World Cup and European leagues

[Mr. Ypsi]

The Dutch were stupid to leave the Italians in the tournament.......momentum be damned.

I still say it sounds weird to hear you asking the Dutch(!) to deliberately tank!

[Greek Tragedy]

They did basically bench all their starters...

France didn't help out either.

[cawcdad]

The Dutch were stupid to leave the Italians in the tournament.......momentum be damned.

What else could they have done short of roll over and play dead? 9 lineup changes and I believe they used all 3 subs. That's as close to "clearing the bench" as it gets in soccer.

I think Spain will win against the Azzuri. The Italians only managed 1 goal from the field against a 10 man (and without Ribieri sp?) team.

[Gotberg]

Remember, too, that Italy will be without Pirlo and Gattuso for the match with Spain due to yellow cards.  I think the Spanish defense will be the key link there--if Puyol is still out and Sergio Ramos does another John Travolta imitation in front of goal (funniest line of commentary so far), the Spanish are in trouble.  Otherwise, I think they'll get past Italy.

I thought the rules were changed this year, so yellow cards from the group stages do not carry forward to the knockout rounds?

Edit:   I just read the official rules and if a player had a single yellow card, it is wiped out for the knockout rounds.  2 yellow cards still results in a single game suspension.

[sac]

Short of putting the ball in your own net 3 times, your correct, there wasn't much the Dutch could do.  I watched it last night and Romania were terrible.


Group of death?  The only thing dead was the football.

[Greek Tragedy]

It's not like Romania were a bunch of scrubs in the first place.  They topped their qualifying group that also included the Dutch...taking 4 out of a possible 6 points from them...

Romania were the only one of the three teams (Italy and France) that controlled their own destiny.  Hardly Holland's fault for "letting Italy progress"...

[Hoosier Titan]

Wow, I thought Russia had the potential to beat Sweden, but that was a great display!  Either we set the Tivo wrong or the channels got switched--we recorded Spain/Greece by mistake--but the goals were beautiful.  Too bad they meet Holland next, but a great step forward for the Russians.  (I confess to a bit of a bias, since my youngest daughter was adopted from Russia).

[cawcdad]

The Russians kept up an amazingly frenetic pace for the entire game. The two goals were things of beauty. On the second goal a Russian was following up on the far post if the striker misses. Looking at the replay from above, they also had 3 more players following for any type of rebound. Perfect!

I saw the Swedes play Brazil in the 1994 World Cup semi-final against Brazil. What struck me about that team and this team is that thay don't defend speed well. Spain plays a slow deliberate game and it was close. They beat a slow Greek team. In '94 the Brazilians ran all around Sweden and then the Swedes beat the Bulgarians 4-0 for third.

[ScotsFan]

Portugal/Germany: maybe the match of the Euros so far.  I think the Portuguese side has the talent, and the German inability to toss aside the overmatched Austrians worries me, but I'll go with the upset (if it even is that): Germany 2-1 (which would be a shame, since a Dutch-Portuguese match down the line would be highly entertaining).

I had heard that the Germans might be without Podolski and Frings.  They are both battling injuries.  I don't think Germany can win, especially without Podolski at or near 100%.

[Hoosier Titan]

I saw the Swedes play Brazil in the 1994 World Cup semi-final against Brazil. What struck me about that team and this team is that thay don't defend speed well. Spain plays a slow deliberate game and it was close.

I agree about both Sweden and Spain.  They are big, strong, and physical.  The two Spanish goals were scored 1) on a short corner, where the size difference wasn't a factor and the pass came in perfectly for Torres just to tap it in and 2)  on a counter-attack by Villa, where his foot speed left the defender behind.  The Spanish strategy of pass, pass, passing the ball played right into Sweden's hands (er, feet) most of the game.  With the speed on the Spanish side, I think they should be looking to play a more uptempo game. 

[sac]

Quarters

Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands, Italy

[cawcdad]

Once the quarterfinals are set, all you lurkers can make your picks for the rest of the tourney, including the Final Score...do it!

So far:

Portugal v Germany
Croatia v Turkey
Netherlands v Russia or Sweden
Spain v Italy

Portugal over Germany - This was really hard to do. I hope I'm wrong.
Turkey over Croatia - Upset special, the cardiac kids do it again.
Netherlands over Russia - Should be the most entertaining game, but A Clockwork Orange prevails.
Spain over Italy - Hard to score against a team like Spain that holds the ball the way they do, especially missing key players.

[Greek Tragedy]

I don't know anything about anything, but how can Manchester CITY have more money to spend than AC Milan?  I guess that's what their excuse is for dropping out of the Ronaldinho chase.

[Greek Tragedy]

Portugal
Croatia
Netherlands
Spain (my first thoughts were Italy, but I really don't want them to win!)

[WLCALUM83]

Portugal
Croatia
Netherlands
Italy