At 6/27/12 01:46 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: This match has bore draw written all over it.

Fancy Spain to pinch it in extra time or, most probably, penalties. Either way, bye-bye Portugal.

I have this down as a tight 1-1 draw (probably a late Ronaldo equaliser), and then Spain winning in extra time as Portugal are exhausted from chasing shadows for 120 minutes.

Germany to win comfortably (2-0) tomorrow. Italy won't be given anything like the freedom they had against England, and as such will not be nearly as good.

At 6/27/12 01:46 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: This match has bore draw written all over it.

I agree. It's been a terrible match so far and all this diving and whining from both sides is really getting annoying.

I think Spain will win in the end with a very late goal.

Spain wins after penalties.

Honestly, I kinda wish both of these teams would've been eliminated because they've been playing some really boring football the last couple of matches.

Anyway, if Germany wins tomorrow I at least predicted the two finalists right. I've really been on a roll ever since the quarter finals started.

I HOPE GERMANY END YOU, SPAIN

At 6/27/12 05:40 PM, Onepiece285 wrote: I HOPE GERMANY END YOU, SPAIN

Germany don't stand a chance against Spain, its like a mental block or something, we should all pin our hopes on Italy going through (which history will back up that they will) and destroy Spain in the final

This is why I hate international football now, you're forced to watch Spain

At 6/27/12 06:01 PM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/27/12 05:40 PM, Onepiece285 wrote: I HOPE GERMANY END YOU, SPAIN

Germany don't stand a chance against Spain, its like a mental block or something,

True. :(
Not only a mental block when it's against Spain, but with Italy, it's the same. I just cannot see how Germany can win against Italy. Also, Italy have been very strong defensively during this tournament, and they always seem to have the luck on their side...

This is why I hate international football now, you're forced to watch Spain

True again. This is so fucking boring. 500 "completed passes" during one half. Oh wow, amazing... *yawn*

At 6/27/12 04:22 PM, Auz wrote:

At 6/27/12 01:46 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: This match has bore draw written all over it.

I agree. It's been a terrible match so far and all this diving and whining from both sides is really getting annoying.

You can hardly blame them for that when the ref persisted in giving yellow cards and stopping play mid counter attack to whipe up their sniffles. There were a number of occassions he should have let play continue and didn't. Saying that, it is hard for him to judge real from fake- I still think retrospective bans is the only way to wipe out such obvious cheating.

Boring game after the second half, during which Portugal really got amongst Spain. As predicted they were shattered by the end of the game though, and there was only ever going to be one winner on penalties. Spain probably should have won in extra time to be honest, and played some great stuff during that period. If only they always played like that, with pace on the wings in Navas and Pedro- they would be a lot more popular then!

True. :(
Not only a mental block when it's against Spain, but with Italy, it's the same. I just cannot see how Germany can win against Italy. Also, Italy have been very strong defensively during this tournament, and they always seem to have the luck on their side...

I just don't see how this is a guaranteed win for Italy. They've been very sloppy with their finishing throughout the tournament and Germany's surgical style of play would seem to counter them very nicely in my mind. Either way, it should fair for a more interesting match than yesterday's and each team would serve to offer a bit of challenge to Spain as long as they are playing well.

At 6/28/12 01:34 PM, Pfadenhauer wrote:

I just don't see how this is a guaranteed win for Italy. They've been very sloppy with their finishing throughout the tournamen

SUPER MARIO

VENI VIDI VICI

At 6/28/12 03:11 PM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/28/12 01:34 PM, Pfadenhauer wrote:

I just don't see how this is a guaranteed win for Italy. They've been very sloppy with their finishing throughout the tournamen

SUPER MARIO

SUPER MARIO WORLD 2

The greatest German team ever to take the field...

...that never won a trophy.

At 6/28/12 03:24 PM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/28/12 03:11 PM, LostFaceInTrain wrote:

At 6/28/12 01:34 PM, Pfadenhauer wrote:

I just don't see how this is a guaranteed win for Italy. They've been very sloppy with their finishing throughout the tournament

SUPER MARIO

SUPER MARIO WORLD 2

sigh... we'll just have to see what happens in the next 45

Holy fucking shit Balotelli!

Well I was certain Germany would win this comfortably... but I am elated to be proved wrong! They now face one of the toughest tasks in world football. Coming back against the Italians! Saying that if there is a team in the tournament that can do it it is Germany.

Come on Super Mario World 3!

I was pretty sure Germany would win this one (although not comfortably), but from the looks of it they're not gonna be able to bend this into a victory.

At 6/28/12 02:42 AM, Sentio wrote:

At 6/27/12 04:22 PM, Auz wrote: I agree. It's been a terrible match so far and all this diving and whining from both sides is really getting annoying.

You can hardly blame them for that when the ref persisted in giving yellow cards and stopping play mid counter attack to whipe up their sniffles. There were a number of occassions he should have let play continue and didn't. Saying that, it is hard for him to judge real from fake- I still think retrospective bans is the only way to wipe out such obvious cheating.

I agree that would be a good idea, because this kind of behaviour is very unsportive if you ask me.

luigi and mario wooo

super mario bros ftw

Well spain is looking to win their 3rd euro while italy is looking to win their second

Just as I predicted, Italy vs Spain in the finals. Oh my god, who should you root for in that kind of "crap vs shit"?

Rant #1: IF the UEFA had any balls at all, Italy would've never been allowed taking part in this EC. And Spain is boring as hell. So, I really couldn't care less who wins. Except for: I really don't want Spain to defend the title. But Italy deserves it even less, with all this bullcrap going on in their league.

Rant #2: The ref was absolute pish! What on earth did he see in half of the situations? Italian player runs into german player -> Free kick Italy. This happened 4 or 5 times. It's ridiculous.
Italian player is 10 meters offside -> no offside call made. WTF?
Italian player kicks the ball out -> Throw in Italy (ok, I'm not so sure about this one, happened during the final minutes of the game).

Also: Balotelli cramping after 70 minutes? Are you fucking kidding me?!

Not so ranty anymore: At least there's nothing to argue about with the italian goals. Those where 100% correct, so overall, it was a deserved win for Italy. Congrats!

Looking back: What's good about this EC? Germany won every group game. Something no other team accomplished. Germany also won against Holland, which is always comforting. ALSO: Not yet another lost final. Those tend to be stuck with you for far longer than if you lose in the quarter- or semi finals.

Forgetting football right now, just watched the most sensational tennis ending at Wimbledon.

I hope Italy loses 10-0

I hope Italy wins the final! :D

At 6/28/12 04:50 PM, Haggard wrote:

Rant #1: IF the UEFA had any balls at all, Italy would've never been allowed taking part in this EC. And Spain is boring as hell. So, I really couldn't care less who wins. Except for: I really don't want Spain to defend the title. But Italy deserves it even less, with all this bullcrap going on in their league.

Agreed, though hopefully at least the book will be thrown at their domestic league sides.

Rant #2: The ref was absolute pish! What on earth did he see in half of the situations? Italian player runs into german player -> Free kick Italy. This happened 4 or 5 times. It's ridiculous.
Italian player is 10 meters offside -> no offside call made. WTF?
Italian player kicks the ball out -> Throw in Italy (ok, I'm not so sure about this one, happened during the final minutes of the game).

There were a couple of very poor free kicks given that were clearly fouls in the opposite direction, and the offside decisions never had a major impact. Reality is that despite these Italy were the better side.

Not so ranty anymore: At least there's nothing to argue about with the italian goals. Those where 100% correct, so overall, it was a deserved win for Italy. Congrats!

Indeed, I was surprised how poor the German defending was, and like England, they let Pirlo dictate play from deep and ping balls over their backline time and again. Clearly German strikers are as reluctant to track him as Rooney! Two great goals from Balotelli, but both could have been prevented, and Lahm made a shocking msitake for someone of his quality for the second.

I don't fancy Italy in the final though. They were the better side in the group stage, but still didn't win, and Spain have improved since then. Italy have played good possession football for two games, but now face the kings of possession football.

At 6/28/12 05:08 PM, Gagsy wrote: Forgetting football right now, just watched the most sensational tennis ending at Wimbledon.

Thank goodness it didn't run to extra time or I would have missed that! I couldn't believe it was still going at nearly 10PM, the last I'd seen Nadal had stolen the first set in the tie break!

At 6/29/12 02:40 AM, Sentio wrote: Indeed, I was surprised how poor the German defending was, and like England, they let Pirlo dictate play from deep and ping balls over their backline time and again. Clearly German strikers are as reluctant to track him as Rooney! Two great goals from Balotelli, but both could have been prevented, and Lahm made a shocking msitake for someone of his quality for the second.

Yeah, 2 mistakes in the defence, two goals. Also, Pirlo wasn't given that much freedom for huge parts of the game. Kroos tackled him very early.
Also, Germany only plays with one striker and they don't have to work defensively so much. Even though, Gomez is ALWAYS criticised by fans and the press for not "working enough". Sometimes you thing, Gomez could score 5 goals in a single match, and he still would be criticised. Whereas Klose only has to be there on the pitch and he gets a much better rating than Gomez. *I don't want to live on this planet anymore*

I don't fancy Italy in the final though. They were the better side in the group stage, but still didn't win, and Spain have improved since then.

Have they? The match against Portugal was pretty lame, imo.

I really don't know if I am going to watch the final match on Sunday. Best thing that could happen is, if both teams forfeit and then Germany and Portugal play the final instead, haha.

At 6/28/12 05:08 PM, Gagsy wrote: Forgetting football right now, just watched the most sensational tennis ending at Wimbledon.

Lol, I'm only interested in tennis if Ms. Sharapova plays. XD

At 6/29/12 02:40 AM, Sentio wrote:

Thank goodness it didn't run to extra time or I would have missed that! I couldn't believe it was still going at nearly 10PM, the last I'd seen Nadal had stolen the first set in the tie break!

Guess we're lucky too that it takes so damn long to resume play after they close the roof. I always criticized that until now, but thankfully it meant I got to watch the football and then catch that 5th set. My god that Rosol was incredible, some of the shots he was pulling were thunderous and Nadal just could not catch them, and he is notorious for going after every single shot. I'd like to see him go on further now. You now us Brits love an underdog.

At 6/29/12 02:53 AM, Haggard wrote:

Lol, I'm only interested in tennis if Ms. Sharapova plays. XD

I like Sharapova, but I'd like her a hell of a lot more if she calmed her screaming down. Too aggressive, too loud. Shes still pretty awesome though.

Also football! Only thing I'm happy about is Italy's victory makes England look just a little bit better now. Sure the Italians deserved to beat us but at least we didn't concede (Its the small victories that count)!

Stone face Balotelli @ the second goal.

At 6/29/12 04:35 AM, Gagsy wrote:

At 6/29/12 02:53 AM, Haggard wrote:

Lol, I'm only interested in tennis if Ms. Sharapova plays. XD

I like Sharapova, but I'd like her a hell of a lot more if she calmed her screaming down. Too aggressive, too loud. Shes still pretty awesome though.

Strangely enough, her grunting doesn't annoy me as much as it does when other players grunt.

Also football! Only thing I'm happy about is Italy's victory makes England look just a little bit better now. Sure the Italians deserved to beat us but at least we didn't concede (Its the small victories that count)!

Yeah, but you still lost yet another penalty shoot out. This overshadows the "not conceding" vicotry.
Speaking of penalties: Oezils penalty was very good. Even though Buffon was in the right corner, he couldn't get his hand at the ball.

Final tonight then, I'm going for Italy. Even though my interest in the tournament has reached an all time low since England got knocked out, takes out all the fun. I generally just sat and watched the semi finals thinking "I really really don't give a fuck" but hey, once every 4 years so I'll watch it.

Balotelli is one crazy mofo. His ma told him to get groceries that one time and he came back with a quad bike and a trampoline.
As for the finals, Italy has shown more skill thus far than Spain, but so did Germany, and they got slammed. I'm calling Italy.

I want Italy to win, just because of Mario.

So far, no team could defend the EC title, so the odds are against Spain. But on the other hand, Spain has been incredibly lucky so far. Even more lucky than Italy.

I just wonder if it is possible to drink this game pretty...