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The EURO 2008 - Page 2

post #51 of 115
6/11/08 at 10:01am
Fuck me Holland and Spain are brilliant. But will they sustain it? Both teams are notorious for bottling it at the big games.
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post #52 of 115
6/11/08 at 9:49pm
Gutted for Switzerland but that pitch was hilarious, especially just before half time. I love swimming pools for pitches.
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post #53 of 115
6/12/08 at 12:09am
When you have to literally drag the ball forward with you as you're slogging through the water.. that's comedy, not soccer. The ball stopping dead with the cross on the Swiss' first goal had me laughing for a solid hour.
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post #54 of 115
6/12/08 at 11:28pm
Jeez, I haven't seen this many offside goals in a tournament since... well, since ever.

I'm surprised that two mediocre sides like Poland and Austria could get together and make a decent game out of it. And we finally have our first upset with Germany losing. Ballack needs to step it up, because he's been sucking it up so far. Lucky for him Mario Gomez is much worse. I'd love to see Poland or Austria finish second, though -- that would be a kick in the pants for the Euro's.

(or maybe a poor result for Italy tomorrow?)
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post #55 of 115
6/12/08 at 11:44pm
Well done to Croatia, and I'm sure the Polish defender who gave away the penalty was ripped apart by his team mates in the dressing room. Totally unnecessary.

Can't see Italy slipping up against a truly dire Romania side. I say that based on Romania's opening performance though, Croatia showed us that a side can drastically improve on their first showing.

Comfortable win for Italy, and the Dutch outclass the French to go through to last 8.

I may end up with egg on my face but them's the breaks.
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post #56 of 115
6/13/08 at 3:40pm
Euro's pants: Kicked.

What a great game! And the trend of horrible defensive mistakes and dodgy offside decisions continues.
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post #57 of 115
6/13/08 at 3:47pm
Italy! what's going on! can't even beat Romania.

My pick - Holland. Or Croatia. Keep it up guys. But Holland with the moral victory coming through the group of death where EVERYONE wrote them off.

Great to not have England stinking up the proceedings, teach them a fucking lesson.
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post #58 of 115
6/13/08 at 5:45pm
Pants kicked HARD!!! 3-0 and 4-1 against the champs and vice-champs of the world! Holland is the team of the tournament so far.

And the best part was clearly when the ESPN commentator used the phrase "Dutch oven" after Sneijder's wondergoal.
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post #59 of 115
6/13/08 at 8:14pm
Holland have just been, well quite lucky in many respects. I mean Italy had chances, france certainly had enough chances to get something from the game. Also for the France game the positioning of the french goalkeeper for those goals was quite awful, he could have atleast stopped two of them had he placed himself in better places.
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post #60 of 115
6/14/08 at 7:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scott_nappo View Post
Also for the France game the positioning of the french goalkeeper for those goals was quite awful, he could have atleast stopped two of them had he placed himself in better places.
You could say that about every goal scored in the history of football.

I love watching teams perform at their peak, the way Holland does. They are just messing everyone up. It's early and things can change dramatically once the knock out games start but I really hope that they and Spain manage to get at least into the semi-finals.
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post #61 of 115
6/14/08 at 9:18am
Thread Starter 
After being drunk for about 48 hours (exams and all that...but what is this real life people keep on talking about anyway), let me keep catching up with this thread:

First and foremost: FUCK! Germany certainly got their collective asses handed two days ago. And rightfully so. That was uncalled for, but it was a difference between day and night if one compares the two games so far. Nobody even showed what they where capable of. The only one that maybe showed his skills was Lahm. Maybe. And kudos to Bilic and Croatia for perfectly dissecting the German tactic and punish them in the worst way possible.

I haven´t seen the friday games due to some serious intoxication but the Netherlands really seem to be on a roll. Once again they seem to be the state of the art of modern soccer. If they manage to keep up playing successful and beautiful they will have a good shot at claiming the title.

Italy and France have a final for the quarterfinal? Shadows of 2006 anybody? For both teams their best days seem to be over. They both seem to suffer from a bad mixture of generations. The old heroes are not made for this tournament anymore while the young guns can´t carry the teams. Yet.
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post #62 of 115
6/14/08 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan View Post
The old heroes are not made for this tournament anymore while the young guns can´t carry the teams. Yet.
True, true. It seems that Van Basten's strategy is the one who paid off. He said that his team was too young for World Cup 06 but that they would be ready for Euro, and so far so right. Whereas Domenech's attempt at mixing up generations, which to his defense paid well in the World Cup, isn't working anymore. Guys like Sagnol and, to a lesser extent, Thuram are now way past their prime. And don't get me started on that joke Malouda. That it took one hour for him to get pulled out when his playing was a complete travesty (save for that one good pass that Henry botched completely trying to show off when he should have crucified Van Der Sar) was baffling, and even more when he was replaced by a newbie who only got selected because he scored two goals in the prep games against a weak team instead of Benzema.

That said, had we have been awarded that undeniable penalty kick when Oiijer did a goalkeeper save, things might have been different, but as it stood, France deserved to lose, and I wouldn't be surprised, nor too disappointed for that matter, to see us leave the competition next Tuesday. This team needs a shake-up.
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post #63 of 115
6/15/08 at 2:57pm
So, it's goodbye tournament for us. At least we weren't embarrassing against the Russians. From now on it's going to be various washed up players and coaches pontificating about the causes of the team's 'failure'. The next week is going to be excruciating.
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post #64 of 115
6/15/08 at 6:52pm
Wow. After the mediocre first set of matchdays, this is shaping up to be the best Euro's I've seen.

It's just filled to the brim with classic matches, incredible comebacks, and beautiful football. No offense to the Greeks on the boards, but it's nice to see the negative, defensive style being punished -- with dramatic style in some cases (Spain's last-minute winner over boring Sweden).
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post #65 of 115
6/16/08 at 2:06am
Holy shit who watched Turkey vs Czech Republic??

That's one of the greatest, most unbelievable comebacks I've ever seen. The Turks looked dead in the water with 15 mins left. Gutted for the Czechs and Petr Cech in particular, he won't forget that howler in a hurry.

As soon as Turkey got the equaliser you could tell it was their night because the ball was just falling to their players and everything was paying off. Kudos to Nihat for keeping a cool head for that third goal, a lesser player would have fluffed it.

Utter stupidity on part of Turkish keeper, whether Koller milked it or not.

Agreed that this tournament has really improved.
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post #66 of 115
6/16/08 at 6:56am
Thread Starter 
Turkey was unbelievable indeed. The goalkeeper could have ruined it all though. And I was so anxious to see the field player emerging as the goalkeeping hero in the looming penalty shoot-out. But destiny was never meant to be I guess. Can´t stress enough what kind of beauty and cold blooded perfection Nihats goal was indeed.
Didn´t get to sleep to early though because the celebrations of all the Turkish around here where quite something to behold. A pity that we can´t play against them in the quarter finals. That would have raised the threat level to orange at least.

And tonight it is a final against Austria. We should be able to gut them but I lost quite some faith in that team. But I don´t even think about the possibility of loosing against Austria since this would be one of the greatest disasters that could happen. Period.
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post #67 of 115
6/18/08 at 5:49pm
Pavliuchenko is giving Toni a run for his money as worst forward of the Euro's. It should have been 4 or 5 - 0.

Kudos to the Russkies for coming back after a stinging opening defeat, and with that much class. And Sweden take the dubious award of being the second most boring team in the Euros after Greece. I will miss their hot fans, though.

This tournament rocks.
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post #68 of 115
6/18/08 at 6:43pm
Croatia and Russia both move on. Maybe England not getting in wasn't that much of a shocker, mm?
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post #69 of 115
6/18/08 at 6:44pm
Uhm... Yeah, that was fun. I didn't have much hope for the Swedish team, but that was fucking embarrassing. A slightly more experienced and focused Russia could have tripled the amount of goals scored.
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post #70 of 115
6/18/08 at 7:19pm
The coming quarterfinal games look pretty enticing, too. IMO the highest profile match is probably Spain-Italy. Croatia-Turkey is the dark horse game, while Holland-Russia might just turn out to be the most entertaining of them all.

Not too sold on Portugal-Germany. It's a good matchup, but with Ballack's poor form, Frings and Podolski possibly out with injury and the generally disappointing recent German displays, I think Portugal are favored to win it.
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post #71 of 115
6/18/08 at 7:25pm
I can't wait for Holland-Russia, that's definitely gonna be one to watch.

Kudos to the Russians for turning it around after getting a hiding in their first game.

And kudos to Greece for scoring! Had to happen sometime.

Xabi Alonso was on a mission to score in that game, came mighty close with two long rangers.
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post #72 of 115
6/19/08 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
So far, so good.

This is shaping up to be an amazingly entertaining tournament. Biggest surprise might be that the Netherlands are that good, Russia coming back from the dead after their atrocious first game and Greece being even worse than feared.

Italy vs. France was quite a bummer. None of these teams did deserve to succeed in my eyes. Pity for France though that in the first 30 minutes everything that could went wrong. Loosing Ribery, getting a stupid penalty with a harsh red card = Lost game. And Italy is now back as they used to be. Lucky as fuck but a force to reckon with.

Today is gonna be very interesting to see what Germany can pull against Portugal. While Portugal has the better players and played more attractive soccer overall, Germanies only chance will be having a compact and fighting team. Attributes not really foreign for a German team. Let´s hope the ridiculous banning of Löw will pay off as additional motivation. At least this game is reason enough to start drinking...now. Cheers.
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post #73 of 115
6/19/08 at 11:32am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pervis42 View Post
Not too sold on Portugal-Germany. It's a good matchup, but with Ballack's poor form, Frings and Podolski possibly out with injury and the generally disappointing recent German displays, I think Portugal are favored to win it.
Yup. But as I said before Germany might succeed by taking out the key players and playing more agressive and compact than in the last games. Ballack can only play better than before. Frings would definitely hurt though. Shadows of semi-final 2006...But Hitzelsperger might be up for the task as a replacement. Podolski should be fit, at least I hope it is just some psychological game being played.

Though the tactic Löw will put up will be interesting to see. He can´t seriously put Gomez back on the pitch after his horrendous performance against Austria. I would prefer a 4-5-1 to be more compact and try to counter attack over the right side, because Ferreira might be the weakest spot in the Porugiese defence.
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post #74 of 115
6/19/08 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday View Post
And kudos to Greece for scoring! Had to happen sometime.
You know the saying about sunshine and dog's asses?
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post #75 of 115
6/19/08 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan View Post
Yup. But as I said before Germany might succeed by taking out the key players and playing more agressive and compact than in the last games. Ballack can only play better than before. Frings would definitely hurt though. Shadows of semi-final 2006...But Hitzelsperger might be up for the task as a replacement. Podolski should be fit, at least I hope it is just some psychological game being played.

Though the tactic Löw will put up will be interesting to see. He can´t seriously put Gomez back on the pitch after his horrendous performance against Austria. I would prefer a 4-5-1 to be more compact and try to counter attack over the right side, because Ferreira might be the weakest spot in the Porugiese defence.
What the hell do I know. Germany are proving me so wrong it's not even funny.

Schweinsteiger's run for the 1-0 was impressive (with poor marking from Ferreira -- like you said). Germany are the clear boss of this game so far.
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post #76 of 115
6/20/08 at 3:32am
Well done to Germany. But how long before an article by some esteemed sports journalist claiming that the Chelsea Scolari announcement played on the Portuguese player's minds and ruined their planning for tournament?

Might not happen though, I was sure someone would do an article on Watford's spectacular post-Christmas downfall last season but it never came.

It's a shame that we're likely to get Croatia facing Germany again. The first game was good but teams in the same group should only meet again in the final. That's just the way it should be.

I'm backing Croatia tonight but Turkey proved me wrong against Czechs.
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post #77 of 115
6/20/08 at 8:48pm
Absolutely unbelievable. Turkey just don't know when they're beat and once again they leave me with egg on my face.

I hope Germany fire 5 or 6 past them. No offence to any Turks who may be around but their brand of football is atrocious to watch. From a tactical standpoint it's first class but for a neutral watching for entertainment it's shocking.
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post #78 of 115
6/20/08 at 11:13pm
The best part was Croatia whining at the end about the Turkish equalizer. Well you know what? If you hadn't taken two minutes to celebrate your goal, there wouldn't have been stoppage time enough for Turkey to put theirs in. Also? Make a damn penalty kick. It's not that hard.
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post #79 of 115
6/21/08 at 12:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcjsavannah View Post
The best part was Croatia whining at the end about the Turkish equalizer. Well you know what? If you hadn't taken two minutes to celebrate your goal, there wouldn't have been stoppage time enough for Turkey to put theirs in. Also? Make a damn penalty kick. It's not that hard.
Agree on both points completely. The celebration was just too long...they should know it's never over until they hear that whistle.
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post #80 of 115
6/21/08 at 6:23pm
What a tournament. It's anyone's now.

Hard to believe that was the same Dutch team tonight who ripped open Italy and France.
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post #81 of 115
6/21/08 at 6:42pm
It's been a tough couple of days for Holland and it showed tonight as they were well under par. That said, Russia's performance was excellent. They could and should have won by 3 or 4 goals.

Some tournament indeed. It says a lot that a Germany-Italy final would be something of a surprise!
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post #82 of 115
6/21/08 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
Aaahhww. The tournament that keeps on giving.
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post #83 of 115
6/21/08 at 9:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Some tournament indeed. It says a lot that a Germany-Italy final would be something of a surprise!
Fuck, yeah!
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post #84 of 115
6/22/08 at 12:26pm
My dad was screaming for the Russians yesterday. I don't think he screamed that hard for any team in any other sport. And his friend who spent a huge chunk of change going to all the regular Russia Euro Cup games is probably going to spend another chunk to hit the next game.
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post #85 of 115
6/22/08 at 1:18pm
I had absolutely no idea who Alexi Arshavin was, but now he's the man of the tournament.

The Turkey-Croatia game was poor. Horrendous, even, except for those last three unbelievable minutes. However, the real winner of that game was Germany, who now have to face a Turkish squad with four suspensions and an injury.

But Russia... man. Not just beating one of the biggest favorites for the title, but categorically outplaying them to boot. It's making my head spin.
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post #86 of 115
6/22/08 at 8:17pm
Figures. One of the best matches of the tournament followed by one of the worst.

At least Italy are out, and rightfully so, seeing as they were playing for the penalties. Poetic justice that Di Natale, who was feigning injury to break up a Spain counterattack, was the one whose missed penalty became decisive. And Luca Toni gets the award for most disappointing player of the Euro's, missing chances left and right, and diving for penalties whenever he could.

Spain's short passing was getting annoying, though. No creativity, and Villa was poor. I hope the Russians bring the game to them in a few days
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post #87 of 115
6/22/08 at 8:25pm
Yeah tonight's game was dire. Russia's rematch with Spain should be good, I can't see Germany failing to beat Turkey so I'm betting on a Germany-Russia final.

Turkey-Russia final doesn't bear thinking about. Although with so many injuries and suspensions Turkey might have to change their game plan against Germany. Doubtful. I enjoyed reading Fatih Terim saying that their sub keeper might have to come on as an outfield player towards the end of the game.
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post #88 of 115
6/22/08 at 8:36pm
Thread Starter 
Absolutely agreed. Todays game might just have been the worst of the tournament. At the end of the day though Italy got kicked out rightfully though. They showed everything I despise on their style of football.

Germany should have no problems beating Turkey. But as Russell said, they might get a tough beast to beat with 8 players out and their weird Chaos-tactics. It is going to be really tense here in Germany though, since we have about 1.7 Million Turkish people living here, making them our greatest minority. Hopefully it will stay peaceful. But I somehow doubt it.

Russia was really out-dutching the Netherlands. Hiddink might just be the greatest coach ever. Amazing to see the Russians beating the Netherlands with their own weapons. Their style of football is something to behold. Spain will have to bring all they have got to the table to eliminate them.

And on a side note: This tournament is a terroristic attack on my wallet. I am nearly happy that there are only 3 games left to go all-in in pubs.
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post #89 of 115
6/23/08 at 12:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jan View Post
Hiddink might just be the greatest coach ever.
I was going to post something like that. It seems like any NT that he touches turns into a total footballing machine. I wonder what he would be like in charge of one of the powerhouse nations, but I have a feeling he will leave that alone. He seems to work best in a team with few big name players, and getting them to work as a unit rather than basing the tactics around a single player (contrary to what Lagerback tried with Ibrahimovic).

I'd love to see him take charge of a team like Denmark.
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post #90 of 115
6/25/08 at 4:46am
Thread Starter 
D-Day!

Tonight this country will be on fire (though I hope not literally). It is about time to reach another finale after years of longing. I am pretty confident to beat Turkey but one should not underestimate this team.
I am curious what tactics Löw will put in place this time since Turkey is another kind of beast compared to the way more offensive playing Portugese. But I doubt that we will go back to 4-4-2 and keep on playing the successful 4-2-3-1 that got us into the semi-final in the first place. Thinking and playing to offensive could be deadly. Frings might be back on the pitch for Hitzlsberger (or Rolfes), but that should be about it in terms of changes.

Now I have to hit the supermarket, buy a gazillion tasty refreshments and alcoholic beverages and some barbecue stuff. This shapes up to turn into one perfect day.

Bring it on!
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post #91 of 115
6/25/08 at 4:59am
"It is about time to reach another finale after years of longing."

I just have to quote this, speaking as an Englishman whose national team hasn't been in a final for... 42 years?

Germany were in a World Cup final a mere 6 years ago! You lot are on easy street!

That said, tonight will hopefully be a good game, Germany really upped their game for the Portugal match so I hope they keep it going.

Enjoy the occasion Jan.
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post #92 of 115
6/25/08 at 5:11am
Can't watch the Germany - Turkey match as it plays at 3am here (just off Shanghai). I got 100 Chinese yuan riding on Germany from our office pool. Portugal is my team (i'm half portuguese, half brazilian), so consider my heart broken. But it ain't nuthin' money can't fix...
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post #93 of 115
6/25/08 at 5:31am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday View Post
"It is about time to reach another finale after years of longing."

I just have to quote this, speaking as an Englishman whose national team hasn't been in a final for... 42 years?

Germany were in a World Cup final a mere 6 years ago! You lot are on easy street!

That said, tonight will hopefully be a good game, Germany really upped their game for the Portugal match so I hope they keep it going.

Enjoy the occasion Jan.
Yeah, we are a spoiled bunch if it comes to the national team. But you lads are handing us our asses on the team level in Europe every single year since Munich won the CL in 2001.

And for the record (just to stir some old shit): Hursts goal ´66 in Wembley was anything but. Thank you Comrade Bakhramov....
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post #94 of 115
6/25/08 at 8:46am
6 years?! 42 years!? Luxury! Try being Scottish. We've not even been to a major championship since '98! Even beating France twice in qualifying didn't get us to this one.

I'm sure Germany will get through tonight - although this Turkish team are something else. Apparently they've been ahead for exactly 3 minutes in their games during the tournament, so if there's only a goal in it in later stages, I'd start worrying.

I am unable to give impartial comment on the validity of Hurst's 2nd in the 1966 World Cup final.
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post #95 of 115
6/25/08 at 6:38pm
I am completely impartial when it comes to Hurst's goal but I can say it was 100% a goal.

Another phenomenal finish to a Turkey game, just not in their favour this time. Did the feed really keep cutting off for everyone else? The BBC kept cutting and the commentator went to great pains to stress that the rest of the world was having the same problem.

I wonder if we'll read anything about Germany not kicking the ball out when Kazim Kazim collapsed, of course thats when they got their winner. I know the official rules say if the referee doesn't blow then just play on, but where does sportsmanship come into it?

Believe me I'm not bitter about Germany winning or anything, best of luck to them in final, but I've seen this a few times and it seems to be entirely dependant on whether the referee thinks the player is actually injured or not.

The incident tonight just doesn't sit right with me, maybe I'm making a big deal out of it.
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post #96 of 115
6/25/08 at 9:36pm
Yes, we lost the feed for a good 10-15 minutes on ESPN, but the replay they showed directly after the game did not have those issues, so I got to see the parts I missed.

Man, I feel for Turkey..
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post #97 of 115
6/26/08 at 4:03am
"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win."

Gary Lineker

This has to be bar none the best Euro I've ever seen. Sucks for Turkey, because I loved their spirit in this. It's just that they played with the inventors of 'never say die' football. It's a shame that the feed kept going down because this game was phenomenal.

Congratulations to Jan although he won't be able to see this as it'll take a while to recover from the hangover that from personal experience I know he has.
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post #98 of 115
6/26/08 at 4:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday View Post
I am completely impartial when it comes to Hurst's goal but I can say it was 100% a goal.

Another phenomenal finish to a Turkey game, just not in their favour this time. Did the feed really keep cutting off for everyone else? The BBC kept cutting and the commentator went to great pains to stress that the rest of the world was having the same problem.

I wonder if we'll read anything about Germany not kicking the ball out when Kazim Kazim collapsed, of course thats when they got their winner. I know the official rules say if the referee doesn't blow then just play on, but where does sportsmanship come into it?

Believe me I'm not bitter about Germany winning or anything, best of luck to them in final, but I've seen this a few times and it seems to be entirely dependant on whether the referee thinks the player is actually injured or not.

The incident tonight just doesn't sit right with me, maybe I'm making a big deal out of it.
This late in a game so important no one kicks the ball out. Doing such a thing would be just ripe for abuse for a team trying to stall the game.
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post #99 of 115
6/26/08 at 10:37pm
Russia's gameplan clearly didn't work against Spanish and Arshavin, after all the praise and hype, just didn't turn up.

Spain looked a different team when Fabregas came on, can't imagine they'll miss Villa too much in final.
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post #100 of 115
6/27/08 at 7:23pm
Sunday is going to be a good day. ABC/ESPN is showing an MLS match at noon before the Euro Finals. We are working on our German menu now. Going to have to get some good German beer as well.

This thread has been fun reading.
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