Yes CD, methinks Spain will outdo Le Bleu.
As expected the Germans obliterated the Greeks.
I see Italy coming out ahead of England as well.
As expected the Germans obliterated the Greeks.
I see Italy coming out ahead of England as well.
I don't man... I can see England beating Italy. But the Germans will probably show them the door.
Yes...it certainly seems that Christiano has managed to silence a few of his critics for the time being....I've never liked his theatrical attempts to draw penalties...but wow, he sure has some talent!
The Germans worry me the most in this tournament...they simply just don't have a style of football...other than ensuring that whatever style their opponent brings they attempt to take that away until opportunity knocks for them...very effective yes, but watching the Italians and Spain play in the first round was pure magic....so I hope the final will be between two such similarly minded teams.
The Germans worry me the most in this tournament...they simply just don't have a style of football...other than ensuring that whatever style their opponent brings they attempt to take that away until opportunity knocks for them...very effective yes, but watching the Italians and Spain play in the first round was pure magic....so I hope the final will be between two such similarly minded teams.
The other thing is he shows too much emotion on the field, specially frustration. It looks childish and combined with the theatrical attempts tends to draw people away from his overall performance/contribution.
He does seem to hit the frame of the goal post a lot, and can understand some of the frustration. Add to that the constant comparison with Lionel Messi - whom he's graciously acknoweldged as numero uno long time back. But CR, you can improve! 🙂
I think the childish displays at the international level in particular are a reflection of his lack of confidence and poise...if Portugal can can go further and he is able to perform well his poise and confidence will improve and his theatrics should diminish...I note that Spain's Torres and Villa have that poise, as do the Germans' Gomez and Klose.
Hes overrated. There, I repeated it again. More ??
The way he scored the latest goal any tom dick and harry could do, the midfield created the opportunities.
I think you should educate yourself more with football (I thought I was weak on the game ), watch games played by greats like Maradonna, Pele, Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo from Brasil and now lately you can include Messi. Thats raw talent, one player practically winning games by themselves. They create the opportunities and they score the goals at same time.
Well, Ronaldo scored 1 when he should have scored 3 or 4.
Not exactly an exceptional strike rate but at least he got closer than his team mates.
The best individual player of these championships is in my opinion Germanys Ozil and he hasn't scored a single goal.
As I said: Strikers are not that important, the important guy is the one who enables the striker to do his job. Germany has won every game so far and they almost always substituted immediately whoever scored a goal.
But they never subbed Ozil or Schweinsteiger as those two are their game winners.
I have seen them all and you are the one that needs to educate yourself , as i don't recall saying he was better than Pele , Maradona , et al...
Pay attn:
Portugal ball movement was haphazard at best, look at the effect Ronaldo has on the defense, how he opens the defense as he moves , if Portugal had one more competent player goals a dozen and less not forget how good the Chez goalkeeper is ...
@Darwin:
That was an excellent goal , by any standard , funny Ronaldo has scored as much goals as England .
Talk about overrated , Brewhaaa, brewhaa, brewhaaa...... 🙂
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I agree that the strikers are a little overrated in today's game and that the midfielding skill level determines whether or not a team can sustain any attacking momentum or ball control.
And yet, particular strikers can chip away at another team's confidence and moral by being able to break out and change the momentum of a game by their individual effort..of being dangerous all the time...Ronaldo is developing that skill...I agree that Germany will be in the final...their coach is willing to defy expectation and mix things up...can Portugal best Spain? That will be the real question...
And yet, particular strikers can chip away at another team's confidence and moral by being able to break out and change the momentum of a game by their individual effort..of being dangerous all the time...Ronaldo is developing that skill...I agree that Germany will be in the final...their coach is willing to defy expectation and mix things up...can Portugal best Spain? That will be the real question...
It was quite good but no better than Lahms, Khediras or Reuss' against Greece and they are not even strikers (Lahm is a left back!) and he should have scored 3 of them in that one game.
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Great game yesterday! Both Germany and Greece played at the maximum of their abilities and it was beautiful to watch.
Well, trust England and Italy to be involved in the tournaments first nil - nil draw.
And when it comes to penalties there is only ever one loser and that's England.
And when it comes to penalties there is only ever one loser and that's England.
Nice match ! it's two years that I didn't watch at any -really got bored of the
old-rich players . I bet the English trusted till the end to win it with the penalties . No way . 🙂
old-rich players . I bet the English trusted till the end to win it with the penalties . No way . 🙂
Too bad the game had to be decided on penalty kicks. That is the second worst thing in the game next to embellishment.
I'm not a real footie fan, but I watched it anyway as there was now't else on the box, and I disagree. It was obvious that Italy were the better side, and the English sense of fair play is such that we knew that we were outclassed and should rightly loose. We played to our level, fifth or sixth best in the world. Still not bad for a manager who only got the gig four or five weeks ago. 🙂
Now all we have to do is persuade our players not to pass the ball to the opposition, but to each other...
Italy deserved the win...England was playing not to lose..
Now Spain vs. Portugal...can the Portuguese find a way to counteract the Spanish formation..will either team dare full-out attack? I'm guessing this could be a long-protracted war of wills....I'm going out on a limb and calling Portugal for the win in extra time....however Portugal will not win unless Ronaldo is dangerous from start to finish drawing out extra Spanish defensive attention and freeing up some space for his teammates to deliver the coup-d-gras...
Spain's success hinges on Fabregas...who has been superb IMO.
Germany vs. Italy.....wow...this could be a great game if the Azzurri key on Schweinsteiger...if they can't upset his game the German's will make them pay.....my guess is Germany over Italy 3-1. I think the German coach is both brilliant and daring and exudes confidence that his players feed on.
BTW..Italy's coach is also superb!
Now Spain vs. Portugal...can the Portuguese find a way to counteract the Spanish formation..will either team dare full-out attack? I'm guessing this could be a long-protracted war of wills....I'm going out on a limb and calling Portugal for the win in extra time....however Portugal will not win unless Ronaldo is dangerous from start to finish drawing out extra Spanish defensive attention and freeing up some space for his teammates to deliver the coup-d-gras...
Spain's success hinges on Fabregas...who has been superb IMO.
Germany vs. Italy.....wow...this could be a great game if the Azzurri key on Schweinsteiger...if they can't upset his game the German's will make them pay.....my guess is Germany over Italy 3-1. I think the German coach is both brilliant and daring and exudes confidence that his players feed on.
BTW..Italy's coach is also superb!
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Yep , the two most goal allergic hapless bumblers manage to pull off another 0-0 game .. 🙄
Italy , winning the only way they know how , on a wing and a prayer.. 😀
My original prediction stands , Germany-Portugal final ....
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I disagree.
Italy played the way they always play: Defend well, score on a counter.
Problem was that England tried the same (their coach has spent a large chunk of his career coaching in Italy) just not quite as well.
'A wing and a prayer' does not win you 4 World Championships and with a good team they are quite capable of defending better than Brazil can attack.
This is the main reason Brazil and Germany only played each other once at WC level in 60 years.
One problem with England is that they always seem to hang everything on one player, it used to be Beckham and now its Rooney. Without that one talismanic player they just simply do not believe they can win only to find out that they can't win WITH him either.
Germany on the other hand has a number of important players (Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Khedira) and if one of them has a bad night or is injured the others can take up the slack.
Consequently I don't think the german coach has 'mixed things up' at all as those key players started every game. He just swapped some expandable players around without great overall change to anything.
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