In the Summertime, When the Weather is Fine | UEFA Euro 2012 | Poland/Ukraine

How many chances are Italy going to waste to finish this off?

 

Give us back the old, boring Germany that actually know how to win tournament instead of this so called "attractive" Germany that always choke in the semi-final or final

 

Did not see that coming. Playing Podolski really cost Germany - not good enough.

 

Yep. By the time Reus was on, Italy were already content to sit back and defend (which they did excellently). Germany had the impetus early on, but not the quality.

Hopefully that's the end of Podolski as a starter for Germany. Too many better talents coming through at the moment.

 

Pirlo, whilst not as obviously influential against a side that actually bothered to close him down, was still excellent. Would love to see him cap this tournament performance with a win over Spain.

 

Or the German players just aren't better than the Italians--even Reus didn't change the game. Could have been 3- or 4- if Di Natale and Diamanti finished.

 

By then Italy were playing on the counter. Had a few of Germany's shots gone in early it could have been 4-0 to the Germans. Although hey - I'm happy about the result!

 

See my conversation with Gregoriak in the Germany thread. Loew's team is overrated. Today was not a fluke--they're not what journalists have made them out to be.

 

Loew's team has fall short in 3 major tournaments...Surely something must be changed. Maybe a new head coach?

 

As I said elsewhere, all this really shows is that goals change games. The first was a decent goal but the second one was an Allardyce's Bolton-style long punt upfield which the Germans were too high up to defend against.

After that Germany were the better side but, so what?!

 

Congrats to Italy...they did what they did, and very well i may add...Germany - not so much....

 

Nah it's just bad luck they'll win one eventually. Germany's plethora of outstanding young players means they'll be one of the top three teams in the world for the next six years at least imo.

 

Can we go get Balotelli?

 

He can be a monumental douche but even I thought this was a little heartwarming. Mario with Ma Balotelli:

 

They'll never win, that bunch. They lack what German teams had in the past. Germany used to get to the final with even mediocre players. This new group is not right. They're not champions--they don't hate losing enough. And Loew definitely has to go IMO.

 

I think they need better wide players, honestly. Muller's a good player without a position (I think he's best as a support forward, personally) while Podolski has the football brain of a chicken. Also, replacing Badstuber would do wonders. I think you're being too harsh on them, really.
One thing that Ozil needs to do is work on scoring from open play though - he has had so many great opportunities this tournament and hasn't come particularly close. Makes you appreciate midfielders that "only score goals", like Lampard.

 

I just don't buy these type of arguments. Teams lose, it doesn't mean they didn't want it enough, have no heart or don't hate losing, they just didn't win.

 

Maybe it's all statistics. I read Michael Lewis and Simon Kuper and I love that stuff -- those numbers guys don't believe in such things as a winning mentality and pedigree. But I think mentality might be as good an explanation as any. In 2002 Germany got to the final with a great goal-keeper, a midfielder, and little else. Now for six years with a fleet of quality players they've (supposedly) been in the process of taking over world football, but still have nothing to show for it. Maybe their time will come. Maybe they just a few new players. I guess we'll find out.

 

They got in 08 and 10 by Spain, the best team going. Not much you can say about mind set or fragility there, today they had a poor game and got beat by a pretty good team it happens

 

got beat*

 

In 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2010 Germany got beat by the eventual winners of the tourney. I'm ok with that.

Tonight, I really think Loew got it wrong when he started with Poldi, Kroos and Gomez. He outsmarted himself and Italy played a great counter twice to make it 2-0. Germany simply could not break through the defense...they tried, but they simply could not make their chances count. It could have been 2-2 at the half just as much as it could have been 4-1 for Italy at the end of the full 90. Sometimes the ball does not go your way.

They were solid - all around. Germany had heart, but no direction.

 

Didnt get pushing Ozil wide for kroos at all