Soccer Thread 2011-2012

[miami_fan]

Respect Zlatan

[Big Fo]

Sweden leading, good stuff. Hopefully England goes out early so Rooney and the other Man Utd/England players get a longer summer break.

[miami_fan]

Not so fast, my friend

[Big Fo]

Can't believe Walcott shot was a goal, the Swedish goalkeeper must not have seen it at all.

2-2 now, exciting second half so far.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Sweden leading, good stuff. Hopefully England goes out early so Rooney and the other Man Utd/England players get a longer summer break.

Good thing they don't have to worry about playing in the Community Shield either.

[Big Fo]

Sick goal from Welbeck.

[terpkristin]

I have had zero time to watch any of the games. I'm living vicariously through this thread. I find it somewhat ironic that right now, when I'm building a satellite for a London-based customer, I have no time to watch football.

/tk

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Can't believe Walcott shot was a goal, the Swedish goalkeeper must not have seen it at all.

2-2 now, exciting second half so far.

on german TV they found one angle where you could see the ball getting deflected juuuust a little bit to explain the weird trajectory and yeah, he just didn´t see the ball until it was too late.

Very entertaining 2nd half which was also the only half i got to see as i was travelling the rest of the evening, as far as i was told i caught all the good stuff minus maybe the side-show of the monsoon in Donezk

he other game i missed was England-France which pretty much everybody tells me was the snoozer of the tournament so far. I can live with that

Ibrahimovic : as much as i can accept that he is tremendously gifted he´s also undoubtedly sort of an ass (see him screaming at Hart) and the 2 times i saw him from a stadium make me believe what every expert that bothers to look is saying : The guy does not give the effort unless he´s in a position to get the ball. He takes forever to get back, you can´t play pressing with him and he doesn´t open up space with runs.

It´s a shame really, because i don´t think there will be a guy with his mix of physichal ability and skill all that often in the future.

For England i´m happy for Walcott, great effort by him

[sovereignstar v2]

I'm pretty sure Hart was getting yelled at because he started shoving the Swedish players that were celebrating in front of his goal.

[AlexB]

Decent performance, good fighting spirit after an awful opening to the second half. Oh yeah, and FU Ibrahimovic! A least by going a goal down hopefully he will feel the defeat more after getting all up himself at 2-1! Just a beefed up Mickey Pearce who bottles it on the big stage anyway. Flat track bully.

[DaddyTorgo]

Missed today's games as I was driving out to western MA all afternoon. Maybe I can catch tomorrow's somewhere out here before the wedding I'm going to tomorrow night.

[Lathum]

so why do they all of a suddenly swith both games to start at the same time instead of one early one late?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Lathum

so why do they all of a suddenly swith both games to start at the same time instead of one early one late?

Last group game - they don't want anyone to have an advantage by knowing exactly what they needs pts wise or goal wise to qualify.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Last group game - they don't want anyone to have an advantage by knowing exactly what they needs pts wise or goal wise to qualify.

aha

iirc now that you mention it they did that in the world cup also

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Lathum

aha

iirc now that you mention it they did that in the world cup also

They do it in the Premier league as well - that's why we all had that crazy finish. Made for kick ass drama.

[Grover]

Just noticed how similar the Euro opener is to the opening credits for Game of Thrones.

[Critch]

I wasnt into the idea of the Euros expanding to 24 teams for 2016, but the group stages are coming to an end so quickly I want them padded out now.

[miami_fan]

I tend to be far on the side of 'country" in the "club vs. country" debate, but this weather has to be making club owners and mangers sick with worry as they watch these games.

[Grover]

Oh my, Greece.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Critch

I wasnt into the idea of the Euros expanding to 24 teams for 2016, but the group stages are coming to an end so quickly I want them padded out now.

Are they going to have 16 teams advance out of the group stage? Seems a bit much to advance 2/3 of the teams if that's the case.

[kingfc22]

Well Poland is done. Russia/Greece now the game to watch.

[Critch]

Pity about Greece going through. I was hoping the boring defensive teams, like Greece and England, would go out.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Are they going to have 16 teams advance out of the group stage? Seems a bit much to advance 2/3 of the teams if that's the case.

Yeah, that's what it'll be. 6 groups of 4 with 16 teams going through. 2 from each group plus 4 best third place.

[ColtCrazy]

Seems like it waters down the first knockout stage, but it will mean that every group game will matter...which will keep all countries involved interested till the end of the group stage. Guess that's a good thing.

[whomario]

Pathetic showing by the polish team after the 25th or so minute, that was absolutely terrible. No confidence, no fight, no composure. Bäh ...

Greece deserves to go through in a way, coming back from a disastrous refereeing mistake in the first game scoring the 1:1 with 10 vs 11 and yesterday they owned the russians in terms of tactics and will to win. It´s a shame that Karagounis has to miss the quarter final after another huge mistake by a ref ... (overall i think the Refs have been great though)

Hope Germany does change up the squad a little bit and maybe tests a new wrinkle, especially since Greece or Czech will be the QF foe (i´m just going to assume greece, denmark really isn´t that good ...) and both play super defensive.
Maybe play 2 strikers and 3 at the back like they tested in earlier friendlies.

Germany will be refereed by the arrogant spaniard from the opening game btw ... I seldom bitch about theese things, but isn´t it an absolute joke to have a spanish ref (after all a perfectly likely Semi Final oponent) who is known for handing out cards (he has multiple games with 9,10 and in general propably by far the highest average of cards of any ref at the euro) whistle the last german group game ? Thankfully only Badstuber has a yellow till now and could miss the QF with another, but anyone who picks up a yellow this game and in the QF would miss a game against spain (or anybody else) in the SF.

[Grover]

Didn't that Spanish ref nearly average a red a game in La Liga?

[kingfc22]

Nothing sweeter than Portugal losing.

[B & B]

Both very entertaining games and of course, I have to leave for work.

No TV there to watch, not a chance that I can DVR and make it home without someone telling me the final score or who advanced. AARRGH



Still should be done in time to watch the last 2-3 holes of the US Open though. Great sports weekend.

[sovereignstar v2]

Bye bye Bert

[whomario]

Germany´s return to being a tournament team ? Again not pretty but a deserved win still. Awesome that Bender scores it, what a great run by him to get into that position

[ColtCrazy]

Underachieving Dutch at it again. I love watching them play, but I can imagine being a real fan of them has to be maddening. Germany is looking like the most solid team so far, not pretty, but composed. They should handle Greece, but Portugal-Czech Republic will be an interesting quarterfinal.

[Crapshoot]

Germany v Greece is interesting, eh? No political overtones there...

[MIJB#19]

Delayed by a weekend away, group D scenario:

Grp D	Fra W	Fra=Swe	Swe W
Eng W	1.*	1.Eng,2.Fra	1.Eng,2.Fra
Eng=Ukr	1.Fra,2.Eng	1.Fra,2.Eng	1.Eng,2.Fra
Ukr W	1.Fra,2.Ukr	1.Ukr,2.Fra	1.Ukr,2.*

* goal difference and goals scored will decide here, currently being Fra (3-1) and Eng (4-3), if all is tied, England advances as the higher seed

France wins group with win and England doesn't win my 1 goal more than France or win by same number of goals and score 2 goals less, or with draw + England-Ukraine draw, advance with win or draw, still advance with loss + Ukraine loss
England wins group with win and France doesn't win by the same goal difference or by 1 goal less and also not scoring 2 or more goals more, or with draw + France loss, advance with win or draw
Ukraine wins group with win + France loss or draw, can only advance with a win
Sweden is knocked out

[MIJB#19]

Ironic how the Portugese always play their A game against us. Even Cristiano Ronaldo showed up in a tournament for a change.

Bad luck vs Denmark, beaten fair and square by the better Germans and then losing against our 21st century angstgegner (2002, 2004, 2006, 2012). At least we still have 2010 to remember this generation. Or do we?

For the overall image of the game, I suppose I have to hope Germany wins it.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

At least we still have 2010 to remember this generation. Or do we?

I think that this is what most remember about the 2010 Dutch team.

[Ryan S]

I think Spain are going to blow this...

[Coffee Warlord]

They're desperately trying to. Somebody on the Spanish side needs to freakin' shoot.

[Ryan S]

Or maybe not.

[Grover]

Awful, awful defending.

[Coffee Warlord]

And now Spain is about to redefine time wasting.

[Coffee Warlord]

Or not.

[whomario]

Modric was pretty damn great today, too bad it was in a loss but today was propably one of the finer individual efforts i´ve seen from a playmaker in recent times.
Croatia as a whole with a really spirited game, they played spain about as tough as anybody could. Schildenfeld was great defensively, Mandzukic was impressive holding up the ball up front.

I was actually happy Spain scored that goal. I honestly wouldn´t have minded about them loosing and going out (any german who tells you different is lying ) but if they stay in i´d rather have that potential rematch happen at the ultimate stage in the final.

I am NOT saying i am allready expecting Germany to go through easily or anything, but as a fan i can´t help to dream about that matchup.

[DaddyTorgo]

Beauty goal by Balotelli. Even more impressed by his lack of showboating afterwards. Maybe he's finally growing up (hah yeah right). Still...gorgeous goal.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Beauty goal by Balotelli. Even more impressed by his lack of showboating afterwards. Maybe he's finally growing up (hah yeah right). Still...gorgeous goal.

Got news for ya. Balotelli does plenty of stupid things, but he never showboats after goals. He actually never celebrates and gets criticized for it all the time.

[sovereignstar v2]

I better preface that by striking the 'Why Always Me?' moment from the record. lol

[sovereignstar v2]

Here's an example of what was commonplace during his first year at City. Became the norm during the 2011-12 season and much less was written about it.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini jokes he could punch Mario Balotelli for not celebrating goals - Goal.com

Despite his goals, Balotelli could only manage a handful of smiles and stated after the game that he does not celebrate as he views scoring as just a routine part of the job.

But boss Mancini, once a striker himself, cannot understand Balotelli's reaction.

"I would like to punch him sometimes," Mancini told reporters.

"When you score three goals in the Barclays Premier League you should celebrate. After the first goal he did celebrate, for one second I think. At least he smiled."

[Grover]

Yeah, I was going to say him not celebrating is very unsurprising. He was the same way at Inter.

[whomario]

didn´t he start doing angry faces and then one of his teammates put his hand over his face/mouth and got him in a choke-hold ? (after yeterdays goal that is)

[Grover]

Originally Posted by whomario

didn´t he start doing angry faces and then one of his teammates put his hand over his face/mouth and got him in a choke-hold ? (after yeterdays goal that is)

The temperamental Manchester City forward came off the bench and scored his first goal in the tournament but rather than celebrate, he looked into the direction of the Italian bench and shouted a few words before team-mate Leonardo Bonucci put his hand over the striker's mouth.

That's from F365.

[whomario]

that´s about what i figured. Sad that it may be, he just isn´t made for a team sport with his "everybody is out to get me" attitude.

He was a fringe player to even be in the 23 (right ?) and after getting included in the squad he even starts and after playing okish but not making his chances count he gets replaced and aparently again thinks it is all just a big conspiracy against him.