EURO 2008

[Boogahz]

Yeah, there seemed to be some confusion about when the yellows would actually be wiped. Some were saying before the quarterfinals, some were saying after. It led to some rather confusing discussions among the ESPN staff, lol.

[Truant]

I got to see Ned Rus to the end of regulation, but not the OT. I thought it was a very even match. Possesion, attacks, shots, etc all seem to be pretty much half and half. Russia seemed to have more corners, but didn't seem to do anything with them so that's a wash. I had to look at the stats and the box scores to see what happened with the end. I guess Russia's non stop attacking finally got those two goals in in 2nd OT. I'm sad to see the Orange Men go, cause they were the team I chose to cheer for at the beginning, but Russia has earned it with their play. They're very fun to watch. They're weak defensively, so a team can exploit that...but they just never stop attacking.

I didn't get to watch Esp Ita today, but from the recap it looks like Italy just tried to turtle and play big defense. The numbers for shots, etc. are like 2-1 Esp. I'm glad they won though, they're playing great ball and are also very fun to watch.

I'll be able to watch the Ger Tur game on wednesday. much yay

[Boogahz]

I felt that either team deserved the win in the Netherlands-Russia game. Very good, but I still feel that the Croatia-Turkey game was better in this round!

I didn't feel that way going into the penalty kicks in the Spain-Italy game though. Sure, Italy's defense was great, but they had no attack. Plus, I have no clue what was up with that ref. He kept stopping play in places that a player may traditionally do so, but it isn't required. It certainly wasn't his job to do it. It also stopped a couple of Spain's counterattacks when the Italians were "injured." Then, he would give Italy back the ball as if Advantage had been lost, when Spain had completed several passes and advanced 1/3 of the way up the field.

In regards to Wednesday's game, I really hope Frings doesn't start. He has a broken rib, and he has been training with some kind of carbon plaster shell...or something like that. I can just see that going back on a challenge. It seems like it would almost be a guaranteed sub at some point.

[miir]

Spain/Italy was just awful.
Worst game of the tourney.

[Boogahz]

Here's to hoping that Turkey scoring first means they will not score last!

[Aardor]

Anywhere to watch these online? ESPN360 says I can, but then gives a bunch of javascript errors =(.

[Boogahz]

Yeah, it was on ESPN/ESPN360.com, but there were weather issues with lightning hitting the broadcast tower being used to broadcast worldwide. I was able to keep up with the game on bundesliga.de by running the liveticker. It should be broadcast on ESPN Classic later too...but I would guess that there would still be the blackouts.

I'm pissed at not getting to actually see the whole game. What I did see/hear/read had it looking damn good after Turkey made the German team start thinking more offensively.

I've loved watching Lahm play, and it rocked seeing him score the game winner

[Drolgin Steingrinder]

Try http://www.rojadirecta.com for all manner of links to watch it on. Most require either a 3rd party app such as TVAnts, SopCast or TVUplayer or require Flash to be installed.

re: Germany-Turkey. I thought it was a weird and messy game. Germany looked like the espressomachine at the hotel hadn't worked this morning, sluggish, lethargic, slow and more words that mean the same thing. I really thought Turkey deserved a win more - but that's Germany for you.

[Boogahz]

Try http://www.rojadirecta.com for all manner of links to watch it on. Most require either a 3rd party app such as TVAnts, SopCast or TVUplayer or require Flash to be installed.

re: Germany-Turkey. I thought it was a weird and messy game. Germany looked like the espressomachine at the hotel hadn't worked this morning, sluggish, lethargic, slow and more words that mean the same thing. I really thought Turkey deserved a win more - but that's Germany for you.

I would agree with the German play through the center of the field. The wings seemed to be moving a lot more from the backs to the forwards though. You would think that a 4-2-3-1 would have more movement in the middle. Then again, the Germans have a tendency to draw their opponents into making a mistake before pouncing, and I thought the first goal was a good example. They have had trouble mixing the long and short passes though, and I just hope they can get things sorted out by Sunday. The defenders (except Lahm) bother me for some reason. It just seems like they expect Lehmann to save every shot, and I don't personally have much faith in him as noted by the first goal today. Granted, he was probably off balance after the ball took that funky bounce off of the crossbar, but he had it in his damn hands!

I really wish I could have seen the entire second half. It wouldn't have been so bad if ESPN had actually paid for announcers to be at the stadium...well, we probably wouldn't have had audio or video, but still...


I still think that the Turkey v Czeck Republic game was the best of the tournament so far!

[Tyek]

ESPN classic just replayed the whole game, no interruptions.

[Boogahz]

ah crap

and I didn't record it since I expected the blackout

[Truant]

Rus Esp went how I hoped, minus David Villa going down
I would have been happy with either team, but I was cheering for Spain. I was happy to see Fabregas in there, and making a difference. I really expected it to be a closer match, but It seems like Spain pretty much dominated on shots and possesion. (note, I didn't check the numbers)

This will make a very interesting final. I think Germany probably would have picked apart Russia. But Germany and Spain seems to be a very interesting matchup.

Also regarding Germany, Bastion Schweinsteiger has scored or had an assist (or both) in every game since they began starting him. Which reinforces my embogglement of why in the fuck wasn't he starting to begin with?!

[Boogahz]

for the same reason he wasn't starting at FCBayern...nobody knows!

I'm really looking forward to Sunday's matchup too. I have not watched most of yesterday's game yet, but the gamecast I was watching seemed to indicate that Spain was peppering the Russian goal with shots.

[Truant]

Yeah, at one point during the game they showed stats for shots, and Spain had Russia by a 2-1 margin. It probably got worse but I don't have time to look up the stats atm.

[Boogahz]

after a quick glance, shots on goal: 9:21

http://www.bundesliga.de/data/livebox_p ... 242646.pdf

crazy! going to have to watch that one tonight or tomorrow

[Boogahz]

Spain was definitely the better team in the final game. German defenders couldn't seem to mark anyone coming down the wings, and the attack was only there for about 10 minutes. Too many passes were lost in the mid-field, and throughballs were about 2 paces off of where they needed to be.

[Drolgin Steingrinder]

A very well-deserved win. It seemed like most of the German side gave up after Torres' goal. Lahm had a shitty game, Ballack was inconsequential - the only people who really tried was Schweinsteiger (who mostly bitched at the ref), Mertesacker and Frings who seemed to clearly be suffering from those busted ribs.

I was disappointed in Aragones subbing Silva, he was one of the best and most attack-hungry of the team. And Santi Cazorla didn't put a foot right in the 30 mins he got...hate that guy.

Will be fun to see the spanish press advocate canonization for the coach they've been lambasting for 3 months (for not selecting Raul, for instance). Aragones has said that it's too little too late if the FA want him to stay on as coach, he's leaving and slamming the door. Fun fun.

All in all a pretty good Euro2008 (that would've been a lot better had Denmark played) with the right winner.

[Truant]

I agree completely with your assesments Mr. Drolgin sir.
It really surprised me, but Germany just seemed to kind of fall apart. They had been executing rather well up to this point, but there were lots of turnovers and failed defending.

Congrats to Spain on a well deserved win

[Chidoro]

It probably has to do with Spain controlling the game. Getting a team out of their rhythm as Spain did all tourny was the key. Bad bad mistake to set up the goal but he was still forced to earn it, and he did.

What a bitch of a schedule year, Olympics are coming now.

[Winnow]

I was only able to watch the final game.

I was pleased to see that the "faking" penalties have been cleaned up. That's always bothered me quite a bit (and still does in the NBA)

Germany appeared to be the "dirtier" team from what I observed the first half, before I had too much beer in me. And while Germany was more aggressive, Spain had the better possessions IMO.

Based on these unprofessional observations, Spain deserved the win.