Yep.

It does not shock me at all that Spain and Germany go through in such a fashion. If it was them needing those penalties, there's 100% chance they're given.

Oh and Balzaretti would be a dream signing. It was 'only Ireland' but man can he do everything as a full back.

What manner? I think your team went out with their heads held high. you could've even beaten Spain but it was the kind of game where small details make the difference. I felt sad for Bilic near the end of the game, I'll miss seeing him and thinking how much he reminds me of a grumpy version of Donald Sutherland in Dirty Dozen. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

PS: looking at that video again, I think I'll have to agree, it looked like a penalty.

This post has been edited by Zed.D: Jun 18 2012, 11:37 PM

Going out to a refereeing mistake and ending things in that way is never fun.

I'd rather England lose in a convincing manner than with some officiating BS.

This.

ramos, and i agree that ws penalty. besides the sitter that rakitic missed, spain = lucky
edit: ah k your refering to the other incident

This post has been edited by Habitant: Jun 19 2012, 12:02 AM

The Ramos incident is a tough one. It was clumsy and a 'dangerous tackle' but he did get the ball. I think an indirect FK in that situation shoud occur. Tough one for the ref.

He had a decent game, on par with his peers. Nothing we haven't seen from his usual Milan appearances.

It's typical really, Italy generally hit a wall around the hour mark and that's when things start going badly. Pirlo and De Rossi were more interested in watching the clock then what was going on in the game. The fitness and concentration levels need to improve, drasically, if Italy want to go beyond the first KO round.

And don't get me started on Prandelli's Allerism of starting a knuckle head like Thiago Motta behind the strikers. It's the equivalent of Allegri playing Urby/Muntari there FFS.


The FBs were both great imo, Abate was very good in the first half, Balzaretti was very good in the second. But it was strange gow they used the right side so much in the first half anf the left so much in the second. They should have switched it up, it got way too predicatable, and in the second half when basically 3/4 of the Italians could barely take a breath in, making use of a workhorse like Abate who never tires of running would have been far more beneficial.

Abate and Balzaretti were certainly miles better than Maggio and Giaccherini that's for sure. And yesterday's game also gives the 4-3-1-2 the upper hand. Italy were far more coordinated and played better overall. De Rossi was again immense, Pirlo on the other hand was awful yesterday. I mean what were he, Buffon and Chiellini doing? They kept passing the ball in their own box while being pressed. Pirlo was just not on his game yesterday, half of his passes were bad. Also, Prandelli needs t keep Cassano on the left. He was to restrained yesterday. Although some of his passes were just genius and took guys like Motta to be ruined

Why an indirect FK? Danger action?

To me it simply was no foul since he hit the ball. Mandzukic simply was unfortunate their feet hit like that. I can't blame Sergio Ramos for this.

Am I the only one who thinks De Rossi performs much better as CB than CM? Or at least he should play as DM in front of the defense. I feel he's kind of wasted anywhere else in midfield.

I don't know if UEFA have the same rules as the EPL honestly, but here if you 100% get the ball but the ref considers it dangerous play he can give a FK. This is why I say it's tough since I agree with you that Ramos got the ball so a penalty would be very harsh, but players shouldn't be diving in stoods up like that.

I agree,but CB is not possible at the moment because of Juventus CB pair,and he can't play DM since Pirlo is there.Although,imo De Rossi would do a better job than Pirlo there.At least in the defensive part of the game...He's not pirlo with the defense splitting passes etc...but he offensive game.

I am so torn today. I totally want both Ukraine and England to go through. I like Ukraine because of you know who and their team spirit and I like England for their very unique style of play.

But hey, at least I know which game I'm going to watch.

Journalism at it's finest.

(IMG:https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421447_10151026298291405_960809120_n.jpg)

Man... wow... wtf... Do these journalists fancy going to bed tonight, closing the curtains, closing their eyes gently dreaming of sucking Rooney off?

There is something wrong with the tone of their writing... Like a desperate pleading... What happened to all the men?