I wonder if CharlyBrown was drunk again? :lol:

^ That would explain a lot. :wtf:

^^

 

Well that's embarrassing LOL

:lol:

Hahaha that's a great Gif but slightly mis-leading.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvfTKyBmReU]Joachim Loew Ball Boy Funny FULL VIDEO HD (ORIGINAL) - YouTube[/ame]

Yeah, I couldn't find one of the full incident.

hahaha :lol:

Italy - Croatia 1-1

That was unexpected!

if that stays the same R3 will be interesting!

I was expecting a Croatia win. Puts them in a lame spot now, as they need at least a draw against Spain to pass on goal differential (unless Ireland comes up with some heroics).

I have ROE drawing with Italy in the final game. That leaves Spain and Croatia going through for me, SPain winning comfortably tonight. That's the theory at least.....

 

Italy 1 - 1 Croatia

 

Mario Mandzukic's second-half equaliser earned Croatia a vital draw against Italy to leave Group C wide open.

 

Croatia knew three points in Poznan would clinch their last-eight spot following an impressive opening 3-1 win against Republic of Ireland.

 

The Italians were in total control after taking the lead through Andrea Pirlo's wonderful first-half free-kick.

 

But Mandzukic's third Euro 2012 goal means they must beat Ireland to be certain of their quarter-final place.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18180616

 

Euro 2012: England delusional - ex-Sweden captain Jonas Thern

 

England are too "predictable" and "stereotyped" to beat Sweden on Friday, according to their opponents' former skipper Jonas Thern.

 

England drew 1-1 with France in their opening game while Sweden were beaten 2-1 by Ukraine, but Thern believes the Scandinavians are the better team. "The one shot towards the France goal over 90 minutes was all it took to ignite the chronic English illusion of world football supremacy," he said. "Their style of play is predictable."

 

Thern, who won 75 caps for his country and helped them to finish third at the 1994 World Cup, believes England are not good enough - despite being impressed with their appointment of Roy Hodgson as manager. England have never beaten Sweden in seven tournament clashes, and Thern is backing his countrymen to extend that impressive record.

 

"I said before the Euro finals started that Sweden would beat England and I stand by that statement despite the horrific display against the Ukraine," said the former Benfica, Napoli, Roma and Rangers midfielder. "England's performance [against France] had none of the quality they like to boast it had. France had 15 shots on goal compared to England's one. England has historically struggled against Sweden as they cannot capitalise on our strength, which is the physical game. Sweden does not fear this style of football in ways that other teams do. The only thing that could have been better for the Swedish team would have been if the manager position had been handed to somebody other than Roy as he is a very competent manager with substantial international experience."

 

Sweden have problems of their own, however, with coach Erik Hamren being forced to deny he called his players 'cowards' following their defeat to Ukraine. "I did not call my players cowards," he said. "[but] we were playing a little cautious, we didn't show the aggression I wanted to see. I think some of the players were nervous in the first half, but we played a good game in the second half."

 

Sweden conceded two headed goals against Ukraine and, with England's strength being in the air, their defensive capabilities are expected to be severely tested. However, Blackburn Rovers left-back Martin Olsson is not worried by his side's perceived weakness.

 

"When you look at the players the team England have, with [Joleon] Lescott and [John] Terry, they have strong players in the air - but so have we," he said. "The last couple of games, we have lost our concentration at set-pieces but we have been working on that and we have to deal with that in the right way against England. I don't see it as a problem."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18445051

Spain 1-0 Ireland (Torres, 4)

 

:o

Oooh Torres! :nice:

I made that comment 10 minutes into the match after Van Persie twice easily slipped behind them. As I later commented, The Holland back line completely disintegrated by the middle of the match. Worse as I've ever seen it. That said, I've heard from and agree with several analysts who say that the German centerback situation is their main weakness at the moment. As a Bremen fan, I followed Mertesacker closely at Arsenal, and I can't pretend like he was the solid, consistent defender that he was a couple years ago, as I witnessed some truly awful games for him in red (hence him being benched, you did see he didn't play, right?).

 

I've never been overly impressed with Badstuber. I respect what Hummels has been for Dortmund, he made some mistakes today, but I know he can hold his spot until Brazil. That said, this pairing doesn't inspire anything near the same confidence that Merte-Friedrich did in the world cup.

 

My other point was just that, as individual players, I would pick Mathijsen and Heitinga over their counter-parts on the playground most days of the week.

 

Yeah Mertesacker didn't play but I still think he's a quality centre back on his day and I'd rather pair him with Hummels than Badstuber. Think he would be first choice had he not been injured against Sunderland earlier on in the year. Saw him play a few times for Arsenal last season. Certainly had a calming experience on the Gunners defence which looked shored up for the first time in years and was developing a decent understanding with Koscienly and Vermaelen. May lack a bit of pace but can be excellent against long ball sides as he showed in the Premier League a few times in the months before February. May be prone to a few poor performances but doesn't really take away from how handy a player he can be. Neat passer of the ball as well. But I wouldn't agree with you on Heitinga or Mathijsen. I would happily take Hummels over both of them. Don't think he was too bad yesterday. Got years ahead of him as well.

 

 

edit: Nice strike by Torres there. Agree with the commentators though - Given could have done better. Disastrous start for Ireland!

Hopefully Thern is right. ;)

 

Spain 4-0 Republic of Ireland

 

Fernando Torres scored twice as Spain knocked Republic of Ireland out of Euro 2012 with a dominant display.

 

Torres' powerful finish from 10 yards opened the scoring inside four minutes.

 

David Silva's composed effort just after the restart doubled the advantage, Torres poked in a third after a quick break and substitute Cesc Fabregas drove in a fourth.

 

The victory was enough to move Spain above Croatia, who they face on Monday, at the top of Group C.

 

The Republic's previous successes in major competitions had been based on organisation and discipline.

 

 

But their performance in their first major tournament in a decade can be summed up by the fact that, including their 3-1 defeat to Croatia, they have conceded a goal inside four minutes at the start of each half they have played.

 

Before their sobering loss to Croatia, the Irish had never conceded three goals in a major competition but they have now done so twice in five days on the way to losing consecutive matches in a major tournament for the first time.

 

For Spain, who drew their opening game 1-1 with Italy, this was a ruthless reminder of their ambition to become the first team to win three consecutive major tournaments, 24 hours after Germany drew the focus with a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands.

 

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque was also boosted by the performance of Torres, who replaced Fabregas in the starting line-up and scored his first competitive international goals since September 2010.

 

For all the pre-match rhetoric, and a history of battling performances by the Republic, the concession of a yet another early goal left Giovanni Trapattoni's game-plan looking redundant.

 

Simon Cox, drafted in to replace Kevin Doyle up front only to be withdrawn for Jonathan Walters at the interval, forced an early save from Iker Casillas but the defending champions took just three minutes to move in front.

 

Richard Dunne did well to block Silva after Andres Iniesta had guided in an intelligent pass, but Torres drifted around Stephen Ward before thumping a shot over Shay Given.

 

From that point on, Spain were able to strangle the game, controlling possession deep inside the opposition half.

 

When the Irish did manage to win the ball back, wingers Damien Duff and Aidan McGeady were generally too deep to contribute in attack and Robbie Keane was invariably too isolated to be picked out.

 

Silva had a low shot held by Given and Torres prodded wide at the near post before Keith Andrews had a shot deflected wide and Dunne missed with a header at the other end.

 

Iniesta had a powerful effort pushed away by Given, Silva headed over and Gerard Pique failed to make the most of a free header from Silva's corner.

 

When Cox finally picked out Keane in a dangerous area, the Irish captain's effort was easily blocked by Pique.

 

The pattern was never likely to change and after Given palmed away an Iniesta shot three minutes after half-time, Silva calmly waited for the room to guide a shot into the bottom corner.

 

With just over 20 minutes remaining, Silva clipped a ball in behind the defence for Torres and the Chelsea striker prodded past Given.

 

And there was still time for substitute Fabregas, who had come on for Torres, to drive in a powerful cross-shot to add a fourth and further underline Spanish superiority.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18180948

Only 67%?? It felt more like 80%.

Silva scored and i couldn't watch it :sick:

anyway, I was listening Coldplay show..

Three international tournaments Trapattoni has now taken part in as a manager and on all three occasions failed to get out of the group stages. Failed twice with Italy in the World Cup 10 years back and Euro 2004 (two fantastic squads by the way) and now this. This he can be forgiven though but I would have thought they'd have put up more of the fight we've usually seen from Ireland in major international tournaments. They were really disappointing. Yes they were playing Croatia and Spain but I expected much much more from them. Disappointed.

 

edit: Also hasn't Pirlo just been superb in this competition?Pretty much every good thing Italy have done this tournament has gone through him. Fingers crossed they progress because I'd love to see more of Pirlo. He's clearly carried his immense season form for Juventus into these Euros. One of the great European midfielders.

France v Ukraine has been suspended while the thunder, lightening and torrential rain clears!

So much rain!

This video is hilarious!

 

http://nos.nl/ek2012/video/384379-oranjefans-pesten-reporter.html

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHvudnPUXnI[/ame]