Official Euro 2008 Thread

[Ricardo]

http://www.the-onion-bag.com/euro2008/whotosupport.php

lol

[Ali]

Originally Posted by mibir

Watch some replays of this and tell me that Song doesn't trip Totti. It wasn't a dive. I will say that it shouldn't have been a penalty either, Song got the ball then took out Totti so play should have just continued as normal. Not to mention the VERY questionable refereeing against the Italians when they played South Korea, and really throughout the entire 2002 World Cup.

I would disagree with you there. Various Football commentators and newspapers around the world would tell you that was a dive. The contact that was there was not significant enough for him to fall over. It seemed like a desperate move by Totti to me, South Korea scored to level, it was in extra time and South Korea had the momentum, Totti to me thought he could end this nightmare by just falling down and getting a penalty and the referee didn't fall for it. Italy has resorted to this type of behaviour before like against Australia in '06 when they were a man down becuause Materazzi got a red card (surprise, surprise!!!) and Italy looked like they might go down and out pops Grosso with the dive. Unfortunately, the referree fell for that one. I have seen teams do these kind of things then they are on the verge of elimination, like in '06 World Cup Semi-final Ronaldo took an obvious dive in the penalty box just before they were eliminated by France. Players do desperate things in desperate situations unfortunately that involves diving for some.

Originally Posted by mibir

Once again, very unfortunate. Although I'm not sure I'd deem what happened in the past few years enough to say there is a "History of Cheating".

Well the reason I say thise is because before the '82 World Cup Italy had the same scandal of corruption and cheating in the Italian league just like they had in '06. So, there is a bit of a history. While come you never see Manchester United or Arsenal be involved in these type of major scandals in the Premier League or with Barcelona or Real Madrid in La Liga. That alone speaks for itself.

Originally Posted by mibir

I've said it already, Materazzi is scum. Granted I still think Zidane should have been sent off, I don't care what Materazzi said, that was idiotic on Zidane's part.

Originally Posted by mibir

Ronaldo is an amazing player, I was simply pointing out the fact that he dives a lot. This is also proves my point of how people love to hate on the Italians. Ronaldo dives more than the Italian team put together yet, it's ignored because he's such a brilliant player.

I agree with you there, Zidane shouln't have head-butted. But Materazzi was saying very nasty things to Zidane at a sensitive time for Zidane, his mother was at the hospital. Hope Materazzi scum gets red carded if he pulls another antic in this tournament.

As for Ronaldo, as I said before he does imbelish his falls. Hopefully, he will be carded this time around if does go on a diving spree like he did against France in '06.

[mibir]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree with Totti as our personal bias I suppose will not let us agree on this one. I'm sure some commentators have said it was a dive, as some have said it wasn't. For instance, the English/American commentators who did that game live were disgusted that it was a penalty on Totti. Even after the replay was showed many times.

Also don't forget there were refereeing scandals in Germany and Brazil in 2005. In 1993 Marseille was accused of match-fixing after their 1993 UEFA Champions League win. They haven't won a trophy since. In 1993 Bruce Grobbelar, goalkeeper for Liverpool, was accused of taking 4000 pounds to make sure they lost to Newcastle, which they did, 3-0. Although here no verdict was reached, so I will say that. Finally, in 1963 Esmond Million of Bristol Rovers took 300 pounds to make sure they lost to Bradford Park Avenue. This was confirmed when his team ended up tying and the truth came out. So as you can see, Italy is in NO way the only league to experience problems. Unfortuantely this is a much bigger problem then even you make it out to be. This happens in a lot of countries, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens in more and is just not uncovered. And I've probably missed some scandals.

[Ali]

Originally Posted by dreamer

I'm not much of a soccer fan/expert but I watch the international tournaments (WC and Euro). I think we can win it but it's not very likely, the team was in much better shape in 2006 (we placed third after losing to Italy). If France wins that would be ok with me, too.

Germany might actually be the Dark Horse in this tournament and end up winning the whole thing. They have a young, energetic squad with young player like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Podoloski, who have more experience and is better than they were in 2006. It will be interesting to see how well Germany does against Poland, they barely won the game against them in '06, only in the last couple of minutes when Neuville scored. Let's see if Poland can exact revenge. Although I highly doubt it. Game starts in 30 minutes.

[Ali]

Originally Posted by mibir

Also don't forget there were refereeing scandals in Germany and Brazil in 2005. In 1993 Marseille was accused of match-fixing after their 1993 UEFA Champions League win. They haven't won a trophy since. In 1993 Bruce Grobbelar, goalkeeper for Liverpool, was accused of taking 4000 pounds to make sure they lost to Newcastle, which they did, 3-0. Although here no verdict was reached, so I will say that. Finally, in 1963 Esmond Million of Bristol Rovers took 300 pounds to make sure they lost to Bradford Park Avenue. This was confirmed when his team ended up tying and the truth came out. So as you can see, Italy is in NO way the only league to experience problems. Unfortuantely this is a much bigger problem then even you make it out to be. This happens in a lot of countries, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens in more and is just not uncovered. And I've probably missed some scandals.

While I don't deny these scandals, it still isn't as shocking as Juventus getting demoted from Serie A and AC Milan having deducted points. These are two of the giants in Italian football. Thats like Manchester United and Arsenal getting kicked out of the Premier League.

BTW, I wish Totti was playing, he is easily one of the creative players for Italy. It's unfortunate that he quit, I think Italy could have used him and his experience and he is not even that old! It's a bit of surprise that he quit the national team.

[TheBarrett]

Sucks...
Van Der Sar is considering/planning to retire after the UEFA Euro 2008...
He was easily one of my most favorite goalkeepers, playing for one of my favorite clubs.

[mibir]

Yeah, I wish Totti was playing as well. Unfortunately Italy will be missing more than just him for this tournament. Cannavaro will be out the entire thing because of recent surgery and Panucci left practice early on Friday because he hurt his knee.

Although the Dutch will be missing key players for the Italy/Dutch game on Monday as well. They won't have Robben, van Persie, or Babel. It's too bad both teams will be missing key players as both of those teams at full force would be quite the match up. Hopefully it will be still be a good game though.

Oh, and Germany scored as I was typing this up !

[Ali]

YES!!! Italy is losing 2-0. Just 45 more minutes...Holland hold baby hold.

[Ricardo]

3-0 LOL what a game we're having here

[Zack -Alizee Lover-]

So Holand won?