Official Euro 2008 Grp. C - NED, ITA, ROM, FRA

[Slava]

Sucks to be France now. They couldn't run a counter attack and had old tired legs all over the field. Only Benzema and Evra looked a bit active but overall looked dull with no support from anyone else. Domenech made dumb move not playing Nasri today but hey it'd have been a surprise if he'd make a postive move all tourney long.

[fc_dinamo]

Well we had an ok tournament. We can at least hang our hats on the fact that we finished above France, but we came out with a loser's mentality.

Some will say that the PK miss against Italy killed Romania. Well, the truth is that, that was bad luck. Mutu hit the ball on target but Buffon went the same way and blocked him. But he shouldn't have been taking the PK anyways, Buffon already knows him from their time at Juve. Should have let Chivu finish the job.

Against the Netherlands we lost composure, but really it was the game against France that killed us. France was so weak we could have gotten a goal if we had attacked, but we came out with the mentality that a draw would be super amazing for us against the WC runners up.

As for Italy, the luck was in their favor. I think they will beat Spain and beat the Netherlands in their rematch in the semis. Netherlands are playing too well too early. I don't think they'll get another 3-0.

The most dangerous situation in sports, is for a team seeking redemption to get that 2nd shot.

We'll see, but as of now, I foresee Italy in the finals against Portugal/Germany. But don't sleep on Turkey/Croatia.

[Slava]

magik, how about a quarterfinal thread for Italy vs Spain?

[tkb]

Happy to see Italy moving on. Cheering for Italy, Netherlands and Spain to win it all (in that order).

[magik9113]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
(no celebrating allowed for Alez)

magik, how about a quarterfinal thread for Italy vs Spain?

deal!

[Geddy]

France needs a new coach ASAP. Domenech does not suit the French style of play at all I think.

[snitch55]

Thank you Domenek for beeing the football idiot of Europe , i hope you coach Inter some day .

[Point forward]

Domenech is finished. That he brought in Boumsong was ok, but he sent out a strong message of turtling up by subbing out offensive Nasri instead of e.g. defensive Toulalan.

PS Get well soon Franck Ribery. I am not a Bayern fan but I enjoy seeing you play

[GS Warriors 1]

I think Domenech is done as the coach as well. Let the rumors begin.

[Bit's]

Well we had an ok tournament. We can at least hang our hats on the fact that we finished above France, but we came out with a loser's mentality.

Some will say that the PK miss against Italy killed Romania. Well, the truth is that, that was bad luck. Mutu hit the ball on target but Buffon went the same way and blocked him. But he shouldn't have been taking the PK anyways, Buffon already knows him from their time at Juve. Should have let Chivu finish the job.

Against the Netherlands we lost composure, but really it was the game against France that killed us. France was so weak we could have gotten a goal if we had attacked, but we came out with the mentality that a draw would be super amazing for us against the WC runners up.

Seeing the romanian players, I think you guys made a good tournment. The group was very hard for Romania.

The only players that have good quality is Lobont, Contra, Rat (though he's terrible on defense), Chivu, Petre, Marica, Mutu and the guy who shocked his head with Rat's.

The others players, in my opinon are really bad, they can't play in games with high pressure defense like was against France and Holland. Against the italians, Romania had a lot of space to play, so it was easier for those bad players like D.Niculae, Cocis, Dica and Niculita to play well (well the defense was horrible, they couldn't save one ball against Toni in the air).

And Romania played too much on defense, and you aren't that good at this, mainly in the left wing with Rat and in the air. It's just see how much chances Italy had with Toni and Holland today. If wasn't Lobont, Romania would finish with just one point.

I'm very sad because Romania is my favorite National Team. I'm Brazilian but I like Romania more than Brazil NT (well, nobody gives a sh*t about Brazil anymore, here).

Well, good luck in the qualifier for the World Cup, I'll be rooting for you guys, even in South Africa against Brazil.

[b-ball forever]

That was a fuggin nightmare start off scenario (France-Italy)!
Best man on the team Ribery goes down straight away, then Abidal gets a BS red card on top of the (legit) PK a few mins later...
Zidane and Viera already left a pretty big hole in the midfield behind em, so w/o Ribery either that made his loss an even more massive blow. Then on top of it refs were teh suck... So yeah, not a great night to be rootin for the Frenchies.

Puttin in Boumsong for Nasri when Abidal got red carded was stupid, there's zero point in playing defensive when ur down by 1 goal and NEED to win to advance... I'd love to see Didier Deschamps as the next coach.

Overall we just weren't in good enuf physical shape at all. Sagnol/Thuram were in teh suck form all tourney (with their season injury trouble/lack of play time kicking in), and Henry's awfully timed injury didn't help either.
Add in the Viera/Sagna/Mexes injuries that made em miss out on the Euro altogether, + the dumbass no-call up of Gael Clichy, along with some weird ass game coaching decisions by Domenech... and France isn't good enuf to make outta the group of death.


Props to the Dutch on playing with heart in a game that was meaningless for em and pwnin Romania tho.
Hands down the best team of group C

[El Turco]

France finishes last place with only one goal...

"We dont need Trezeguet"




With all joking aside, i thought France would suck but i didnt think they would suck this bad, and dom dom has to take all the blame. Still, with improving young talents and a coach that understands the modern football, they should be early favorites for WC along with Argentina.

Italy didnt play amazing by no means but they got the job done. First time in this tournament they played fluid football and they have a very good chance against Spainards given their tournament experience.

Romania lost the competition when Mutu missed the PK and they never seem to get over it. And hats off to Dutch for keep playing their entertaining football.

If i may toot my horn, i was pretty accurate with my predictions in this group

[Slava]

The quarter final game threads should be up soon and in the mean time keep any discussion in the stickied Euro discussion thread please.

Thanks.

j-far.