Round of 16 Discussion : Spain vs Portugal

[kromoszoma]

Greece turned it around against Nigeria and Denmark against someone, but I think your point still stands.

As for Spain, I think they are better than everyone else in terms of talent. Their form isn't really great, Torres for instance is absolute crap, but we've seen teams who started slowly win it all in the end.

[britblazerdude]

Guys... cut that out, ok? It's getting ridiculous.

Es tut mir leid.

[Rendezvous]

feel bad for ronaldo, that dude has ZERO help on that team

If only Nani was there...

[treiz]

Spain is tough to beat. They aren't looking great, but are tough and experienced enough to bother any team. I don't see them at the same level as Brazil, Argentina or even Holland or Germany, but them winning it all wouldn't be that big of a shock.

What's more remarkable is the fact that, if I'm not mistaken, no team so far has come from behind and turned a game around. Spain couldn't do it vs Switzerland, Portugal couldn't do it vs Spain. The defending in this tournament is so good, as soon as a team scores and is allowed to drop back to defend the lead, it's getting almost impossible for the other team to advance. Perhaps England could've done it (yeah, reopening barely healed wounds...), but with the amount of skill displayed in defending and counterattacking so far, any 1:0 against you pretty much means the end.

To be fair, I think it's because there's more stoppages rather than defending. The defending hasn't really been all that this WC, the only ones that has really defended well are Brazil and Spain, and Spain at times don't look that convincing.

I actually think however that the level of goalkeeping in this tournament has been superb. Khune, Eduardo, the Slovakian keeper (Lucha?), James was playing quite well before the 3rd goal for Germany where he completely chickened out, Benaglio (sp?)and Kingson. These guys have all put up some great performances and have really picked up their games come the big games.

[and1GS]

Ronaldo barely touched the ball, IDK why they play him as a striker. Then he has to depend on his teammates to get him the ball and they never did. Attacking mid or wing would have been much better choices.

Gah this sucks, if we had Nani things would have been WAY different. Another scoring option so we wouldn't be forced to bring in Danny's sorry ass.

Coentrao is gonna be good in a few years. IIRC he's in his early 20s and since he plays outside mid for his club team quite a bit I bet his control will improve as well. That's where he suffered the most. He had the speed and technique to keep up with attackers but was worthless on the counter. Kinda startling to see if he's hoping to be an outside mid.

Oh well, another WC another Portugal letdown

[Lionel Messi]

It's okay guys, Argentina is better than all of them.

[treiz]

^Except Brazil

[Lionel Messi]

^Except Brazil

We'll see about that.

[treiz]

^Except Brazil

We'll see about that.

Oh, we will...

[and1GS]

I still think Argentina wins it all as Maradona stumbles backwards into a WC championships. And after Messi scores the winning goal, he gets to do that Argentinian director in the arse. What a WC win that would be.

[Varejao17]

Man, argentina have ZERO defense... And they didn't faced a really talented offense yet in the world cup...

[pass first]

Man, argentina have ZERO defense... And they didn't faced a really talented offense yet in the world cup...

+1

Argentina didn't look strong against S-Korea and Mexico, and in the case of Mexico they didn't even outplay them over 90 minutes. It's a pity they were helped in the saddle because we could have seen what they're really made of. Besides the unjustice for Mexico obviously.

"Lionel Messi" is drinking the kool-aid.

Who, by the way isn't displaying great form.
He also has to do too much imo, having to create from too far off the pitch as opposed to being the beneficiary of superior passing that he is on the end of at Barcelona.

[Varejao17]

Man, argentina have ZERO defense... And they didn't faced a really talented offense yet in the world cup...

+1

Argentina didn't look strong against S-Korea and Mexico, and in the case of Mexico they didn't even outplay them over 90 minutes. It's a pity they were helped in the saddle because we could have seen what they're really made of. Besides the unjustice for Mexico obviously.

"Lionel Messi" is drinking the kool-aid.

Who, by the way isn't displaying great form.
He also has to do too much imo, having to create from too far off the pitch as opposed to being the beneficiary of superior passing that he is on the end of at Barcelona.

finally someone who agrees with me... Messi won't carry this burden alone... Germany wins...

J. Zanetti and Cambiasso would help a lot their defense...