Euro 2012

[DominicDecoco]

Pirlo yet again. If Spain allows him the space that England and Germany gave him this will be a piece of cake for Italy.

 

[l.Harm]

Yeah, love the Italians. Now beating that Spain.

 

[greenedge]

Surprised that Italy won. Germany did however look inept. Onwards to 2014 for the Germans.

Spain will not allow Pirlo much space at all- he looks the most dangerous in their side.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Spain will not allow Pirlo much space at all

That's pretty much what was said about Germany as well. He's simply just playing good football at the moment. Player of the tournament by far - whether Italy wins or not.

 

[the asian]

Hummels is a classy ball playing defender but because ventures forward to join in the attacks you need a good covering defender to play alongside him. Badstuber is too slow to play that role. Boateng and Hummels could be a better partnership although they are both prone to mistakes.
Also, interesting to see Germany change their line up and Formation to counter italy's midfield diamond. However the Germans didn't take advantage of Ital's weak spots, the flanks. May be if the Germans played with their usual formation things could have been different.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Just need Italy to win by a clear goal and England get 2nd place in the moral hierarchy

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

the way you guys play, you are last on that.

#notechniqueheroes

just ahead of holland

ps.

bye bert

 

[the asian]

Just need Italy to win by a clear goal and England get 2nd place in the moral hierarchy

It would be good if the English think that there is nothing wrong with their football and continue in the same vein.

 

[the asian]

the way you guys play, you are last on that.

#notechniqueheroes

just ahead of holland

ps.

bye bert

So you Duchies got your wish Koeman has already turned down the job. Who are the favorites for the job?

 

[hrotha]

The first Italy-Spain was a pretty decent game, I think, and Italy have only improved since then. Should be interesting.

Then again, it being a final, it will probably suck. But hey!

Before the tournament obviously Spain was the big favourite, but after Italy's last two games, compared to Spain's, I'm not so sure. Well, Spain was pretty effective against France, no matter how boring it was, so we'll see.

A large reason why Spain sucked against Portugal was that none of their creative midfielders had a good game. Especially Xavi (how many times do you see him being taken out of the field? That says it all). If they have a good day in the final, Pirlo is not better than them.

Then again, Balotelli and Cassano seem to be much better now than when that first game was played. Especially Balotelli, now that he has the confidence of having scored. He's quite scary, really.

 

[slim charles]

I'm really glad Italy is in the final. I'm happy for Prandelli, great man and great coach. And for a lot of players that were underrated, both in Italy and abroad [just like Serie A is]. I hope they will win in the final, but Spain is still the best team in the world [and among the best of all times], they are now used to winning, they can win against anyone even without playing good [which is what they are doing in this tournament].

 

[l.Harm]

At Dutch television before Spain-Italy there was a pundit called Danny Blind who said he didn't know the Italian players Stay away or get to know the players where you're going to talk about.

 

[Descender]

Why, why didn't Spain and Croatia fix that draw...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

The first Italy-Spain was a pretty decent game, I think, and Italy have only improved since then. Should be interesting.

Agreed, and I love this matchup.

 

[greenedge]

And for a lot of players that were underrated, both in Italy and abroad [just like Serie A is].

I don't think it is underrated, the teams in it though have just not been great in the CL ( Inter did well recently- but failed this year in the Serie A ) as of late and after their failure at WC 2010 most people probably thought they were bad.

The game will be exciting- i think Spain will be better than they were against Portugal and so i shall say Spain will win.

 

[slim charles]

I don't think it is underrated, the teams in it though have just not been great in the CL ( Inter did well recently- but failed this year in the Serie A ) as of late and after their failure at WC 2010 most people probably thought they were bad.

I don't agree at all, Serie A is very underrated. I'm not saying it's the best league in the world, because it's not, but they have 3 teams among 16 in CL every year, so the worst case is - Serie A is 4th strongest league in the world. And what would you call calling Pirlo old, Diamanti West Ham reject - anything except underrating? Ok, maybe offending.
All it takes for commentators, pundits and regular people is to actually watch some football. If they did watch Italy in qualifications for WC, they wouldn't be shocked at how Italy is playing now. If they've watched Serie A [regular people don't have to watch it, but commentators and pundits do] they would have known that Cassano is fantastic player, that De Rossi is among the best box-to-box midfielders in the world [if not the best], that Marschisio, Nocerino, Balzaretti, Bonucci, Barzagli, Giovinco, Maggio... are all very good players.

For the final, I hope for a good game. First one between Italy and Spain was great. This is final, so it might be a little more cautious, but I think it will still be a good game. And I think Spain will win, but I hope Italy will.

 

[the asian]

The English underrate players who play in other leagues because they don't watch other leagues and think that those who don't play in the so called worlds' best league are not world class. However if a player put's in a fantastic performance against a premier league club or the English National team that player will be suddenly rated.
A good example is pirlo, who was largely ignored by the British media during the last decade when he was probably the worlds' best midfielder, but after his fantastic performance against England, there is almost a man-crush on him amongst the English supporters and media.

 

[LaFleur]

The English underrate players who play in other leagues because they don't watch other leagues and think that those who don't play in the so called worlds' best league are not world class. However if a player put's in a fantastic performance against a premier league club or the English National team that player will be suddenly rated.
A good example is pirlo, who was largely ignored by the British media during the last decade when he was probably the worlds' best midfielder, but after his fantastic performance against England, there is almost a man-crush on him amongst the English supporters and media.

Pirlo is a really bad example for your case tbh.. Milan didn't renew his contract a year ago so clearly he was even underrated in Italy. He has rejuvenated this year

 

[greenedge]

I completely agree with all your comments/ sorry if i have offended.

I have not watched the Serie A as of late ( i think the last time i watched the whole comp was 03-04 on tape )

Pirlo is great and i have always liked him.

 

[slim charles]

Pirlo is a really bad example for your case tbh.. Milan didn't renew his contract a year ago so clearly he was even underrated in Italy. He has rejuvenated this year

Well, yes and no. He was injured at Milan, but the main reason he left was that Allegri didn't want to play with deep lying playmaker anymore. He was always considered a great player in Italy. But generally, as I said, even in Italy, Italian football is underrated. Not that there aren't reasons to criticize it, but as far as talent is considered, and quality of players, it's still among the best in the world.

 

[DominicDecoco]

It definitely is. But for how long? Stadiums, facilities and youth programs are perhaps 10-15 years behind the leading league's. From being the best league 20 years ago it has only gone one way since.

 

[slim charles]

But that's natural, isn't it? England used to be best in 80's, than it wasn't, than again was [or is]. Serie A is now in crisis, just like Italy itself, it might be behind England, Germany and Spain in the next 10 years, than it might come back again. That's how it goes...

 

[the asian]

Pirlo is a really bad example for your case tbh.. Milan didn't renew his contract a year ago so clearly he was even underrated in Italy. He has rejuvenated this year

That was last year. But for most of the last decade between 2002-2009 he pulled the stings for a Milan team which won 2 CL titles but was largely underrated by the English media.
The quality of stadiums in Serie A is appalling but the quality of football isn't. Furthermore several teams play different formations and employ different tactics, so it's much more interesting in that sense.

 

[The Hitch]

so where were all these Polish hooligans that were going to attack all the tourists?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I wonder what our Dutch posters here think of the possibility of Ruud Gullit getting the Dutch job. His name has been touted about with Ronald Koeman even backing him. Personally I don't think he is the right man whatsoever. He has only really managed LA Galaxy and Terek Grozny of late and he got sacked there after a short spell as results were poor and he was also accused of loving the night life. Gullit has done nothing at all in management ever since he left Chelsea and I would stay well clear of him if I was the Dutch FA.

He made wrong choices by joining the wrong clubs with horrible management. For example at Feyenoord he had to put up with Petrovic buying the weirdest players and Gullit just had to make something out of it. And a coach should never go to clubs like Terek Grozny because you can only lose.

I think Gullit will never be a good club coach anyway but he could be a good national coach because of his image and stature. All a national coach needs to do in my opinion is keep the atmosphere good and the players under control. He doesn't need to make the players better, or tell them how to play football, they nearly all play at top clubs. Not his job.
I think for a guy like Gullit it is easier to keep the ego's in the dutch team udner control than a guy like van Marwijk or Van Gaal. So that's why I think Gullit would not make a bad national coach.