A sad day for football

Robbo, I have finally come to terms with my disbelief. I doubt my wife's family will ever let it lie. Regards tonights match - Portugal looked good - the same as the last game - but Greece played very effectively indeed. There is no way they could beat Portugal in the first game and the final, AND put out France and the Czechs by some fluke of dull football accidents.

Portugal looked fun, but Greece won. Playing football isnt about looking good whilst winning, its just about winning by any means necessary. Greece played to their strengths and deserved to win. To put my perspective down to sour grapes would be presumptive.

 

You cant define "better" using stats. Portugal played Greece twice and lost both times, just because Portugal played a more attacking game counts for nothing. Greece won in the 90 mins due to organisation, skill, fitness and a great game plan - which they stuck to. I think the sour grapes are actually in Portugal.

 

Michael,

Come off it! Most of those "shots" were barely worthy of the term and of the 5 on target (in 90 minutes!) how many of them threatened?

As for the passing stats, I would expect Portugal to win that one against most teams in the world. But how many of them went forward

 

Checkout www.jimmyjump.com

 

The way the Greeks beat France and the Czechs was exactly as they beat Portugal. Batten down the hatches and have luck guide the ball into the net on the one chance they got.

Don't get me wrong, if we'd been beaten by a better team I would be upset but accept it. It's very hard to accept when you're beaten by an inferior team. Incidentally, even the Greek coach admits Portugal were the better team: "The opponent was technically better than us" (from the BBC news site).

Michael.

 

Sure Portugal are undoubtebly better technically, but they are worse at winning the Eurpopean Cup than Greece. Given the choice I know which I'd prefer if I were a football team (just run with me on the metaphor).

 

Now you know how we felt

Seriously though, you aren't doing yourself any favours Michael - desperately looking for justification. Truth is you were made to look ineffectual by a very well organised football team. They did the same to the Czechs, but at least I kept expecting THEM to score.

 

If you look at the reaction to the Greeks defeat of the Czechs, for whom the English have no sour grapes, I think you'll find most people thought the Czechs were the better side. The manner in which the Greeks won both games was very similar, and neither victory was deserved.

Michael.

 

Damn right. The process of nullifying a talented team is never going to be pretty. People never notice the success of that achievement, they just blame bad luck, or feel their team didnt quite get the breaks. The fact is Greece performed very well indeed - they soaked up consistent pressure with an impenetrable defence, they showed great fitness and they capitalised on a set piece effectively. They also looked more dangerous on the few occasions they attacked. AND they didnt let it go to penalties. Not really that much to criticise IMO.

 

Luck didn't get the Greek goal, poor defending did (look at the replay, nobody was marking the scorer and the goalkeeper was nowhere).

Fact is, Portugal were unable to outplay the Greek defence, 5 shots on target is pretty poor considering the amount of time they had to try to score an equaliser. Why so few shots on target? Because the Greek defence played better than the Portuguese attack and stifled most of the threat. Not sour grapes on my part either, I said in the other thread "Portugal played better than England and deserved to win". Tonight they didn't play well enough to justify a victory.

-- Ian

 

I would have much preferred to see Czech vs Portugal - no doubt, but this idea of undeserved victories starts to fall apart when you look at the consistency of these "undeserved" wins. Their game plan is diametrically opposed to Portugal's, but you dont win the European Cup by accident.

 

i watched the game intermittently from just before greece scored. from what i saw the portugese goalie was off his mark and the defenter was comprehensively beaten by the scorer.
after that portugal seemed to have the wind knocked out of them and began to play desperately. their strikers seemed to be hesitant and to have come down with beckhams 'sky it' disease. certainly their back half got the ball up there enough but the 'finishers' just didn't finish it.
greece played well, they deserved the win through hard work and consistency all through the tournament. the portugese team knew exactly what sort of game they'd play and didn't seem to have anything to counter it.
cheers


julian

 

The Czechs looked the best team (in the tournament) to me and the Portugese are far better technically than the Greeks but you have to turn that technical superiority into goals.

And let's get one thing straight - if you score one or more goals and keep a clean sheet then you DO deserve to win (especially as there were no contentious decisions that gave Greece their goal or denied the Portugese anything).

I also get the feeling that it's annoying you all the more because it's Greece who aren't supposed to be any good - if Italy had done exactly the same thing to Portugal then I've a feeling you wouldn't mind this so much as Italy are a 'proper' team with a history and this is the way they play.

Matt.

 

We must remember that the strategy that works the best is the best.

Yes Greece locked down their half. Yes it was incredibly difficult to score against them. Yes this is a fairly boring way to play football. But it works!

The Greeks know that their attack is not strong. They don't have stars in their front line. What are the choices? Well they could play the other teams' game and be beaten like every other time, or they could play their game. The defensive game, the waiting game. Close the other team off completely, eventually an opportunity will present itself - make sure you capitalise on it.

That is how Greece beat Europe - they played their game, not ours.

Surely this just tells us that Greece had a better keeper than Portugal. Portugal let in 100% of the on target shots. Greece let in 0%...

So Greece made better use of the time they had on the ball.

Believe it or not, I was supporting Portugal. But Greece was the better side, and deserved to win. Sorry Michael.

 

Never mind eh? They shouldnt have even been in the final anyway

Well done to Greece

 

I thought Czechs had an excellent team and will win the cup

Today, Congratulations to both teams for an exciting game
Portugal played a fine attacking game but luck deserted them.
Greece on the other hand with its first class defensive style won the day.

Football with its one goal victories, silver goals and penalty shoot-outs will remain an unfair game unless they modify the rules and introduce a points system.

Who ever heard of winning or losing 1-0 in Basketball, Tennis or Cricket?!

 

As they say in That Other Football on The Other Side Of The Pond, winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

 

Greg,

I too was shocked at their win against the czechs, as I would have loved to see a Portugal Czech final. I thought the win against france was a fluke and that they were a poor team, but the more I watch them the more it becomes obvious that they are a good team with an outstanding defence. I wish England had a defence like that!

Overall, they were full value for their win IMO.

I suspect some of the more astute european club managers out there will be looking to pick up a few of their defenders at a good price as they are top class.

 

At the end of the day the Greeks beat Portugal twice. Once could appear lucky.... to loose twice starts to look like someone had the Portugese sussed.

 

Or, to paraphrase Lady Bracknell in "The importance of being earnest", to lose one match is tragic, to lose two sounds like extreme carelessness.