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

WOOOO-HOOOOO!!

I made it to the airport and watched the first sixty minutes of the game!! The two goals right off the bat I couldn't believe it. What a way to start the game...so much spirit and determination to take them on.

By the time Ballack made it 3-1, I was standing by the bar's enterance, clutching the ticket in my hand, looking over my shoulder at my gate waiting for the moment right before they closed the doors...(I had my upgrade so I knew I was ok). The lady at the Continental counter was German and excited so she also knew I was watching the game and were to get me.

By the time I got to Newark my blackberry was buzzing!! I saw the scorline of 3-2 (POR scored a 2nd) but it didn't matter - it was over!!!!!!!
My dad called me from Germany right as I was going through security...all excited...and he sounded a little tippsy. I must have just looked like Jo-Jo the idiot circus boy walking around the airport with this massive stupid grin!!

I slept like a baby on the flight Newark-LAX and only got as far as having a bloody mary before take off (double, mind you). What a great game!!!

As soon as I got to Long Beach I rented my car, got to my hotel, checked in and was able to get the final 20 minutes of the game on ESPN's replay! Woo HOO!!

Congrats to all the German fans - we are one step closer. For the next game I predict us losing 2-1...


Kidding!

Got to go to bed...though it's 3am here, it's already 6am back home (east coast) and I am exausted!!

 

I've just seen highlights of the game again and was once more stunne dby our first goal. Just beautiful. But now I wonder, has anyone seen that double-one-two play from the over-head camera? I mean that angle should exist somewhere and I'd love to see it...actually, they didn't show many pictures from that over-head camera at all. I'd love to see those more often...actually, if it was possible, I'd probably even switch to watching exclusively that angle, you just get a much better impression of how everybody moves.

 

guess he will have to answer this though i think he has contact to quite a few players.

 

Is that chick Schweini's girlfriend?

 

yes

 

Unfortunatly yes

And c ronaldo has had his injury for 3 months, playing injured, so it was friedrichs stab. Explains why he simmered down a bit the past months.

 

so it wasn't friedrich's step you mean? Since he had the injury before this.

 

What amazes me is that we had what seemed to me the quite unambiguously better team, although of course there was some luck (and coaching) involved as well. I didn't think the decimated team (- injured Frings and "out of form" Gomez/Jansen) had that in them.

People can talk rubbish the whole day about technical prowess (and I love to see that, too), about Portugal's greater ball possession etc., but team discipline, good tackling etc. are also qualities in individual footballers.

 

portugal's greater ball possession was ultimately useless because they wasted it all on long range shots, while germany went relatively (i say this as they never "bunkered") defensive during the periods of a 2 goal lead.

Using the possession as anything in this context just doesn't mean a thing. You have to instead look at how many chances they created and how often they sliced the defence open.

 

First of all, congrats to Germany for beating us on an open and exciting football match. Best of luck for the next games.

Second, it doesn't really matter to discuss which is the better team in abstract. We're out, you're still in. In the end, that's what counts. If Portugal makes it into footballing history books it will be as a failure.

Third, what's gut wrenching for me, as a Portuguese, is this feeling we could have done much better if not for Scolari. His inability for almost 8 years to coach our team to defend set-pieces. His stubborn insistence in the substitute goalkeeper of Betis. His consistent anti-Porto bias. His disgraceful attempt to punch a Serbian player... The list goes on. I don't know if this would be enough to win against Germany. Nobody can tell either way. But, at least, I would have the feeling that we did all we could. Like this, I can only be proud of our boys for playing with heart and rue the fact that we didn't have a coach that was able to tell them they also needed to use their heads for more than headers.

See you all in 2010.

 

excellent post and good luck for the qualification. No doubt you'll qualify so just send that luck england's way!! (just kidding, for any english posters reading)

 

you can still be proud, Portugal is a small nation and yet still so strong in football (the DFB has over FIVE million active football members). Also your team has a lot of potential in it which i think just needs a few more years to mature (thats what makes the difference between Ballack and Ronaldo in such games, CR will need more experience to play more consistly in big matches) and its definitly one of those teams to look after for the WC 2010.

 

Borowski is not a good fit for one of the two CDM spots behind Ballack. His qualities are certainly not on the defensive end. That's why Ballack took Hitz's position when Borowski came on. He's perfect as a side midfield player in a diamond but not as a CM.

Rolfes proved why it would've been criminal to cut him from the final squad instead of Jones. He's simply a good footballer, he's comfortable with the ball at his feet. I don't know why many tend to ignore him when it comes potential/WC 2010 lineups.

Oh, and Frings better stays on the bench for the rest of the tournament.

 

Borowski's a pretty good defensive player for a midfielder I thought.

Anyway, while I could rule him out of a CDM, I think he can play CM (as well as the side midfield player).

I don't think that'll happen. It's not like Hitz was as good as rolfes today.

So frings' experience and prior performances will count in his favour for producing a display to par with today's general team performance.

 

Great match, man I was on the edge of my seat for a long time.

Lets go Germany!

 

Imagine with Rolfes plays with Jones in 4-2-3-1 formation, while Ballack is an AM behind the strker (Toni/Klose/Kevin) with Podolski on the left and ehm, ehm... Marin on the right.


Back to the tournament.. The only concern now lies to Mertesacker. He should have done better in the goals we concedeed, especially on the first goal. He was out of the position.

Hope he'll improve, just like everyone

 

great, great match! loved every second of it! congrats to the squad for their victory!

GO GERMANY!

oh yea, i hate hangovers, but it was all worth it! haha!

 

Honestly I’m still not sold on Frings as a DM behind Ballack. Have you noticed that our two most impressive attaking games in the past 2 tournaments were played w/Frings on the bench? Frings does not let Ballack take over the game like he did yesterday. Ballack needs players like Hitz and Rolfes behind him to do the ‘dirty work’ and allow him to play a free role. I would prefer to see Frings come off the bench late in games, but I don’t want him to start another game at this Euro. Oh and I think if we win it all, Ballack is going to sneak in there and win the golden boot .

 

I'd like to see Frings (who apparently will be fit in time) for Hitzlsperger (Please keep Rolfes in! At least one proper DM, esp. someone with running power), but Frings definitely needs to contribute more offensively, which I feel he can in this formation.

 

leave frings out!
this seems to be the working formula...

it was the first game this eurocup...the first convincing performance!
we finally saw our boys play some real football...and it was against PORTUGAL, the new favourites who everyone thought was going to run all over us.

Watched it at a German club, and i thought i was going to have a heart-attack several times...was really glad to see the final whistle be blown

what a match, what a win...

 

What I want to see now is Löw sticking with the line-up. Frings needs to get dropped. He was one of the reasons we had problems in midfeld and Rolfes did an excellent job. Frings has been out of form and letting him play with a broken rib would be irresponsible. Judging from his latest interview it seems he has realised his place his actually in danger. However, he would just be a risk and Löw didn't exactely sound like, yeah, hopefully Torsten will be back for the next game because else we won't stand a chance.
I am a bit worried about Merte who is confirming his club from unfortunately.

 

Merte confirming his club form?
He was among the Top3 rated CB's by kicker in the BL.
Ofc those ratings are not everything but seriously he was the only thing that prevented Bremen from receiving 3-4 goals in every game.
Ppl dont seem to give him credit because he plays in a team with bad defending though that isnt his fault.
Mertesacker is easily one of the Top5 CB's in the BL and i also didnt see a bad season of him, quite the opposite and the game vs Portugal was actually one of his worst for the NT since ages, even against croatia he was solid despite the fact that everyone else except Lahm sucked.
Well, Merte had his bad game and i dont worry a single bit about him for the next game.

 

A few thoughts:

1. Ballack MUST continue in his free role in central midfield. It is without a doubt his best position. When a coach has the sense to give him positional license in midfield and the courage to construct a team around him, Ballack repays that confidence in spades. Just look at his years in Leverkusen, where Ramelow and Basturk played more traditional central midfield roles to allow for Ballack's natural goal-scoring instincts to emerge along side his existing box-to-box qualities. Since then, he's developed his game to the point that I would consider him, hands down, the most complete player in the game. He's even got some flair, what with the cheeky flicks and dinks he executes in tight spaces. And did my eyes deceive me, or did Ballack take 2 or 3 Portuguese defenders to school on the left side midway through the second half yesterday? Anyway, I really don't want to see Ballack in the defensive role he played in the group stages. It made me cringe to see Ballack retreating so far back in the build-up play, receiving the ball so deep that he was practically rubbing shoulders with the centerbacks. He needs to play farther up the field, where he can distribute quickly, combine with other midfielders (see 1st goal yesterday), drift into wider spaces, and occasionally grab a goal or two via his patented ghost-runs (or his equally well-known slight-shove-to-the-defender's-back-at-the-decisive-moment manuever).

Ok. That's it for the Ballack love fest. I might have gotten a bit carried away. But watching Ballack yesterday, I could hear my heart singing. As good as Schweinsteiger was, I thought Ballack was Germany's most important player.

2. I agree with Projekt4 that Frings should replace Hitzlsperger. Hitz played well yesterday, but other than his hammer shot of a left-foot (and it wasn't the sharpest tool in his shed yesterday), Frings out-classes him in most other important qualities for a DM, not least of which is international experience. Frings has looked a bit out-of-sorts techniquely so far this tournament, but he is class in big games. He's consistently one of the most accurate passers in the Bundesliga statisically, and he brings a fire and a hunger to the pitch that is so important in a knockout competition. Hitzlsperger and Rolfes, quality players that they are, are, for me, a bit too mellow a DM pairing. If, for instance, Moutinho had converted his chance and Germany had fell behind early, how would those two have reacted? I just think that Frings, in addition to his footballing abilities, brings an experience, intensity, and a willingness to get down, dirty, and in your face if necessary. I think it's going to be vital, whether we play Croatia or Turkey, to physically dominate the midfield. They both have young techniquely-gifted but undersized midfielders (ie. Arda, Modric) who are influential when give time and space to distribute and run at defenders, but I think a physically-imposing German midfield could take them right out the game.

Speaking of Modric, is it just me or has he been getting a RIDICULOUS amount of hype? Ok, so it's obvious the guy has talent, but it seems that in every interview I read with Slaven Bilic, he's saying something like, "I tell Modric every day that he's the best player in Europe," or with less nuance, "Modric is the best player in Europe." Of course, ESPN eats that shit up because their idea of analysis is the mindless regurgitation of half-read Soccernet articles. Modric didn't impress me one bit in the Austria game, and in my opinion, he was undeserving of MOTM status in the Germany game. Yes, he played his role in slowing the ball up and providing some composure at key moments in the game, but I have yet to see him slot any decisive passes, make things dangerous by dribbling himself, or have any legitimately dangerous goal opportunities. And my God, he's tiny. Again, he's got immense talent, great feet, and if he can bulk up, he'll probably become one of Spurs' stars. But he hasn't done much to merit even Slaven Bilic's personal Ballon D'or. It's probably a bit of sour grapes from the Croatia debacle talking, but I'm just a little confused about Croatia's general air of uber-confidence. I don't know. Maybe it's a good thing. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll have to see if Croatia can make good on their promises of European glory to see them through to the next round.

I had some more stuff to say, but this is long enough as it is. I'll post some more when I get a chance. And this is probably not the place for that last part, so if a mod wants to move it (if that's possible), I won't object.

 

Modric is a good player, but he gets overhyped in the English-language media because of his move to the Premier League, just as the whole British coverage of Euro 2008 is desperately oriented towards "Premiership connections".