A Game Played By 22 Players ... And In The End Germany Wins

2008-09-10T06:59:40-04:00

2008-06-19T17:46:10-04:00

2008-09-10T06:38:33-04:00

2008-06-21T03:55:07-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/527/80/thumb/180204.jpg 15 OR

mrearls7

The Dalles 53020

I haven't seen a whole lot fo posts on the referee for the game. Seeing as how it's been discussed on here before about how football officials make the game too much about themselves, I thought it was refreshing to see an official that let the players play. See, to me, that's how football should be played. And, I might add, it helped the Germans win. The Germans play hard aggressive football, while the Portugese play finesse football, and to me it seems they rely on getting ticky tack fouls, helped along by their incessant flopping. Having a referee that allowed them to play helped Germany and hindered Portugal, simply because of their styles of play. I'm an England football fan, but seeing as how they crapped down their legs in qualifying, I'm pulling for a Germany-Netherlands final. 2033106

2008-06-20T14:31:30-04:00

273

no_trolling_please

No City 128849

@janinamerika you are right, I was wrong. You can be off side after a freekick. I confused it with throw ins and corners (and foal kicks). 2028478

2008-06-20T14:08:25-04:00

joaum

No City 443456

Did you realize that before the first goal Germany held the ball for more than one minute, playing 23 passes in a row without a portugese player even remotely having a chance to touch it? The first 16 touches were just playing it along and lulling the opponent into sleep, and he was to be easily caught. Then - baboom! - three qucik double passes and - wham!- goal. Now that doesn't happen to a team supposed to win a EURO contest. What a bad sense of urgency by Portugal... My 10 year old said before the game: "Dad, I think Ronaldo's team wins", and I told him: "Germany has won the WC 3 times, the Euro 3 times and was in the final even more often. Portugal reached one final and won nothing. Know the history of the game, then you'll be better in predicting results. We'll win. End of story." It was good to let him watch the game, so in the end he was sure: "Well, Dad knows a thing or two more than I do..." ;-) 2028236

2008-06-20T11:59:02-04:00

Schnerres

Penokee 443463

Friedrich fouled Ronaldo, he kept on rolling and then he STEPPED on his foot. If this was accidentally, okay, but these things usually don??t happen by accident. I??m from germany and after the game, while seeing the replay, i was kind of mad at how dumb these guys are sometimes. Just take a walk around that whining ronaldo and everything??s fine..I would never do such a thing on the field, knowing the ref (and his little helpers) can see everything today... Ronaldo a flopper..well, it??s not just him, it??s basically everyone today in international matches. He wouldn??t roll over 8 times in a ManU shirt, that??s for sure. Ballack does the same, this is just part of today??s game, which makes everything harder for today??s refs..We see things in 4 slomos and barely can say it was a foul or not, so the players are to blame for some wrong calls, not the refs (although some calls are refs fault, of course). About our german team: great game, huge step forward, but weak central defense. I??m kind of disappointed by the errors by Mertesacker on both goals and Metzelder wasn??t a rock either. Great effort by Hitzlsperger and Rolfes who just came in and did a great job. Lahm and Friedrich (Deutschland liebt Dich) should be alright on the wings, potential problems will be if Croatia and/or Netherlands in final keep exposing central weaknesses like portugal did. It was a great match, germany put on a huge first 30minutes which was basically enough to earn the win. After that it was up and down and the 2-goal-lead was enough to go though. Keep in mind that Germany had a 3-day-break, while potugals A-Team was off in the final group match and was well-rested (7days), so this victory was great team effort. BUT it was just one match, so let??s keep in mind 1) what the croatians did to us in group match and 2) what turks would do all over germany if they??ll beat us.. Just keep it going :) 2026240

2008-06-20T11:38:59-04:00

athausch

Charlotte 132484

go 2025804

2008-06-20T11:33:36-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/440/920/thumb/Rayados.gif 10 XX

fernandopm

No City 441360

The germans were highly effective against Portugal. While Portugal took 21 shots (10 on goal), Germany took only 10 shots (5 on goal) of which 3 were actual scores! 2025654

2008-06-20T11:29:33-04:00

Hasselmann

Butler 443413

Was this Hansi Flick's doing? Keep Podolski and Klose upfront and make sure the mad dog Schweinsteiger doesn't get a red card and we have winner. 2025493

2008-06-20T11:24:22-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/848/97/thumb/606688134.jpg 4060 WI

PackBrew42 is Truffle Shufflin

Miller Brewery 85197

Does it really matter anyway?? Spain is the team to beat - hands down. Barton | 06/20/08, 10:50 AM Appartently you've missed all of the Netherland's games 2025395

2008-06-20T11:18:58-04:00

w3wa2003

441254

"I think there are better players out there than Ronaldo. I just don't think anyone right now deserves the title of Worlds Greatest Player right now, certainly not someone who falters on the biggest stage." Thanks for the clarification. Cant say that I disagree. 2025295

2008-06-20T11:04:44-04:00

Hasselmann

Butler 443413

was flick the reson for the creative change or was it low? keep podolski and klose upfront, and keep the mad dog schweinstieger off the cards and we have it. 2025036

Three thoughts after Germany’s 3-2 takedown of Portugal in the first quarterfinal of Euro 2008: • Man of the Match: Bastian Schweinsteiger. It’s hard to believe that the game-changing Schweiny didn’t even merit a start in the Germans’ first two matches, because he has been a menace whenever he’s been on the field in Euro 2008. Speed, confidence and a sure finishing touch: the man with the Euro’s worst dye-job brought it all today in his first start of the tournament, abusing Portuguese defenders (usually Paulo Ferreira) and turning Germany back into, well, Germany. It was Schweinsteiger’s punishing run and finish that gave Germany a 1-0 lead (right after João Moutinho had botched an easy finish for Portugal), and it was Schweiny whose perfect free kicks found their targets on the two other German goals. That Croatia loss is a dim memory now thanks in large measure to Schweinsteiger, and the road ahead looks bright for die Mannschaft. • You can’t give the Germans too many set-pieces—and if you do you had better defend on them. Consider the dumb Portuguese yellow-card fouls that gave the Germans their goal-scoring free kicks: a silly takedown by Petit of a jail-breaking Christoph Metzelder (a central defender, for god’s sake!) and a totally unnecessary foul by Pepe on Miroslav Klose when Germany was on a harmless three-on-five attack. And while plenty of credit should go to Germany for its set-piece precision, the Portuguese defense on those goals was shocking: Cristiano Ronaldo completely lost Klose on the second German goal, and Paulo Ferreira lost Michael Ballack (with an assist from at-sea goalkeeper Ricardo) on what proved to be the game-winner. • The Germans aren’t just tough—they’re savvy, too. In some ways the Germans remind me of a late-career Michael Jordan, who knew all the little tricks (probably illegal, but not very noticeable and almost never called) to give himself the hair’s breadth of space he needed to operate. That’s what I was thinking today on two separate plays: the look-and-you'll-miss-it stiff-arm that Lukas Podolski gave Bosingwa to provide himself just enough time and space to fire his pass to Schweinsteiger for Goal No. 1, and the harmless-looking little shove that Ballack gave to Paulo Ferreira that removed any obstacles from his path to heading in Goal No. 3. Neither move was pronounced enough to warrant a whistle, and you can’t deny that they were highly, highly effective. Through-balls: There have been complaints about the Euro 2008 bracket set-up from the start, and for good reason: We may now see a rematch of a group game (Germany vs. Croatia) before we even get the final. There’s something that’s just not right about that ... If countries like Portugal can’t find a decent goalkeeper, then I wonder how long it will be before they start naturalizing uncapped American netminders (and I’m only half-kidding here) ... Impressive pit-stains on Joachim Löw’s designer shirt up in the bad-boy’s box ... I’m scratching my head more than ever about Big Phil Scolari’s decision to stick with the disappointing Simão in this tournament when capable replacements were abundant ... I’ll take back what I said about Nuno Gomes. He’s hardly a classic forward, but he is a high-energy player who works his tail off, has impressive vision and causes good things to happen—kind of a soccer version of a “point-forward” in basketball. Still can’t figure out why Scolari took him off in the second half ... That stiff-arm by Podolski makes me believe more than ever that he could have been a good running back in American football ... Guess it’s time for me to face the music now that my pick to win it all (Portugal) is out of the tournament. Serves me right for gloating earlier today ... Nice to see UEFA hired the “crack” groundskeeper from the Los Angeles Coliseum and brought him to Basel. Is this just the start of another German title run? How much blame do you think Cristiano Ronaldo deserves for the Portuguese loss? Please post your comments below, and check back tomorrow for the latest edition of the Euro 2008 blog ...  1321 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615