To me Spain has still not been overly impressive, Xabi and Iniesta have not been on form and are not opening the defense like they usually can.
David Villa has been unreal and is the reason that Spain continues deeper into this tournament.
Luckily for them they have one of the easier quarterfinal draws in Paraguay and still have time to round into form, as they are improving with each game.
As for Portugal they are just not the team this year that they were in 2006 and 2004, they really lack a good supporting cast around Ronaldo and you could tell at times he was just on an island today. That being said it was still a sad performance from him as he did not seem to have that drive to do anything today.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 06-29-2010 at 02:28 PM.
Was cheering for Spain until seeing that terrible display of diving this game, I know every team here is diving, but gonna have to cheer for Paraguay in the quarterfinals now. Plus it's more fun cheering for an underdog.
The goal was fine, the red card was bad, but it only put them a man behind for 4 minutes.
I keep telling people, this Portugal isnt that good, they played 3 games without scoring a goal for, that 7 goal thrashing of Korea was an abberation. If it wasnt for Eduardo they wouldnt have even gotten this far.
Possession was perpetually Spain's, it was 60/40 the whole game.
Ronaldo was an empty shirt.
Yeah, I really wish they had shown a replay with the offside line, like they have every other time it's been close. Still, Spain deserved to win. Portugal played for the draw, as usual, and it bit them.
I missed the whole 2nd half. I can't comment on it but the first half was great football.
__________________
Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Yeah, just watched the replay of Villa's goal on my PVR and slowed it right down. Not the best angle, but he looks about a foot offside. Xavi's touch put him offside.
This match exemplifies the modern game.
Portugal, an extremely talented team, get a chance to show big brother Spain how it's done and they come out and play a game like that, 11 men behind the ball and no service to Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world. These coaches today are just clueless or scared.
If I'm a Portugal fan like VFF, I'm furious.
----
As much as I usually don't like Argentina I hope the do well. They are playing the game the way we want to see it. Maradona is coaching the game like it's the 80s again. Skillful, attacking play going forward.
I hope they get to the final playing like that, so more teams will copy.
__________________
Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to GirlySports For This Useful Post:
This match exemplifies the modern game.
Portugal, an extremely talented team, get a chance to show big brother Spain how it's done and they come out and play a game like that, 11 men behind the ball and no service to Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world. These coaches today are just clueless or scared.
If I'm a Portugal fan like VFF, I'm furious.
----
As much as I usually don't like Argentina I hope the do well. They are playing the game the way we want to see it. Maradona is coaching the game like it's the 80s again. Skillful, attacking play going forward.
I hope they get to the final playing like that, so more teams will copy.
If Holland plays like that against Brazil, I will be very disappointed. Thankfully I think their front four outside of Kuyt are not too defensive minded...but we'll see I guess.
Obviously disappointed in the result. Obviously disappointed in Ronaldo. He was awful today and in the WC. It's easy to say he didn't have the support or didn't see the ball enough, but the times he did have the ball, he was very predictable and very selfish. He was not good.
Spain showed their class and made Portugal look awful. The only chance Portugal had at scoring was on a counter attack and granted, there were a couple close calls. But in the end, Spain showed little effort in stringing 15-20 passes in a row, where Portugal couldn't muster 3 or 4. The better team won despite that goal being very close to offside. If it had gone the other way, I dont think the Spanish are up in arms. It was tight and would have been a hard call no matter what. Portugal had a couple good spurts in the second part of the first half, but next to nothing in the second half. I wouldn't say they were playing for the draw like rubecube said, but they weren't really playing to win either. They needed to show more urgency. I got no problems with having a lot players behind the ball when defending, but you gotta bring your players forward more. Players like Pepe and Meireles just didn't support enough in their roles. And Fabio Contreao seemed to be the only player with any kind of jump or urgency on the entire team and he's the youngest of the bunch at 22. Really looking forward to watching him progress. I noticed him at the Youth Championships a couple years ago and knew he would be solid.
I've been the first to admit Portugal haven't been that good in a long time. They have gotten by on their strong back end the last couple of years. But they have done very little in attacking, the North Korea game was the exception. That is not the norm for this team.
They will probably struggle to qualify and sneak into EURO '12 but a similar result awaits them I'm afraid. Oh well, still happy they didn't embarass themselves by not getting out of the group. At the end of the day, getting out of a tough group and losing 1-0 to arguably the best team on the planet isn't the worst thing in the world.
Locke, PM me anything you want for our bet.
Last edited by VANFLAMESFAN; 06-29-2010 at 03:48 PM.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to VANFLAMESFAN For This Useful Post:
pause it when Xavi touches the ball.
There's a Portugal defender just back a bit.
Christ, the more and more I see that, the more and more I think it was totally offside. Pause it right at 4 seconds, right when Xavi touches the ball, get a piece of paper, and line it up with the back end of the last portuguese defender on the top of the screen. Almost all of Villa's body is visible in the offside postion. I'm thinking the linesman didn't notice it was a back heel pass from Xavi and thought it was the original pass that got thru to Villa.
Well, at least I got something to whine about for the next few years.
Christ, the more and more I see that, the more and more I think it was totally offside. Pause it right at 4 seconds, right when Xavi touches the ball, get a piece of paper, and line it up with the back end of the last portuguese defender on the top of the screen. Almost all of Villa's body is visible in the offside postion. I'm thinking the linesman didn't notice it was a back heel pass from Xavi and thought it was the original pass that got thru to Villa.
Well, at least I got something to whine about for the next few years.
yeah but you're using a piece of paper while pausing it on a slow mo replay! :P
__________________
Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
Christ, the more and more I see that, the more and more I think it was totally offside. Pause it right at 4 seconds, right when Xavi touches the ball, get a piece of paper, and line it up with the back end of the last portuguese defender on the top of the screen. Almost all of Villa's body is visible in the offside postion. I'm thinking the linesman didn't notice it was a back heel pass from Xavi and thought it was the original pass that got thru to Villa.
Well, at least I got something to whine about for the next few years.
That's real close but at full speed I think that you have to give the assistant ref the benefit of the doubt there.
It's not blatantly offside a la Tevez's first vs Mexico. Also, Portugal didn't have a perfectly good goal not counted either. Bottom line, your whining isn't warranted, VAN!
The possibility exists for an entirely South American final four. A slim possibility, yes, but still, that would be something.
__________________
We may curse our bad luck that it's sounds like its; who's sounds like whose; they're sounds like their (and there); and you're sounds like your. But if we are grown-ups who have been through full-time education, we have no excuse for muddling them up.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's offside, but it's just too bloody close to call in real time. I do think the linesman called it good because he thought it was a through ball and didn't see the back pass.
__________________
Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
The possibility exists for an entirely South American final four. A slim possibility, yes, but still, that would be something.
I would honestly not be overly surprised.
Uruguay can beat Ghana
Brazil should beat the Dutch
Argentina can beat Germany
The only game that would really be surprising would be Spain-Paraguay, but even then Spain has not yet hit on all cylinders and already lost once this tournament.
My hope is a final four of Ghana, Netherlands, Argentina/Germany (indifferent on who wins this game because i appreciate the German youth movement), Spain. That would be three teams that attack and the feel good African nation in the final four.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 06-29-2010 at 04:52 PM.
