UEFA Euro 2012: Spain still the Champions of Europe

[Captain_Obvious]

I don't get why we had to switch the complete offensive lineups from game to game. Defense was bad, Boateng got exposed these EC. Ozil and Schweinsteiger never arrived.

Congrats to Italy and well deserved.

[Point forward]

Montolivo speaks German in a weird way. He speaks with about 30% of the speed, but his words all come out correctly.

Edit: Löw just said that he started Kroos "to pressure Pirlo". Yeah, putting Kroos, who is a left footed DM, on the right offensive flank REALLY worked

[Massimo]

Lol at Germany.

Glad that Italians won! Germans were well overrated.

[Next Coming]

What an entertaining game. Very fluid. If Balotelli has another game like this in the Finals the interwebs might self destruct.

[El Turco]

not entirely surprised by the result. other than the second half against Croatia, Italy has been playing very well and with a lot of cohesion. note to England or any other team that is generally underachieving, little cohesion and tactical shrewdness goes a long way even if you don't have whole lot of talent.

btw cassano's move in the first goal was a beauty.

[magik9113]

I swear I think their is alot of dirty money riding on the Italians. Why do they always do poor at the qualifying and initial stages, barely get in, and then turn it on at the end? Makes it look like they fool around on purpose, so expectations and betting lines are low for Italy, the bets from the Mob Bosses come in and then they go far in the Euro/World Cup, and collect a nice payday when they get home. It all makes sense now.

you got it

[magik9113]

and, Italy eased through qualifying...only allowed 2 goals the whole campaign. They never looked like losing in group stage this tourney but tied vs two good teams

[Point forward]

After one sleepless night, our loss gets even more logical. Our previous wins were legit, but there is a certain asterisk: we only play well if we score the 1-0. If the enemy scores first, we are in deep trouble. On a very high level, the current crop of German players lack two things needed to overcome a deficit: the offense struggles vs massive defenses, and the defense is not physical enough. Our back 4 is vulnerable in 1vs1 situations - which are common if the enemy fields two legit CFs.

Also, very strangely, we lack the testosterone to just f*** the oppenent over. Guys like Sammer, Effenberg, Matthäus would rip you apart even before the match started - guys like Özil, Schweinsteiger and Lahm are simply too nice. The whole body language in the 2nd half just reeked of defeat. Winning with a dirty 1-0 is simply not possible, which is baffling for Germany.

Finally, an age old rule proved true again: "O wins games, D wins championships". You can have the most creative playmakers, most exciting dribblers and most daring strikers - but if you forget to defend, it is futile. Germany was scored on 7 times in this tourney and never kept a blank slate.

[Stannis]

[Point forward]

I don't wanna know how many Italian schoolboys are imitating Balo atm

[_SRV_]

It's been a very good tournament

[5DOM]

Think last one was better because of Russia alone, but this one hasn't been that bad.

Also, very strangely, we lack the testosterone to just f*** the oppenent over. Guys like Sammer, Effenberg, Matthäus would rip you apart even before the match started - guys like Özil, Schweinsteiger and Lahm are simply too nice. The whole body language in the 2nd half just reeked of defeat. Winning with a dirty 1-0 is simply not possible, which is baffling for Germany.

I agree with this. I was surprised when Schweinsteiger couldn't even watch Robben take the PK in the CL Final. Too soft

[diogo_pt]

I don't wanna know how many Italian schoolboys are imitating Balo atm

Balotelli is also an imitator Hulk made it almost two years ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... ogba.html#

[Curtis Lemansky]

This was probably the worst game by Schweinsteiger. IMO Low should have taken him out and moved Kroos in his place whilst playing both Klose and Gomez together. Schweini struggled even against the inferior Greek midfield and after the first half, it was pretty clear that he wasnt gonna be able to help his team.

Also I continue to believe that Podolski is one of the most overrated players in football and does not deserve to start in a team like Germany especially when there are so many other options available.

German defense was really disappointing, I was somewhat surprised how easily Greeks scored two goals on them in like three attacks but I thought maybe it was a fluke. Apparently it wasnt. Badstuber should be ashamed for the first goal and Lahm was caught in no-man's land in the second goal.

Pirlo was amazing though, definitely MVP of the tournament so far.

[cgf]

Not sure why teams don't man-mark Pirlo more. They should have one player do nothing but follow and foul him for 90 minutes much like United did with Park a few years ago.

That's actually why Kroos started. With Oezil's movement out wide Kroos ended up being the man in front of Pirlo when we'd loose possession. But he still gave Pirlo too much time and space on the ball.

[Slava]

[Stannis]

Think last one was better because of Russia alone, but this one hasn't been that bad.

It's been a very good tournament

In EURO 2008, Russia was fun in the last one, but Turkey was a blast.

In this 2012, there were two 0-0 draws, which resulted in the game to be decided by PKs, in the knockout stage. Spain is boring to watch. The host countries declined as the EUROs progressed. In general, the matches in this one were not as fun or exciting to watch. Hopefully we get an awesome finale.

Around midway, I did not find myself angry if I missed part of a game or the whole game, and watch it on demand later. For EURO 2008, I made sure to watch every game live.

[Yoga]

I have been so busy with work, I haven't had the chance to watch Euro 2012 at all.

Hopefully I will be able to catch the Final

[5DOM]

Xavi: 'If people say Spain are boring but we always win ... that's ideal for us. We are making history'

What a hypocrite

[El Turco]

it's unfair to compare any tournament to euro 08. this one hasn't been too bad though, certainly beats the world cup.