That ain't cool, especially when you leave your place of work and hear the results and actions being discussed in the streets...

It hadn't clicked, but when Italy won their World Cup, their manager made several bold attack-minded changes during the games.

This Italian team, even awkward, might have the same spirit.
Their forwards all scored, and they tried a three man defense, with a midfielder at its core.

It's a surprising band, with a clown (who hasn't done anything wierd off pitch since the tournament has started; poor Mario, to be talked about that much that way... he'll either be carded against England or celebrate like Cantona after scoring against Hart).

The French U-17 champions at the most ridiculous...
When they can't prove they're good footballers, they prove how big a French mouth can be...
Still competing with Holland for the most calamitous exit?

^ italy has a lot of great players, if they get their shit together they could win this thing.

Portugal are becoming the dark horse for me. They've been quietly impressive in all their games so far, and Ronaldo's the only one I've seen in the tournament so far who I think is capable of winning a game pretty much on his own, and he seems really up for it.

EDIT: What the bollocks?!? Germany have left out Gomez, Podolski, Muller and Bender!?!

ooooh mama

germany should be up by 3 at this point

schurle has been dribbling like a mutha!

schweinsteiger a bit off, giving away balls for no reason.

and LAHM!! i should have kept him haa haa. fuckin a.

---

post-game edit:

AWESOME GAME BY KLOSE!!

gomez did nothing

& i didn't expect the german defense to have such gaping holes. nice game, but germany still leaves me doubts. the game vs. italy or england will be the moment of truth. or did that already happen vs. portugal?? hmmmmm

I can't believe Germany score 4 and I manage to choose the ones who did nothing. And I 'cleverly' replaced Salpingidis before he'd actually played.

Orzil stood out for me, and Reus, but yeah, Klose had a great game. Khedira, too. And I agree about the German defence. Going forward they look pretty formidable they do seem vulnerable to counter-attacks. But I think the only true test for them will be Spain. And vice versa. Spain may edge it with their defence while Germany look like they have a far more potent attack but I don't see either England or Italy troubling them. Neither are very quick on the counter-attack. It'll maybe come down to how well Germany can cope with set-pieces. I tend to think whichever side faces them it'll be Pirlo or Gerrard who provide the main threat. But right now they do look like the team to beat.

not sure. all they'd need is a rooney or balotelli to outrun them a la jesus(samaras)/salpingidis and they'd be fucked. plus either team has a stronger defense than greece-- certainly better goalkeepers-- so i really wouldn't precount the chickens.

it's hilarious btw how much of a lumbering beast gomez is next to klose. he's great inside the area but don't ask him to dribble!

Balotelli? dribble? run? Have you not seen his contract? Seriously though, neither he or Rooney will provide that. I don't know about Italy but Walcott's the only England player who I think would worry Germany with his pace, but there's not even a guarantee he'll start and even if he does, it's a small chink in Germany's armour.

And I can't be the only one to spot the similarity between Gomez and George McFly.

Well, he may not be a technique portent, but that first goal against the Netherlands also tells me he's better on that field than a lot of strikers with his physique.

Concerning Portugal's campaign, either Spain or France are redoubtable adversaries. Anyway, for what it's worth, we've beaten Spain for 4-0 the last time we played them, not that long ago, and even though I don't remember seeing Portugal beating France on my lifetime, I think this year that is more likely to happen than ever.

well yeah he's awesome, i watch him play for bayern year-round, but it was funny to see the difference between the two, with klose being much more creative, especially after allowed to start. i wonder what could happen if they played together!


well definitely portugal has everything to kick france's ass this tournament, but i doubt they'll meet; after france's loss to sweden i think they are in disarray, so more likely it's going to be portugal-spain, and that's got all the elements to be an *epic* match.

Agreed on Portugal. Only saw the second half, but he looked amazing at times, although at the same time that's also their vulnerability. He has to play well for them to succeed.

I haven't been able to watch the Germany game... what's up with all the changes? Bender isn't first pick, he only played when Boateng was suspended... but what about the others? Anyone heard Loew's comments on that?


I haven't even seen the "highlights" yet, but I'm pretty surprised Greece conceded 4 goals and probably even more that Germany conceded 2 (even though one was a penalty apparently). I'm still betting on a Germany-Spain

final, but in a way I could picture every team still in it now end up winning this thing.

bender was in for boateng due to suspension. the penalty was bullshit in my opinon, boateng was turning his back to the ball and it hit him in the arm-- he in no way tried to block it, he was shrinking away from the ball w/ arm to his side, turning his back, not even looking. but eh, fuckers, whatever. there were other chances when germany was barely spared, it could have been 2-1 for greece but once germany scored their 2nd goal things opened up more.

löw was just trying to breathe some fresh air into the german attack and be less predictable and i think he did it very well, klose opened up a lot of spaces and rattled the greek defense-- even if he wasn't in every play he was always clever in his positioning. germany could have been 3-0 by the end of the first half but they wasted a lot of passes (schweinsteiger was having a bad day) and they missed a bunch of opportunities early on.

anyway i hope you get to catch it in replay. it was aninteresting game.

Yesterday's match was really interesting.
It looks as if all German players (apart from the keepers) have had a part in their team's victories - which will consolidate team spirit.

Tonight, France lost to the grandfathers of the Spanish team, who looked extremely bored.
The only players who can be relied on in a Spanish game are the subs, and you never know how long they'll have to play.
Fabregas scored his second as a sub, Navas brought pace and a goal, Pedro did the same and caused the penalty...
But the team that starts is so monotonous...

And if you've missed a game, here's a link to catch the goals in 3D, in miniclips that last over a minute, with different angles, but you'll see...

http://www.lequipe.fr/edito/football...uts-en-3d.html

I thought Spain pretty much sleepwalked their way through, and I totally agree about Spain's monotony. For a team supposedly synonymous with olay football, they're becoming one of the most boring to watch.

But the big shock for me was France, who looked about as disinterested as I think I've seen a team in the knockout stage. Ribery seemed about the only one remotely bothered. I knew they had some issues but most of them just seemed like they'd rather not've been playing at all. Blanc looked like a lost man towards the end. I'd love to know what the French people/media made of it all. That looked like a bigger collapse than anything I saw from Holland. At least the Dutch seemed frustrated, France just looked like they'd given up on themselves altogether as a team.

Well there you go. Another pen shoot out, another cop out. Italy clearly deserved to go through, England were pretty much non existent through the second half.

Pirlo's pen was just brilliant.

wow, that DID go to penalties as a bunch of us predicted, and it was INTENSE! especially at the beginning--wow! (then it was at times boring, but still...)

sorry to the eengleesh but italy did play a better game, even though they couldn't score during the game to show it.

anyway, looking forward to spain-portugal. it should be a GREAT match. i am going to gamble on spain winning, i think they should be able to neutralize cronaldo, they are used to doing that every day (unlike the poor czech), but it should be a great contest. only thing troubling me with that prediction is the spanish attack-- torres was shit in the last game and silva remains weak, so who knows about the score.

yesterday's game was sad for me, though i had expected the result, but i'll say ribéry wasn't the only one who deserved admiration in his team, lloris also was great, in this game and the previous one-- if only his defense had put the same heart into it!

from what i've seen today germany should beat italy in regulation time, as i expect them to control the midfield and finish better. but who knows, really? maybe this will all go wrong and i'll have to eat my shoe like werner herzog.

Cant complain, i'd have felt quite dirty if we'd gone through.

Two big decisions - Young should have been taken off after an hour, he was dreadful all day long, and he took Milner off. Milner was excellent.

Rooney donesnt work with these players, its telling that Rooney hasnt done much on the international stage since this bad motherfucker retired.

Pretty much agree with everything you say there. I'm disappointed, obviously, but have to agree that it would've felt a bit dirty had we gone through against such a clearly superior side.

Milner's been solid but he can't last more than 60 minutes, it seems. I think that's what forced Hodgson to sub him instead of Young who, I agree, was dire tonight. Worse than anonymous; constantly giving the ball away.

I thought Terry was immense but heroics won't be enough in every game. But then whatever happened tonight, I couldn't see any way past Germany and at least having Italy in the SF will potentially make that game a bit more competitive. Although I don't think Germany will have too much to fear from them on Thursday, either.

And yeah, while I've defended Rooney in the past, I'm beginning to agree with you about him, too.

Oh well. Gabby Logan still gives me the horn.

Italy will be knackered once they play Germany and I tend to think England made the Italian midfield look far more impressive than it is. They rely almost totally on Pirlo so as long as Germany can contain him the rest should be quite straightforward.

predictable. spain germany in the final, spain win.

i am sorry for England being out, for i had really wanted them to go through.
the truth is, they didn't deserve to succeed in this match.