Euro 2012

[Cackalacky]

Vandevart and Huntelaar on. 5 attackers 1 midfielder. No Kuyt. game over......

 

[notredomer23]

Robben also needs to retire at halftime and go home.

Dude needs to learn to pass. Germany looks far superior still

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Good on Gomez, but... where the f*ck was this in the CL Final!? Blargh.

 

[Cackalacky]

Van Persie nets. 2-1. God I dislike him....

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

The dude is ridiculous. A very special all around talent. The only reaon he is not more hyped is because of Messi (probably the greatest player in the modern era). I'm pretty sure he has several Premiere League titles, though I am unsure of Champions League titles. He has won the league with Real Madrid as well.

He won the 2008 Champions League with United, scoring their only goal but missing his penalty in the shootout (he was the only United player to miss).

A pair of quality games today. The tournament has been quite good so far. It sucks that I've missed a majority of it due to work.

Tomorrow: US Open starts, Italy/Croatia and Spain/Ireland, then Thunder/Heat Game 2 at night.

AND I'M OFF ALL DAY!

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Man are the Portuguese annoying.

- more than any team they are fouling and acting like they have been fouled.

- keep on kissing that Portuese symbol Pepe when u actually wanted to play for Brazil haha

- Ronaldo of course didn't sing his national anthem and has been complaining they whole match

Is this true? He never played for any youth team in Brazil, and got his Portuguese citizenship in 07 so he could play in Euro's 2008. Just curious if this is your opinion or fact?

 

[CTIDANDREW]

2-0 Germany. The dutch need two things to happen:

1. Nigel Dejong needs to start breaking legs and fast
2. Kuyt needs to come off the bench and do what he does, score in big games....

Do you have some weird obsession with Nigel De Jong? All you do is slate him on this topic. He is no worse then any other enforcer in football. It says your a Liverpool fan Javier Mascherano ring a bell

 

[irishrecruiting]

Do you have some weird obsession with Nigel De Jong? All you do is slate him on this topic. He is no worse then any other enforcer in football. It says your a Liverpool fan Javier Mascherano ring a bell

Nigel de Jong's tackles on Stuart Holden and Hatem Ben Arfa far outweigh his infamous "kung-fu" kick on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final, which he should have been sent off for. (The only reason he's known for that specific foul is because it was the WC final.)

His tackle against Ben Arfa -- where he broke his leg in two places and Ben Arfa was out for about 10 months, not the same for 15 months until this Feb. -- wasn't even called a foul. He should have seen red and an four-game ban for a tackle so ridiculously ugly and harmful.

His tackle against Holden was very similar. Yes, Mascherano is a rough player who makes a lot of rash challenges, but people like De Jong has no place in soccer. Maybe American football, though.

Mascherano is a wonderful passer. De Jong isn't. De Jong brings nothing to a game other than an intimidating presence who will foul his opponents. The role of "enforcer" that you speak of shouldn't be the player's only skill. It's thuggish, and De Jong sums up that word.

Yeah, I feel strongly about this as you can tell. But it's because players like Mascherano -- while they are still dirty players a fair amount of the time -- also have skill. He can pass the long ball almost as well as Paul Scholes.

De Jong is just dirty, and I personally think the sport would be better off without him. I also think Holland could make room for a different defensive midfielder and cut him from the team. I'm not sure why he's in the team, actually.

 

[STLDomer]

Is this true? He never played for any youth team in Brazil, and got his Portuguese citizenship in 07 so he could play in Euro's 2008. Just curious if this is your opinion or fact?

Yes it's true from what I have heard, he was called up and was ready to committ to playing for Brazil but there was something wrong with paperwork

 

[notredomer23]

Yes it's true from what I have heard, he was called up and was ready to committ to playing for Brazil but there was something wrong with paperwork

yup his passport expired

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Yes it's true from what I have heard, he was called up and was ready to committ to playing for Brazil but there was something wrong with paperwork

Ok thank you for the response, because he moved to Portugal when he was 18. Never played for any youth level Brazil national team. But, that is interesting probably better he ended up with Portugal though because I think its fair to say it has helped him progress his career immensely.

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Nigel de Jong's tackles on Stuart Holden and Hatem Ben Arfa far outweigh his infamous "kung-fu" kick on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final, which he should have been sent off for. (The only reason he's known for that specific foul is because it was the WC final.)

His tackle against Ben Arfa -- where he broke his leg in two places and Ben Arfa was out for about 10 months, not the same for 15 months until this Feb. -- wasn't even called a foul. He should have seen red and an four-game ban for a tackle so ridiculously ugly and harmful.

His tackle against Holden was very similar. Yes, Mascherano is a rough player who makes a lot of rash challenges, but people like De Jong has no place in soccer. Maybe American football, though.

Mascherano is a wonderful passer. De Jong isn't. De Jong brings nothing to a game other than an intimidating presence who will foul his opponents. The role of "enforcer" that you speak of shouldn't be the player's only skill. It's thuggish, and De Jong sums up that word.

Yeah, I feel strongly about this as you can tell. But it's because players like Mascherano -- while they are still dirty players a fair amount of the time -- also have skill. He can pass the long ball almost as well as Paul Scholes.

De Jong is just dirty, and I personally think the sport would be better off without him. I also think Holland could make room for a different defensive midfielder and cut him from the team. I'm not sure why he's in the team, actually.

Yeah I feel very passionate about it as well. Because I have seen De Jong play about 200-250 games over the last 4-5 years. Your opinion of him is exactly what is wrong with sports fans at times. You take a very minuscule portion of a players career and base every opinion about him from there on forward on that small portion. Yes, the man has made some rash tackles, hes a defensive midfielder its what they are paid to do.

Also, it is very ignorant(and I hate to use this word) to say all De Jong is, is just an enforcer. He breaks up counter attacks better than almost anyone that plays the position is Europe, that is why there was such a outcry from City supporters when he didn't play vs Napoli in the champs league. He also plays in two of the best passing sides in the world(Dutch, and Man City) so I find it very hard to believe those two managers would set aside a position in their very hard to break starting 11 for a player that could only "intimidate opponents".

The Ben Afra tackle was the worst of the bunch, and I agree it should have been a red and a suspension. But, the Holden one was just unfortunate, it was just a normal hard tackle that went terrible bad.

 

[STLDomer]

Italians played well, Balotelli was on his game but they drew Croatia 1-1

 

[woolybug25]

 

[STLDomer]

Fernandon't Scorres to start for Spain

hopes he makes me eat my words

 

[dublinirish]

dont worry lads we got this

 

[Cackalacky]

Do you have some weird obsession with Nigel De Jong? All you do is slate him on this topic. He is no worse then any other enforcer in football. It says your a Liverpool fan Javier Mascherano ring a bell

Not an obsession, just an observation that De Jong is just a reckless and dangerous defensive midfield enforcer. Some are better and classier at it than others such as Gattusso and van Bommel, but De jong is scandalous in his tackles. As I have said before stepping on someones foot constantly and hard tackles are part of the game, going full tilt on someones leg with studs up (like Ben Arfa and Stuart Holden) is another. As someone else above said, he brings nothing to the game but intimidation. He is not even a good passer or shooter. He wins balls.... and doesnt give a flip about hurting you to do it. He also wrecked Welbeck too..... Dude is a thug.

Holland drop Nigel de Jong again over lack of contrition for poor tackles | Football | guardian.co.uk

 

[irishrecruiting]

Yeah I feel very passionate about it as well. Because I have seen De Jong play about 200-250 games over the last 4-5 years. Your opinion of him is exactly what is wrong with sports fans at times. You take a very minuscule portion of a players career and base every opinion about him from there on forward on that small portion. Yes, the man has made some rash tackles, hes a defensive midfielder its what they are paid to do.

Also, it is very ignorant(and I hate to use this word) to say all De Jong is, is just an enforcer. He breaks up counter attacks better than almost anyone that plays the position is Europe, that is why there was such a outcry from City supporters when he didn't play vs Napoli in the champs league. He also plays in two of the best passing sides in the world(Dutch, and Man City) so I find it very hard to believe those two managers would set aside a position in their very hard to break starting 11 for a player that could only "intimidate opponents".

The Ben Afra tackle was the worst of the bunch, and I agree it should have been a red and a suspension. But, the Holden one was just unfortunate, it was just a normal hard tackle that went terrible bad.

I'm not going to make this thread an argument on De Jong because it shouldn't be...it's a thread about a great tournament. You don't have to answer this, but I'd be curious to know if you're a Man City supporter.

I'll leave the De Jong topic alone. On the other hand, has anyone seen this passing chart after 30 minutes of the Ireland/Spain game? Very cool Share - Stats Zone - FourFourTwo

 

[Cackalacky]

I'm not going to make this thread an argument on De Jong because it shouldn't be...it's a thread about a great tournament. You don't have to answer this, but I'd be curious to know if you're a Man City supporter.

I'll leave the De Jong topic alone. On the other hand, has anyone seen this passing chart after 30 minutes of the Ireland/Spain game? Very cool Share - Stats Zone - FourFourTwo

Agreed. Not about De Jong. The Dutch are done anyway.

 

[Cackalacky]

On the other hand, has anyone seen this passing chart after 30 minutes of the Ireland/Spain game? Very cool Share - Stats Zone - FourFourTwo

Hahaha 240 passes to 96? That is cool. Bookmarked. thanks.

 

[CTIDANDREW]

I'm not going to make this thread an argument on De Jong because it shouldn't be...it's a thread about a great tournament. You don't have to answer this, but I'd be curious to know if you're a Man City supporter.

I'll leave the De Jong topic alone. On the other hand, has anyone seen this passing chart after 30 minutes of the Ireland/Spain game? Very cool Share - Stats Zone - FourFourTwo

Yes Im a Man city supporter, that being the reason I've seen 200-250 matches of Nigel's over the last couple of seasons. His reputation is all media hyping, and people have bought into it, just my opinion. He is much more then an intimidation factor, and anyone that has seen him play more then youtube highlights of his bad tackles will tell you that, but oh well. Enjoy the tournament. Man city players are shining!!

 

[Cackalacky]

4-0 spain. Good try Ireland. Time to go home..... Keane needs to get back to the MLS.

 

[STLDomer]

I don't know if the Irish fans know they lost, they're singing like they won the World Cup.

- Fabregas and David Silva's goals = embarrassing
- Torres' goals = clinical, He's back

 

[Cackalacky]

Here's the scenario I want to play out.

Results stay the same in this game. Netherlands beat Germany.
And then Denmark ties Germany as well as Portugal ties Netherlands. Every team has 4 points and they don't base it off of goal differential am I right?

I was wrong...

Tie Breaking Procedure
■If two or more nations are level on points in the group the country with the highest number points in games involving those teams finishes highest.
■If nations are still level they are separated by goal difference, and then goals scored, in games involving the teams.
■If teams still cannot be split, then overall goal group difference is used.

 

[irishrecruiting]

Anyone else read that England will start Carroll and Welbeck, sticking A. Young wide left, presumably, and Oxlade-Chamberlain will make way? I think it's smart...they need more attacking threat and Carroll will provide someone who they can cross the ball to. Sweden's goals allowed vs. Ukraine were off balls in the air.

Thoughts?

 

[Irish YJ]

Italians played well, Balotelli was on his game but they drew Croatia 1-1

Too many missed ops. Italy should have won that one. Now cheering hard for them to blow out Ireland. I'd love to see Croatia knock off Spain, but don't see it happening. Thinking Italy takes it 3-1, or 4-1. Thinking Croatia hangs for the first 50-60 then fades. Spain 2-1 or 3-2. Lots of good story lines this year. Just still PO'd about the groupings.

 

[notredomer23]

There is something wrong with England wearing black and blue. It's just not right

 

[gkIrish]

Group A- Czech Republic & Greece
Group B-Netherlands & Germany
Group C-Spain & Italy
Group D-England & Ukraine

2 for 2

 

[notredomer23]

2 for 2

looks like you're gonna have group D wrong with at least one team and group B wrong with the Netherlands IMO

 

[gkIrish]

looks like you're gonna have group D wrong with at least one team and group B wrong with the Netherlands IMO

I actually think the Netherlands will win tomorrow. It will depend on whether Germany tries