- Mar 10, 2009
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Amsterhammer said:Appreciate the Hup Holland, Bala.
[..]
Haha it certainly didn't help. What a bad game.
There was no one on the field who realized his potential. Tactically they were inept, the midfield, with experienced players such as Sneijder, van Bommel, de Jong and (perhaps) Afellay, were mostly invisible. When Huntelaar and vdV came in the whole team was off balance, with too many individuals who were there to, ultimately, score, but were hesitant, or out of position, to actually set up a play. The lines were totally disorganized with an isolated defense and a non-existent midfield that never moved up and down the field to feed the offense. Moving the play from the right to the left to find an opening, didn't happen, or it took 30 minutes. Talking about phoning it home.
The most glaring problem, besides that they missed 'fire in the belly' (or a sense of urgency, especially in the second half), was the pathetically low ball circulation speed and the sloppiness of the passing game. They often had trouble reaching a player over 3 meters, or they passed it as if their grandma behind her stroller was expecting a ball. I can't remember they managed to set up a decent play that could have led to a goal, with Danish defenders out of position, or scrambling to get back in position. And the Danes really didn't play well. That says it all; If they play like this against Portugal and Germany, they'll go home with zero points and down 10 goals.
The defensive line was shockingly shaky each time the Danes moved up the field. The Danes easily skipped the midfield (huh, with people like de jong and Van bommel, isn't that what they were fielded for, disrupt the game on the midfield to alleviate pressure on the defensive line?). The last line also defended to close to the goal, allowing Danish midfielders and attackers to almost walk up until or into the 16m), with no one putting any pressure on them
About the so called myriad of chances, they had about 1-3 (Robben on the post, individually created; VP missing it 5 meters from the goalie due to a miserably bad first touch and another one I can't recall. It wasn't the Huntelaar 'chance' because I think he received the ball with his back to the goal, and the goalie made the goal very small; great goal tending, and a very difficult position to score from; the subsequent ball loss actually created a slightly bigger chance, because the goalie was out of position)
About the hand ball. Nonsense. It shouldn't have been a penalty. It was non-intentional, and the guy had his arm out because, well, when you move a round your arms help you balance and they just fling around. I don't care what has happened in any past game, if there' no intent, there's no problem (for me)
The Portugal - Germany game was a little disappointing. I had hoped for Germany to rip apart the Portuguese defense with their 'new' style of play, but they never really created an opportunity. The Gomez goal was almost a set pieces, as if from a free kick from the right side (with a major blunder from Pepe (?) who let Gomez escape for a split second; excellent header though). Portugal came close in the last 10 minutes, including over time, with Favela and another guy, within the goaly's protected area. It was a very tactical game, I seemed as if Portugal played the first 70m just not to concede a point, well organized, but virtually without creating any chance. They relied much on Ronaldo to display his technical genius, but Boateng (?) outsmarted him him basically every minute of the game. Sublime defending on his part, he never gave Ronaldo an opportunity.
Then again Portugal, Portugal narrowly escaped a couple of scarlet cards, with that guy shoveling the German goaly six feet under. It's that he didn't hit his shin 100%, otherwise he would have broken his leg. Pepe is a disgusting scum bag and really needs to banned from playing football. If he likes to hurt people, he should consider a career in cage fighting. He even kicked someone in the nuts when he fell forward, defending a ball that was about to run over the back line. It's one of those guys who secretly and intentionally during a game, stomps on your toes, grabs your balls, and elbows you in the ribs when the ref isn't watching, just to frustrate you, or injure you, making his job easier. And the, I think it was not Pepe, the guy who punched the German in the face with his fist. Furthermore some random nasty tackles from behind (weren't those forbidden?).
Looking forward to Italy-Spain today. Hope that's going to bring some action
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