Faack! Would that the darn Dutch (yeah, talking to you, Coldfire!) wouldn’t have been so ‘honest.’
I mean why give life to The Azzurri? Fuckers almost always manage to squeeze through playing the ugliest footy around. Then they park the bus in front of goal, make two or three counters, get a cheapie (or take the match to PKs) and move on.
Oh well, I can only hope for some long overdue vendetta as I was at Foxboro when Tassotti blatantly broke Luis Enrique’s nose inside the box in the very last minute of play and nothing was called. We lost 1-2.
Even still, without Gattusso, Pirlo and Cannavaro, I say it’s about time we finally stomp their anti-football and break our 1/4 finals curse.
BTW, ridiculous that Domenech left Trezeguet out of the squad and took a dud like Anelka instead. All along knowing that Henri is far from his best…if he can ever get back to that of course.
Isn’t it pretty much a mathematical inevitability?
Wait, I see what you’re saying, I think. The way it’s set up now, no team from group A or B will meet any teams from group C or D until the final. You’re saying: shake up the semi finals, and mix the top and bottom half of the schedule THERE rather than sticking to the two-way split employed now.
Yeah, that would work too. I’m sure there’s a reason why it isn’t like that already, although I can’t think of it right now.
RedFury: my apologies, and good luck in the QF’s. Remember, Spain’s not the only country with a QF monkey on their backs.
I think this is an unusual tournament in having completely separate halves of the draw until the final. It’s certainly different from how the Euros have been done before. It’s dead stupid, if you ask me, but then they kind of set the tone for the running of this tournament with the hilariously scrambled seeding. I suppose the justification is that the final can’t possibly be a repeat fixture, but to my mind it’s better to have your potential repeat later rather than sooner.
The reason for the format change this year is to equalise the rest periods during the knockout stage. Complaints were made in previous competitions that some teams gained an unfair advantage of up to a day and a half’s more rest between games as the tournament progressed.
You’re right. It’s just that I’d never seen it done that way before thus I assumed it’d be the usual cross group pairings.
As for the reasoning behind it, Usram has posted it. Not sure it makes much sense to me as you’ll always have a team with at least one more day’s rest than the other. i.e. the group that starts last has to play the same number of matches to get to the Final in less days…no matter how you slice it, that’s the math. Spain plays today and Sunday, Italy gets one more rest day. No big in this case as we’re using our subs as we have nothing but pride to play for. But that’s not always the case.
Coldfire, I feel you man. In fact we seem to have parallel histories of misery in championship play – the old “best teams never to win a title.” That said, I really feel we’re due against the Azzurri and I’m sure that should we meet in the semis it would make for a hell of a match. And if we lost to you, I’d support you to win it all – not for nothing three of your starters (stars) are the same guys I cheer on every week at Real Madrid.
PS-What I don’t find very likely is Italy getting thumped twice by the same team in one tourney. That’s why I was lamenting your sporting play. It could easily turn around and bite you in the butt.
The Kamikazes are at it again. Two goals to show for it already. Sweden being punished for their unimaginative play, as they should be. One wonders where this play by Russia was against Spain?? :o
Don’t forget Euro 1988, man! We won that one fair and square!
wipes tear from eye
I’d love to see Holland take on Spain. I’d say those are two teams matched for talent, at least on an individual level. And any of the two can take the win, on a good day. Ought to be feckin’ fireworks in the knock-out stage, given that they’re both teams that sport an attacking mode of football rather than spits on floor whatever the fuck Romania displayed last night, where the very threat of termination couldn’t even lure them onto the opposing half.
And yeah, agreed that our sporting play against Romania could mean Italy can have another go at us. So be it. There’s such a thing as honour as well, I feel, in football. Then again, honourable teams and teams that win the cup don’t necessarily coincide…
Anyways! Russia on Saturday. Orange v. Red. Bring it on, Ruskies!
We beat you to it, Coldfire! Talk about wiping tears from eyes, I was actually there, at the Santiago Bernabeu with my dad when we beat the dreaded and hulking CCCP in 1964 with the historic Marcelino header at game’s end. Not that I remember much for I was about seven at the time…
1964 UEFA EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
And we also made the France '82 Finals. Again, quite a poor record for a nation whose main sport/passion if football but oddly enough has world champions in almost every other sport.
Anyway, it’d be a pleasure to meet you in the semis. No matter the result I think football wins if we do. Might need an abacus to keep score though
Well, the Germans are being their usual, workman selves. Cutting off the passing lanes, rounding up the ball, not letting anyone free. But when did they become whiners and divers, like they play for the Azzuri??? :dubious:
