At the 2006 World Cup Germany
threw off the chains of decades of highly effective but mind-numbing play to become
one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament. Today they reverted to old habits and
produced an uninspiring but all the same, winning performance.
Apart from both coaches
being sent to the stands the only memorable moment of the first forty-five
minutes was a miss by Gomez of Kanuesque proportions. Klose fed him a pass that
put him in front of an open goal and no more than four yards out.
Gomez contrived
to sand wedge the ball up in the air and as it spun towards the goal an
Austrian defender recovered and headed clear unchallenged. Surely the miss of
the tournament.
It is no secret that Gomez is struggling badly but it is to the point that it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep him on the field. Lowe apparently likes a more physical forward up front with Klose and that has been one of the reasons to pull Podolski deeper into midfield.
However, the Podolski move has compounded the problem because the Bayern Munich player has fitted in nicely in midfield while also scoring goals. Sticking with Gomez in the next round would be a vote of confidence bordering on the foolhardy.
Fritz and Frings (sounds like a Vegas lounge act) both had nightmare games and were constantly battling to control passes and to find team mates. Any coordinated threat from
Germany in the first half came with Lahm and Podolski linking down the left
side. And it was through a surging run from Lahm that Germany took the lead just into the second half.
Ivanschitz
sliced down the little full back as he threatened to break into the penalty and
set up a free kick 30 yards out. The ball was touched to Ballack who thumped a
shot passed Macho and was still rising as it hit the back of the Austrian net. It
was the one moment of pure class throughout the entire ninety minutes.
As the game went on a lack
of telling passes in the last third of the field allowed both defences to remain
comfortably in control through weight of numbers. Although Austria continued to
push forward they just did not the conviction or skill to both manufacture and
take a chance that might have changed the flow of the game. Germany had a
number of chances on the counter but they often looked dazed and confused and
nothing came of the numerous opportunities.
Germany win ugly and move
on: Austria finishes above Poland but go out albeit having exceeded the low expectations.
Croatia 1-0 Poland
Ivan Klasnic scored what
must surely be the most personally emotional goal to maintain Croatia’s 100%
record. Klasnic who underwent kidney transplants in the last two years and still
fought his way back into the national team scored the only goal. Given that he
has also been released by his club Werder Bremen in Germany the goal will not
have gone unnoticed by teams looking for a proven striker.
Portugal vs. Germany on
Thursday; Croatia vs. Turkey on Friday.
Comment of the Day “The Austro-Swiss flop is the first in what may be a sequence of poor performances by host nations in European and world tournaments. World Cup 2010 hosts South Africa have slipped down the rankings in African football over the past few years and suffered another embarrassing defeat, away to Sierra Leone, in an African Nations Cup qualifier yesterday.
Even if they get a helpful draw in two years' time they may struggle to advance. In 2012, the European championship will be jointly staged by Ukraine, who have qualified for only one major tournament since gaining independence, and Poland who have disappointed at Euro 2008 just as they did at the last two World Cups.” – When Saturday Comes.
Prediction Update We have eleven posters with a 100% record (8 points from a possible 8) at the completion of Group A.
Matthew 21110, Anti-Madridista, Sleeper000, Sangria, Soundersfan, SMuAnNuNy, Genuisatwork, TBoone, Willisman, realmadrista123, and Milanfan21 all nailed the exact finishing positions.
However, we already know that no one will have a 100% record once group play is complete.
But given that the winners of Group B, C and D are already decided I can tell you that we have three posters who got all four group winners spot on. LHJS, Soundersfan and frenchies.
Looks as if Soundersfan is the one to beat. I’ll try to update at the conclusion of each group.
Tiebreaker In Canada TSN and Rogers Sportsnet are sharing the coverage of Euro 2008. It is just as well that they haven't had to pay each viewer a dollar every time they have gotten the tiebreaker rule wrong over the last five days.
The latest faux pas just before the start of Group A play yesterday when we were informed (paraphrased) that if the Czechs won big and Portugal lost big then the Czechs could finish top of Group A on goal difference.
CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Yesterday’s later games brought another couple of surprise results. Trinidad and Tobago lost 2-1 at home to Bermuda while Haiti was held scoreless at home by Netherlands Antilles. The ####mp;T score potentially impacts the next round of games for the USA as the qualification format moves to three groups of four.
Canada opposition in the next stage is a mere formality. Honduras has already qualified while Mexico has a 2-0 lead to take home against Belize. Jamaica won 7-0 against the Bahamas and will surely move on. After this weekend’s results the idea that the next stage of qualifying might be prove to the biggest hurdle for Canada to clear has only been reinforced.
The results and the format to the next stage can be found by clicking on the link.
My comment of the day: 'We are not wetting our pants because we are playing Germany, we know they have problems and we know they are not playing that well.' - Austria coach Josef Hickersberger
Germany in a rout and 11 sets of diapers for the home side.
LGB:
You're supposed to argue with me! ;)
I always instinctively look for excuses when I lose, or a team I support loses. One of my many flaws! I wrote:
"Italy played very badly against Holland. Donadoni got that lineup so wrong that the team sitting on the bench was much better and would’ve beaten them handily as well. The players that started, however, played very poorly and lost deservedly.
Against Romania, Italy did more than enough to win. The ref said they got the offside call wrong, whereas UEFA looked at it and determined that Del Piero was offside. That match could’ve ended any number of ways, and the consensus in Italy is that they’ll take the 1-1.
To win a tournament (club or country) a team has to catch several breaks both on and off the field. Two years ago, Italy were lucky to find an average Ukraine team in the QF. Also, Italy beat Australia on a last minute penalty, beat Germany in the last minute of extra time, and won the final on penalties – they could’ve quite easily lost any one of those matches. France or Germany could win this tournament, just as easily as Spain or Holland can. There are still 10 or 11 teams who can win this tournament, and I wouldn’t bet my bottom dollar against any of them."
RINGO: Canada can look back at an early '80s 0-1 victory over Mexico in the Azteca or a 2-1 win over Honduras in 1986 that clinched qualification for their only World Cup appearance as their biggest victories. But better days lie just ahead.
As for days ahead, no one can be happier about their first dozen or so English Premier League games than Ar5ena1. Pink with pleasure, surely.
Handed a similarly tender set of opening matches last year, Ar5ena1 proceeded to romp out to an early league lead only to #### it up hugely when they failed to properly reinforce the side in the January transfer window. Then got spit-kicked by Spurs and ManU by four goal margins and watched the season flush down the toilet.
The grand poobahs of English football have learned that the club will not squander another such advantage and have again granted them a schedule that features but one top-four opponent - ManU at home - in their first dozen rounds.
Seven of the first 12 are at home and the only other opponents worthy of concern - European qualifiers - are Everton and Spurs, both at Stade Escargot.
Otherwise, it's an opening dozen rounds that looks like multiple servings of tapioca. Compare the relative schedule strengths facing Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton and you'll see just how favoured Ar5ena1 are by the Premier League schedule makers. A sure sign of how desperate the league is to find a new champion.
Ahh, more foamy-mouthed conspiracy theories, the refuge of weak-minded underachievers everywhere. Even with many, many talking points generated by Euro 2008 and summer transfer rumours, some people manage to avoid watching the game to obsessively concentrate on fashion criticism of new kits and grassy knolls in the FA offices. No matter what the topic happens to be, the tone -- shrill -- and content -- lame -- never changes. Top marks for consistency!
Why does Flash always find a way to comment about Arsenal? it is really amazing.
I feel bad for Cech. I know about severe concussions. I have had a few. It is now difficult to catch routine pop ups when I play softball. The depth perception and reaction time just gets worse. I still can't believe people think that Hunt's knee was unintentional.
Germany beats Austria resoundingly. Gomez should sit to start.
I was listening to the guardian podcast just now and they said that the blackburn fans have started a petition to prevent Sam Allardyce becoming manager. This is a good move but who they really need to be worrying about is Mclaren getting the job
After watching the czechs get knocked out it has become clear that petr cech isnt half the goal keeper he is for the czech republic that he is for chelsea without carvalho and terry in front of him. some of the blame definitely rests on his performance yesterday.
Ringo - Beat the USA 7-0 at the 1904 (St Louis?) Olympics. Since WW11 I think it was a 5-0 win over Malaysia. However, the game was part of a tournament that happened just after the 1986 World Cup and became infamous because of bribes accepted by some Canadian players.
Bobby -- We need some insight here on the Germans -- what in the world? They were the pre-tournament favorite and supposedly their weakest link (Lehmann) doesn't seem to be the problem.
Careful when you say that Germany was the pre-tournament favorite. They were but the reasoning behind that was how the groups formed and who they would play in the QF's and Semis.
If you look how the brackets break down its obvious for Germany who have the most Euro titles already to be the favorites as the path to the final is way less complicated then the other side. Switch Germany and France and I bet the odds would of been much different or Germany and Italy.
With that said would any of us be that surprised if they thump Portugal and get revenge over Croatia in the semis and are in the Finals? Its a one and done tournament and teams with real skill can wake up anytime. Partly why I will be happy to see Romania win tomorrow.
Looks like Donadoni is going to make several changes to his starting lineup again for tomorrow's match. He seems very indecisive, you'd think he would've figured out his basic lineup a month ago. Maybe with so many players underperforming, he has no choice.
According to several news outlets Del Piero, Perrotta, Pirlo, and Camoranesi reportedly all relegated to the bench, replaced by Cassano, Gattuso, Ambrosini, and Di Natale. Donadoni must be envisioning a scrappy battle in this one.
The truth is, Donadoni is not an international manager (nor is Domenech for that matter).
If I were an Italy supporter, I'd want Donadoni sacked for choosing his Milanese friends, Ambrosini (since when is he an international anyway?), and Gattuso, who had bad seasons and don't fit together. A bit surprising that de Rossi was relegated to the bench during the start of the tourney. No comment on del Piero's selection!
I thought Del Piero looked good at times against Romania.
RE France.
-Sagna for Sagnol
-Meixes for Thuram
-Evra to start for certain
-Nasri for Toulalan and Toulalan to the rubbish bin, shoot I'd take Vikash Dhorasoo right about now.
-Benzema for Govou
-Ribeiry back to the right side
Nice to hear thats what you would be complaining about Atleti and not the refs non stop :D
and I agree both coaches cant even get past squad selection what a joke. Domenech is riding the 2006 WC where the team chose itself. Easy to look savvy when you have Zidane. Viera has also been ruled out for the Italy game. Flamini should of been in the team ahead of Toulan anyways.
Horoscope for Domenech tomorrow. Clouds on the horizon concerning your job. Update your resume.
TH/Aldo- people have mentioned Flash's infatuation with Arsenal, but this time it was such a stretch to mention it during the Euros that it really hit home.
I have to agree with you Atleti. Donadoni was a great player, but he is not top manager material. I wouldn’t mind seeing him sacked, and maybe Ancelotti take over, and Milan bring in Rijkaard.
The fact that Ambrosini starts for either Milan or Italy says a lot about the sad state of both. Pirlo and Gattuso are shadows of their former selves, but should start along with De Rossi tomorrow. I think Del Piero is absolutely useless. He is weak and has never shown up for big occasions. He single handedly cost Italy the Euro 2000 final, twice pissing down his leg when one-on-one with Barthez before France equalized.
I guess Donadoni wants to make sure Italy wins the midfield battle tomorrow knowing it may well be a scrappy affair, and then get Cassano and Toni some good service and see if they can make something happen. This match may be exciting but I don’t think it’ll be pretty.
I’m just glad that Trezeguet, Flamini and Mexes won’t be starting. Thanks Ray!!
To think France can pass their group would be pretty silly. In Euro 2004, they made it to the quarter finals and lost 1-0 to Greece. At the world cup 2006, they've struggled in what was the easiest group and barely got pass the group stage and then they had a lucky path to the final.
He admitted that and said he was actually in some way "happy" that this season was over for him.
He thinks that losing the Final with Chelsea was even more ner-wracking then this.
He was injured ,lost 2 major "finals" with Club and National team etc...
The whole Czech management of the Team including Bruckner resigned and totally new team will lead to squad into their next game...A friendly vs. England,in Wembley,in August as a part of preparation for the WC Qualifications in September.
Cech knew that the second goal blunder indirectly caused the fatal 3rd one as the squad was shaken by being up by 2 goals one minute and then tied as they wanted to avoid the penalty shoot out as a goal for the game.
The whole 3 games,while the Czechs played better and better,they had problems with holding the ball,high defending and transition.
Also,Sionko and Plasil should have stayed on and Koller should have left the game for Baros.
Bruckner ,however,thought that Koller can still break the open defense with the Turks playing deperate.
The Czech Coaches and management,plus the players,including Rosicky,said they never experienced and anti-climax such as this and this feeling they had afterwards were undescribable,much worse then getting knocked-off by Greece in the Semifinal in Portugal,on "silver" goal....
What I can say about Croatia? To win with 2nd string players is impressive, something even Portugal could not have accomplished.
Croatia should by now be considered as one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Man of the Match: While I think that Pranjic was once again the best player, I'd have to give Ivan Klasnic the Man of the Match award. Even if you hate Croatia, you have to cheer for this guy. After two kidney transplants, the guy scores the winning goal for his country.
Last edited by Sleeper000 on June 16th at 9:38 PM.
[The last question, and Domenech' last response before ending the interview]
"Interviewer: Est-ce que vous craigniez que ce soit votre dernier match à la tête des Bleus?
Raymond Domenech: Je vous ai déjà dit que cela m’importait peu. Moi, je ne vous demande pas si c’est votre dernière conférence de presse. En tous cas, c’était la dernière question."
Translation:
Interviewer: Are you worried that (the Italy match) might be your last as manager of les Bleus?
RD: I already told you that doesn't concern me. I'm not asking you whether this is your last press conference. In any case, that was the last question.
I am pissed off at a lot of things this tournament
-Why is Portugal seen so highly?
***
Who'd they beat, an inexperienced and (compared to previous generations) low-quality Turkish side.. then a sloppy Czech side with all their best players not even able to compete due to injuries.. yes 2 games and the media hypes them up like they're King Kong.
"Germany don't want to finish second, or they'll have to face Portugal!" oh wow.. ya, that's a real good point there, Mr. #### on ESPN. I would much rather face one of the other teams, like San Marino or Montserrat.
See first they hype up the tournament, like its the clash of the titans.. the "sixteen of the best teams on earth" and then they go around poking fun at half of them. "Austria shouldn't even be here" and "Poland's Brazilian scored an off-side goal" and all that kind of garbage.
The majority of the media spreads lies and misinformation. Comeon, everyone who watched the 2006 World Cup knows France's coach is a clueless muppet. But guess what, they got to the final. Then the muppet got an extension. Now we're back to square one, yet do they tackle any of these true problems? No. They just keep spamming the air waves with politically correct non-sense. Did I hear anyone say Ramos was soley to blaim for Spain conceding against Sweden? Did I hear anyone say Shirokov was soley to blaim for Villa's "spectacular" hat-track in game 1?
The hype is almost as unbearable as when they needlessly insult hardworking squads like Austria. This tournament is not a sprint, its a marathon. and that reminds me, Ronaldo is not the greatest! He is the best, at waxing his back, plucking his eye-brows... yes not many footballers can touch him in that department
***
My wife, who neither knows anything about nor cares about football, has nicknamed our three year old son Ronaldo. This because when Ronaldo takes up his weird stance to take a free kick: very rigid posture, legs spread far apart, knees locked, very focused facial expression, he looks just like my son when he’s filling up his diaper. So now the whole family will be watching the Portugal matches. I guess I might as well teach the kids to chant “o-v-e-r-r-a-t-e-d …. o-v-e-r-r-a-t-e-d” since the match is going to be family entertainment anyway.
Before anyone brings up any of the "what ifs" about today's games ,The BBC explains every possible scenario ,including one where Italy and France would need a penalty shoot-out to decide third place(?),and one where Tottenham and Arsenal would be relegated.
I love how people like to take snipes at Ronaldo. Then again jealousy is the highest form of flattery. Still have modest expectations against the Germans but if they continue to be this flat not really worried about the defense shutting down Gomez who shouldn't even start and Deco slicing up the midfield . There will be at least one bust up with Ballack as he gets frustrated.
Sleeper not sure how large an accomplishment it is to roll Poland. Sorry to say it but they are becoming the worst team that qualifies then completely folds. They have done nothing in 2002, missed 2004, 2006 and this year. They have a total of 2 wins 1 draw and 6 losses finishing dead last 2 times in their groups. Just dreadful.
Jay:
I didn't know you loved the snipes on Ronaldo - I've got more! Why does Ronaldo have more shots at goal than passes and tackles combined in this tournament? Because through passes don't get your face in the papers, and tackling is best left for the untalented scrubs on the team.
By the way, my favorite flattery quote: "Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself", Dale Carnegie.
Anyway, So if I understand this correctly, if Italy-France ends in a draw they will have to wait for the other match in the group to end. If Romania lose, there will be a three way tie and teams will be ranked by goal difference, goals scored, then UEFA coefficient. If Romania wins or draws, France-Italy would go to penalties.
He has 78 passes according to Castrol stats so your joke kinda doesn't work. Come nothing about how hes too pretty to play or something?
and no LGB the correct thing to say is its easy taking shots at whoever is at top. If it was Torres it would be why does he look like a girl (like my 5 year old cousin confused him for) or if it was Rooney we would say he looks like a ogre. If it was Gerrard why doesn't he speak English. If it was Ribbery why does he look like hes been chainsawed. Just find it funny people sink to insults when they are clearly jealous of somebody else to cut them down. High school level.
Apparently you haven't looked up how many shots he's taken!
I think he's outshot the entire Holland team! Actually he's taken 13 and they've taken 34 with a slightly better success rate.
I'm not trying to insult Ronaldo - not that it really matters if I were. I do think it's amazing how we came to establish that he is the greatest player in the world without a shadow of a doubt.
Last edited by Venti_vidi_vici on June 17th at 7:16 AM.
13 in 2 games thats it? Ridiculous he should be taking 2 or 3 times more.
well the best player changes weekly monthly and most importantly yearly. But for the season that just happened I think its safe to say without a shadow of doubt he was the best. Next year who knows.
The BBC has now changed the story. No penalty shoot out France - Italy. UEFA has stated that a penalty shoot out is to be used only to decide who qualifies not for who receives a group wooden spoon.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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