Tag: sports

I’m not sure which I enjoy more about the Euros and World Cup. The irrational English pre-tournament optimism, followed inevitably by equally ludicrous despair, or the overexuberance with which the Italians always greet success in international calcio. Keep in mind that despite their great joy over the nominal upset, the Italians have NEVER lost to the Germans in a major tournament.

“It was a masterpiece of a game. One perfect first half, which even everyone who claimed that Balotelli could not be a center forward or that Prandelli had some problems could see. And instead, the manager got nothing wrong: for example, the move of Balzaretti to the right was inspired. The thing that left everyone amazed was in what little time Prandelli succeeded to make a team out of a group of excellent players with four stars, Balotelli, Pirlo, De Rossi and Buffon. In this brief period, he put Italy on display with an aggressive and intelligent soccer that has produced great games. The difference with Spain-Portugal was before the eyes of everyone: Italy-Germany was enthusiastic and beautiful, played by the Azzurri against a mighty squad that was nevertheless annihilated by the play of Italy. The work of the manager, the intelligence of the players, and the brilliance of Pirlo and Balotelli created an extraordinary miracle. Only Italy has displayed the true soccer to the Europeans: the victory against Ireland was mitigated by the modest skills of the adversary, but the test of the Germans has silenced everyone. The final with Spain will obviously be a very difficult game, but one can say that Prandelli and the players have already won Euro 2012. An even more enthusiastic success cannot be anticipated by anyone: no one thought the manager had the capability to make the national team play this way.

A discourse on the obvious merits of the absolute protagonist of the semifinal with Germany: what can one say about Balotelli? One way is to think about his problematic attitude, another puts him in discussion as a player. Ballotelli is a player can do anything and play in any role, from the midfield to striker: aside from his goals, he plays well, he is unpredictable and concrete, he has everything to be a man of grand destiny. And also – I repeat – Pirlo, De Rossi, and Buffon always merit mention, even though it is necessary to name everyone. However, I mention these names in particular to repeat that Italy is a grand team with four players that have made the difference.

One note in this game against the Germans that merits mention is also Cassano, for his play, for the extraordinary assist on the occasion of the first goal: Antonio held onto the ball beautifully and Prandelli did well to put him on the point. The real surprise is truly the manager, who did not put a foot wrong, and above all, showed us the human rapport he installed in the players while succeeding by making all the right player selections and winning moves.”

His story is a touching tribute to humanity regardless of how one looks at it, but Mario Balotelli also illustrates that true integration into a foreign culture is at least partially possible in some circumstances, as the first thing that “the Italian boy with the dark skin”, as La Repubblica calls him, did after his match of a lifetime was to run into the stands to the mother who adopted him at the age of two.

“The most beautiful joy was to embrace Mamma Silvia. I scored the two goals for her,” said Mario after the game. “Those goals were for her. In the final, Papa Franco will come too. And then for goals, I will score four.”

Spain 1 Portugal 0 (4-2)

Spain was again pretty poor on the night and missed their first penalty, but then made four straight to go through to the finals. I don’t understand why Torres is on the bench when the Spanish can’t score, but then, Spain’s tactics are meant to be confusing.

Spain 1 France 0

This was a real snooze-fest of a game. France never seriously threatened the Spanish defense or the Spanish control of the midfield, while the “no striker” concept really doesn’t work well for Spain since it eliminates the only player on the field who is actually willing to shoot on goal without waiting for every planet in the solar system to come into the ideal alignment, Fernando Torres. If your only scoring is dependent upon a midfielder completely failing to track back with his man, then there is probably something wrong with your tactics. Spain will have to take it up a level to get past Italy, let alone Germany.

Italy 1 England 0 (4-2)

England played well. Italy was simply better, although I do not understand the choice to start Balotelli over Di Natale, let alone leaving the two-time leading scorer in Serie A on the bench for the entire game, unless he’s being saved for Germany. Italy had no shortage of decent chances, but the combination of a very tough English defense, some poor first touches from Balotelli, and the usual midfielder fever kept them from scoring.

I was impressed by the English, as John Terry was easily the best defender in the tournament. He certainly prevented more goals than anyone else. But Rooney should not have been starting. He simply wasn’t in shape to go 120 minutes, and the idea of having him attempt to mark Pirlo was disastrous. Due to the poor coaching decisions, Italy should have won 3-0, but even on a poor offensive night they weren’t afraid of going to penalties… and now the English have lost 6 of their last 7 shootouts.

Portugal 1 Czech Republic 0

Although everyone has been talking about Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance, it’s hard to exaggerate how good it was. Ronaldo could have easily had four goals with just a bit more luck, as it was he hit the post twice and narrowly missed on two other opportunities before he finally scored in the second half. With Nani largely ineffective, Ronaldo shouldered most of the burden despite being man-marked throughout the game; it didn’t matter how far back he tracked, Selassie went with him. But it was clear that Ronaldo ran him down over the course of the game, as the last goal, a header on a cross, was the result of Ronaldo simply outpacing an exhausted Selassie and arranging to be in the right place at exactly the right time. It was one of the more formidable individual performances I’ve ever seen and I don’t like Cristiano Ronaldo one little bit. Had he managed to score on the impromptu bicycle kick that went just wide right, it would probably be considered one of the great European Championship performances of all time.

Germany 4 Greece 2

Brave, dogged play from Greece. But not enough. Not nearly enough. The young German midfield may not be as talented as Spain’s, but they do have one advantage over the Spanish, which is to say, they aren’t afraid to shoot the ball from anywhere. The Teutonic brute force is capable of overpowering even the most stubborn defense, but as Greece showed, they are vulnerable to counterattacks. That’s why Italy could give them a lot of trouble, though from England, I would expect rather less.

Now that they’re doubling up on the group stage games, I can’t watch them all. So, in group A I opted for England-Sweden and in group B, for Holland-Portugal.

England 3 Sweden 2

England got off to a great start with a header by Andy Carroll, but two mistakes in the back allowed the Swedish right defender to score twice, once on a completely unmarked header, the other time when he was played on by an English player failing to stay with the offsides trap. However, Theo Walcott made all the difference when he came on, as his runs immediately turned the momentum of the game. First he scored on a shot from just outside the center of the 18-yard box; it would have been an easy save except the Swedish goalie’s view was obscured by about ten players. It wasn’t his fault, and even Walcott had an expression on his face as if to say “how did that go in?” Then he made a great break down the right side, blew past two defenders, and sent a hard, fast pass across the face of the goal that Welbeck somehow managed to flick backwards into the net with the bottom of his foot. A lovely pure instinct play; no one can think that fast. It was an entertaining and hard-fought game between two flawed teams, but England clearly merited the victory and should go through with 4 points going into the game against Ukraine, especially since Rooney is off his suspension and will be available. France beat Ukraine 2-0 in the other game in a monsoon.

Greece 1 Russian 0

Already wrote about this one. Great game, huge upset. The Russian attack simply fell apart after scoring 4 goals in the first game against the eventual group winners. Strange, and I didn’t like the way Kerzhakov was given so much playing time in the second and third games after looking worse than I’ve ever seen a striker at this level in the Czech victory. The Czech’s beat Poland 1-0 in the other game to win the group, Greece goes through in second.

Portugal 2 Holland 1

The Dutch got off to a great start and dominated possession for the first 15 minutes. Much to my astonishment, I saw Robben actually pass the ball three times, which was about two more times than he had in the previous two games. The Dutch even appeared to be bordering on optimistic about their chances of progressing when Van der Waart scored on a beautiful curling shot from the left corner of the box and the Germans went up 1-0 on Denmark. However, Denmark soon scored to go level and Cristiano Ronaldo simply took over the game. He and Fábio Coentrão were simply indefatigable; Coentrão went from defending the ball on the Portugal line to making a long run that took him the very opposite end of the field immediately after. Portugal just appeared to want it more, and when Ronaldo scored his first goal on an exceptional through ball given past three Dutch defenders, it seemed to break the Dutch backs. Portugal dominated after that point and subsequently put together one of the longest, most beautiful fast breaks I’ve ever seen, connecting on two long passes that were punctuated by Ronaldo patiently pulling the ball back to let a sprinting Dutch defender go past him, then coolly firing it home past the overmatched keeper. Germany finally put Denmark away to win 2-1, but the Dutch failed to do their part and they’re done.

Holy Kremlin, but I did not see that coming. Greece upset Russia, 1-0, and combined with the Czech defeat of Poland, that bounces Russia out of the tournament! I’m shocked, as I thought the Russians looked like the third best team in the tournament, after Spain and Germany. The crazy thing is that Greece fully merited the win and could easily have won 2-0 had they been given an obvious penalty in the second half.

Portugal 3 Denmark 2

Portugal was the better team, and they proved it by going up 2-nil, but the Danes were mentally tough and battled back to tie it up at 2-all with Bendter’s second header after Christiano Ronaldo sent wide a perfect through ball that would have sealed the game. I think he actually had too much time; that’s often a problem for otherwise efficient scorers. I thought the Danes merited a draw, but a bit of untimely defensive carelessness combined with a powerful shot from Varela in the 87th minute cost them the point. Contra my assumptions prior to the tournament, it looks as if Portugal will finish second in the group instead of Holland.

Germany 2 Holland 1

Aside from Van Persie’s goal from outside the box after the game was largely sealed, the Dutch looked more like a second-tier team than a legitimate powerhouse. Before his goal, Van Persie was dreadful for a second straight game, falling over his own legs, the defender’s legs, and even the ball. Willem, the Dutch left back, was as inept as I’ve ever seen a defender at this level; at one point, when one commentator mentioned that he had been caught out of position, the other commentator replied that he hadn’t been in position all night. Mario Gomez, on the other hand, was brilliant, showing an amazingly deft touch for such a big man on the little spin-and-shoot on his first goal, then running right past the hapless Willem onto a perfect Bastian Schweinsteiger pass to score the eventual winner. Germany looked much better than they did against Portugal and at this point, it’s readily apparent that the two best teams are Germany and Spain, with Italy a distant third.

Italy 1 Croatia 1

A wasted game for the Azzurri. It began on a bad note, with Balotelli up front despite his uselessness in the first game and that was the case again here, as Italy got its only goal from a very precise Pirlo free kick. Italy dominated the game in the first half, but seemed content to sit back and defend in the second, which was a mistake because the defense was caught sitting very deep in the box and failed to jump on a cross to Mandzukic that he had time to trap and shoot from about five yards out. Croatia didn’t earn the draw so much as Italy didn’t merit the win. Italy is in trouble with only two points to Croatia’s four, but should still qualify, as I can’t see them failing to take the three points against Ireland or Spain failing to beat Croatia.

Spain 4 Ireland 0

This game was a classic example of the way that certain strikers are very dangerous against mediocre defenses while being ineffective against good ones. Fernando Torres scored twice and looked like he was playing against boys as he powered through the Irish defense, while watching the Irish midfield try to deal with the Spanish midfield was like watching headless chickens try to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Spain looked like the reigning European and world champions, and only the Germans look as if they’re capable of denying them a successful defense of their title.

Czech Republic 2 Greece 1

No interest, didn’t watch it. Apparently the Czechs scored twice in the first six minutes, then hung on for the next 84 minutes.

Russia 1 Poland 1

The Russians were clearly the much better team, but the Poles were playing as hard as I’ve ever seen a team play. They took a pretty good punch in the mouth when the Russians scored on a free kick against the run of play and were back on their heels for the remainder of the half, but they somehow made it to halftime without conceding another goal. After the half, they came out fired up again, and after they got their equalizer on an excellent goal from their captain, they kept the Russians mostly under control. It may have been a tie, but it felt like a major victory for Poland and the Polish crowd celebrated it like one.

England 1 France 1

While France was clearly the better team, England played hard and actually created the better chances despite being outnumbered 5-1 in shots on goal. They also arguably cheated by starting an obvious Klingon, who scored their only goal by heading in a free kick. I’d like to see some DNA testing of the so-called “Joleon Lescott”, as I would be very surprised if he was shown to be of Terran origin. Milner missed a wonderful opportunity when he was put through to goal and beat the goalie before shooting wide, while on the other end, John Terry demonstrated why his teammates are willing to put up with having such an untrustworthy wanker for a teammate. He repeatedly cleaned up potentially dangerous messes. For the French, Riberry was easily the best player and was constantly putting pressure on the English defense with his runs. There was a near goal on a French corner kick, but the English keeper, Hart, produced a nice instinct save to keep the ball out of his net. After seeing this, I expect France to win the group, while England will have a tough time of it unless they can enlist some Romulans or something.

Ukraine 2 Sweden 1

I can’t say much about this game since I only watched the first half, which was scoreless. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Ukraine won, however, as they were clearly the more aggressive team, but I was surprised to see that Shevchenko returned to form and scored both goals. The erstwhile great was relatively ineffective in the first half, failing to even put either of his best opportunities on goal. Ibrahimovic, on the other hand, hit the post in the first half and scored in the second, but I find the half-Swedish striker to be somewhat overrated. While he’s powerful in the air and moves surprisingly well for such a big man, I see him as a complimentary striker, not a number one option, and any team relying on him to be the primary provider of their goals is likely to be disappointed. Neither team looked like it had France’s quality, as both relied very heavily on the long ball, but both looked better than England. I’d be surprised if France and Ukraine didn’t take the top two spots in the group.

Italy 1 Spain 1

Not a bad result for the Azzurri. They didn’t show the same midfield quality as Spain, and their attack was somewhat anemic, but their defense was solid and rendered the pass-heavy ground assault of the Spaniards mostly ineffectual. Balotelli was a complete disaster and I do not understand what he is even doing on the team, let alone starting. His failure to either pass to a wide-open Cassano or shoot the ball when through to goal may have cost the Italians two points; his substitute, di Natale, not only looked much more dangerous but scored within three minutes of getting in the game. The Spanish goal was nice teamwork, but was the near-inevitable result of the Italian left back failing to mark Fabregas in the box. Torres came on late, only to provide copious evidence for an argument concerning who was worse, him or Balotelli. He actually managed to have the ball stolen by Buffon, the Italian keeper, on one of his three fruitless breakaways. The draw was well-merited, as both teams looked considerably better than any of eight teams that played before them, including the Germans, and it was easily the most entertaining match of the tournament to date.

Croatia 3 Ireland 1

Ireland simply doesn’t belong here. Seriously, they were so uniformly bad, both tactically and technically, that I was seriously left with the impression that the first team on my old club could have beaten them. Given wasn’t merely inept in goal, but embarrassingly so, as he failed to save a fairly easy, long-distance header on the first Croatian goal, and later knocked in a ball bouncing off the post with his own head. He looked slow and clumsy even when he was making saves. The Irish further embarrassed themselves with their crying about a nonexistent offsides on the second Croatian goal, ignoring the obvious fact that it isn’t offsides if the pass is from the other team. The Irish defender made what looked like a child’s attempt to clear the ball after a deflected shot, which sent the ball directly to the Croatian who was several yards behind the defense. The Irish were trying to claim that the Croatian had been involved in the previous play, a shot deflected from the other side of the box, which simply wasn’t true. The Irish attack was nearly nonexistent and consisted of nothing more than kicking the ball long, mostly to Doyle, who then collapsed like a hypersensitive Pippo Inzaghi as soon as a Croatian defender breathed on him. Doyle won three or four free kicks this way, one of which accounted for the sole Irish goal, before the referee wised up and forced him to actually try to do something with the ball, which promptly shut down the Irish. The Irish did run hard, but one felt that either the Spanish or the Germans could have beaten them by double digits if they wanted.