Their total reluctance to shoot from outside the box and their dislike of crossing the ball into the box plays right into the hands of any organised,motivated team that defends well and deep and refuses to let their forwards get in behind them.....at this time they don't seem to have a "plan B".....to go along with "plan A"....(keep the ball for 70%+ of the game and try and pass the other lot into oblivion)....in the first half against England they had 1 shot on goal....same "total" as England had.
People said the same thing after Barca lost to Inter and after Spain lost to Switzerland. Then look what happened over the next 12 months. There is a very simple reason why both these teams don't resort to a Plan "B" -> Their plan "A" is better than anybody else's. Going to Plan "B" makes them just another football team. Which usually means losing.
Not sure how anyone can look past Spain! Unless they get a really tough group which is possible and they have a slow start.
Four loses to ranked teams since the world cup (when they also managed 4 straight 1-0 wins) would indicate that they've pretty much been figured out and that they do indeed need a plan B...
A couple of those losses can easily be attributed to world-cup hangover. It's a bit ridiculous to make a point based off the Portugal friendly loss when they comfortably beat that same team in a hugely important match just prior, don't you think? 14 straight competitive wins, 22 straight qualifying wins. Not figured out.
A year and a half later? I don't think so. Regarding the Portugal games, those are two different Portugal teams. One was defensive as hell, and the other one actually plays soccer. Also, Portugal wasn't comfortably beaten considering Villa's goal was actually offside. Paraguay could've easily snuck a win in their game, and while they were impressive against Germany, if Robben could actually shoot a ball, Holland would have taken that final, no question. Regarding the straight wins, impressive, but their most difficult opponent in their group was the Czech Republic, who is most likely the weakest team at Euro 2012.
England. They just beat Spain with a bunch of young players. This event undeniably signals the beginning of a golden generation that will dominate international competitions for at least the next decade.
After Greece in 04 and Turkey and Russia coming really close in 08, I think just about every team has a chance at it except the Czech Republic, who is without a doubt the worst team in the tournament.
I said "a couple of those losses". As in the ones to Argentina and Portugal. Great that the English think they've solved Spain though. lol Fact is, most everyone looks defensive as hell when they play Spain. Even Germany and Holland. As opposed to all the other qualifying groups where the second-best team is a top favorite in Euro 2012? Estonia, Montenegro, Sweden, Bosnia, Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey.
Spain barely defeated Portugal in the World Cup but in recent months, Spain has lost to Portugal and Argentina by big margins, 4-0, 4-1, lost to Italy 2-1, lost to England 1-0, drew Costa Rica 2-2 and yes, they travelled far to go there so this is not a good sign, it is not a good sign either how Netherlands has not been playing strong though their results are probably not as bad. I'm not a Germany fan per se but you can't deny they are steam rolling teams. They last lost to Australia in a friendly so yes, there you go, can't put too much emphasis on a friendly but it's not a number of games as Spain has suffered. Portugal has had problems with Denmark, they are almost a boogey man for Portugal, they have had problems in the past with Denmark. So, rather unobjectively, at times, I've been really against the German team but I think they are top favorite, then, rather close together, Spain and Netherlands, Italy would be a dark horse and then, there is a pack and it is hard to tell who might be the best of that pack. Russia defeated Netherlands last time and a very good Netherlands team so just because a team is down a bit in the pecking order does not mean they might be able to pull an upset5.
I think Germany is the team to beat but I think it is wide open. Let's not forget, Greece won in '04, Denmark in '92. So, you've definitely had upsets in the Euro. Some team, maybe like Croatia who defeated Germany last time or Russia who defeated Netherlands last time, some team, don't know who, might be able to pull an upset. An Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, those teams are still fairly good, maybe Russia and Croatia again as well.
That's the way it seems, the Czechs really haven't had a good tournament game it seems to me since they defeat us, USA in '06, I know they were at the last Euro but they seem lacklustre BUT, they defeated Montenegro who aren't too bad, England drew with them and the Czechs may have a 'semi-home' advantage, the Czech language I've heard is a lot like Polish so that is an intangible that 'could' work in their favor.
Italy too will have Balotelli who could light up the tournament. But as for outside shots, I think Ireland can advance out of the group stage unless their group is a real difficult one like Spain, Germany, Portugal and Ireland. Probably an even shot that a real outside team could win. And no, I don't think France is back with any true force, I don't think they have the horses and they have a bit of a taint from a poor world cup and what they did to get to South Africa, you can say that is a different team but others will remember, especially with Ireland there.
Ah, nobody is perfect. Friendlies come in two shapes and sizes: - experimental friendlies against lesser opposition - prestige duels against major football powers Let's see how Germany has performed in these two categories since South Africa: Experimental friendlies against lesser opposition: 17.11.2010 Schweden - Deutschland 0:0 (0:0) 29.03.2011 Deutschland - Australien 1:2 (1:0) 06.09.2011 Polen - Deutschland 2:2 (0:0) 11.11.2011 Ukraine - Deutschland 3:3 (3:1) Three draws and one defeat. Lots of experimentation with new call-ups and shape. Compare that to... Prestige Duels against Major Football Powers: 09.02.2011 Deutschland - Italien 1:1 (1:0) 29.05.2011 Deutschland - Uruguay 2:1 (2:0) 10.08.2011 Deutschland - Brasilien 3:2 (0:0) 15.11.2011 Deutschland - Niederlande 3:0 (2:0) Thee wins and one draw. These, I'd say, are taken about as seriously as the EURO qualification games. And Germany won all of those. Bottom Line: The prestige duels tend to be pretty indicative of an NT's strength and their results should not be simply shrugged off.
I basically agree with the above post...there really is no such thing as a "freindly" when big teams play each other especially if these big teams are also historical rivals going back decades...
While that team is very solid, I think Italy lack a player that can change the game from one second to another. Balotelli can potentially become that but I don't think in time for the Euro.
They went off at half time when the score was still 0-0 Friendlies between big teams are always competitive. Although line ups might be weakened, anyone saying they don't take friendlies seriously is just making excuses. I'm not taking anything from the friendly where we beat Spain, obviously Spain are still better although we were playing a B team, but it was obvious that Spain really wanted to win as they were getting frustrated from about the 60th minute onwards. Even afterwards Fabregas was bringing out the classic 'anti football' argument that Spanish players always do whenever a team doesn't let them steamroll over them so they were obviously annoyed that they lost.
Oh, they subbed out their 3 best players at halftime when the match was tied? I stand corrected. In that case, Spain clearly went all out for the win. In all seriousness, I agree that professional players are competitive by nature and always want to win when they take the field. But at the same time you shouldn't really take the result seriously, as if its an indicator to future failure for one team and epic success for the other.
with a Big Soccer caveat: as long as "my team" gets a favorable result if "my team" loses it's just a friendly, doesnt mean a thing