Soccer Thread

[iowatreat54]

I just got home from work, how was the first 30 mins?

[Yatta!]

Terrible - nothing has happened at all. England players look disinterested, what a surprise.

[iowatreat54]

are both teams playing "full strength"? It appears as most of the regulars are playing...these are big 3 games coming up for U.S. hopefully we don't embarass ourselves

damn you John Terry, you can put in a header from 12 yards but not a PK

[Yatta!]

Yeah its our full strength team apart from Owen, who pulled out earlier this week but you get the impression that some of the players would rather be on holiday.

And well done John Terry, he needed that.

[iowatreat54]

Howard really could have had it, but a good goal none the less

it's great having Donovan out, now I don't have to hear the announcers all over his nuts every 5 mins

[703SKINS202]

americans play some of the worst soccer.... its really sad

[iowatreat54]

I don't know what's happened...like 02-05 they were really improving and looking at least comparable to other top teams, now they just look slow and sloppy

and Bradley is still terrible, I don't know why so many people think he deserves to start, idc if he did score the most goals in the Dutch League or whatever, he's terrible when he actually plays anyone good

[Modano]

before spain wins any significant , the desert will freeze. every cup they are the sleepers , just to fall on their faces everytime. for my liking , the french are too old , i agree with italy and i doubt that switzerland reach the playoffs.

I agree that the spanish have been big-time chokers in recent years.
But France, on paper, is the best team. Domenech called a lot of young guys for the euroes, they have the perfect combo of youngsteers and veterans.
They're starting lineup will be:

Frey/Coupet
Abidal - Gallas - Thuram - Evra
Toulalan - Makelele - Vieira
Ribery - Malouda
Henry

They're defense is very very good. Gallas is one of the best and Thuram is a leader, Evra is right now one of the top 3 LB in soccer and Abidal is very solid. They're midfield is very good too, Vieira is always one of the best players in this type of competition. He can't play for a full season anymore but he's still great when he has to play only 8 games. Makelelé is not one of my favorites and I think he will be replaced by Diarra (who is 23) down the stretch. Toulalan is only 25 and he's very very good.
Malouda Ribery are both great players, especially Ribery who will play a big role.
Henry had a down year, but he's still Henry, he still knows how to score and he plays always his best football for the national team.

Their bench is clearly the best in the euros. All the goalies are good, the defenders are solid (except Boumsong who, imo, is pretty bad). Then they have Diarra, Nasri, Gomis, Benzema, Nasri and Govou. They have a lot of great young guys, especially Benzema and Nasri, who allows Doemench to plays different styles of football. They can play with the 4-5-1, 4-3-2-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3.
I hate the french as much as the next guy, but they're great. We were able to beat them in the World Cup but they were the better team. We faced them 3 times under Domenech and they out-played us every single time. They're a great possesion team, they don't allow many shots on goal and they can score.
I'd hate to see them win the euros once again but I have to admit they're the favorites. Way more than Italy. We are old, very very old, and our coach is a joke. We will need a lot of luck to win it.

And about Portugal: yes they have the best player in the world and some other good talented players too but they don't have a striker: Gomes, Postiga and Almeida are JAGs. They need Ronaldo to score at least 8 goals if they wanna have a chance to win.

[Modano]

Yea Portugal has to be a favorite right now. When you have the best player in the world on your squad, you are dangerous.

Greece won it 4 years ago, so I'm thinking about taking a sleeper team. But since I'm 50% Italian, I'll go with the Azurri.

Really? Is one of your parents italian?
By the way I hated when Greece won, they were really ugly to see.

[the dude]

my sleeper team is sweden. johan elmander ftw!

[GermanSaint]

you can cancel germany from your favorite or sleeper list guys.

the coach made a bad nomination in my opinion , our GK struggles big time , our strikers have mental blocks and we have no legit guy for the outside-midfield positions ....

i wouldn´t be surprised at all , if we don´t reach the playoffs

[619]

Euro is just around the corner and already the Azzurri have to cope without Cannavaro. I'm getting hyped. Viva Portugal. :D

[MaxV]

I hope Russia finally plays well in the internation tournament. It has been awhile since they've had a contending side.

To make things worse, the teams's most talented striker, Arshavin, will miss the first 2 games.

Overall, I think there is some good talent on this team.

Majority of the roster, however, are young, inexperienced and inconsistant players.

[619]

Yeah, I believe you guys have the youngest starting goalkeeper in the tourney, Akinfeev.

[Tobzilla]

Any transfer rumours?