty. That was not a Panenka to humiliate, but it was for the team. I take my hat off for that man.
Won't surprise me a bit if Italy sneak up on Germany, and book a place in the final. They played a very disciplined football, were compact in midfield and full of confidence. Finishing was atrocious, but if you keep creating chances, goals will eventually come by. Pirlo is just simply brilliant... completely outshone the whole England midfield. He is anything one can ask for a leader: commanding, intelligence passing, excellent vision and beautiful technique.
Italy is a team that can beat Germany at the moment and the Germans know that. Many posters might concentrate on a Germany-Spain final again, but they can be up for a surprise. I wonder how Italy deals with the rest disadvantageous. This was 120 minutes, not just 90.
What really surprised me was how really bad all the English midfielders were. Clearly both Milner and Young on the wings couldn't do anything but Parker and Gerrard were toyed with all match long. They are both too old now and won't be on the NT much longer.