Euro 2008 draw. - Page 35

Captain Beefheart · 07-01-2008, 07:24 PM

I'm not saying they're bad obviously it would be wrong to discredit them after they got to the finals but it's hindsight. Go back to the first page after the draw was done, contextually I said Germany had the "easiest" draw and path to the finals, where their biggest challege would be Portugal in a potential semi-final.

Group Stage: Croatia, Austria, Poland.

Poland: a mid-average team, I'm sorry but I can't take seriously a team that gets thrashed in friendly game in their own soil against the US two weeks before the start of the Euro's.

Austria: is ranked 92th in the FIFA rankings they shouldn't even have been there.

Croatia: Was the cinderella and one of the "dark" horses, the sexy pick I have no idea if people actually based that on their knowledge or lack thereof but they were the one's that exposed Germany's primitive football in the stage matches.

Germany meets Portugal in the quarterfinals where they are not favorites based on Portugal's recent history(yes they lost a meaningless 3rd place tie in the WC but who cares). Germany to my surprise actually showed up and exploited Portugal's biggest weaknesses which were already largely known to anyone who follows the sport(Ricardo is garbage, only brits would think he's a good GK and it's because he's owned them in penalties twice). They don't have a classical "9" and based their strength of their play on their wingers(Cristiano/Simao/Quaresma/Nani).

Anyways Germany scores two goals on set pieces in pretty much a dejavu of the first goal(the Ballack one was a "push" but that's the refs call). They go on to meet Turkey a team that had gotten to the semi's on heart and a lot of luck(Cech making a gaff, scoring a goal with one minute left till the end of the game against Croatia). In the semis they play a team that had only 2 available players and they were goalkeepers! Not positional players GOAL KEEPERS. Pretty much started with the deck of cards not in their favor and if they had won it probably would have gone down as the biggest miracle in the history of sports. Not just football, sports. PERIOD.

Thye meet Spain in the final. Now up until that point there's no doubt Spain was deserving of getting there. Cruised in the group stages, erased their own demons and fears of the quarterfinals and beat Italy at their own game. Then pretty much took apart a russian team that was one of the biggest surprises in the tourney up to that point(the same russian team that thrashed a favorite in Holland).

Finals: I replayed the game yesterday to see if I could pick up anything I missed, because with all the nerves it's pretty hard to analyze the game objectively.

What I saw:

-First 10 minutes, the usual jitters, Ramos makes what could possible have come down as one of the biggest mistakes EVER, giving the ball away on the edge of the box to Klose who miscontrols it on his first touch and the ball ends up in the endline. As the pace picks up Aragones makes the same tactical change he made against Italy, permutate wings and place Silva(the chinese lookalike midget) on the right to counter for Lahm's overlapping runs. Iniesta isn't really a winger but he's more comfortable on the left. Spain finally settles into the game, first danger was a throughball from Xavi to Iniesta who almost scores an own goal from Metzelder. Minutes later Torres wins a cross in the air from Mertesaker and hits the post.

-On static-buildup play with Germany having to take the ball out from the back, we shadow pretty much everyone except Mertesaker who's pretty mediocre on the ball. Germany for extended periods of time, basically an hour has trouble actually getting into the flow of the game, Frings is totally missing in context and it gets bad to the point where Ballack has to track back because no one is offering themselves to double the ball and actually get forward with numbers. If Germany thought about tacking the ball out through the wings there was always Silva or Iniesta waiting for them to fall into the trap and counter attack them. Advantage: Spain.

-Spain played their game, the same one they played againt every team since day 1. Hold to the ball, make the opposition run after the ball and tire them out and then strike when the time comes. German players where very frustrated and you could see that not only in their facial expressions but when they lost the plot and started fouling(Ballack should have been carded much earlier and it's ironic that he only got a yellow for a discussion). In that sense Spain had everything won, they imposed their tempo and their will on the game, every long diagonal through ball for Torres made the germans sink in fear. You're being generous in calling this "1-0" when it could have been and should've been a rout if Spain had more clinical finishing.

-Low was pretty poor in his managing but he didn't have much to work with(his substitutions hinted that he was going to launch a bunch of crosses and just hope for a deflection). The period of time where Germany threatened was afforded by inertia and Aragones quickly countered by bringing Xabi Alonso for "contention"

Spain outclassed Germany in pretty much EVERY position on the field, the difference and gap in quality and class was so enormous that my mom, someone who probably hasn't watched more than an hour of football in 50 years told me how Spain made look so easy and Germany was so sluggish in their approach.

R@H · 07-01-2008, 10:15 PM

like seriously= are u joking==<<??????? did u just type all of that.

Captain Beefheart · 07-02-2008, 03:32 AM

I did not write that. Sorry ladies and gents, I f!ucked up with the hadron collider. A black hole's gonna suck up the milky way iiiinnnn about five seconds..

I definitely get excited about these sorts of things. So i'll just spit it up real quick and easy. There's no "right" way to play the game, as I've said before different cultures are exposed and have evolved differently in their appreciation of the sport. Football in essence for me is a communication tool, there aren't guidelines when expressed in a relational context so at the end people will choose whatever path fits their ideal conceptuality better: dutch, german, italian, english, spanish/south american etc etc.

Samson could watch a south american football and be like "doesn't make sense, all the roulettes, sombreros, backheel flips, auto tunnels don't really add anything to the game. I rather go for directness". And that's dope.

Here's an visual example I always use for people that don't really like or understand the sport.

To me that's beauty. Would I expect a german team to play like that? Not really. Do I think this is the "right path". Nope. But the conception is unique and immensely interesting, especially how they use the width of the pitch, always controlling the ball while there are "triangles" forming around in support(movement of the ball) and of course a bit of genius and improvisation.

R@H · 07-02-2008, 11:32 AM

dude ur are so stubborn.... and not always right im afraid

Captain Beefheart · 07-02-2008, 05:00 PM

No i'm always right, fact is I even placed a copy of Barca's 2006 CL title DVD run on Mourinho's bednight table the other night.

Didn't I warn you about Holland's premature ejaculation in the Euro's. Seems I was also right about that. HAHAHAH.

R@H · 07-02-2008, 05:19 PM

if only your penis was as big as your ego.... you live in the american football world boy, leave football to the europeans

Captain Beefheart · 07-02-2008, 05:39 PM

I live in a world where Spain is #1 in the FIFA World Rankings. 22 straight matches UNDEFEATED. See ya at the Confederations Cup. Wait, Holland won't be there.....

A POR ELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS OEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. CAMPEONEEEEEEEEEES OEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

R@H · 07-02-2008, 06:45 PM

Whatevaaaaaah I would still kick your ass at footy anytime.....anyday...anywhere

Captain Beefheart · 07-02-2008, 06:56 PM

I wouldn't be so sure about that. It'd feel like Lahm and his 12 year old anorexic body trying to stop Torres on a run. The though of you actually trying to stop me would be like Gallagher waking up one day and trying to be #1 again. You'd just accidentally unearthed something very wrong with humanity. It's just not happening. HAHHAHA.

**Plastic Flute** · 07-02-2008, 07:23 PM

Im trying to understand this game. I need help

R@H · 07-02-2008, 07:33 PM

I played footy for 10 years, I can beat u easily no sweat.

And u can´t understand this sport because you are American and call it soccer. But thats okay I´m European and don´t understand peacekeeping missions.

Captain Beefheart · 07-02-2008, 07:57 PM

There are some things that shouldn't be explored or understood Hamelin. Football is like the beginning of a s!hitty science fiction movie starring Christian Slater and Kelly LeBrock.

But really what's so hard to understand? Rules, gameplay?

Rah, get real. I've rassled with this beast for centuries, there's no seemingly paradoxical logic that would explain you stopping me. I'm strong, i'm faster, i'm Beefy. That's real talk.

07-01-2008, 07:24 PM	#681 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	I'm not saying they're bad obviously it would be wrong to discredit them after they got to the finals but it's hindsight. Go back to the first page after the draw was done, contextually I said Germany had the "easiest" draw and path to the finals, where their biggest challege would be Portugal in a potential semi-final. Group Stage: Croatia, Austria, Poland. Poland: a mid-average team, I'm sorry but I can't take seriously a team that gets thrashed in friendly game in their own soil against the US two weeks before the start of the Euro's. Austria: is ranked 92th in the FIFA rankings they shouldn't even have been there. Croatia: Was the cinderella and one of the "dark" horses, the sexy pick I have no idea if people actually based that on their knowledge or lack thereof but they were the one's that exposed Germany's primitive football in the stage matches. Germany meets Portugal in the quarterfinals where they are not favorites based on Portugal's recent history(yes they lost a meaningless 3rd place tie in the WC but who cares). Germany to my surprise actually showed up and exploited Portugal's biggest weaknesses which were already largely known to anyone who follows the sport(Ricardo is garbage, only brits would think he's a good GK and it's because he's owned them in penalties twice). They don't have a classical "9" and based their strength of their play on their wingers(Cristiano/Simao/Quaresma/Nani). Anyways Germany scores two goals on set pieces in pretty much a dejavu of the first goal(the Ballack one was a "push" but that's the refs call). They go on to meet Turkey a team that had gotten to the semi's on heart and a lot of luck(Cech making a gaff, scoring a goal with one minute left till the end of the game against Croatia). In the semis they play a team that had only 2 available players and they were goalkeepers! Not positional players GOAL KEEPERS. Pretty much started with the deck of cards not in their favor and if they had won it probably would have gone down as the biggest miracle in the history of sports. Not just football, sports. PERIOD. Thye meet Spain in the final. Now up until that point there's no doubt Spain was deserving of getting there. Cruised in the group stages, erased their own demons and fears of the quarterfinals and beat Italy at their own game. Then pretty much took apart a russian team that was one of the biggest surprises in the tourney up to that point(the same russian team that thrashed a favorite in Holland). Finals: I replayed the game yesterday to see if I could pick up anything I missed, because with all the nerves it's pretty hard to analyze the game objectively. What I saw: -First 10 minutes, the usual jitters, Ramos makes what could possible have come down as one of the biggest mistakes EVER, giving the ball away on the edge of the box to Klose who miscontrols it on his first touch and the ball ends up in the endline. As the pace picks up Aragones makes the same tactical change he made against Italy, permutate wings and place Silva(the chinese lookalike midget) on the right to counter for Lahm's overlapping runs. Iniesta isn't really a winger but he's more comfortable on the left. Spain finally settles into the game, first danger was a throughball from Xavi to Iniesta who almost scores an own goal from Metzelder. Minutes later Torres wins a cross in the air from Mertesaker and hits the post. -On static-buildup play with Germany having to take the ball out from the back, we shadow pretty much everyone except Mertesaker who's pretty mediocre on the ball. Germany for extended periods of time, basically an hour has trouble actually getting into the flow of the game, Frings is totally missing in context and it gets bad to the point where Ballack has to track back because no one is offering themselves to double the ball and actually get forward with numbers. If Germany thought about tacking the ball out through the wings there was always Silva or Iniesta waiting for them to fall into the trap and counter attack them. Advantage: Spain. -Spain played their game, the same one they played againt every team since day 1. Hold to the ball, make the opposition run after the ball and tire them out and then strike when the time comes. German players where very frustrated and you could see that not only in their facial expressions but when they lost the plot and started fouling(Ballack should have been carded much earlier and it's ironic that he only got a yellow for a discussion). In that sense Spain had everything won, they imposed their tempo and their will on the game, every long diagonal through ball for Torres made the germans sink in fear. You're being generous in calling this "1-0" when it could have been and should've been a rout if Spain had more clinical finishing. -Low was pretty poor in his managing but he didn't have much to work with(his substitutions hinted that he was going to launch a bunch of crosses and just hope for a deflection). The period of time where Germany threatened was afforded by inertia and Aragones quickly countered by bringing Xabi Alonso for "contention" Spain outclassed Germany in pretty much EVERY position on the field, the difference and gap in quality and class was so enormous that my mom, someone who probably hasn't watched more than an hour of football in 50 years told me how Spain made look so easy and Germany was so sluggish in their approach. Last edited by Captain Beefheart : 07-01-2008 at 07:38 PM.

07-01-2008, 10:15 PM	#682 (permalink)
R@H Lovin' it Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,907 My Profile	like seriously= are u joking==<<??????? did u just type all of that.

07-02-2008, 03:32 AM	#683 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	I did not write that. Sorry ladies and gents, I f!ucked up with the hadron collider. A black hole's gonna suck up the milky way iiiinnnn about five seconds.. I definitely get excited about these sorts of things. So i'll just spit it up real quick and easy. There's no "right" way to play the game, as I've said before different cultures are exposed and have evolved differently in their appreciation of the sport. Football in essence for me is a communication tool, there aren't guidelines when expressed in a relational context so at the end people will choose whatever path fits their ideal conceptuality better: dutch, german, italian, english, spanish/south american etc etc. Samson could watch a south american football and be like "doesn't make sense, all the roulettes, sombreros, backheel flips, auto tunnels don't really add anything to the game. I rather go for directness". And that's dope. Here's an visual example I always use for people that don't really like or understand the sport. To me that's beauty. Would I expect a german team to play like that? Not really. Do I think this is the "right path". Nope. But the conception is unique and immensely interesting, especially how they use the width of the pitch, always controlling the ball while there are "triangles" forming around in support(movement of the ball) and of course a bit of genius and improvisation.

07-02-2008, 11:32 AM	#684 (permalink)
R@H Lovin' it Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,907 My Profile	dude ur are so stubborn.... and not always right im afraid

07-02-2008, 05:00 PM	#685 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	No i'm always right, fact is I even placed a copy of Barca's 2006 CL title DVD run on Mourinho's bednight table the other night. Didn't I warn you about Holland's premature ejaculation in the Euro's. Seems I was also right about that. HAHAHAH.

07-02-2008, 05:19 PM	#686 (permalink)
R@H Lovin' it Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,907 My Profile	if only your penis was as big as your ego.... you live in the american football world boy, leave football to the europeans

07-02-2008, 05:39 PM	#687 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	I live in a world where Spain is #1 in the FIFA World Rankings. 22 straight matches UNDEFEATED. See ya at the Confederations Cup. Wait, Holland won't be there..... A POR ELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS OEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. CAMPEONEEEEEEEEEES OEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

07-02-2008, 06:45 PM	#688 (permalink)
R@H Lovin' it Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,907 My Profile	Whatevaaaaaah I would still kick your ass at footy anytime.....anyday...anywhere

07-02-2008, 06:56 PM	#689 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	I wouldn't be so sure about that. It'd feel like Lahm and his 12 year old anorexic body trying to stop Torres on a run. The though of you actually trying to stop me would be like Gallagher waking up one day and trying to be #1 again. You'd just accidentally unearthed something very wrong with humanity. It's just not happening. HAHHAHA.

07-02-2008, 07:23 PM	#690 (permalink)
Plastic Flute ICHiBAN HoOT Join Date: May 2006 Location: New Jersey Posts: 13,837 My Profile	Im trying to understand this game. I need help

07-02-2008, 07:33 PM	#691 (permalink)
R@H Lovin' it Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,907 My Profile	I played footy for 10 years, I can beat u easily no sweat. And u can´t understand this sport because you are American and call it soccer. But thats okay I´m European and don´t understand peacekeeping missions.

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07-02-2008, 07:57 PM	#692 (permalink)
Captain Beefheart Mu nótahu Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: In a West End town, a dead end world Posts: 4,105 My Profile	There are some things that shouldn't be explored or understood Hamelin. Football is like the beginning of a s!hitty science fiction movie starring Christian Slater and Kelly LeBrock. But really what's so hard to understand? Rules, gameplay? Rah, get real. I've rassled with this beast for centuries, there's no seemingly paradoxical logic that would explain you stopping me. I'm strong, i'm faster, i'm Beefy. That's real talk.