Re: Before Euro 2008....

by Magricos Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:42 pm

ErPupone wrote:
Magricos wrote:
Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Possession doesn't mean dominance in any way. Chiellini and Panucci in the middle shut down everything, while Italy had the chances to win (if it weren't for Toni attempting a bicycle kick with Grosso right behind him, I think the game might have been ours). But it's in the past anyway, just wanted to point that out.

Like I said before Italy had more possession.

by jibers Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:48 pm

Honestly, thought Germany or Italy would knab it, nknew the dutch would falter, thought spain would falter as well.

by buddytaller Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:53 pm

France had just been to the world cup finals and lost on penalties with Domenech as coach, they still had a very decent team without Zidane.

Coupet
Sagnol - Thuram - Gallas - Evra
Ribéry - Toulalan - Makélélé - Malouda
Anelka - Henry

With Benzema, Govou, Nasri, Abidal and Lloris as backup, they looked very dangerous on paper. Domenech found a way to fail with this team but they were in the group of death with Italy, Netherlands and Romania.

by ErPupone Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:54 pm

Magricos wrote:
ErPupone wrote:
Magricos wrote:
Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Possession doesn't mean dominance in any way. Chiellini and Panucci in the middle shut down everything, while Italy had the chances to win (if it weren't for Toni attempting a bicycle kick with Grosso right behind him, I think the game might have been ours). But it's in the past anyway, just wanted to point that out.

Like I said before Italy had more possession.

Do you know what the possession stats were? I'm not implying that you're lying, just curiosity. Anyhow, my point was that Italy did defend well in that match and had they grabbed their chance to win it, it wouldn't have been undeserved.

by Magricos Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:12 pm

I'm not even disputing the fact Italy had great chances. Milano said Spain didn't have a single moment. ErPupone stats are still available on this match.

by S Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:35 pm

Well honestly I'm with Zealous as well.great team but knowing their underachieving status i expected them to choke as well especially when the quarters came around.

also Abidal played at CB instead of Thuram for France and he was apalling to say the least.

I remember watching a pre-tournament show in my country and Lee Sharpe(former Manchester United player) was the only one to predict Spain as the tournament winner.

by H.A. Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:38 pm

Well the Netherlands destroyed both Italy and France in the group stages, they immediately became the favorites but that game against Russia Neutral

by ErPupone Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:58 pm

Surag.Blueguy wrote:Well honestly I'm with Zealous as well.great team but knowing their underachieving status i expected them to choke as well especially when the quarters came around.

also Abidal played at CB instead of Thuram for France and he was apalling to say the least.

I remember watching a pre-tournament show in my country and Lee Sharpe(former Manchester United player) was the only one to predict Spain as the tournament winner.

Same. I didn't consider France contenders anymore when I saw that center-back situation. The game against Italy pretty much proved that.

And before the tournament started, I pretty much considered Spain chokers too (even though it wasn't always their fault). I recognized the good team on paper, but didn't consider them favorites. I was edging more towards Germany for the win at the time.

by McAgger Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:55 pm

Spain was my fav team at those Euro's and at the WC so i clearly had them as one of the favorites to win it.

by teamanarchy Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:48 am

You left out the fact that Ramos was the best RB in the world at the time and Casillas was on top form...
Also, ... Torres

by teamanarchy Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:48 am

AND... Dani Guita

by Rafinha Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:53 am

Spain of football was SAfrica of cricket before 08. Potentially one of the in the world and plays like one of the best but screwed up it in big tournament ieChoker mentality. I was a bitter supporter of both of them. Now Spain find a way out and hopefully SA will also find a way in next worldcup.

by Lord Hades Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:29 am

i actually expected them to win.. since madrid had had a good season , iker , ramos and the like were in good form, villa has always been good for spain and on paper they really had a great squad..not to mention senna was in impressive form.. plus they had a unbeaten record of more than 20 or so matches at that time if i recall correctly.. also didnt know a lot of about other int teams so spain was the obvious choice

by Adit Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:03 am

I rooted for spain.I was even confident of a spain win vs italy in shootout as Iker was in terrific form.

All madrid players were in best form plus Capdeville,Xavi,Senna,Cazorla etc were also awesome players at that time.They were the clear and deserved winner of that tournament,no luck involved.

by S Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:12 am

Senna and Silva imo outperformed Xavi and Iniesta respectively in that tournament.

Also Casillas was probably the best player of the tournament for me atleast.

Aragones' Spain was definitely more fun to watch than current Del Bosque's Spain. Thumbs up

by VivaStPauli Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:43 am

I expected Spain to choke hard, and Italy or us to take it, TBH. Didn't see it coming that Spain would get their shit together.

by aford92 Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:08 am

I though Italy and Germany were favourites.

by S Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:12 am

Italy were probably branded as favourites mainly cuz of the world cup 2006 reputation they bought with them.

They never really had a great squad to begin with.Not to mention Cannavaro got injured in training before the commencement of the Euros and Donadoni was sort of an unknown quantity.

Germany were the outright favourites for the tournament imo but as we saw Spain totally banished their chokers tag.

Props to the thread though.Good thread. Thumbs up

by uzonero Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:28 am

didn't expect spain to come out on top. The favorites for me were italy, germany and holland

by ErPupone Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:16 am

Magricos wrote: I'm not even disputing the fact Italy had great chances. Milano said Spain didn't have a single moment. ErPupone stats are still available on this match.

k well i looked it up and found that Spain had 57% possession in that match...

by leemhuis Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:23 am

Holland were stronger and better than Spain. Italy was more dangerous play better and deserve to win against Spain, yet not having main players that play against Holland before and Holland destroy Italy in earlier game. Spain very lucky in this tournament.

by Khaled Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:05 pm

Surag.Blueguy wrote:Senna and Silva imo outperformed Xavi and Iniesta respectively in that tournament.

Also Casillas was probably the best player of the tournament for me atleast.

Aragones' Spain was definitely more fun to watch than current Del Bosque's Spain.

I re-watched Euro 2008 Final today, Xavinesta & Torres were "obviously" Best players vs Germany!

by S Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:10 pm

When we're talking about whole tournament though ,i would give it to Senna and Silva imo.

by Lord Awesome Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:12 pm

Put it this way. I've been rating and touting them to win every tourney since 2002.

by cheesy Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:39 pm

They were still favourites for the tournament. Not all players had been performing at their best, but one look at the team told you how good they were.

by ELO Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:53 pm

Lord Hispano wrote:Put it this way. I've been rating and touting them to win every tourney since 2002.

yup, they were always one of the best teams on paper, but nobody REALLY expected them to win the tournament, because of their 'choking' history.

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Pre Euro 2008, how did you rate Spain?