A sad day for football

One of my German colleague expressed that opinion when the Germans were still in Euro 2004. He didn't have a good word to say about the German coach. He actually thought the Greeks would go a lot further than the Germans. I wonder if he bet on them.

 

Did you hear about the guy who had £650 on Greece (@ 100/1)!

They had a phone interview with him last night and turns out he bottled it in the end!

Backed Greece to win it from the start, then when they got to the final he lost faith/bottle and ended up spreading his bet. Not sure of the ins and outs, but he shifted some of his winnings to cover a portugal win and ended up with *just* £8k up!

Not a bad win, but still, after backing the greeks from the start, you'd have thought he'd keep faith come the final!

A freind of mine had greece in our sweepstake (between a few mates), and portugal in his works one! Lucky git!

Germany can take Vogts back if they want him! Time he got his act together and at least started to hint at progress.

 

Quite right. Refs are of course allowed to have friends ... if they can find any.

 

Sideshowbob,

Top post there man, absolutely top post. You have just reiterated the point I was making to Michael in that there is no need to change the rules just because teams adopt defensive strategies. The current rules should remain and as you say teams, have to focus more and become more creative in order to find ways around, say, the Greek (or other such) defence.

Ronaldo of Portugal is a classic example of someone who has the potential to break strong defences but spends way too much time tap-dancing instead of scoring goals. So whichever way you cut it, dice it or slice it, Portugal were not hungry enough to win that trophy whereas the Greeks were and they deserved it.

P.S. You know what they say eh - "bad workmen always blame their tools" so I guess it's everyone else's fault that Portugal lost.



Enjoy the music,

Lawrie.

 

Got to throw my pennies in. Got to say I was chuffed that Greece won. They just proved what fitness, organisation and passion can do for a team. Imagine if England (or Portugal for that matter) had played with the same levels of these qualities as Greece. With the addition of the individual skills of Cole, Sol, Beckham and Owen (on form ) and Rooney they could be unstoppable. We must remember that it was Beckham not having the energy to block a cross that was our downfall in the France match....or was it Portugal...I forget. However well he can knock a free kick in I'd like to see him tackling and blocking effectively. These are equally important parts of the game.

Anyway to be a complete team you need to have these qualities as well as the superstar qualities of players like Ronaldo and Figo. Brazils success is based upon their abundance of talent in the superstar department which means they can neglect defence to some extent. Greece have an ambundance of talent in the organisation and commitment side which covers up their lack of superstar skills. The best teams have the right balance and there was no one in the competition that could unlock Greeces recipe.

Greece and (South Korea at the World Cup) have taught us the importance of organisation, hard work and commitment. Portugal and England would do well to read up on these parts of the game. Maybe then they can start filling up the trophy cabinet.

In the meantime we should be appluding the Greeks for reaping the rewards of their hard work, not making excuses for the failings of our unsuccesful and overhyped teams.
And Michael...the rules of the game have been very succesful for many years...and will continue to be...just cus Portugal fked up you can't design a new game that would suit them better. Thats moving the goalposts my friend.

 

Absolutely. Michael - I find it somewhat offensive from your previous post that certain teams such as S.Korea, USA or Greece shouldnt really be successful. Success in football is not the privilege of the classic teams. In fact excessive rewards in leagues such as La Liga, Serie A and of course the Premiership have spoilt some top players IMO. Teams like S.Korea demonstrate more traditional values - teamwork, high levels of fitness, concentration, committment and most importantly DESIRE. Italy presume they should win, France seem surprised when they dont just sail through, England are burdened by poor first touches and short passing, Holland never seem to play as a unit, Germany are still building their squad.

Greece played solid organised football - their defence was extraordinary - they constantly pushed out to the edge of their penalty area making it hard for Portugal to play them deep, England on the other hand lined up along their 6 yard box making it easy for deep balls and making it hard for David James to protect his goal. The Greeks actually looked pretty talented on the break too. The only two Portuguese players which looked really dangerous were Ronaldo and Rui Costa.

 

Michael's gone quiet!

I suspect the nationalistic fervour is finally wearing off

 

For proper, attacking football, see here:

http://global.terra.com/copaamericaperu2004/ingles/index2_i.htm

Michael.

 

Michael...maybe you should go and watch my local primary school team play footy. Out and out attack, regular double figure scorelines, no attention to defence, flair players, temper tantrums...its got it all

 

I presume thats attacking football that actually results in goals actually scored.

 

Yeah, really attacking football

"Colombia beat Venezuela 1-nil in the curtain-raiser of the 41st edition of the Copa América, held in Peru. The winner was scored by striker Tressor Moreno from a spot-kick on 21 minutes."

 

Do us a favour Michael! Have you ever watched the Copa? The most cynical competition in the world (where do you think Deco learnt to dive?). If you thought Greece defended stoutly, keep an eye on Uruguay

I'll give it a miss thanks, besides which Portugal are not playing so I guess it's devalued already

 

You're learning

Michael.