Offical Euro 2008 Thread.

[Lowie01]

Pity the first two groups are already looking so uninteresting. Groups C and D is where all the action will be at this tournament.

I'm not writing off Romania, but Italy rarely follow up one poor performance with another. And having just seen the first goal on YouTube, I find it hard to believe that RvN wasn't offside.

[YOUTUBE]ZyOZqCPZ9mw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Boro]

He was off but who cares? It's Italy

Group A looks tight still imo. I reckon/hope the Turks can still get through

 

[The Spornstar]

Nah, I'm willing to be proven wrong but afaia as Panucci was out of play RVN was offside. That may have been the assistants excuse though. Oh well, it's not as if the Italians have never had a dodgy refs decision go their way before

A great game this morning and both Italy and Holland should progress from that group hopefully.

Just watched the BBC coverage over here in London. They got the rule book out, and quoted some random rule that says that it doesn't matter that Panucci was outside of the field of play, he was still playing RVN on-side. So correct decision....!

 

[weagles_fan]

Look at the Italian player who goes for the header then ends up laying on the ground behind the goals. I'm not sure of the exact ruling here but he still counts as a player between the opposition and goal right? Even though he's not in the field of play?

 

[Boro]

Just watched the BBC coverage over here in London. They got the rule book out, and quoted some random rule that says that it doesn't matter that Panucci was outside of the field of play, he was still playing RVN on-side. So correct decision....!

I didn't think the current offside rule could become even more difficult to comprehend, but alas it can

 

[DonMania#5]

Haha Italy, suffer Go the Dutch
Best game of the tourney so far.

 

[Boro]

The FIFA law 11.11 in the rulebook is very clear on this
- under advice to referees:

"A defender who leaves the field during the course of play and does not
immediately return must still be considered in determining where the second to
last defender is for the purpose of judging which attackers are in an offside
position. Such a defender is considered to be on the touch line or goal
line closest to his or her off-field position. A defender who leaves the field
with the referee's permission (and who thus requires the referee's permission to
return) is not included in determining offside position."

Looks like the assistant got it correct. Well done and egg on the face of all of us who didn't know the rule, including the commentators

 

[youngsaint]

You would have to say Donadoni is a fool. Ambrosini instead of De Rossi? Get ya hand off it! Del Piero comes on, plays well, Cassano comes on, plays well, Grosso comes on, plays well. 4 players that i would have had in my starting line up thats for sure. Italy's 1 game of practice showed off. CB's thought they were just on a holiday not playing Euro's.

 

[crisco]

Had money on Holland at $3.55 as well . Was only a fiver but I'll take my money.

put $40 on us paying the same as you

god i love being (half) dutch today

 

[EnglishWarrior]

Very frustrating watching this. A full strength England side would piss on anything I have see thus far.

____ing umbrella man

 

[youngsaint]

Few quote's from overnight that i had a laugh at:

Zenit team-mate Konstantin Zyrianov will now take up responsibility for driving the Russian attack, a job he appears to be confident of doing after describing Spain as 'a team with no stars'.

"For me Spain is a good team, but I wouldn't say any more than that," he told a press conference prior to the game.

"The big star for Spain is Raul, but he's not in the squad. Of the rest of them, I don't see any big stars among them."

On Torres Zyrianov added: "He's a good forward, but nothing more."

Highly wrong i would of thought. Although he does rate Raul at least.

From Sniejder after the game and his goal...

“I think my goal should be shown and taught in football schools."

“However, we cannot allow ourselves to get carried away with euphoria because our pockets are empty."

Not getting carried away just a little Wesley?

 

[Boro]

From Sniejder after the game and his goal...

“I think my goal should be shown and taught in football schools."

“However, we cannot allow ourselves to get carried away with euphoria because our pockets are empty."

Not getting carried away just a little Wesley?

I'd say he was talking about the whole move, not just the finish (which was excellent). Fair enough imo. It was superb.

 

[crisco]

I'd say he was talking about the whole move, not just the finish (which was excellent). Fair enough imo. It was superb.

agreed, it was something out of the 1974 world cup that was

 

[apollo_creed]

The FIFA law 11.11 in the rulebook is very clear on this
- under advice to referees:

"A defender who leaves the field during the course of play and does not
immediately return must still be considered in determining where the second to
last defender is for the purpose of judging which attackers are in an offside
position. Such a defender is considered to be on the touch line or goal
line closest to his or her off-field position. A defender who leaves the field
with the referee's permission (and who thus requires the referee's permission to
return) is not included in determining offside position."

Looks like the assistant got it correct. Well done and egg on the face of all of us who didn't know the rule, including the commentators

Although they could've changed it sometime shortly after the goal.

 

[youngsaint]

Oh yes it was a good move but from going from should be teaching this in football school's to not getting carried away with things i thought there was a slight contradiction.

Kuyt played one of his better games for a fair while it seems. No one is a fan but credit should be given when he does some good things even though they might be once in a blue moon.

 

[apollo_creed]

Very frustrating watching this. A full strength England side would piss on anything I have see thus far.

____ing umbrella man

You'll be criticised for that comment and England don't deserve to be there but you're not wrong with that comment. England are as good as anybody there (we've seen their games against Portugal. there's nothing in them) but they're not there and weren't good enough to perform when they needed to. They might be capable of that but so what? 6-8 teams have enough talent to win Euro 2008 (including England) but only one will. It's all about performing when it counts. And delivering results when they matter. England can't do this.

____

Holland's defence is terrible. Not unknown players either. They're known as average footballers because we've all seen them.

That's why they're playing with such numbers behind the ball. Playing to their strengths.
Fair enough as well.

Well done to them.

___

As for France, does Platini have anything to say of that abysmal performance?

A disgrace to football really.

----

As for the performances of the teams so far.

Germany were excellent but just how good are Poland?

Their tactics were dangerous and Leo B must take responsiblity for their failure.

 

[mcgarnacle]

Just watched the BBC coverage over here in London. They got the rule book out, and quoted some random rule that says that it doesn't matter that Panucci was outside of the field of play, he was still playing RVN on-side. So correct decision....!

are the BBC broadcasting the championships too?? ive been watching the ITV telecasts on the net...........they're ____ing spoilt for choice over there and they're basically in the same possie we are.......not ____ing in it! Anyway, they stood by their decision it was offside, but they could have reversed that after the match.

 

[mcgarnacle]

Very frustrating watching this. A full strength England side would piss on anything I have see thus far.

____ing umbrella man

oh my.....If they were good enough, they would be there. Stop giving the Italians a run in the bleating stakes and just enjoy the tourney........____ me.

 

[Kompany]

From memory, the only side that started a tournament great and ended up winning it recently was France in 2000.

The one time Holland won a tournament, they started with a loss against Russia and a very scrappy win over Ireland. Usually they start well and never win. Most in their benefit possibly is that this squad is the weakest in 20 years -> at least they know they can't afford their usual ego-games and need to perform as a unit.

 

[mcgarnacle]

although They Could've Changed It Sometime Shortly After The Goal.

Gold!

 

[crisco]

oh my.....If they were good enough, they would be there. Stop giving the Italians a run in the bleating stakes and just enjoy the tourney........____ me.

dont be too harsh on him, he's only enlish after all

 

[mcgarnacle]

dont be too harsh on him, he's only enlish after all

he's a passionate fella, but it regularly gets to a level that whenever the terms 'english' and 'football' are mentioned in the same breath, logic becomes irrelevent and he ends up temporarily insane...............mind you, there are prolly another 50 million of 'em who feel same.

and i cant see how the circumstances of the national team will get any better in the future anyway........they've sacked multiple coaches who couldnt the message across in their own language, to hire one who cant even string a sentence together. good luck.

 

[ShearMagic9]

Correct decision as far as the offside goes.

As the Italian player was off the field of play WITHOUT the referees permission (e.g trainer giving him treatment) he is still counted as being on the field of play, thus in this situation making Buffon the second last defender, meaning that Ruud Van Nistelrooy was onside.

 

[Boro]

From memory, the only side that started a tournament great and ended up winning it recently was France in 2000.

Apart from Greece at the last Euro's of course. And Italy started the last WC pretty well too. And Brazil in the 2004 WC started with a win. But anyway

 

[Bradesmaen]

What a result for my sweep I have the Netherlands and was a little worried