The football thread!
- Thread starter devilrules666
- Start date
VoxPhantom
Stand User
Going to give Italy the kiss of death and declare my support for them in this final!
devilrules666
Combat Butler
Considering spain are 2-0 at the moment i think you have given to them! lol
devilrules666
Combat Butler
Wow 4-0 spain look unstoppable
mangaman74
Akatsuki
Record breaking Spain,
1st team to win 3 major competitions in a row
1st team to retain the Euros
Biggest winning margin in a Euro final
and all with no strikers - Cesc Fabregas started more games than Fernando Torres.
Torres won the golden boot as his record matched Mario Gomez of Germany (3 goals, 1 assist) but Torres played less (around 180 minutes Torres against 280 minutes Gomez I think).
The 4 - 0 score again Italy was a bit harsh on Italy as they played the last half hour with ten men (3rd sub went off injured) but Spain deserved the win.
1st team to win 3 major competitions in a row
1st team to retain the Euros
Biggest winning margin in a Euro final
and all with no strikers - Cesc Fabregas started more games than Fernando Torres.
Torres won the golden boot as his record matched Mario Gomez of Germany (3 goals, 1 assist) but Torres played less (around 180 minutes Torres against 280 minutes Gomez I think).
The 4 - 0 score again Italy was a bit harsh on Italy as they played the last half hour with ten men (3rd sub went off injured) but Spain deserved the win.
FourthLion
Adventurer
I feel really bad for Pirlo. It's probably his last ever tournament and he was ace. If Italy had won that match he's probably have got played of the tournament ahead of Iniesta.
Pretty convincing win though. That really silenced everyone saying Spain were boring and were going to suffocate everything at 1-0.
Pretty convincing win though. That really silenced everyone saying Spain were boring and were going to suffocate everything at 1-0.
MaxonTreik
Chuunibyou
I'll consider them a great team if they can pull off two World Cup wins in a row like Pele's Brazil. Winning two Euros is different from winning two World Cups.
20thCenturyBoy
Thousand Master
FourthLion said:
Yeah, Spain really stepped it up they were tremendous. Hope we see some real competition in 2014 though, if Italy can continue to grow, the Germans maybe mature a bit and the hosts don't disappoint then I reckon it could be a tasty tournament. I'm going to call it now with those 3 and Uruguay making up the semi finalsts in 2 years time.
devilrules666
Combat Butler
Pirlo was the best player at the euros
FourthLion
Adventurer
MaxonTreik said:
I'd say winning 2 Euros is almost harder. There's no possibility of an easy route in the Euros, whereas the World Cup it's fairly possible for a good team to pretty much cruise to the semis.
To be honest I hope they don't win again, I want another team to step it up a gear or come up with a valid counter strategy (that hopefully isn't playing more defenders than Spain play midfielders).
MaxonTreik
Chuunibyou
Not really. At the World Cup, as well as the best European teams, you have the South American teams, and African teams are starting to get better. There are no bad teams at a World Cup. However, you still get mediocre teams like Ukraine, Ireland and Sweden at Euros. You also have to go through more teams to get that far in a World Cup.FourthLion said:
mangaman74
Akatsuki
MaxonTreik said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_FIFA_ ... kout_stage
1990 World Cup: Republic of Ireland reached the quarter finals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_FIFA_ ... kout_stage
1994 World Cup: Sweden reached the semi-finals, Republic of Ireland reached the last 16.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FIFA_World_Cup
2002 World Cup: Republic of Ireland and Sweden reached the last 16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup
2006 World Cup: Sweden reached the last 16, Ukraine reached the quarter finals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_t ... tournament
According to stats Sweden are 10th in terms of performance (games played/wins/draws/losses/goals for & against).
As for Brazil winning 2 World Cups in a row, Italy did that before them (1934 & 1938). Spain may not have won 2 World Cups in a row but they have won 3 tournements in a row which no other team has done (Argentina & Uruguay won the Copa America between them in the years 1955 - 1959).
FourthLion
Adventurer
MaxonTreik said:
Are you kidding? At the last cup alone Nigeria, Algeria, North Korea, Honduras, Cameroon, New Zeland (though they did put up a good fight, but lost their own regional cup recently to Fiji!)... Even in terms of qualifying European teams there were the likes of Slovenia, Switzerland and Serbia none of who managed to qualify for the Euros.
Sweden and Ireland are ranked higher than any Oceanic or Asian teams and only bested by the Ivory Coast in African teams. Ukraine are definitely on the up too, but then judging a competition by one of it's hosts is a bit harsh anyway, certainly not much worse a team than South Africa?
There is far more quality to the teams in a Euro than a world cup, at least in the group stages.
MaxonTreik
Chuunibyou
So a team doesn't qualify so you say they suck? That's now how it works. FIFA's ranking system is so messed up that they get the seedings wrong and you'll get really weird seeds or strong teams in the same group. Just look at group A for the World Cup qualifiers. You have Belgium as the third seed, but they're ranked second lowest in the group, whereas Wales are ranked third highest but are the 6th seed.FourthLion said:
Also, keep in mind that there are less spaces that there are less European spots in the World Cup than the Euros.
FourthLion said:
Are you seriously using FIFA's ranking as an argument? That ranking had England as 6th before the Euros, and they won't even drop out the top 10 with the way it works after it, and Netherlands couldn't even get a single point. You also seem to be forgetting Ghana did pretty well and only went out because Uruguay cheated.
You also forgot Japan in your little "all Asian teams suck" generalisation.
No there isn't.FourthLion said:
To summarise, your argument hinges on FIFA's rankings which have proven to be incredibly flawed. Those rankings mean **** if you look beyond them and look at actual performances. Score lines don't tell you anything, and neither do rankings.
Are you making a point or just throwing Wikipedia at me?mangaman74 said:
FourthLion
Adventurer
I apologise that the systems and evidence supplied by myself and mangaman were inadequate. I fail to see anything much at all backing up your arguments however. FIFA rankings, match results and tournament positions seem like a better argument than 'I like these teams but not these ones', however flawed they are as systems of judgment.
I don't think I said anyone's teams sucked? That said even Japan are pretty average...
I don't think I said anyone's teams sucked? That said even Japan are pretty average...
mangaman74
Akatsuki
ayase said:
But didn't you say Brazil winning 2 World Cups in a row (in 1958 & 1962) was better than Spain winning the last 2 Euros and the World Cup which was in between?
ayase
State Alchemist
No I didn't, and I don't see what relevance that has to the point I was making. I don't really want to get into arguing on Maxon's behalf, but his point was surely that he considers the Ukraine, Ireland and Sweden teams of the present day to be mediocre, not the Ukraine, Ireland and Sweden teams of five, ten or twenty years ago.mangaman74 said:
mangaman74
Akatsuki
ayase said:
Sorry for mixing you and Maxon up - it wasn't intentional. I still think my point is valid though. If he doesn't think teams being good 10-15 years ago means anything then neither does Brazil being good 50-60 years ago (when they won back to back World Cups). Their current form isn't great - they have lost at the quarter final stage of the last 2 World Cups (getting knocked out by France and Netherlands) while they got knocked out at the quarter final stage of the 2011 Copa America by Paraguay.