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DandelionPowderman
This result was bad for my chances in this pool, but it was very good for the pool I'm in at work. Here I won a decent sum of money

Bad result for me too. No more points to win in the final
But congratulations with winning the money.

Keep On Rolling

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

I think it is Spain who are playing catenachio. As I said before, they have some of the best players in the world in their team and have the quality. Hope they are not afraid to go forward and score.

Congrats to Italy! They did it again.
And, no question, they were the superior team yesterday, cool and hard-bitten, whereas the Germans seemed a bit frail and weak-minded, even if they were attacking until the very end.

But let's not forget: Two great chances for Germany within the first 15 minutes,
Pirlo clearing off the line at the last second. At this moment of the game the Italians seemed nervous too. And an early goal for Germany would probably have created a vastly different game.

But even so, the Germans seemed a bit clueless when the match didn't proceed as expected. Once again they acted shakey when meeting resistance. And this is the big difference to German teams from the past (before 2006, that is).

Since 2006 they have surpised and delighted us with a whole new way of playing. But it came at a price, I guess. Like somebody said recently, they come across like some boy group as compared to a real Rock'n'Roll band, which in this case were the Italians.

Now I'm looking forward to a great finale. I hope the Italians prevail once again. Just don't like that Tiki-taka style.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-29 12:05 by Greenblues.

Maybe the germans were a bit too young. It is true, it was like a boygroup against a rock'n'roll band.

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windmelody
Maybe the germans were a bit too young. It is true, it was like a boygroup against a rock'n'roll band.

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windmelody
Maybe the germans were a bit too young. It is true, it was like a boygroup against a rock'n'roll band.

Time is on their side. They were the youngest team in the competition. Wait till the World Cup in Brazil - they will present their Let It Bleed!

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Silver Dagger

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windmelody
Maybe the germans were a bit too young. It is true, it was like a boygroup against a rock'n'roll band.

Time is on their side. They were the youngest team in the competition. Wait till the World Cup in Brazil - they will present their Let It Bleed!

But they need to find another striker who feels good in their style of playing. Gomez scored 3 goals in 2 group games, but when the opponent was stronger he was useless. Just waiting for one good pass the whole game and not participating in game isn't enaugh. And this may be the last tournament for Klose. Striker, right defender and central defender are weak sides of this great team. Podolski, Schwainsteiger, Muller were also disappointments, but they are great players when they are in good shape.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-29 14:33 by szef.

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Stoneage
I saw no hands in the penalty area. Was that a correct penalty?

Let's say a dubious penalty.

let's say dubious and generous.

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andrea66

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

catenaccio like germany-italy 0-2 in 2006?
or 1-3 in spain '82 ?
milan- barcelona 4-0?
milan- steaua 4-0?
in the last 10-15 years have england, germany or france been more spectacular than italy? I don't think so..more or less they are all the same

Catenaccio or counter football can be very attractive and certainly effective. Think of Dynamo Kiev years ago. What a great counter team. Defending is of course an important part of football, but imo we have a structurally lack of goals in football.

In the old days results like 6-4 or 7-3 etc. were normal. Remember that the goal (circumference), the field (number of square meters) and number of players have been regulated during the end of the 19th century, when people averagely were shorter than now. Besides football players were amateurs back then and much less athletic than they are now. They played much slower too. In all sports records have become sharper and sharper. Not only because of better material, but mainly because of the growth of professionalism in sports.

Anyway: watch a football match from the seventies or sixties and you'll immediately think: wow, how slowly they're playing, running, acting etc. Almost in slow motion. And what much space and time to recieve the ball! Everything is ten times faster now. So it's harder to score a goal.

I would like to see the offside rule been abolished, the goal's circumference larger (especially higher) and the number of players could be diminished (nine instead of eleven). Those measures would result in more goals and more attractive football. But in football people are extremely conservative. So for instance no one is homosexual (not true of course). But if a football player says he's gay his life as a football player is definitely over. That's a shame.

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Rolling Hansie

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DandelionPowderman
This result was bad for my chances in this pool, but it was very good for the pool I'm in at work. Here I won a decent sum of money

Bad result for me too. No more points to win in the final
But congratulations with winning the money.

Bard, make us jealous and tell us how much you've won

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Silver Dagger

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

I think it is Spain who are playing catenachio. As I said before, they have some of the best players in the world in their team and have the quality. Hope they are not afraid to go forward and score.

I disagree Silver, they always play forward, but slowly rocking on, so to speak. And what I miss is a splitting pass, the depth in their play. It's like handball. They're passing all the time till they're at the 16 meter area and then they keep on going till they see a little hole and then they try something. They don't take any risks. I think that's what you mean. But man, if they are doing well it seems as if they have glue on their shoes but still can pass as precisely as if it's geometry.

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Silver Dagger

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windmelody
Maybe the germans were a bit too young. It is true, it was like a boygroup against a rock'n'roll band.

Time is on their side. They were the youngest team in the competition. Wait till the World Cup in Brazil - they will present their Let It Bleed!

I would prefer Get Yer Ya Ya's Out! It's live man.

Mentally they have shortcomings yet and their play is a bit ambiguous. The old German teams had a very recognizable style, but the style of this new multicultural German generation is hard to define yet. It's not the Dutch, Brazilian, Italian, French or Spanish school. Well, then it must be 'the new German school'. It needs some more character imo, especially if things don't go the way they want.

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kleermaker

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Silver Dagger

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

I think it is Spain who are playing catenachio. As I said before, they have some of the best players in the world in their team and have the quality. Hope they are not afraid to go forward and score.

I disagree Silver, they always play forward, but slowly rocking on, so to speak. And what I miss is a splitting pass, the depth in their play. It's like handball. They're passing all the time till they're at the 16 meter area and then they keep on going till they see a little hole and then they try something. They don't take any risks. I think that's what you mean. But man, if they are doing well it seems as if they have glue on their shoes but still can pass as precisely as if it's geometry.

The splitting pass should be coming from David Silva. As a Man City fan I know only too well how important he is to the team but he has not been playing his best in the last few games. Perhaps with David Villa in the team we would have seen a more penetrating and deadly Spain.

It must be hard to play against a team like them - always playing the tika taka. I think the only way to combat them is to play a pressing game and hope they make mistakes. But for that you have to be very fit.

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Silver Dagger

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kleermaker

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Silver Dagger

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

I think it is Spain who are playing catenachio. As I said before, they have some of the best players in the world in their team and have the quality. Hope they are not afraid to go forward and score.

I disagree Silver, they always play forward, but slowly rocking on, so to speak. And what I miss is a splitting pass, the depth in their play. It's like handball. They're passing all the time till they're at the 16 meter area and then they keep on going till they see a little hole and then they try something. They don't take any risks. I think that's what you mean. But man, if they are doing well it seems as if they have glue on their shoes but still can pass as precisely as if it's geometry.

The splitting pass should be coming from David Silva. As a Man City fan I know only too well how important he is to the team but he has not been playing his best in the last few games. Perhaps with David Villa in the team we would have seen a more penetrating and deadly Spain.

It must be hard to play against a team like them - always playing the tika taka. I think the only way to combat them is to play a pressing game and hope they make mistakes. But for that you have to be very fit.

I think you have to be technically at least just as good as they are. It's the influence of the Dutch school on Barcelona and from Barcelona on the Spanish national team. Technicality always has been the most important factor of the Dutch 'total football'. From Cruijff, Van Hanegem, Van Basten, Bergkamp and many others to Robben, Sneijder, Van Persie. It's because we're too lazy to run, whereas the German school just needed those 'runners' (and some good players like Netzer, Overath, Beckenbauer and others as well).

Imo Lothar Matthäus is the prototype of the German old school. Who's the prototype of the new German school? Özil maybe?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-29 21:45 by kleermaker.

Felicidades Italia!!
Pirlo best player of the championship and Italy best team for me so far.
Great opportunuty of Spain to win the italians in a final, if Spain can stop Pirlo, they are dead, we need one midfielder out, Xavi for example and another guy as Pedro playing at the initials, too much peope at the mid field in Spain. But if Spain play like extra time against Portugal, ciao ciao Italia!!!
Carlitos
Tenerife

I just heard my fourth concert of Paco De Lucia. I knew how good he is, but tonight I had tears in my eyes. Even if the andalusian singers sang a bit too much for me it was fantastic. Paco was in a great mood, he was smiling, playing incredibly, telling jokes in spanish to his bandmates. he even said "dankeschön" in german. If you have the chance to hear him play, go, go. - I will support spain on sunday!

It would be interesting to see an updated version of the pool table before the final. Is Silver Dagger still in the lead?

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carlitosbaez
Felicidades Italia!!
Pirlo best player of the championship and Italy best team for me so far.
Great opportunuty of Spain to win the italians in a final, if Spain can stop Pirlo, they are dead, we need one midfielder out, Xavi for example and another guy as Pedro playing at the initials, too much peope at the mid field in Spain. But if Spain play like extra time against Portugal, ciao ciao Italia!!!
Carlitos
Tenerife

But now, the Italians can unleash a energized and explosive Mario Balotelli on Spain. The Italians will attack Spain just as Portugal did only with goals. If Spain plans on loafing around mid field making pretty passes they better watch out. Italy will not sit back with them.

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Rolling Hansie

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DandelionPowderman
This result was bad for my chances in this pool, but it was very good for the pool I'm in at work. Here I won a decent sum of money

Bad result for me too. No more points to win in the final
But congratulations with winning the money.

Very bad results for me as well. Oh well. Thanks for starting the pool Hansie. It was fun. I'll watch the final this weekend as a fan with again,new appreciation for the sport as a whole.

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kleermaker

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Silver Dagger

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kleermaker

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Silver Dagger

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marcovandereijk
You lucky b*tard! Congratulations.
I predicted the final completely wrong in our pool. The southern countries did better
than I expected. Italy is a happy surprise this time. I hope the days of catenachio
are over for good.

I think it is Spain who are playing catenachio. As I said before, they have some of the best players in the world in their team and have the quality. Hope they are not afraid to go forward and score.

I disagree Silver, they always play forward, but slowly rocking on, so to speak. And what I miss is a splitting pass, the depth in their play. It's like handball. They're passing all the time till they're at the 16 meter area and then they keep on going till they see a little hole and then they try something. They don't take any risks. I think that's what you mean. But man, if they are doing well it seems as if they have glue on their shoes but still can pass as precisely as if it's geometry.

The splitting pass should be coming from David Silva. As a Man City fan I know only too well how important he is to the team but he has not been playing his best in the last few games. Perhaps with David Villa in the team we would have seen a more penetrating and deadly Spain.

It must be hard to play against a team like them - always playing the tika taka. I think the only way to combat them is to play a pressing game and hope they make mistakes. But for that you have to be very fit.

I think you have to be technically at least just as good as they are. It's the influence of the Dutch school on Barcelona and from Barcelona on the Spanish national team. Technicality always has been the most important factor of the Dutch 'total football'. From Cruijff, Van Hanegem, Van Basten, Bergkamp and many others to Robben, Sneijder, Van Persie. It's because we're too lazy to run, whereas the German school just needed those 'runners' (and some good players like Netzer, Overath, Beckenbauer and others as well).

Imo Lothar Matthäus is the prototype of the German old school. Who's the prototype of the new German school? Özil maybe?

Good post. Ozil instantly reminds me of Overath. From the first moment I saw him play.
But whoever mentioned about Germany needing another type striker is right. Gomez isn't enough of a killer to only hover and wait. German books used to call this 'rochieren'. Mueller needed to come through. Klose was great but this was his last rodeo.

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Stoneage
It would be interesting to see an updated version of the pool table before the final. Is Silver Dagger still in the lead?

Keep On Rolling

And here are the predictions for the final match



Funny to see that nobody has predicted the correct final.

Keep On Rolling



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-30 11:34 by Rolling Hansie.

Regarding latest post and concerning statistics in sport, I'm thinking from a long time ago that statistics are only for losers.

The winner doesn't mind the way it win. The losers should learn from the fails, to improve in next competitions.

I don't think Spain is very worried about how they win SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP with plenty of 1-0, (Nederlands, Germany, Paraguay,...) but off course with 60 and 70% ball position, but with a poor game in front of EURO 2008, where they play much better and score more goals.

Germany should be worried after arriving to the final in EURO 2008 and to the semifinals in SOUTH AFRICA 2010 and EURO 2012, the result is no wins. They should think what was wrong, what could happen to be so close to win three consecutive times and fail one after the other.

England, another team that should be worried. Excellent players generation after generation... Larimer, Francis, Keegan, Hoodle, Woodcock, Lineker, Gascoigne, Gerrad...The inventors of football and only the star of 66, with the doubt if the ball was in or not.

Finally regarding comments about tiki-taka way of play; after Cruyff invention "if you have the ball your opponent can't score you", which was first run in Barça and after by Spain, the only difference to put it in practice is if you have a real killer. Barça has Messi but Spain playing very similar no.
Villa injury left Spain whitout the real 9

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Rolling Hansie
And here are the predictions for the final match



Funny to see that nobody has predicted the correct final.

Six of us have Spain in the final and only two Italy (well done Sici and Jürgen). Most mentioned are Germany (thirteen (!) times) and Holland (eight times), and seven finals Germany-Holland (vv).

Thanks for the table, Hansie. And congratulations to Silver Dagger in advance. Well played!

Have been hearing on the radio in the States about the massive racism in Europe about the dude who plays for Italy and Manchester, the black dude, Mario Balotelli. What's Europe's problem? They hate black people? Sounds a bit... funny. Especially seeing how Eruopeans give American's such shit sometimes. Can someone explain?

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Have been hearing on the radio in the States ..... Can someone explain?

Easy. What you've heard is not true.

Keep On Rolling

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Have been hearing on the radio in the States about the massive racism in Europe about the dude who plays for Italy and Manchester, the black dude, Mario Balotelli. What's Europe's problem? They hate black people? Sounds a bit... funny. Especially seeing how Eruopeans give American's such shit sometimes. Can someone explain?

Racism is ugly. I agree that some Europeans "give such shit to Americans sometimes". Racism is a problem, but it is not the case that Europeans in general "hate black people".Some journalists sipmly find it sexy to create some pleasant kind of horror. Only bad news is good news.

Italy is the champion.

Italy will win today.

Germany had been been the best until they faced Italy. Italy turned the best team into a bunch of teenagers rambling lost in the forest. Sad for Spain.

All in all ...Spain has reached three consecutive finals (two eurocups and one worldchampionship and two wins) so they have also been the best in the world for some years...which is not bad. It is fantastic.