Soccer Thread

[SuperMcGee]

This might actually be the least I've rooted against Italy. I'm at a peak in my love cycle with Mario. The saving grace of Italy-Portugal would be him comparing himself to Ronaldo.

[prock]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

tbh none of them were really 100% chances and Terry was a beast back there.

Good strikers finish at least one of those..

[yodapoop]

Pirlo is getting pretty close to being liked by me due to his trolling move. However, he is just so damn ugly.

[jrdrylie]

Originally Posted by yodapoop

Pirlo is getting pretty close to being liked by me due to his trolling move. However, he is just so damn ugly.

He really is. When he lined up to take that PK, I thought a 55 year old man somehow snuck onto the field.

[Jughead10]

Originally Posted by jrdrylie

He really is. When he lined up to take that PK, I thought a 55 year old man somehow snuck onto the field.

My girlfriend who knows nothing about soccer, other than pointing out which guys she thinks are hot, basically said the same thing. Who is that old man?

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by prock

Good strikers finish at least one of those..

i dont agree. none of them were easy to make at all.

[MetSox17]

Pirlo looks like he writes classical music for a living.

[prock]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

i dont agree. none of them were easy to make at all.

You don't agree that a striker when given five decent scoring chances finishes at least one?

[Gay Ork Wang]

2 chances were great saves by hart, the other two were either out of place or blocked by a defender. He couldve made one, but not making them doesnt make him horrible. They were all incredibly hard chances.



Defender in the way



Ball was behind him, that he actually got it was amazing imo.



Only way to take the ball in the situation and was pretty good chance imo.

his chip over hart was blocked by John Terry who hustled back.

He created a lot of chances by perfectly times runs and passes and helped the teammates. While his finishing could improve, he certainly didnt play bad yesterday.

[dabears10]

Originally Posted by prock

You don't agree that a striker when given five decent scoring chances finishes at least one?

I think he would mostly disagree that they were "decent".

[Rob S]

Balotelli was fine yesterday. Prock be hatin.

[SuperPacker]

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2WCL8m...up-finals.html

[thefalconer]

[Rosebud]

Has Germany's lineup been leaked yet? I'm really hope Reus and Klose won starting spots for this next match.

Gomez could've been the world's best striker 15+ years ago, but without the support of a skilled second striker next to him the offense is forced to predictably funnel everything into him. He covers a lot of ground for such a big man, works hard and doesn't quit, but he's not a threat outside of the box and so he can't get CBs to follow him very far, nor is he able to take advantage of that extra space they give him when he does try to slip away. Plus, despite his workrate, he's not that good at pressing high up the pitch as he's not that quick, Bayern aren't that aggressive with their press so for them it's not such a worry, but Loew has the team getting really compact and attacking the ball as a unit much higher up the pitch. Klose, on the other hand, the team to just plays better with, like Oezil his movement is absolutely world class and draws even the best and most experienced central defenders into leaving their positions to chase him all over the pitch, which does a great deal towards opening up all of that room around the box that the wingers and charging midfielders are so deadly running into. Plus Klose's a much better defender than Gomez and could do a very good job of dropping onto Pirlo with Oezil.

Reus I just love, like Mueller 2 years ago the kid's made me a believer, he's confident, supremely skilled, busts his ass off and is just ruthlessly in form right now, despite the time of with his injury. His speed stands out, even on this quick team, his shot is vicious...as his goal against Greece showed to those that didn't get to enjoy him with Borussia Monchengladbach...he makes runs who's intelligence makes you doubt his age. Most important of all, the style of play he was so great in at Gladbach is exactly what we need from our wingers in coming matches against Italy and Spain. He's a very defensively responsible player, who absolutely hounded Bundesliga CBs and DMs with Hanke, and the quick passing counter attacks that they relied on are built of the exact principles that this german team attacks with. Namely versatility up front, so that the players can fluidly switch all over the pitch to open up space for runs, with quick and direct passing to take advantage of those runs. He just gives us more to work with, Schuerrle and Poldi aren't as tenacious defensively and both are too shot happy when they run at defenders, betraying their origins as Strikers, Kroos doesn't have the speed we need to threaten to counter and press agressively nor the intensity to push himself to rise to the occassion (so far in his career he's been too much of a passenger, a supreme talent that can play passes like Schweinsteiger, hammer in goals like Ballack or weave magic with the ball at his feet like Hassler, but who only plays well when his team is playing well and disappears when his team struggles), Goetze isn't enough of a goal threat to play on the wing for us and that's just about everyone we have that could fit opposite Mueller. Plus the kid's just hot, he was absolutely on fire this season, got hurt, came back well and is just rolling now.



As for the game itself, I think the most interesting thing will be who wins the battle for midfield and holds the initiative. If Germany's dominating possession and Italy are playing deep and on the counter, we'll need to pressure the CBs while smothering Pirlo, to prevent them from playing the ball to him and forcing them to try to bypass our midfield all together with long balls to Balotelli. If, however we struggle with that swarm of Italians in the middle of pitch, it'll be important that the team falls off the italian backline quickly and drops goalside of Pirlo, with one of Ozil or Klose always pressuring him to give the ball away to anyone else.

Either way, this should be a really facinating matchup and I'm incredibly anxious. If the germans can win this with the same commanding performances we've seen from them in every game so far, I'll feel very confident going into the final. Handing Italy it's first defeat at the hands of the germans since 1955 (in competitive matches) would relieve a lot of pressure and give the boys a lot of confidence to go on and beat their more recent boogeymen, the Spanish. If Montolivo can play as well as he played against England, which was by far the best I've seen from him in the italian shirt, at the top of the diamond, Italy have will have the most Spain like midfield outside of Spain. Montolivo and Pirlo were simply dominant on the ball against England. Pirlo, because, despite my love for Schweini and Modric, is the best "quarterback" of the soccer world and was given an absolutely "clean pocket" to stand in. Montolivo, because he has a bit of that same passing briliance that Pirlo does, or for a more position comparable player Riquelme did, he's not a great athlete that'll burn players off the dribble, he's not the powerful shooter who'll hammer home from the edge of the box, he's not nearly as strong or assertive as a player with his size should be, but he is a smart passer of the ball, who can quickly read the pitch and play simply sublime balls into other attackers. He struggles when the entire play-making burden is dumped on him, as it was in 2010, but with Pirlo running the show behind two ox-like workmen (Marchisio and De Rossi/Nocerino) he doesn't need to do it all, he can drift around the offensive pitch and play dangerous passes when the ball gets to him, or he can drop deeper to try and pull defenders forward to open space for him or Pirlo to play longer balls into the forwards or charging midfielders. Him and Pirlo are kinda a perfect creative partnership, one takes attention away from the other to create space, and each lessen the burden, pressure and exhaustion of being their team's focal point.

Nocerino/De Rossi and Marchisio are good ball players to, but what really makes them so good in that midfield is not just that they are very strong defensively, but that they cover soooooooooo much ground, they push other central mids off of Pirlo and they can all come forward into the space Montolivo's movement creates and score, well Marchisio and Nocerino at least.

[Borat]

Pirlo has huge ******* balls to pull off that soft chip on the pk. So awesome.

[Giantsfan1080]

Kicks again!

[SuperPacker]

C'mon Portugal! I don't wanna see Ronaldo cry again :(

[JRTPlaya21]

Well I guess if Spain blows it all my eggs are in the CR7 basket.

[JRTPlaya21]

Ramos cheeky redemption!

[Cigaro]

So what was Portugal thinking with their PK takers? Send Alves out there, bring him back, send him back out there again following Ramos' chip, all while Ronaldo hasn't shot anything.

[JRTPlaya21]

Sunday here we come!!

[MaxV]

I don't get the decision to save Ronaldo for 5th kick.

[RufusMcDaniel]

This is disappointing, well I still have Italy tomorrow.

[Cigaro]

Originally Posted by MaxV

I don't get the decision to save Ronaldo for 5th kick.

Me either. I understand wanting to have someone capable to score a potential high-pressure kick, but you don't save Ronaldo for that, he's too good and may be needed earlier, as it seemed today he was.

[iowatreat54]

hahahahahaha suck it Ronaldo. So awesome that he didn't even get to shoot. Maybe you should have jumped up in the lineup instead of sitting back and wanting to be the decisive shot, assclown.

Messi would have shot first.