David Villa Strikes Again

2008-09-10T06:59:48-04:00

2008-06-14T14:53:40-04:00

2008-09-10T06:38:34-04:00

2008-06-15T11:40:38-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/142/335/thumb/raul.puyol.jpg 263 MD

Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

HQ Here's hoping our teams actually get to sqaure off. Cheers, B 1983597

2008-06-15T10:39:47-04:00

No City 440043

Thank you for your last posts, Burgundy ( I am NOT being ironic). I like your spirit and wish your Spanish team, which plays positive, very attractive and well-executed football, everything they deserve at this Euro. For the Dutch, the game against Romania will not be representative (in the same way as the Spanish game vs. Greece). In fact, it will be a Spanish quaterfinal (against Romania, France or Italy) when Aragones will have to show that his men can beat a top-tier team or a fully motivated outside contender. 1983410

2008-06-15T10:03:00-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/142/335/thumb/raul.puyol.jpg 263 MD

Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

Well then HQ, congratulations on being the more mature fan. Me? I haven't seen a major championship win for Spain, ever. I make no excuses for that or anything else I say. Opinions differ - be they silly or not - that's the point. So I stand by what I said. Holland is the team to beat in this tournament but the open spaces they took advantage of against France and Italy, both teams that looked horribly tired, are going to disappear very quickly in the next round - perhaps even against Romania. 1983313

2008-06-15T09:21:01-04:00

No City 440043

I am a fan, too, Burgundy, but I believe I'm mature enough to "laud" my team without "cautioning" the other (using your elegant terms) -- at least not before the teams meet face to face and setlle the score without able assitance from their fans. 1983282

2008-06-15T07:05:16-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/142/335/thumb/raul.puyol.jpg 263 MD

Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

HQ What part of "Holland is THE team to be reckoned with" translates to me NOT giving them their due credit? Anyone who does not consider the Oranje to be the best team in this tournament hasn't been paying attention. However, my point is that it is much easier to run full-out against two obviously slower teams than it will be to match up against Spain. A early litmus test, of course, will be against Romania. If the Dutch can do to them what they did to the rest of their group then I will stand utterly corrected. As for it being "silly" to laud Spain and caution Holland, well, that is certainly possible but I leave the unbiased reporting to the professionals like Mr. Wahl - I'm a fan. Ole, ole ole ole! 1983153

2008-06-15T04:37:24-04:00

No City 440043

Burgundy, It is silly to see how you downgrade Holland's victories over Italy and France and praise Spanish victories over two "big, strong and tactically sound" teams like Russia and Sweden. In the match against Spain, Russia was anything but strong and tactically sound -- it gave Villa and Torres gaping open space to exploit in front of the goal. Sweden in the first half, with Ibrahimovic and desire to score was a match (some would agrue "more than a match") for the Spaniards. After taking Zlatan off and settling for a draw, Spanish did outplay them but scored the winner only deep in injury time due to the moment of genius by Villa. By comparison, Holland took the game to two former WC finalists, admittedly out of their best form (but with skill, expreience and ambitions unaffected) and won brilliantly and convincignly by scoring 7 goals against two of the best defences in the world. Mind you, I am all for a semifinal showdown between Spain and Holland. My advise to you: give your opponents some credit beforehand -- this way you get more honour both in winningn and in losing. 1983222

2008-06-14T23:02:29-04:00

DutchinDC

Washington 440227

Villa MVP???? Only one deserving: Wesley Sneijder. NL-IT: 3-0. NL-FR=41-; easy math: semis NL-SP: 3 goals difference... We've got SP's number, with Robben, RVN and others, no problema. Bring Spain on! 1982070

2008-06-14T21:10:15-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/892/87/thumb/sevilla_fc260.jpg 10 TX

carlosvevez

Euless 89587

well we know greece won't get out and with out zlatan sweden won't either. spain and nederlands are still the teams to beat with the dutch edging the spanish right now demolishing quality opponents. however the dutch will hit the wall and have to tough it out like the spanish did tonight, the question is can they get a win once their football is broken down? hala espana! 1981739

2008-06-14T18:15:59-04:00

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Burgundy

Baltimore 142635

I find the criticism of Ramos completely unfounded. First, Ibrahimovic is perhaps one of the most powerful strikers in Europe and although he looked inept in that instant, Ramos routinely contributed at both ends of the field for the entire game. I do agree with giving Aragon??s credit. He knows his team. He knows winning soccer. He knows tactics that work. I also think Holland is the team to be reckoned with; however, it's quite easy to run into space against older, less- fit teams like France and Italy than it will be to go toe to toe with Spain. Of course, having finished first in Group D - El Sabio de Hortaleza can hold off on his anti-Oranje tactical plans. Spain has dispatched with two big, strong and tactically sound teams - normally the types that give La Roja problems. Luis will let some of his second string take it to Greece, rest his Spanish stallions, and continue to have success in the quarters. ??Aupa Espa??a! 1981469

2008-06-14T18:12:56-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/440/038/thumb/images.jpg 180 WI

Barca4Life

Milwaukee 440478

Carolinaviking you obviously must be a Sweden fan. To quote you, "and I'm sure Spain got away with some equally-impactful fouls." Is one of the most preposterous lines I've ever heard! Consider that the ref missed TWO clear penalties against Spain and to say Spain got away with similar is absurd! Like Mr.Wahl said, if you take the ENTIRE game in context Spain was constantly on the offensive, and once Ibra was subbed Sweden just sat back playing for the tie and praying that a counter opportunity may come their way, (which it almost did.) It was a heartbreaking way to lose but Spain clearly deserved the victory! 1981467

Three things we learned from Spain’s thrilling 2-1 victory over Sweden in Innsbruck: • I love it when tired old national stereotypes get confounded. Nice to see that the terms Spanish mettle and Spanish teamwork aren’t oxymorons after all. I thought the Spaniards had let the ridiculous uncalled penalty against Sweden in the first half mess with their heads, but tournament MVP (so far) David Villa spun some magic out of a relatively harmless longball and sank the Swedes with his stoppage-time game-winner. Once again in this tournament an attacking team (Spain) is rewarded and a conservative team (Sweden, at least in the second half) is punished. Once again the forces of good soccer win out. Spain isn’t quite the juggernaut that Holland has been (who is?), but this is the sort of tough-it-out win that could do wonders for a team that has shown impressive chemistry despite having several good players sitting on the bench. • It’s time to give Spanish coach Luis Aragonés some credit. The first Spanish goal was a thing of beauty, a short-corner set-play that the coaching staff had to have put together on the training ground. Usually I detest short-corners, but this one involved a sweet little misdirection in which Villa cut the ball from the endline sharply back to David Silva, who had zero pressure on him as he delivered his cross to Fernando Torres for the goal. Great stuff. • The officiating inconsistency is only getting worse. I still can’t wrap my mind around why referee Pieter Vink didn’t whistle a penalty on Sweden’s Johan Elmander for barreling into Silva, knocking him over just as he was about to receive the ball with an open goal in front of him. Why, Elmander wasn’t even facing the ball when it happened! That’s a slam-dunk penalty in any game, but it’s even more of a head-scratcher given the extremely low threshold referees have had the past two days for awarding penalties for contact on non-goal-scoring chances in the box. Through-balls: Nice to see two physically large center-forwards (Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Holland’s Ruud van Nistelrooy) show so many skills on the ball the past two days. Just because you’re a certain size doesn’t mean you have to fit a certain role (e.g., “target forward”) on the field ... So far Sergio Ramos may be the most overrated player in Euro 2008. It was Ramos’s curious decision to go to ground (and Iker Casillas’s botched save) that allowed a soft goal by Ibrahimovic. And it was Ramos who gave away silly fouls and failed to have an impact going forward ... Big concerns for the road ahead: Spain’s Carles Puyol and Sweden’s Ibrahimovic both left the game with injuries and didn’t play in the second half ... Swedish right back Fredrik Stoor got off to a terrible start in his first game, making a poor clearance to gift Spain the corner kick that would lead to its first goal. (Stoor compounded the error by falling for the Spanish misdirection play and failing to put any pressure on Silva’s cross.) But Stoor came back well, hitting the early-cross from the right to Ibrahimovic for the goal ... The only downside of HD broadcasts: having to see the thicket of nose-hairs sprouting out of Luis Aragonés ... Good to see The White Stripes’ Seven-Nation Army becoming the new song of choice for chanting Euro fans. It was about time something more recent replaced I Will Survive and Simply the Best as soccer anthems ... I’ve gotten several responses from U.S. readers who questioned why I called Kasey Keller the best goalkeeper in U.S. history in a recent column. Guys, you have to read more closely: I called him “the best SHOT-STOPPER,” not the best goalie. Keller was a better shot-stopper than Brad Friedel, although Friedel was much better than Keller with his feet. Give Tim Howard a few years and he could ace out Keller for best shot-stopper. Do you think Russia or Greece has a chance to get out of this group instead of Sweden? Please post your comments below, and come back after Russia-Greece for another update of the Euro Blog ... 1332 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615