Euro 2008: Days 15 & 16
Euro 2008, Football June 22nd, 2008Russia 3-1 Netherlands
Icy blasts thawing rapidly
There are times when teams should take a lesson from Italy. It seemingly never occurred to the Dutch that their strikers might have an off-day, so there was no solid, defensive Plan B. Exhilarating attacking by the Russians, who deserve the victory.
Italy 0-0 Spain (Spain win 4-2 on penalties)
Leaden skies, clearing slightly by midnight
… and there are times when the Italians should just stop being so Italian! Hoofing long balls at Luca Toni has barely worked over the last three games, so why persist against an unusually organised Spanish defence? Part of the answer was Del Piero, but ideally *before* the 108th minute.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
i believe plan b was to just hope that this wasn’t happening. the russians did exactly what we all expected them to do. and while we all thought that our team for once was a real united group, van persie “stealing” a free kick from sneyder and several key players hiding at times was typical. as was the lack of support from the orange supporters.
so we’re left with spain, russia, turkey and germany. and you know what that means. [scheisse]
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
ha! what do I know about football!
Italy failed, but only on penalties, and Holland despite looking like hot fave’s like Portugal, lost.
Bit surprised actually at Italy’s defeat but not at all surprised that Holland and Portugal couldn’t keep up their early high standards.
Germans are still there, as per usual….