Euro 2008 - UEFA

[united]

Reports saying Ballack will start for the Germans.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by united

Reports saying Ballack will start for the Germans.

Yeah, hes on the starting 11.

[sadora]

España! España! España! España!

[ricoFlame]

germany are going balls out right now. great stuff.

[ricoFlame]

spain wins 1-0. best team in the tourney won it. they deserved the title this year.

[The Goon]

Great to see Spain win and shed the "underperforming" tag.

[PIMking]

Congrats spain you deserve it! Too bad my local abc channel lost the feed for the whole 2nd half but the last 4 mins. Congrats!!

Now back to hockey and the Flames winning the Calder and Stanley cups!

[Machiavelli]

Spain most definitely deserved it.

Feel a bit sorry for Ballack, but that's the way the cookie crumbles (if that's the right saying).

[Locke]

Absolute heartbreak, but Germany just didnt have their game together.

If anyone had to score the winning goal against Germany I'm glad it was Torres.

Riveting game though.

[jammies]

Brilliant game by Spain, they made a good German side look ordinary. The Germans had maybe 5 minutes of offensive pressure the whole game, and the Spanish seemed to be able to go forward at will, and could have had 2 or 3 more goals with a bit of luck.

It was also great to see two offensive-minded sides make the final, hopefully that encourages more teams to emulate that style of football.

[josef]

congrats to spain!! they absolutely deserved to win tonight!!!
but they were lucky that the referee didn´t call the headbutt from silva, which was clearly a red-card....
anyway, i say it again, spain absolutely dominated the game, and were the best team for the whole tournament!!

[Locke]

Fernando Torres just booked his ticket to being a Spanish legend. First major title in 44 years.

Good on him. Now do it for Liverpool.

[troutman]

Gracias Espana. I win my pool $$$$$$

[GirlySports]

Wow

Domenech must have some good dirt on his bosses....

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=553404&sec=global&cc=5901

[troutman]

I like Raymond (though I didn't know he was making choices based on astrology). I find football teams fire managers far too quickly. Expectations are too high - you aren't always going to win the championship. Why fire good people, because the fans and media want blood?

France had 19 men on the panel making this decision? Talk about micro-management.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by troutman

I like Raymond. I find football teams fire managers far too quickly. Expectations are too high - you aren't always going to win the championship. Why fire good people, because the fans and media want blood?

You're right... sometimes managers are cut for the sake of change, rather than rationale.

But take Donadoni... he wasn't fired for change... natural roster attrition alone will do that... he was fired because he's inexperienced and not competent for a team like that. He went from Livorno to Italy... bit of a jump. Too much of one.

As for Domenech, he is a terrible, terrible coach. Leaving Trezeguet at home because of his well documented hatred of the French-Argentine (which Trez has actually been very diplomatic about), as well as leaving fellow Serie A star defender Phillippe Mexes at home was the difference between 4th and 2nd, IMO. They couldn't score goals and they couldn't defend well, yet two of the best are at home because Ray doesn't like Serie A. Terrible Boumsong returns to France from Juve and Newcastle, and suddenly he's Les Bleus material?? Nope, Domenech deserved to go, and France will rue that decision. Didier Deschamps would be a much better coach for them... he's the leader of the old guard that won in the 90s, he's coached big clubs (Monaco and Juventus), and he's a bright younger guy.

[SebC]

Haha, stupid France! Don't like the fact that I'll still have to see his stupid jackets on the sideline more though.