Football (soccer) thread - 2012

UK_King

UK_King

Starter
#121
#121
I don't know where the myth comes from that England are playing well.

They were thoroughly dominated by France allowed 15 shots on target and well over 60% of possession, mustering only a single shot themselves (it went in)

They we're largely outplayed by Sweden and we're lucky to come away with a win, shipping two of the softest goals the tournament has seen, and yet they are still praised for being "solid"?! Against a rank average Ukraine side they were hammered all ends up.

Gerrard and Parker have been good for England, but largely in a defensive capacity, Gerrards free kicks and crosses have been good but i'd hardly call him a player of the tournament. I watched MOTD2 (match of the day 2 a programme in the UK for our American friends) Wax lyrical about John Terry last night even though i think he's been awful.

England will have to improve massively to beat Italy IMO. The british media are playing a clever game by pretending England are "underdogs" in this tournament so they can pretend 3 lackluster performances are some how good. If i had to rank England on performances so far i'd have them just above the Irish and Greeks.
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#122
#122
I agree that they've only been so-so.

Will miss the game unless they show it in the stadium, headed down to my field for derby day. Cascadia Cup. Timbers vs. that horrible town up north that wants to steal the Kings. Will be on ESPN following the Euro game so hopefully people tune in.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#123
#123
WOW!

What a game Italy/England was. I was on the edge of my seat for much of it. I'll give it to England for their defending, but Italy was clearly a class above and am happy they're moving on. I hate seeing the better team go out on PK's, and am glad it didn't happen this time. Also think Italy will offer Germany a stiffer test than England would have.

But to all our UK mates on here, I thought England actually surpassed expectations and were in a tough place to begin, after losing Lampard/Cahill beforehand as well as having a new coach come in right before the tourney. But you've got some good young talent and I'd wager will have a pretty good WC in Brazil. But guys like Welbach and Oxlade-Chamberlain should both reach another level by the time the WC rolls around. Getting a healthy Cahill will help. I like Wilshere a lot as well and would imagine he'll be back. You guys will be fine.
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#125
#125
Was there a EURO game today? :)

My boys crushed it!

Over 20k square feet and 1500lbs encompassing ~16 sections and a team that played worthy of the effort. Glorious day.
 
K

King in England

G-League
#126
#126
rainmaker said:
WOW!

What a game Italy/England was. I was on the edge of my seat for much of it. I'll give it to England for their defending, but Italy was clearly a class above and am happy they're moving on. I hate seeing the better team go out on PK's, and am glad it didn't happen this time. Also think Italy will offer Germany a stiffer test than England would have.

But to all our UK mates on here, I thought England actually surpassed expectations and were in a tough place to begin, after losing Lampard/Cahill beforehand as well as having a new coach come in right before the tourney. But you've got some good young talent and I'd wager will have a pretty good WC in Brazil. But guys like Welbach and Oxlade-Chamberlain should both reach another level by the time the WC rolls around. Getting a healthy Cahill will help. I like Wilshere a lot as well and would imagine he'll be back. You guys will be fine.
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I cant help but be disappointed. It might be an English thing but no matter how much we try to convince ourselves that we're not good enough, we always quietly raise our expectations before a tournament. Convince ourselves that we can put a miraculous run together like Greece in 2004. Alas we have our hearts broken every 2 years whilst the rest of the footballing world laughs at us.

Im glad you enjoyed the game. I was wondering what the opinion was of our game from the outside looking in as it were. In my opinion is the defensive style of play is all well and good as long as we win. Ideally you would like to play beautiful, flowing, attacking football and win games (spain for example). However when you play the style we play and end up losing it feels especially bad. Yesterday I thought the Italien defence was average at best and could have been got at had we just kept possesion better.

I also think we will be fine be fine in the future but i dont think we'll be reaching any finals in the next 2-3 tournaments. However that wont stop me dreaming. ;)
 
UK_King

UK_King

Starter
#128
#128
The problem with the English team has and always will be the suffocating presence of the London based media, which completely overrate every English player under 24 and label them "the best young player in the world" see - Chamberlain, Welbeck, Walcott, Jones, Smalling, Walker etc etc etc.

then as soon as any player jumps above the age of 25 they become "the best player in the world" see Rooney, Cole, Hart, Gerrard, Terry, Lampard.

These players aren't even close to being the best players in the premier league let alone the world.

The only player who IMO has the skills to be a great is Wilshere, i watched him play every week for 6 months at Bolton and this kid is special, make no bones about it. He has a football IQ probably the highest i've seen at Wanderers since Djorkaeff.

England were absolutely wretched in this tournament IMO, they were outplayed and out thought by every team they came up against and fully deserved to be going home.

The sooner people realise that England have no (wilshere aside) players with any technical ability the better, beating Azerbaijan 5-0 in the qualifiers doesn't mean they can go toe to toe with Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc etc.
 
Mass

Mass

Starter
#130
#130
King in England said:
I cant help but be disappointed. It might be an English thing but no matter how much we try to convince ourselves that we're not good enough, we always quietly raise our expectations before a tournament. Convince ourselves that we can put a miraculous run together like Greece in 2004. Alas we have our hearts broken every 2 years whilst the rest of the footballing world laughs at us.

Im glad you enjoyed the game. I was wondering what the opinion was of our game from the outside looking in as it were. In my opinion is the defensive style of play is all well and good as long as we win. Ideally you would like to play beautiful, flowing, attacking football and win games (spain for example). However when you play the style we play and end up losing it feels especially bad. Yesterday I thought the Italien defence was average at best and could have been got at had we just kept possesion better.

I also think we will be fine be fine in the future but i dont think we'll be reaching any finals in the next 2-3 tournaments. However that wont stop me dreaming. ;)
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You are right, our defense is average at best. With Chiellini out, we have Barzagli and Bonucci who are good but not great. Years ago we had the best defense in the world, with Nesta, Maldini and Cannavaro, but now there's a lack of young talent in Italy, and we are not a great defensive team anymore.

I'm pleasantly surprised by our tournament, because I didn't think we could reach the semi-finals. Italy is not the team it used to be, we don't have good strikers and we don't have many stars. The only ones we have are aging, even if they are still pretty good (Buffon and Pirlo). The good thing is that finally, this year, we are playing pretty good, not just trying to play defense like Italy always does.

I was also surprised by England, because I thought they would attack us much more. There's a lot of talent on that England team, but I think Hodgson is not the right coach for them. Anyways, 2 games to go. Now Germany, a very good and solid team, but we usually beat them every time in these tournaments. Let's see if we can repeat the 2006 match...
 
jalfa

jalfa

Starter
#131
#131
that counterattack at the end of regulation will haunt the Portugese. if Pepe passes the ball correctly and Ronaldo doesn't choke, they're right there. as it played out, Spain clearly deserved to win. welp, no one ever said it would be easy.
 
Mass

Mass

Starter
#135
#135
What a game... I can't believe we reach the final. I've never had any hope in this team, but they are proving me wrong. Great job! One more to go! It's going to be a great final against Spain.
 
jalfa

jalfa

Starter
#137
#137
pdxKingsFan said:
I never hated Balotelli until today. :(
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Balotelli is cool and Italy deserved to win. they simply punished the individual mistakes the German defense sometimes has perfectly. I do hope they win against Spain, this Italian team is the most interesting I've seen, so far. As a German, I'm not too concerned. the two areas, where there is concern (random mistakes in the defense and, well, field goal percentage) are areas that will be helped by experience, and they'll have a lot in 2 years.
 
Mass

Mass

Starter
#139
#139
Germany has a lot of future. They were the youngest team in Euro 2012, so I expect them to be contenders for many years to come. Very interesting and good young players, unfortunately I can't say the same for Italy. We don't have many good young players, so the future is not so bright for us. Well, to be honest, before this tournament I thought we had no chance to reach the second round...
 
William Blake

William Blake

Bench
#140
#140
This is the best football I've ever seen Italy play. We're not as rock solid defensivly as we were in 2006 but we're much more entertaining. Now let's hope Spain plays like yesterday and Balotelli shows up again.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#141
#141


World class performance by Mario. Really hoping Italy pulls this off as I like Spain less and less by the match, and Del Bosque seems to have a hardon for Torres and would rather go with no striker than give him a few consecutive games to get his confidence. He did score a brace all of two weeks ago, but was of course benched two games later. Spain deserves what Italy is going to give them.
 
UK_King

UK_King

Starter
#142
#142
rainmaker said:


World class performance by Mario. Really hoping Italy pulls this off as I like Spain less and less by the match, and Del Bosque seems to have a hardon for Torres and would rather go with no striker than give him a few consecutive games to get his confidence. He did score a brace all of two weeks ago, but was of course benched two games later. Spain deserves what Italy is going to give them
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4-0.

No but seriously, Spain are light years ahead of Italy in all departments. I'm afraid Italy's persistance on using the long diagonal and ball over the top simply didn't work against top class opposition, absolutely no variety, where as Spain had it in droves.
 
jalfa

jalfa

Starter
#143
#143
UK_King said:
4-0.

No but seriously, Spain are light years ahead of Italy in all departments. I'm afraid Italy's persistance on using the long diagonal and ball over the top simply didn't work against top class opposition, absolutely no variety, where as Spain had it in droves.
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Spain is just way ahead of EVERYBODY! especially considering they're still missing Puyol and Villa. the team is just filthy good and will, maybe except for Casillas, dominate for years.
 
Kingsfan23

Kingsfan23

All-Star
#146
#146
Call me crazy, but I just might be more in love with the US womens team than the men.. The heart, the offensive firepower, and players like Morgan/Wambach and Rapinoe that capture my attention.. There is also something to be said for our women's team being revered as possibly the best team in the world, as opposed to a men's team that is not top tier. It's nice to watch international football when you believe your team can win it all, so I know what Brazil and Spanish supporters are thinking when they watch the men. Nice game today against France
 
Glenn

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#147
#147
Kingsfan23 said:
Call me crazy, but I just might be more in love with the US womens team than the men.. The heart, the offensive firepower, and players like Morgan/Wambach and Rapinoe that capture my attention.. There is also something to be said for our women's team being revered as possibly the best team in the world, as opposed to a men's team that is not top tier. It's nice to watch international football when you believe your team can win it all, so I know what Brazil and Spanish supporters are thinking when they watch the men. Nice game today against France
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Tell me how you felt after the first 14 minutes of the match today. :) Yes, they have been the best women's soccer team for the last 25 years or more and there is no arguing that. There was the Hamm years, and now the Wambaugh years, and soon the Morgan years. We have been very lucky to have great strikers throughout all that time. Rapinoe is a dervish of energy and it's not like the rest are bad or even average. Every year there might be a team that can challenge them for #1 but the consistency of excellence is remarkable. I think I heard it said that Morgan and Wambaugh have scored 30 intrnational goals between them this year and today the duo added 3 more. Pretty remarkable.
 
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pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#148
#148
I will always prefer the men. Yeah, the women are great, but it's a damn shame that in most of the world women aren't given the same opportunities in sports as men (they aren't here either, for that matter) and so most nations don't even develop women's programs anywhere near to the extent we do. I still hope we see the USMNT make the WC Semis in my lifetime.
 
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