Euro 2008 - UEFA

[Sune76]

goal or not, holland deserved to win this match anyway

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by troutman

Hop Holland!

I could not resist checking in.

Who said "the only team that can beat Italy is Italy"?

Italy did kind of beat Italy. That was a terrible lineup. Grosso and Del Piero must start on Friday.

The Dutch are the greatest at exploiting a weak defense which they did against that pilon named Matterazi.

--

and a player behind the goal doesn't count as in-play so the goal was offside. easy decision botched up.

[united]

What was the first half like? I only saw the game beginning at the 60th minute.
Ugly stuff from what I saw.

[Mango]

Rough game from the Italian back end. The Dutch were really able to captalize with their strong foot work. As a soccer fan, it was a pretty fun game to watch.

[troutman]

Great commentary here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...08/7363339.stm

2023: Lots of chat going on about Netherlands' first goal and whether it was offside or not. Now Christian Pannuci in trying to clear the ball was off the pitch when Wesley Sneijder hit his shot that Ruud van Nistelrooy deflected in. If Panucci was declared still active, then Ruud wasn't offside - but we are trying to find out so we can 100% say for sure. If you've got a refereeing dilemma and you need some help with it, why not ask You Are The Ref?
You Are The Ref

2033: That is quite comfortably the best half we have seen so far this tournament. A brilliant display of attacking football by the Dutch, making a mockery of those who thought this was one of their weakest squads in recent memory. Special mention for Wesley Sneijder - the Real Madrid man has been at his magical best.

2041: "No surprise the referee got abuse from the Italians as he left the pitch. In all fairness it was his assistant's error. He disappeared quicker than David Copperfield." [boo hoo - tell it to the Scots who got jobbed vs. ITA in qualifying]

2047: "Who cares whether Ruud was offside or not? He stayed on his feet earlier when he could have gone for a penalty and a red card. That's great football!"

2128: "Why do I have a nagging doubt that the Dutch (yet again) have peaked too early in a major tournament?"

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by troutman

Hop Holland!

I could not resist checking in.

Who said "the only team that can beat Italy is Italy"?

Italy did beat Italy... I don't want to take anything away from the Dutch, they played magnificently... but if I've ever seen a game that called for a coach's sacking, this was it.

Completely, completely wrong line up. Barzagli was sacked from Palermo for a reason... he's awful, and simply not capable of playing in big games for anything but a midtable club. Materazzi is a human pylon. Panucci is past his prime and not capable of being an effective wingback. Meanwhile, Chiellini is on the bench, Grosso starts on the bench (and instantly improves the backend), Gamberini is on the bench.

On midfield, Ambrosini is a tired hack. De Rossi and Aquilani are the future of Italy, and they are riding pine. Camoranesi had an off game, but he is simply not built for a deep offensive role.

On offense, Di Natale is total garbage. There's a reason he plays for Udinese. Del Piero and Cassano are musts.

This game simply got out of control because of piss poor defense. The first goal was bollocks, but that happens, and was no reason for a 3-0 finish. Donadoni is way out of his league and it showed. He picked a suspect team out of what was available and it shows. Losing Cannavaro should not have been such a crippling blow.

[vodafone_b]

Originally Posted by united

What was the first half like? I only saw the game beginning at the 60th minute.
Ugly stuff from what I saw.

I thought it was a very entertaining game..
lots of end to end action by both teams.. italy just did not had it going for them.. pirlo had a good game.. but the midfield was dominated by the 2 holding midfielder of de jong and engelaar.. i thought the 1-3-2-4 formation was played to perfection..

the counters by the dutch led to 2 goals.. 2 well taken goals.. it worked to perfection.. kuyt set up the 2 (although he should have scored himsef for the 2nd one).. and van B. on the left back had some amazing speed on the counter.... the dutch looked good

toni had a bad game.. but man he's a giant out there..

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Italy did kind of beat Italy. That was a terrible lineup. Grosso and Del Piero must start on Friday.

You sound like Ron Wilson. Credit given where credit is due, the Dutch made the Italians look amateur.

Italy had their 4 best forwards on the field, 3 of them at the same time and they still managed conjure almost zero offense against the 'weak' Dutch defense.

Italy got outclassed. Their defense looked old, slow and confused, they were scrambling in front of the net and the whole team gave up with 20 minutes left.

Offside goal or not, they were only down 1-0 very early on and then the Dutch kept pressing.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Locke

You sound like Ron Wilson. Credit given where credit is due, the Dutch made the Italians look amateur.

Italy had their 4 best forwards on the field, 3 of them at the same time and they still managed conjure almost zero offense against the 'weak' Dutch defense.

Italy got outclassed. Their defense looked old, slow and confused, they were scrambling in front of the net and the whole team gave up with 20 minutes left.

Offside goal or not, they were only down 1-0 very early on and then the Dutch kept pressing.

The Dutch did make Italy look like garbage because they were able to exploit 4 players... Panucci, Barzagli, Materazzi and Ambrosini.

As soon as I saw the starting lineup, I knew they were not going to win... I didn't think it would be this bad, but I knew they would hemmorage goals.

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

and a player behind the goal doesn't count as in-play so the goal was offside. easy decision botched up.

Apparently, the rule had been changed in that because the referee didn't officially declare/send the player off, he was still considered "in-play". At least, that's what the discussion is centering around.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

You sound like Ron Wilson. Credit given where credit is due, the Dutch made the Italians look amateur.

Italy had their 4 best forwards on the field, 3 of them at the same time and they still managed conjure almost zero offense against the 'weak' Dutch defense.

Italy got outclassed. Their defense looked old, slow and confused, they were scrambling in front of the net and the whole team gave up with 20 minutes left.

Offside goal or not, they were only down 1-0 very early on and then the Dutch kept pressing.

err read Thunderball's post

I give the Dutch all the credit. They are deadly against slow defenses. Playing Matterazi was a mistake and the Italians paid dearly for it. The entire lineup was totally wrong against a skillful team like Holland.

And I wouldn't say the Italians conjured up nothing. They pelted the Dutch goal when it was 2-0 and Van der Saar made some great saves. Even the 2nd goal was a counter-attack of a ball cleared off the line by the Dutch defender.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Apparently, the rule had been changed in that because the referee didn't officially declare/send the player off, he was still considered "in-play". At least, that's what the discussion is centering around.

It really doesn't matter... a Lippi coached team with intelligent defenders would have bounced back and made it a game... probably a 1-1 draw.

Italy couldn't create beggar all because they had to play 8 behind the ball to protect the weak defense. After goal 3, they just shut down. They were pressing brilliantly between the 60th minute (when Del Piero came on) and when van Brockhorst made it 3-0.

Again, a terrible lineup by a terrible coach largely aiding a terrible result.

Props to Van der Sar, he was fantastic.

[Sune76]

Sweden plays tomorrow! Do you think our Superstar Zlatan can do it?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sune76

Sweden plays tomorrow! Do you think our Superstar Zlatan can do it?

Yeah, I'm just worried about retired Larsson. Who knows what kind of shape hes in.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

and a player behind the goal doesn't count as in-play so the goal was offside. easy decision botched up.

As I said before, the player was not sent off by the ref (injured, substituted or given a red card) so he was in-play.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Sune76

Sweden plays tomorrow! Do you think our Superstar Zlatan can do it?

nope.. I'm taking the Champions Greece who have 23 guys who run for miles and with names I can't pronounce

[Sune76]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah, I'm just worried about retired Larsson. Who knows what kind of shape hes in.

our coach is a moron, should been elmander

<3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_lqMi4ykxg

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

As I said before, the player was not sent off by the ref (injured, substituted or given a red card) so he was in-play.

Interesting, that must be a new rule. Cause everyone thought it was offside, even the Dutch who didn't celebrate right away.

Let's see if it pops up again later on in the tournament.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Sune76

Sweden plays tomorrow! Do you think our Superstar Zlatan can do it?

Zlatan is a choke.

I'd be hoping that Elmander and Larsson can find the net. Ibrahimovic disappears in the clutch.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Mellberg does anchoring the Swedish defense.

[troutman]

A little off-topic, but what would you all say to an amendment to the off-side rule?

Ex. An off-side line at 30 m (like the blue line in hockey). Once the ball is brought over the 30 m line, there can be no off-sides? I think the off-side trap is a real excitement killer. How many scoring chances are wasted because the defenders all run forward at the last second? That's not defending IMO. Make the defenders play defence!

I'm sure I'm not the first person to suggest something like this. Would it lead to more goals?