Although, Italy has been doing so bad recently that I really doubt they can beat us easily. Theyve only won 1 of their last 6 matches and drew 2, while we have won 4 and drew 1.

Bets and odds are in our favour definitely too.

At 6/23/12 09:04 PM, KennyD wrote: People can knock Spain for what they're doing but when they started this strategy 2 years ago, people thought it was amazing,

I said "it's boring as hell" two years ago as well. I never understood why the media praised them for their game play. Praising them for their skill, ok, that's a whole different story. Nobody can deny that the spanish players are all very skilled and have a great technique.

But the spanish gameplay is predictable as fuck. Passing the ball around for 50 minutes, waiting till they can break through the center. Just watch the match against Croatia again: The croatians had 6 players in the center, so Spain couldn't pass the ball through there. But instead of passing the ball on to the wing players, they pass the ball around in the midfield. This is so damn unflexible, you'd really think players like Xavi, Inesta and Xabi Alonso would try different things if their main strategy doesn't work out. But they don't seem to have a "Plan B".

but until someone finds a way to beat it, why would Spain change up their gameplan?

True statement. The weird thing is: everybody said "the greek gameplay sucks ass, is boring to watch and is not 'modern'", when they won the Euro in 2004. But why should the greek change their game if they are winning?

On the other hand, everybody praises Spain for what they are doing and yet, it's just as boring to watch as it was watching Greece in 2004. Also, if this "Tiqui-taca" is "modern football", then count me out. I'm going to find a different, more exciting sport, like Golf for example...

Off to the pub, come on boys, show some fucking passion. EEEEEEEEENNNNNNGGGLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDD

England vs Italy is the only match in the entire tournament where I placed my bets on a penalty shoot-out. I have Italy winning in the end and the scoreboard saying 0 - 0 after extra time.

England was playing really good for the first half until like 30 minutes in when they started being really defensive and wasted most of their possession.

Italy didnt seem to be doing much than trying to attack and then losing possession near the goal, I wouldnt be surprised if England won.

At 6/24/12 03:23 PM, Auz wrote: England vs Italy is the only match in the entire tournament where I placed my bets on a penalty shoot-out. I have Italy winning in the end and the scoreboard saying 0 - 0 after extra time.

Looks good for you so far. ;)

Haven't watched the whole match, but there where some good chances for both sides. I was really suprised, however, to see Italy attacking only via their left wing. The guy on the right wing was pretty much alone there (no opponent near him as well), but never did they pass the ball to him.
Then, the one single time they attacked over the right side, they created a pretty good chance.

Also, if it comes to a penalty shootout, will Balotelli shoot like he usually does in the Premier League? On the other hand, Joe Hart should know how Balotelli usually shoots his penalties...

At 6/24/12 04:58 PM, Haggard wrote:

At 6/24/12 03:23 PM, Auz wrote: England vs Italy is the only match in the entire tournament where I placed my bets on a penalty shoot-out. I have Italy winning in the end and the scoreboard saying 0 - 0 after extra time.

Looks good for you so far. ;)

Yeah I'm a little surprised it's still 0-0 since both sides have had plenty of big opportunities for a goal. And right now Italy is almost constantly passing the ball around at the edges of England's box, but apparently they just can't force a goal.

Anyway, I'm hoping for a penalty shoot-out here. They're always lots of fun (as long as it isn't your own team that's involved).

Fucking penalties

haha glad the english lost

serves you right for having a cocky goalkeeper

FORZA ITALIA!

At 6/24/12 05:13 PM, Auz wrote: Anyway, I'm hoping for a penalty shoot-out here. They're always lots of fun (as long as it isn't your own team that's involved).

And so it happened.

Also, lolengland. What is it, that you cannot win in a penalty shoot out? This can't be "bad luck" anymore...

On the other hand: Damn! Germany could NEVER win against Italy in a tournament (I said it before). So chances of reaching the finals are very slim for Germany now. :(

At 6/24/12 05:31 PM, Lunaful wrote: Well that was a good game over all.

I didn't watch it all, but yes, it was actually an entertaining 0-0, from what I've seen.

Thanks to my dumb shit DVR I missed the entire penalty shootout, THE ONLY PART OF THE GAME THAT ACTUALLY MATTERED.

Gonna be one hell of a fight for Italy after this one. 2 days less rest, coming off more than 120 minutes of play, and obviously less talented than Germany. They'll have to pull some kinda miracle out of their ass to get to the finals.

That happened

England vs Italy was probably the longest game I've ever seen.

At 6/24/12 06:16 PM, Onepiece285 wrote: Gonna be one hell of a fight for Italy after this one. 2 days less rest, coming off more than 120 minutes of play, and obviously less talented than Germany. They'll have to pull some kinda miracle out of their ass to get to the finals.

Italy is obviously less talented than Spain as well, and yet all Spain could get was a draw.

At 6/24/12 08:58 PM, Taraa wrote: England vs Italy was probably the longest game I've ever seen.

The fun doesn't start until the Goalkeepers have to shoot a penalty.

Nobody seems to want to say it, either here or in the press... that was the most inept performance I have ever seen from an England side in 20 years of watching them (The first 20 minutes excluded). Just atrocious.

We couldn't string a pass together for over an hour of the match. But what really irritated me was how our tactic seemed to be to stand off players and let them pass at will in the hope that we either blocked the eventual shot or they missed. Pause the game at any point in the second half or extra time and you will see every single Italian player in space, no pressure on the ball whatsoever, no marking, and not a single tackle from an England player. On the rare occassion that Parker broke things up we usually created a chance.

If we had actually put pressure on the ball (as Italy did so well), we would have won. Pirlo was given all the freedom in the world to pass the ball. It isn't like he was faster than our players, or stronger, he was just allowed to be brilliant. And then the interviews... 'we tried our hardest', 'Italy were fantastic'... some of our players barely touched the ball in an hour of play! They weren't exactly throwing themselves forward, they were just standing in space watching the Italian's play. If that is trying our best then it is just as well we aren't playing Germany, we would have been absolutely humiliated!

And then penalties... we finally have a keeper who knows how to put pressure on the opposition, and even though he didn't save any, he gave me more confidence in our chances. However whoever thought Ashley Young should have been allowed to take one was insane- he has been shit all tournament and just had miss written all over his face as he walked up.

Holy fuck it was painful watching England lose today. I know that they most likely wouldn't have one the cup but still, they had a good run. Fuckin' penalty kicks man.

I'm betting that Spain wins. Final match will be Spain v. Germany.

Germany is pretty vicious but Spain's had a pretty good streak going.

At 6/25/12 02:41 AM, Sentio wrote:

We couldn't string a pass together for over an hour of the match.

Carrick and Scholes would've been a better option than Gerrard and Parker who just seemed willing to go forward only to mess up the final(or most of the time first) pass

Unless Jack Wilshere turns out to be a footballing god England look set for another 10 years of disappointment

At 6/25/12 06:35 AM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/25/12 02:41 AM, Sentio wrote: We couldn't string a pass together for over an hour of the match.

Carrick and Scholes would've been a better option than Gerrard and Parker who just seemed willing to go forward only to mess up the final(or most of the time first) pass

Man U fan, are we? :P

To be fair, I felt that the blame lies with Rooney and Young. Neither should have been on the pitch, after an hour - they both looked spent. I understand that Rooney was on the pitch because he has the chance to be a hero, plus he's there for a penalty shoot out. But getting fresh legs on for him would have helped and possibly even avoided the need for a shootout.

Unless Jack Wilshere turns out to be a footballing god England look set for another 10 years of disappointment

Not 10 years, due to the current setup. We have to acknowledge that we aren't as good as we were in '66 and the rest of the world is better. In some cases, that is a lot better.

At 6/25/12 02:41 AM, Sentio wrote: Nobody seems to want to say it, either here or in the press... that was the most inept performance I have ever seen from an England side in 20 years of watching them (The first 20 minutes excluded). Just atrocious.

I think youre overreacting, we were actually playing better than the italians from 10 minutes to 35 and in the first 10 minutes it was pretty even. After 35 minutes though it was just the italians attacking constantly and it continued over the rest of the match.

At 6/25/12 08:43 AM, Coop wrote:

At 6/25/12 06:35 AM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/25/12 02:41 AM, Sentio wrote: We couldn't string a pass together for over an hour of the match.

Carrick and Scholes would've been a better option than Gerrard and Parker who just seemed willing to go forward only to mess up the final(or most of the time first) pass

Man U fan, are we? :P

Yeah but look at the other teams CM
Italy: Pirlo and Marchisio - Juventus
Germany: Kroos and Schweinsteiger - Bayern
Spain: Iniesta and Xavi - Barca]

Gerrard and Parker just didn't seem to be on the same wave length

To be fair, I felt that the blame lies with Rooney and Young. Neither should have been on the pitch, after an hour - they both looked spent. I understand that Rooney was on the pitch because he has the chance to be a hero, plus he's there for a penalty shoot out. But getting fresh legs on for him would have helped and possibly even avoided the need for a shootout.

I agree, Young was terrible and everyone I was watching the match with knew he was going to miss and overall he had a bad tournament.
Rooney on the other hand just seems to be a scapegoat, like Capello in 2010, he actually tried to get foward but when the ball is constantly in Englands box he couldn't do anything the one time he did get to attack with Welbeck they nearly scored

Cheer up England for Wimbledon has finally started and so we can go straight on to supporting whoever is playing against Andy Murray in each round.

The Italians were good, they deserved to win I think. It doesn't matter anyways, the final will be Germany vs. Spain. Fun though to see penalty in Euro 2012.

At 6/25/12 11:47 AM, Ejit wrote:

I'm not sure whether it was a tactic or plain ineptitude, though. They started off well, with an attacking or counter-attacking approach and were at least equal to Italy, then after 30 minutes or so that disappeared and the tactic seemed to completely change. The second half onward in particular was atrocious, but what caused that drop off? Unless Hodgson was taken aback by the Italians' attacking, it has to be the players who are to blame. I think it's fair to assume that the way England started was the way Hogson told them to, with his instructions still at the front of their minds, and I don't think he would have changed gameplan.

Yeah, I'm not blaming Hodgson at all, you could see him yelling to get closer to Pirlo all match. They just seemed to want to watch and not tackle- barely one single tackle was made by an England player after the first 30 minutes, and Italy had acres of room. I played it back today and paused it at intervals in the second half and extra time. Every time there wasn't an England player marking a single Italian (that is close enough to intercept or tackle). They were all stood off by about 2 or 3 metres, and then when the ball was played held that position. Pressure would have made all the difference. Hell, it is the very first basic of defending- stick with your man. When every one of the 10 outfield Italians is in space for the best part of an hour, there is something very seriously wrong. Especially when they aren't exactly lightning fast, or massively skillful (Pirlo excluded).

IT'S ALL JOHN TERRY'S FAULT

I think it might well have been be someone like Terry calling for other players to stay back and help cover him when he felt intimidated by the Italian attack. It's that or they all just got scared.

IT'S ALL WAYNE ROONEY'S FAULT

Just watch it again. He is almost always the nearest player to Pirlo, yet rather than pressuring him into a mistake, he doesn't even walk in his direction. He was standing and watching the whole match, and as a result Pirlo could pull the strings. Had Rooney and to a lesser extent Welbeck put pressure on from the front it may have galvanised the team and helped us create a few chances on the break.

It was a miserable display from Rooney- lazy and unprofessional, and it washed over the rest, who all played much better in the first two games without him.

Fucking bollocks!... Literally.

At 6/25/12 03:10 PM, CharltonChinchilla wrote: Fucking bollocks!... Literally.

Didn't put him off though did it.

At 6/25/12 03:52 PM, Gagsy wrote:

At 6/25/12 03:10 PM, CharltonChinchilla wrote: Fucking bollocks!... Literally.

Didn't put him off though did it.

Maybe it was just what he needed to put the ball into the back of the net.

Germany should beat the Italians, at least they are clearly the better team in my opinion. Spain-Portugal should be a fun game, hopefully the Spaniards make their way to the finals.

At 6/25/12 03:10 PM, CharltonChinchilla wrote: Fucking bollocks!... Literally.

I was so pissed off when I saw that. The talented bastard.

Spain will make it to the finals today. Sad, but true. I think they will meet Italy again there.