Euro 2008

[Gustav Sweden]

How's the qualification going for your team?

We lost in Belfast yesterday, 1-2 vs Northern Ireland. A horrible match, and also the comeback of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the national team. He was far from his Inter class, though and our harmless offensive and defensive mistakes gave Northern Ireland the win. We are still 2nd in the group (after NIR), but Spain and Denmark are also inside the race after this.

[Streg]

i just watched italy's match vs scotland played yesterday (asked my bro to record it, as i had a match for my school). It ended 2-0 for the azzurri, pretty much a perfect game. Cannavaro and Materazzi did a really good work in defence, so as zambrotta and oddo. De Rossi and Perrotta really surprised me (especially De Rossi), Camoranesi has been pretty much absent from the game. Di Natale did some great actions, too bad he couldnt score becouse of the goalkeeper. Toni hasn't got many opportunities, but his 2 goals have been perfect. Del Piero his 30 minutes perfectly. I think he realy grove up being in Serie B, he dribbles men very easily, even if they were 3 he could get past em despite his lack of speed. Pirlo got in the last 10 minutes and was pretty much absent, he played especially on defence, but he did a wonderful shot from the long distance. Unfortunately it was 1 meter high above the crossbar. Man of the match was probably Gattuso cos of
his perfect defensive actions that he started doing since the beginning till the end, cousing the second goal stealing the ball in attack position giving it to camoranesi that did the assist for Toni.

Good match but i wasn't expecting Italy to loose, even after the bad games with france and other minor nations. with Scotland. Even if they went bad I'm sure the ref had the order to lead italy to victory. How many supporters can bring italy and how many supporters can bring scotland? There's always things we'd never know beyond sports.

[LBAWinOwns]

who the fuck cares ?

[morshem]

Israel are doing quite fine at the moment, except for an annoying 4:3 loss to Croatia at home. In the past week we played against England and Estonia at home. The result against England was 0:0 (what the hell is up with them recently? ), and yesterday we beat Estonia 4:0, with two goals by Ben Sahar from Chelsea . We are currently placed second, but with one match more than Croatia and Russia.

[Panda]

LBAWinOwns, if you don't care, don't post!

Gustav, please don't get me started on England's performance. I'm still disgusted with the match we played against Israel which we should have won. McLaren is doing an awful job, and really should be out. I just hope we get our act together, or we won't be getting very far this competition....

[Kobold]

Originally Posted by Gustav Sweden

How's the qualification going for your team?

That's a good question actually. Where do I check?

[morshem]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/section...ro2008&cc=5739
?

[Jasiek]

Our team won soemthing yesterday I think...
Not really much into it, but since they have a new coach they've been winning almost every game... so a kind of a national pride kicked in .

Edit:
Oh, it was with Armenia.
http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/team?id=471&cc=5739

I think Beenhakker might be the best thing that happened to that team, ever.

[elmuerte]

Originally Posted by LBAWinOwns

who the fuck cares ?

NOT ME!

[Streg]

65% of my life is linked to football, i cant live without it. :P I don't really mind other sports, still, i enjoy watching some :P
About Ben Sahar, I hope he becomes a great player, but it's gonna be difficult if he stays in Chelsea between Sheva Drogba and Kalou. They should loan him for good like M.U.T.D. did with Giuseppe Rossi (that in my opinion will become the new Roberto Baggio :P).

Looking forward to see more young talents being called in national teams.

[johnnybrubacker]

Originally Posted by StreGGy

i just watched italy's match vs scotland played yesterday (asked my bro to record it, as i had a match for my school). It ended 2-0 for the azzurri, pretty much a perfect game. Cannavaro and Materazzi did a really good work in defence, so as zambrotta and oddo. De Rossi and Perrotta really surprised me (especially De Rossi), Camoranesi has been pretty much absent from the game. Di Natale did some great actions, too bad he couldnt score becouse of the goalkeeper. Toni hasn't got many opportunities, but his 2 goals have been perfect. Del Piero his 30 minutes perfectly. I think he realy grove up being in Serie B, he dribbles men very easily, even if they were 3 he could get past em despite his lack of speed. Pirlo got in the last 10 minutes and was pretty much absent, he played especially on defence, but he did a wonderful shot from the long distance. Unfortunately it was 1 meter high above the crossbar. Man of the match was probably Gattuso cos of
his perfect defensive actions that he started doing since the beginning till the end, cousing the second goal stealing the ball in attack position giving it to camoranesi that did the assist for Toni.

Good match but i wasn't expecting Italy to loose, even after the bad games with france and other minor nations. with Scotland. Even if they went bad I'm sure the ref had the order to lead italy to victory. How many supporters can bring italy and how many supporters can bring scotland? There's always things we'd never know beyond sports.

i watched it and have to say I was disappointed in Italy. Scotland matched them in the game but Italy had a finisher whilst Scotland had Kenny Miller

[Gustav Sweden]

Originally Posted by Pandy

LBAWinOwns, if you don't care, don't post!

Gustav, please don't get me started on England's performance. I'm still disgusted with the match we played against Israel which we should have won. McLaren is doing an awful job, and really should be out. I just hope we get our act together, or we won't be getting very far this competition....

I saw the 2nd half of Israel-England. While playing ISR away is quite hard, England should of course be good enough to win against an opponent that is that much weaker. But McClaren is clearly a bad coach, and the biggest mystery is of course why he, just like Sven, HAS to match BOTH Gerrard and Lampard together in the midfield when it is clear that it doesn't work. And why does he ignore Beckham? Bizarre. I hope you will lose another couple of games so that he gets sacked.

People in Sweden thinks it's funny now when McClaren is doing bad, since they think that you shouldn't have been so hard on Sven . But I don't think that Sven was the right man either for England, both under his and Steve's reign you have played extremely boring tactical soccer - England should play it the English way, with speed and fighting spirit. I haven't seen anything of that in years! A shame really, for a fan of English football as myself. Who is the right man? I don't know, Harry Redknapp?

Originally Posted by Streggy

i just watched italy's match vs scotland played yesterday (asked my bro to record it, as i had a match for my school). It ended 2-0 for the azzurri, pretty much a perfect game. Cannavaro and Materazzi did a really good work in defence, so as zambrotta and oddo. De Rossi and Perrotta really surprised me (especially De Rossi), Camoranesi has been pretty much absent from the game. Di Natale did some great actions, too bad he couldnt score becouse of the goalkeeper. Toni hasn't got many opportunities, but his 2 goals have been perfect. Del Piero his 30 minutes perfectly. I think he realy grove up being in Serie B, he dribbles men very easily, even if they were 3 he could get past em despite his lack of speed. Pirlo got in the last 10 minutes and was pretty much absent, he played especially on defence, but he did a wonderful shot from the long distance. Unfortunately it was 1 meter high above the crossbar. Man of the match was probably Gattuso cos of
his perfect defensive actions that he started doing since the beginning till the end, cousing the second goal stealing the ball in attack position giving it to camoranesi that did the assist for Toni.

I didn't watch that match but it seems like Toni saved Donadoni's skin there. You had to win and you did, and now it will be very interesting to see what happens. Ukraine and France are good teams, and Scotland seems to be interested in fighting for a top 2 spot as well. Perhaps the most exciting group of them all from an objective point of view.

Personally, I am irritated at the Swedish manager Lagerbäck's defensive starting line up yesterday. He chose the 35 year old Gothenburg midfielder Niclas Alexandersson instead of Roma's winger Christian Wilhelmsson, who is in great shape recently. It's just bizarre. And when Mellberg broke his nose with 20 minutes to go (the score was 1-2), he brought on another defender, instead of an offensive player who could aid in the seek for an equalizer.

[Streg]

not really Toni, but the whole team id say, they've been unlucky not scoring a third goal. Buffon only did one (minor) safe during the whole match, and Di Natale found the goakeepers leg and hand twice, and Pirlo's shot was not badly kicked, he just gave it too much power. They played better than any match they played during WC2006, except germany indeed .
i expected Wilhelmsson to do great with sweden if he ever plays a match. he's doing very good atm with Roma, I wonder how spalletti found him cos he almost stayed on the bench before changing team.

[johnnybrubacker]

yes, scotland couldn't find the target but they had some good half chances, they had creativity among their side and didn't look overwhelmed by Italy, but the quality of Italy came through, Italy didn't stand out as being a much better side than Scotland in the match though.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by Gustav Sweden

I saw the 2nd half of Israel-England. While playing ISR away is quite hard, England should of course be good enough to win against an opponent that is that much weaker. But McClaren is clearly a bad coach, and the biggest mystery is of course why he, just like Sven, HAS to match BOTH Gerrard and Lampard together in the midfield when it is clear that it doesn't work. And why does he ignore Beckham? Bizarre. I hope you will lose another couple of games so that he gets sacked.

People in Sweden thinks it's funny now when McClaren is doing bad, since they think that you shouldn't have been so hard on Sven . But I don't think that Sven was the right man either for England, both under his and Steve's reign you have played extremely boring tactical soccer - England should play it the English way, with speed and fighting spirit. I haven't seen anything of that in years! A shame really, for a fan of English football as myself. Who is the right man? I don't know, Harry Redknapp?

I agree totally, English football on an international level has been incredibly dull and... uninspirational. McLaren is awful, I'm not sure why he doesn't like Beckham, and it's a shame because he was good. Lampard is awful in my opinion, and playing Gerrard in midfield works far better. But as for who should be next coach? No idea. It hasn't been the same since the days of Glenn Hoddle. Shame he had a big mouth and had to go though

[johnnybrubacker]

Originally Posted by Pandy

I agree totally, English football on an international level has been incredibly dull and... uninspirational. McLaren is awful, I'm not sure why he doesn't like Beckham, and it's a shame because he was good. Lampard is awful in my opinion, and playing Gerrard in midfield works far better. But as for who should be next coach? No idea. It hasn't been the same since the days of Glenn Hoddle. Shame he had a big mouth and had to go though

I think English player are overhyped. There are only a few true world class English players. Another problem is Rooney being out of form, not scored an international goal in 3 years. Owen also being missed very badly as it seems England don't have another international scorer.

[Didster]

Ive given up on England qualifying the only thing that I'm bothered about at the moment is Stockport getting promoted come on County, check out this cool gif

[Panda]

Originally Posted by Didster

Ive given up on England qualifying the only thing that I'm bothered about at the moment is Stockport getting promoted come on County, check out this cool gif

Reading did well this season. I am happy!

[johnnybrubacker]

noone is better than scunthorpe!!!!!! who needs mourinho, we've got the physio! (they appointed the physio as the manager after the previous one left)

[Streg]

watched now israel - estonia.
1st and last goal have been wonderful!

[morshem]

Why did you watch it now if it was last week?

Also, this Ben Sahar is apparently a great player.

[Streg]

had it recorded, was bored cos napoli had to play at 6:00 pm today so i decided to watch it waiting for this other match to start
indeed he seems to have all the essentials to become a great player, but i don't think chelsea is what he needs to grow up

[Snapman]

Originally Posted by johnnybrubacker

noone is better than scunthorpe!!!!!! who needs mourinho, we've got the physio! (they appointed the physio as the manager after the previous one left)

Yes, 'cause we stole him

[Streg]

Faroer 1 - Italy 2
2 June 1946 is the day in which the Italian Republic was born.
2 June 2007 is the day in wich Italy's face got ruined in 90 minutes.
Donadoni called Gigi Buffon to keep his gate, Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi to stop the opponent's attackers, Tonetto and Oddo to push the whole team up, Gattuso to do what he can do, Pirlo to serve Diana and Rocchi as right and left wing, and Inzaghi and Del Piero in attack position.
Pippo Inzaghi decided to score two goals, just like at Athens, but he won't save Donadoni's face like Luca Toni did with scotland.
The Italian team suffers the cold and their opponent's excitement. Cannavaro looks asleep, since the beginnind till the end. Materazzi saves buffon two times. Tonetto plays well in the first 20 minutes, then gets too tired and doesn't regain his speed, unlike Oddo that believes in putting a winning cross until the last minute, but his beliefs aren't satified. Gattuso doesn't play like he always did. Pirlo does a lot of cross, and also pushes his team up, running and serving his teammates, tricking the opponent defenders, doing what Francesco Totti doesn't want to do. Diana plays well, even signs an assist. Rocchi tries to score a Del Piero style goal, but the ball is high above the crossbar, and then he probably gets bored and starts thinking about what he could do if he stayed at home this saturday. Inzaghi is always in an "apparent" outside position, and scores his first goal like only he and the legendary Paolo Rossi could do, believing in it until the end. The second goal looks like and gift to Luca Toni, in exchange of his number 9 behind his back. Del Piero gets a few balls, fails a shoot at open goal, but starts the second's goal action with a nice pass to Pirlo.
Buffon doesn't touch any ball with his hands, becouse only one shoot was on target, and it went in.
During the match Donadoni switches Materazzi for Barzagli and Lucarelli for Inzaghi and In the last five minutes Quagliarella for Rocchi.
Barzagli doesn't make any error, just like Materazzi.
Lucarelli fails a goal when being 1 vs 1 with the goalkeeper.
Quagliarella does a few numbers, runs quick and does a cross in the poor time Donadoni lets him play.
1-2 looks like a good result, but we should remember that four champions league winners (Oddo, Gattuso, Pirlo, Inzaghi) and 7 world champions (Buffon, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Oddo, Gattuso, Pirlo, Inzaghi), one of them is the 2006 golden football owner (F. Cannavaro) playing versus eleven players leaded by an electrician, and the Faroer player who scored is actually a carpenteer, that only plays football as a second work, just like other 8 players in his team.
Italy was supposed to be the national team with the best defenders of the world, but that night Captain Cannavaro surely didn't look like the same players of WC2006, someone would ironically say "That was his brother in disguise", but someone else already thinks that Paolo became already better than his brother. Maybe he would have been called to play if the next day he didn't have a match that could mean Napoli's last day in Serie B.
First and Second division teams play with Third and Fourth division teams as trainings, and the result is always similiar to 4-0 or 6-0.
They say it was becouse of the cold, but the italians are supposed to be extremely better with speed and technics, but what the hell?
My comment about this match, then, can only be: "wtf?".


-was bored-

[morshem]

It's June now .

Israel won Macedonia 2:1 in an away match. Chances still look pretty fair.