UEFA Euro 2008 - Austria Switzerland

First selection and Nasri assisted Benzema. Nice !
But Francee still can't score a second goal. It's alarming.
 
Thomas Myhre had to be the worst display a GK can show...must`ve been all those airplanes flying by. Norway were lucky to get a point.
 
lo zio said:
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may comin' handy :lol:
i hope not :roll:
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I shat them anyway for a laugh. :shock:

I predicted 2-0 to Italy earlier today. Should have put a bet on! ](*,)
 
What a result for Norn Ireland!!!!!!

Odd how Healey is setting the international stage alight, but isn't fairing as well in the championship.
 
Result for N. Ireland. :D

Expected result from Italy - Scotland.

Also expected struggle from England to beat the mighty Andorra.
 
Peter Eyres said:
What a result for Norn Ireland!!!!!!

Odd how Healey is setting the international stage alight, but isn't fairing as well in the championship.
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It just highlights the poor quality of International football. A decent Championship side would win Euro 2008. I've said it many times, but England should stop selecting all the big players and pick a team to do a job. This might include championship players if necessary. Everyone says Crouch, Bent and Johnson aren't world class. Is Healy? He does ok.
The manager should have at least an idea of how he wants to play and pick the players accordingly to fulfill those roles.
 
marukomu said:
It just highlights the poor quality of International football.
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i understand your point mate, and i agree with u, but still i disagree with your first statement.
a national coach doesn't have to pick always the best players (i don't even mean "the most famous", i actually mean "the best players"). but this, not because the level of football quality in europe is low. the exact opposite.

the point is that the level of football quality in europe increased a lot in the last 20 years.
great technique players can actually do the difference when they play against weaker formations (or at least it's easier for them).
but when they play against tactically prepared formations, it's hard to go trough.
so a good national coach has to choose a gameplay, and then he has to pick the players that fit with that gameplay (not necessarily the best players, but those players that are more useful according to his "idea" of football). If u consider this, then u can easily say that a championship player may be more useful then a celebrated premier "bitch". but this not because football quality in europe is low. i'd say it's because football quality in europe is so high that big players can't make the difference anymore.
a zidane, a totti, ronaldinho, a c. ronaldo, a rooney.... they may comin really handy when u play against brazil. then u can see those guys doing something magic each time they get the ball. But if u're playing against greece, germany, czech rep, then u almost won't notice they're on the field. this because their (greece, germany, etc.)tactical preparation can keep big players out of the game.
once u realize this, u also realize that when it's about international competitions (with national teams) u don't need a totti, a zidane, a ronaldinho....... of course they're great champions and is quite useful to have them on your side...... but the most important thing is that
- your coach must have a precise, well defined idea of the football that he wants his team to play.
- 23 good players that have trust in their coach and that understood what he wants them to do on the pitch.
- a balanced formation with 11 players with a decent off the ball movement, that always know where their teammates should be, even before looking at them.
as u will notice that's a perfect portait of 2004 greece team :)


edit: ah! i almost forgot; good match by italy yesterday. nothing special to be honest, just a good match, with some moments of good football. Scotland is almost unrecognizable when is far from home.

the most beautiful things were del piero (nice to see him in that shape.... can't understand why donadoni prefered camoranesi to him....) and scotland supporters.....
once again, those guys showed us what sport is really about..... i'm almost gettin used to them. :D

at the end of the match, italian tv showed a group of italian and scottish suppoerters playing "volleyball" toghether in "curva", with an enourmous beachball..... others (still italians and scots) were dancing toghether (probably drunk :lol: )........ those guys really deserve to take part to euro 2008..... it would be a pity to miss their fair passion in austria :)
 
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Scotland played some good football at times but like Milanista said, Italy were solid. For a team to not play brilliantly but still win 2-0 shows quality.
 
El Diego said:
Scotland played some good football at times but like Milanista said, Italy were solid. For a team to not play brilliantly but still win 2-0 shows quality.
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bad choice for scotland to put just 1 fwd. with 2 strikers the situation could have been better for scotland, imo.
our players weren't pressed at all, and this way, the better quality of italy obviously came out...... sometimes the most defensive line up is an attacking line up.
 
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lo zio said:
bad choice for scotland to put just 1 fwd. with 2 strikers the situation could have been better for scotland, imo.
our players weren't pressed at all, and this way, the major quality of italy obviously came out...... sometimes the most defensive line up is an attacking line up.
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Saw a solid Squadra Azzurra yesterday. Big pressing during most of the 90 minutes.
Scotland really is something different when they play at home.
Their fans are the best in the World though...

I do like Ferguson a lot :)
 
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I don't like the way that all the latest interviews with McClaren have him quoted as saying "we will definitely qualify though, no question" and crap like that - and the players are at it now as well, with Nugent saying to the Preston website today that the "players are too good not to qualify" and they "definitely will" etc... I've never trusted managers who say that. Fair enough, Nugent is a young lad and he can get away with that, but not your more senior staff.

The only kind of manager who I feel can get away with comments like that is the Ferguson and Mourinho kind of manager; arrogant, determined, backed up by years of good results. It doesn't fill me with confidence when it comes from someone whose team drew 0-0 vs Israel with a team "too good not to qualify".

I wish managers would keep their mouth shut sometimes, if they can't think of anything "real" to say.
 
marukomu - I dont completely agree with you about international football. The last World Cup is an example of the class difference between countries. Maybe in England's case you are right, but countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Portugal showed their differences. For example Italy-Ghana... Ghana had determination and motivation, but Italy still had the type of players like Pirlo who could make a difference, and that was down to talent. Trinidad almost did it to England, but England showed their difference etc. International football is -imo- getting beter in quality and level, tactics are becoming more common and selecting the right players is now key, like lo zio said.
 
Jack Bauer said:
I don't like the way that all the latest interviews with McClaren have him quoted as saying "we will definitely qualify though, no question" and crap like that - and the players are at it now as well, with Nugent saying to the Preston website today that the "players are too good not to qualify" and they "definitely will" etc... I've never trusted managers who say that. Fair enough, Nugent is a young lad and he can get away with that, but not your more senior staff.

The only kind of manager who I feel can get away with comments like that is the Ferguson and Mourinho kind of manager; arrogant, determined, backed up by years of good results. It doesn't fill me with confidence when it comes from someone whose team drew 0-0 vs Israel with a team "too good not to qualify".

I wish managers would keep their mouth shut sometimes, if they can't think of anything "real" to say.
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Mac is not to blame. The people who put him in the job are the ones responsible.Look @ Laurie Sanchez, he is doing it with Northern Ireland and with players of apparently less calibre than England have in their squad but less face it, England will never win any major honours.

Forza Azzurri
 
Milanista said:
marukomu - I dont completely agree with you about international football. The last World Cup is an example of the class difference between countries. Maybe in England's case you are right, but countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Portugal showed their differences. For example Italy-Ghana... Ghana had determination and motivation, but Italy still had the type of players like Pirlo who could make a difference, and that was down to talent. Trinidad almost did it to England, but England showed their difference etc. International football is -imo- getting beter in quality and level, tactics are becoming more common and selecting the right players is now key, like lo zio said.
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100% True my friend! :thumbup:
 
I agree to a certain degree with Marukomu.
It's the CL that is the university of football...international football is a good second. The World Cup had some splendid matches (much better than i expected) but it's logic that club football is better.
All the big clubs have the best players in the world and on top of that they train day in, day out with each other...
 
Why can't England assign player numbers and stick with them like Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina etc etc do? I hate the way England are always 1-11 in the modern game.

For example, Raul was ALWAYS no.7 for Spain. If he was injured you wouldn't have another player starting with that number, it was Raul's on AND off the pitch.

Hargreaves no.7!?? He is a holding MF for God's sake! Assign him a number like 16 or summit. Keep Rooney as 9 and don't have crap players like Crouch stealing it when he is suspended. Like with France - Henry is 12. That is that. </rant over>
 
El Diego said:
Why can't England assign player numbers and stick with them like Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina etc etc do? I hate the way England are always 1-11 in the modern game.

For example, Raul was ALWAYS no.7 for Spain. If he was injured you wouldn't have another player starting with that number, it was Raul's on AND off the pitch.

Hargreaves no.7!?? He is a holding MF for God's sake! Assign him a number like 16 or summit. Keep Rooney as 9 and don't have crap players like Crouch stealing it when he is suspended. Like with France - Henry is 12. That is that. </rant over>
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I think England at this time has some other problems to solve than kit numbers ;)
 
Main thing is the Portuguese league AND clubs are still SHIT Spitfire, thats even funnier! God bless the ENGLISH Premiership getting all of your good players! (You might get to see Ronaldo playing in a Benfica shirt one day, when he is 32!) :lol:
 
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El Diego said:
Main thing is the Portuguese league AND clubs are still SHIT Spitfire, thats even funnier! :)
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And what's even more funny is the fact that clubs like Porto and Benfica have been quite succesfull in the CL the last years...and have eliminated clubs like Man Utd and Liverpool, come to think of it...that's hilarious...
 
. . . and then whats EVEN funnier is that United go to Benfica, play shit and win 1-0 and then smash them at home sending them to the UEFA Cup! :lol:
 
You win this one El Diego..

But...

look at the budgets of the average English Premiership club and look big clubs like Porto...
Belgian (not a coïncidence of course) European MP Ivo Belet just proposed a European law that there should be an internal solidarity system among European clubs...i.e. that the television money should be divided in a fair way...i think his proposal has passed the vote in the European Parliament (yesterday).
Now i know that clubs like Real Madrid, Man Utd, AC Milan...will laugh at that but in the end they loose this argument (cfr. Bosman) and then there will be fair competition. Clubs like Porto, Ajax, Celtic and who know maybe even Belgian clubs like Anderlecht could become European giants...

What i'm saying: considering the big budgets English clubs are underachieving (i've been saying this consistently on this forum and i'm not very well liked for it).
 
I understand your point Gerd but my argument is that the English Premiership is the most entertaining league in Europe (especially compared to the dive-a-minute Portuguese league) and we have all the stars here which is probably why Spitfire gets jealous. :)
 
So true Gerd, if the likes of Ajax, PSV, Porto, Benfica and even Anderlecht would get the same amount of TV money as the Madrids and Chelsea's im sure we would be able to beat them consistently, as has been shown in the past when money was more equal and those teams ruled Europe.

Imagine if Ajax didn't have to sell all the stars from the mid '90s....we would have dominated Europe for a decade.

It's about time something like u mentioned happened in football, as the gap between the rich and poor teams is growing bigger every year. The amount of TV money the English teams and Barca and Real will be receiving in the coming years is ridiculous.
 
Big Boss said:
So true Gerd, if the likes of Ajax, PSV, Porto, Benfica and even Anderlecht would get the same amount of TV money as the Madrids and Chelsea's im sure we would be able to beat them consistently, as has been shown in the past when money was more equal and those teams ruled Europe.

Imagine if Ajax didn't have to sell all the stars from the mid '90s....we would have dominated Europe for a decade.

It's about time something like u mentioned happened in football, as the gap between the rich and poor teams is growing bigger every year. The amount of TV money the English teams and Barca and Real will be receiving in the coming years is ridiculous.
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I agree mate. The Ajax team you are talking about is one of the best teams to have graced the European stage. The money is spoiling football but we all already knew that. :(
 
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