2008 Euro Soccer

[anacostiakat]

Germany verses Spain.

Personally I think Spain will win and I think that is what the touts are saying.

[El Presidente]

When you haven't one anything since 1965.......you like to play your chances down

GO SPAIN!:

[northo]

On paper Spain should tear the Germans to pieces. Their squad is among the best (probably the very best) in the world. By comparison the Germans have 3 maybe 4 world class players; Ballack and Frings certainly, and arguably Lahm and Podolski. Unfortunately this does not a championship winning team make.

The discrepancy in class which can be seen all over the field is evident most obviously in goal. The germans have Jens 'Mad Jens' Lehmann, most famous for hitting people and general craziness, and who spent all last season on the bench at arsenal in favour of Almunia, who didn't even make the Spanish squad.

Any team who choose to play Cesc Fabragas on the bench for an entire tournament are either going to be breathtakingly stupid or scintillatingly good. And I rather suspect it is the latter.

[strayvector]

The perennial overachiever vs. the perennial underachiever. I'm surprised that Spain has made it this far. Usually they've already choked by now. Hopefully, this will be the year. They are just too good to have gone for so long without a trophy. Next World Cup, they'll be talking about Fabregas as the best in the world instead of Ronaldo. Scary to think that he starts on the bench.

[Ken Gargett]

» The discrepancy in class which can be seen all over the field is evident

» most obviously in goal. The germans have Jens 'Mad Jens' Lehmann, most

» famous for hitting people and general craziness, and who spent all last

» season on the bench at arsenal in favour of Almunia, who didn't even make

» the Spanish squad.

»

» Any team who choose to play Cesc Fabragas on the bench for an entire

» tournament are either going to be breathtakingly stupid or scintillatingly

» good. And I rather suspect it is the latter.

not sure i agree about lehmann. when he plays well, he is very very good. only lost the spot at the gunners due to injury (and perhaps then his mouth) and i think that wenger had an eye to the future to play almunia. lehmann won the gunners the FA cup a few years ago with an amazing game. he might not still be at that level but don't count him out. loved that game as, as a gnners' fan, i really hate man u so beating them was sweet - especially on penalties and also where, even taking the most one-eyed view, man u had 11 of the best 12 on the paddock. fortunately, lehmann was player of the day.

completely agree re fabregas. brilliant, brilliant player and he seems to lift spain when he comes on. from what i saw, he set up at last two of the three goals against russia. how the hell can they have him on the bench? i wonder if he might have been in the starting squad if he was playing in the spanish league?

ronaldo is a spolit little brat (though a wonderful footballer).

sums up aussie soccer when spain, who never win anything and let us hope that changes here, have a young bloke on the bench that can't even make their starting side and he would be so far better than anything we have ever produced here.

[northo]

I must say I never had you picked as a miserable Arsenal fan Senor Gargett. Not that I'm predjudiced or anything... some of my best friends are gunners. :-D

» lehmann won the gunners the FA cup a few years ago with an amazing game.

But for every game like this there seems to be one like vs United in the fa cup the year before when he ran half the length of the pitch to nut Ronaldo (not that isn't the first thing I'd think of doing if I saw him). Or the Champions league final the other year when he got sent off in the first 20 mins.

And to my mind he seems (in the great tradition of unhinged german goalkeepers) to be getting less good between the posts and considerably more crazy. Look at the wild unkempt hair and mad staring eyes... this is not a man who has made his peace with humanity.

[jb007]

yeah lehmann is viable for the odd clanger imo. that said though he played some really good games when almunia was out sick or whatever throughout the season. i'd like arsenal a bit more if he was still our no. 1 keeper though, i think our defence is a bit frail, and i think we now need to recruit another 2nd keeper. fabyanski still needs development imo, and vito mannore is vito mannore. not quite good enough. that said i don't think we will with all the rumours around hleb and adebayor recently. we may need to replace them if anything goes through...

as to the euro '08 final, david villa is injured (muscle strain) and i think is watching the game from the bench. starting spot for cesc? you'd bet your boots on it! i'm thinking it'll be a 2-1 win to the spanish, with ballack scoring the only goal for the germans. either way though, it'll be a cracker, and i'm getting up at 4:45 on monday morning to watch it! :-D

[Ken Gargett]

the comment re the champions league a fair point and when he first came to the gunners, he did make a heap of errors but settled well. if he fires, will be hard for spain but if he does go wobbly, score could be anything.

as for transfers, this morning in the times has adebayor almost certainly gone but wenger not unhappy if he can pick up 30 mill (given he paid about 5 for him a few years ago). man u losing ronaldo will hurt them far more than adebayor leaving us. without him, they would never have won last year. still, he'll be a loss but wenger has the amazing knack of bringing others through. hleb also a loss but i think that buying that young french international is designed to cover him. also, guys like walcott and bendtner and denilson are starting to take the next step up. i'd b moe woried about losing van persie than adebayor. be fascinating to see how good this ramsey kid is (and how sweet to pinch him from under man u's nose).

one more solid defender and one top notch striker and the gunners will be very hard to beat.

[strayvector]

Ronaldo's not going anywhere. That's just Calderon's wet dream (and the rest of the premier), but Fergie's not letting him go anywhere. Can't wait to see Fabregas and van Persie develop into the new Bergkamp and Henry.

[northo]

» Ronaldo's not going anywhere. That's just Calderon's wet dream (and the

» rest of the premier), but Fergie's not letting him go anywhere.

Exactly what I've thought for a while. To my mind what the Spanish press do when they want a player for Madrid or Barcelona, is pretty irresponsible and shouldn't really be tolerated by UEFA. (Remember Henry a few seasons back). Ferguson is more than a match for most, and if the Glaziers have given him the go-ahead to keep Ronaldo at all costs (which they apparently have), then Madrid won't get him....

.... That is unless Ronaldo puts in a transfer request. If things turn sour in July and August, and it becomes apparent that Ferguson is just rejecting any offer out of hand, or the Galziers continue making ugly threats about letting Ronaldo rot on the bench, then he'll ask to leave. At this point not much can be done, it's pretty well un unwritten rule that if a player asks to go on the transfer list that you agree to it, and that he goes in the next window.

(p.s. that's that's a pretty decent knowledge some of you australians have of english and european football. is it that popular down there?)

[jb007]

» (p.s. that's that's a pretty decent knowledge some of you australians have

» of english and european football. is it that popular down there?)

it depends, some people follow it but if you mentioned adebayor or ronaldo to some random, they would say "who and what about that brazilian?" or something like that... it is the biggest game in the world though so no surprise that some of us follow it. i personally am enjoying it more than AFL cos my team (the not so mighty dee's) are a bit **** atm. quite sad really... 44 years without a premiership is too long.

[Morientes50]

Ballack might be out. He is suffereing from a sore calf from an injury on Friday. That will be a big loss. Losing Villa is a big loss for us. He is our best offensive player (Torres is a bum for the national team).

Please Spain. Lets pull this one out!!

A Por Ellos!!

El Moro

[Ken Gargett]

» » (p.s. that's that's a pretty decent knowledge some of you australians

» have

» » of english and european football. is it that popular down there?)

»

» it depends, some people follow it but if you mentioned adebayor or ronaldo

» to some random, they would say "who and what about that brazilian?" or

» something like that... it is the biggest game in the world though so no

» surprise that some of us follow it. i personally am enjoying it more than

» AFL cos my team (the not so mighty dee's) are a bit **** atm. quite sad

» really... 44 years without a premiership is too long.

as a lions fan, looking forward to this arvo.

as for the ronaldo and adebayor messes, you have to wonder if a club has a player that wants to move, the sense in keeping, tho i am in favour of making these spolit brats learn that if they sign a contract, it sticks. i just wonder how much of this is simply jockeying around to increase the price when the inevitable happens.

[jb007]

» as a lions fan, looking forward to this arvo.

» as for the ronaldo and adebayor messes, you have to wonder if a club has a

» player that wants to move, the sense in keeping, tho i am in favour of

» making these spolit brats learn that if they sign a contract, it sticks. i

» just wonder how much of this is simply jockeying around to increase the

» price when the inevitable happens.

hah, damnit! i knew travis johnstone would be good up there. do you lions fans like him?

i'm in 2 minds about ronaldo and adebayor. 1 says that they should be denied football for a month or 2, and taught about contracts etc, but the other (especially in adebayor's case, man u getting 90 million or w/e for ronaldo would not be so good) says we should sell and buy a world class superstar! that said though, if the rumours were about clichy or cesc or someone else, i'd be holding onto them at all costs. just think that adebayor spurns so many chances, and 40 million after 1 good season is massive. plus even if we didn't buy someone massive, kids like vela and nicky b will make an impact next season, and theo will be massive... if robin van persie replicates the form he showed for the netherlands, and stays injury free, he can easily lead our strike-force!

[Ken Gargett]

» hah, damnit! i knew travis johnstone would be good up there. do you lions

» fans like him?

»

» i'm in 2 minds about ronaldo and adebayor. 1 says that they should be

» denied football for a month or 2, and taught about contracts etc, but the

» other (especially in adebayor's case, man u getting 90 million or w/e for

» ronaldo would not be so good) says we should sell and buy a world class

» superstar! that said though, if the rumours were about clichy or cesc or

» someone else, i'd be holding onto them at all costs. just think that

» adebayor spurns so many chances, and 40 million after 1 good season is

» massive. plus even if we didn't buy someone massive, kids like vela and

» nicky b will make an impact next season, and theo will be massive... if

» robin van persie replicates the form he showed for the netherlands, and

» stays injury free, he can easily lead our strike-force!

coming around to johnstone. has had a few good games but i think that the feeling is that he has not perfomed quite as well as expctd/hoped. getting better. think he is only on the bench today. has a good game then disappears the next week. not a habit to endear you to matthews.

agree re the comments above and if they did snare 40 mill for him, i'd be saying grab it. i see clichy has just resigned for another four or five years and i think fabregas has another four or five to go. in a year or two, if he wanted out, they should be able to get a world record for him.

[jb007]

» agree re the comments above and if they did snare 40 mill for him, i'd be

» saying grab it. i see clichy has just resigned for another four or five

» years and i think fabregas has another four or five to go. in a year or

» two, if he wanted out, they should be able to get a world record for him.

yeah, he's already a star, and will only get better. the only thing that may hinder this is injuries, but he hasn't had many of them so far in his career and i'm hoping it continues this way, at least while he's at arsenal.

as to the footy, i had an omen mid-way through that quarter. not that i'm a religious guy but after brad miller kicked his 1st goal for the dee's, the song i was listening to said "get anotha one-an' its all ova"... needless to say we kicked 2 more goals and ended the 1st term well. hope it continues. =D

[jb007]

MILLER!!!

[jb007]

bloody good game... good spectacle

[winelover]

Congratulations Spain - well deserved victory, 1-0, although it coudl have been a goal fest. Good to see Torres on the mark as although he's been a good team player this tournament, he's not been in the goals.

Re: the Ronnie debate, my gut feeilng is that he'll stay at Man Utd. If he goes Man Utd won't win the league next year, they won't galvanize and be a better team like when Van Nistleroy left. If he is hell-bent on going, if there was £70M on the table, then I suppose there would be a lot of money freed up to go into the transfer market.

Re: Arsenal, IMO, for a big club, they do not do enough to keep hold of their stars. They should have given Flamini an offer he couldn't refuse, and even if Van Persie is better than Adebayor, Adebayor had a great season and looked settled in the side. I can't see why they want to sell him, even if it is good business. Arsenal, if they want to win the league, they need to have sufficient strength in depth, which cost them last season. So why sell Adebayor? Even if Wenger is a genius in the transfer market, for a big club, with supposedly secure finances, Arsenal should be more ambitious and not let go of their best.

[jb007]

yeah i felt the final was a bit of a let-down. not the most exciting brand of football but the best team in the tournament has prevailed. i did expect more from it though.

[Morientes50]

Guys i'm so drunk and happy!!! We finally win when we are destined for!!!

Campeones!!! Campeones!!! oeoeoeoeo

Great final!!!

[El Presidente]

» Guys i'm so drunk and happy!!! We finally win when we are destined for!!!

»

»

» Campeones!!! Campeones!!! oeoeoeoeo

»

»

» Great final!!!

As a Spanish Supporter...I don't know how to feel..... as this is completely new to me :-D

[Mr. Japan]

» » Guys i'm so drunk and happy!!! We finally win when we are destined

» for!!!

» »

» »

» » Campeones!!! Campeones!!! oeoeoeoeo

» »

» »

» » Great final!!!

»

» As a Spanish Supporter...I don't know how to feel..... as this is

» completely new to me :-D

Viva la Espagna campeon:-D