The Official Football/Soccer Thread

[D-Lyrium]

Originally Posted by Hive

Yeah with Hodgson as coach, Rooney out for the first two matches and Lampard out for the tournament... you guys will be lucky to qualify for the next round.

Hey now, there's nothing wong with Woy! And we certainly don't need Lampard...

[D-Lyrium]

Originally Posted by shawn michaels 82

The guy who hit the german with the closed fist was Raul Meireles, Chelsea Player. I stand my grounds that Germany did not deserve the win. But i never said they deserve to lose. A draw would be the most fair result, and if Postiga leaves the line-up and we start playing to win, we might have a chance yet. And the defender who's name you don't wanna risk pronouncing was Favio Coentrão, right? He's a world class player.

You're right, actually, it was Meireles. They look so alike these days.

But it's not as if it'd be unusual for Pepe to do it. (though my favourite thing about that video is when the Getafe player starts holding his face, just about the only bit of him Pepe didn't hurt ).

And yeah, Coentrão was the defender I was on about. Or should I say, the winger who sometimes accidentally ends up in his own half.

[shawn michaels 82]

Originally Posted by D-Lyrium

You're right, actually, it was Meireles. They look so alike these days.

But it's not as if it'd be unusual for Pepe to do it. (though my favourite thing about that video is when the Getafe player starts holding his face, just about the only bit of him Pepe didn't hurt ).

And yeah, Coentrão was the defender I was on about. Or should I say, the winger who sometimes accidentally ends up in his own half.

Yes, Fabio Coentrão is great and he had an impossible mission to defend his wing alone, as Ronaldo didn't defend (part of the stupid strategy) and there was no one to compensate Ronaldo's absence defending. And still, Coentão did fine.

[Target Practice]

Originally Posted by Hive

Yeah with Hodgson as coach, Rooney out for the first two matches and Lampard out for the tournament... you guys will be lucky to qualify for the next round.

Hodgson will be a good appointment in the long run, but this tournament has come a little quickly for him, and the spate of injuries and Rio Ferdinand controversy hasn't helped.

Rooney isn't really as important to England as many people like to believe. He's a great player, but he's only really delivered sporadically for his country (like many, many others, I should add...) - Welbeck is looking like a really promising option, and I think Andy Carroll could end up being a lot more effective than many are expecting - he's a classic English number 9 - a great big brute of a striker who'll out-muscle defenders (partly the reason why Hulk has been so successful in Portugal) - a lot of European sides aren't used to facing strikers like that, and might struggle to cope.

Agree that Lampard's a big miss though, especially with Barry and Wilshere missing as well. Parker and Gerrard would still be first choices for me in a fully fit side, but both are prone to knocks, and Lampard's a wonderful option to have on the bench.

[1234]

Spain not starting with any true striers is quite a shock, but I am interested to see how it works for them.

[Target Practice]

Yeah, that's a really interesting solution to the unique problem they have:

"We've got too many top-class midfielders... what are we going to do?"

"Screw it, play 'em up front. They can't be any worse than Torres."

[shawn michaels 82]

Originally Posted by Target Practice

Yeah, that's a really interesting solution to the unique problem they have:

"We've got too many top-class midfielders... what are we going to do?"

"Screw it, play 'em up front. They can't be any worse than Torres."

LOL!

[D-Lyrium]

4-6-0 didn't seem to work terribly well. Though to be fair, Italy were immense.

How old is Pirlo now? 36? And he's still one of the best in the world.

Edit: Turns out he's only 33. But still...

[D-Lyrium]

Jelavic was clearly offside, but what a stunning diving header from Shay Given! And if Robbie Keane thinks that was a penalty, he's clearly been in America too long.

Ordinarily I would say "unlucky for Ireland", but the played like crap for most of the game, so I won't. ¬_¬ That's their championship over, bottom of the group (as opposed to it being their championship over second from bottom ¬_¬).

[Target Practice]

Yeah, felt a bit sorry for them - just one of those games where everything goes wrong. First goal wrong-footed the keeper, second was offside, and the third was just one of those horrible things that happens when you're having a bad day.

Having said that, the free kick Ireland scored from was pretty soft too.

[1234]

Originally Posted by D-Lyrium

Jelavic was clearly offside, but what a stunning diving header from Shay Given! And if Robbie Keane thinks that was a penalty, he's clearly been in America too long.

Ordinarily I would say "unlucky for Ireland", but the played like crap for most of the game, so I won't. ¬_¬ That's their championship over, bottom of the group (as opposed to it being their championship over second from bottom ¬_¬).

Pretty sure the Jelavic goal was set up by an Ireland player, although missed half-time so didn't get to see countless replays.

As a Leicester fan I am glad St. Ledger got on the score sheet. But Croatia definately deserved the win.

[Tigerkinney]

Yesterday watching the Holland- Denmark match, my mum came out with

'Great the Dutch, have got an old man playing for them; that's really going to help'

She was referring to Arjen Robben I had to point out that he's only about 28.

[Hive]

Having been lucky enough to accurately predict the outcome of all the games so far has done wonders for my gambling.

[D-Lyrium]

That could only happen to a Dane.

When you say 'outcome', I'm guessing you don't have all the scores as well, right?

[Hive]

Originally Posted by D-Lyrium

That could only happen to a Dane.

When you say 'outcome', I'm guessing you don't have all the scores as well, right?

Nah only correct score I predicted was Poland-Greece. I don't usually bother with scores.