World Cup and European leagues

[Hoosier Titan]

Rats!  I just saw this board. 

Although I don't expect any credit, I voted for Germany over Portugal on the ESPN board.  I would have picked Croatia today, though.

I expect Holland-Russia to be very entertaining, with Holland prevailing, and I think Spain will take Italy.  (And I would love to see the Russians win!)

[WLCALUM83]

It'll be interesting to see how the Turkish coach works things out. I caught the tail end of the 1st ET period, all of the 2nd, and the PK shootout, and the announcers were indicating that there'll be a boatload of players unavailable for the Germany match due to No. of yellow cards accumulated

[Greek Tragedy]

I don't understand the yellow card situation.  I thought they all started from scratch after group play.  So, what's up with that?

I don't like Spain's odds.  Group winners Croatia, Portugal and Netherlands are all out.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I think I read somewhere (maybe here, but I'm too lazy to look back several pages!) that yellow cards carry over to the quarters, but start fresh with the semis.

Spain's stuation depends on how you want to look at the odds.  Certainly in this tourney, group winners seem doomed, but I wonder if there has EVER been a tourney where NO group winner advanced?  (And is it too late to retract my Nederland 4, Russia 0 prediction? )

[Greek Tragedy]

I suppose that would make sense...to prevent from missing out on the final because of yellow cards accumulation.  Soccernet says there might have to be an emergency meating if the injury crisis for the Turks worsens.

[Hoosier Titan]

Woo hoo, how 'bout them Russians!  That was an amazing match.  I started out thinking I'd be happy no matter who won, but by added time it was clear that the Russians deserved it.  It would have been a shame had it gone to penalties, because they were clearly still creating, whereas the Dutch looked out of gas before the 90 minutes were up.

I didn't see the second yellow on Kolodin at all--it didn't even look like much of a foul!  Good thing the ball was out of bounds before the call was made.  The announcer said that the linesman might have saved the official some embarassment, and I think that was right.  All in all, it was a well officiated match.

The announcers mentioned what would happen about cards--I think cards from qualifying carried over into the group stage and ones now carry over up to the final, when it gets reset.  I could be wrong on that, though, and I can't find it right now. 

The Turks are desperately short of players--they had 15 going into the Croatia match, and three picked up yellows to disqualify them for the Germany match.  Plus, about four people are hurt (including Nihat).  They may make an appeal to UEFA to call up more players.  It doesn't look good for Turkey, but they seem to thrive under those circumstances.

I don't see why other group winners losing should have any effect on Spain's chances.  I doubt there's any chance they'll take a match with Italy lightly!  Italy have not looked impressive so far--but there is a history of success at this level on Italy's part, and very little on the part of Spain.  The Spanish defense is the biggest question.  I think it will be close, and I'm going with Spain.

But I think the Russians have a serious shot at winning the entire tournament!

[Hoosier Titan]

Oops, sorry Tom, we overlapped!   

[Mr. Ypsi]

Spain survives, 0-0, 4-2.

I like good defensive games, but this was more bad offense than good defense, further marred by perhaps the worst officiating yet.  I've always thought yellow cards for dissent should be given out only in extreme circumstances - the OT yellow for what was under the circumstances pretty mild dissent (after all, the officials HAD clearly blown it, and losing a chance at a corner with 7 minutes left in a scoreless match IS pretty aggravating) was to me, at least, likely a case of a thin-skinned official trying to cover his ass when he knew he was wrong.  Shameful to blow such as obvious call; more shameful to 'retaliate' against the wronged player.

[Stinger]

This game was precisely why I can stand the Italian tactics. 3 times the went down with an "injury" while Spain was counter attacking (much like the US group game in the '06 WC).    Even the ref stopped the game at a couple points. Just brutal stuff.  Thank god Spain won.  Iker is a stud.

[sac]

Quarters

Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands, Italy

Perfect for the quarters.........0-4


Germany, Spain to win

[sac]

el boringo and la snoozerilla.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, a couple of those fake injuries were more deserving of yellow ('delay of game') than was the dissent - especially since the ref added NO stoppage time to compensate for the stalling.  (Or is stoppage time not allowed in OT?)

[Hoosier Titan]

Yawn....best quote of the night:  "If this had been a bullfight, the bull would have died of boredom."   (London Telegraph).

I thank the "football gods" that Spain prevailed.  This was the kind of match that makes a lot of Americans hate "soccer," and who can blame them?  It's a measure of how good this tournament has been that we haven't seen any other matches like this yet.

Andy Grey, the TV commentator, made an interesting comment that some refs hesitate to make the big calls in the box precisely because they are in the box in a match like this. That seemed the case today.

Why Fernando Torres was pulled in favor of Guiza is a mystery to me.  Oh well, it worked out in the end. 

Russia v. Spain is going to be a corker!

[Greek Tragedy]

This game was precisely why I can stand the Italian tactics. 3 times the went down with an "injury" while Spain was counter attacking (much like the US group game in the '06 WC).    Even the ref stopped the game at a couple points. Just brutal stuff.  Thank god Spain won.  Iker is a stud.

Why you CAN'T stand the Italian tactics?

Glad Spain came through.  They deserved it and actually tried to play offense.

[Greek Tragedy]

Germany and Spain as well...not that I'm really keeping track! lol