Any team that starts a Scott Parker should not be considered elite.

justice...

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absolutely poor effort. italy deserved the win. either way, they'll get trumped by zee germans.

Extra Time for Spain and Portugal.

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PK time. I dont like either of these teams. Can I root for them to continue missing for 24 straight hours?

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And we kick...

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I follow where my mind goes...

Spain wins and Ronaldo doesnt even take a shot.

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the mothership will let us know if he was on the list at 5

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I follow where my mind goes...

Maybe if Portugal, and Ronaldo especially, would have been more accurate on their shots and not skying them into the crowd, it would not have come down to PKs.

Hopefully tomorrows game is a bit more entertaining and Germany pulls it out. Then the Germans can end the Spanish era of dominating boredom.

Nothing more exciting in sports than a good 0-0 soccer game, except everything. Hope whoever plays Spain crushes them, although Italy would probably only be able to crush them in pks.

You can have a good 0-0 game, I thought England-Italy was an entertaining game for the most part.

It just Spain sucks that enjoyment out of almost every game I have seen them play. I am tired of seeing the stat of how many more passes they complete then the other team, or their time of possesion. Big fuckin deal...most of the time they complete 10 passes in a row and their back in the same position from where they started.

I will say that today I actually thought I saw some improvement from Spain in terms of using some speed and using the width of the field instead of trying to hit that perfect 1-2 pass thru the middle over and over again.

I know you've all been missing my humble opinions on EURO 2012. I've been away at cottage fishing for pike and walleye (successfully) and muskie (unsuccessfully), with some perch thrown in for good measure.

This England team is very poor in midfield. There's no real creative players. Milner and Parker, who I think are the same guy, are clumsy, plodding, decidedly 4-4-2 English shit. People say Gerrard had a good tournament. Yeah, he was good at times but would often drift out of position like he is liable to do. And the criticism of Rooney is overblown. There's no one there to get him the ball. They put fucking Jordan Henderson in as a late sub in the Italy game. He was awful for Liverpool this season. Hodgson should have begged Scholes to come back.

So, it seems as if some of you are not fans of the tiki taka of Espana? They are winning this tournament without a real striker for most of the games. A team has to take the game to Spain and not let them sit back. Holland played them physically in the 2010 WC Final. I don't see Germany doing that but maybe Italy might.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

England is only entertaining when they're imploding off the field.

I hope the Fire can one day line up in the 4-6-0 and show MLS what's up.

what's happened to david bentley and aaron lennon? and could crouch not have been used?

No and no.


England-Italy was so boring it made me reevaluate my feelings on the sport in general.

Spain's effort vs Portugal was the worst they put forth all tournament.

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Spain is a perfect example of why soccer will never be anything in the USA. This squad will probably go down as one of the best of all time. From a strictly tactical and execuction point of view, Spain plays perfectly. They control the ball and wear you down and wait for you to make a mistake and then they capitalize.

Their style is just so boring to watch. I am a fan of the Dutch and I had people over to watch the WC final against Spain. A lot of the people there werent really into soccer but they were just day drinking and relaxing while the game was on. Nearly everyone was rooting for Holland after 15 minutes just because of how boring it is to watch a team pass the ball to themselves. It doesnt matter if they are doing it perfectly it just isnt entertaining.

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Spain's effort against Croatia I thought was worse, the best scoring chance for the first 85 minutes was for Croatia. If Croatia hadn't needed a win, they wouldn't have opened up late and Spain probably wouldn't have scored a goal ....Spain hasn't looked good most of the tournament.

I'm more entertained in the first 19 of Germany/Italy than England/Italy and Spain/Portugal combined

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Team Cutler.

Now does Italy go into their defensive shell, or do they keep up the pressure?

Keep the pressure on.

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Wow.....

Epic defensive fail there. A+ finish.

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Team Cutler.

Spain v Italy, the Christopher Columbus grudge match.

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Mussolini's Revenge!

Should have been 3 right there. Low is done as German coach after this if they lose, methinks.

Hank I'm liking your contributes to the soccer section. Welcome to the family, grasshopper.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Germany really has had the better of the chances. Not enough put on net or when they are tend to be center cut and relatively easy saves for a keeper like Buffon.

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Team Cutler.

I said in the EPL thread Balotelli is probably my favorite player. Still would have said the changes were better that he'd melt down than score a brace, but there's still the final.

All credit to Italy. They came out with a plan and executed it to perfection. And I believe you can find the German central defenders on a carton of milk. And I agree, Loew is toast.

The "Azzuri" v the "Rojas", hopefuly it will be as entertaining a today's game.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I missed the game. Did Roberto Baggio score any goals?

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

the fuck, germany?