France lost, whats new, atleast there combine age should be 208years

the Dutch are amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing.

It is when you watch games like this you realize how overrated the English and that truly, they don't deserve to be in this tournament. Mordern day football is like Chess, not "draft" with a lot of scheming and tactics and like basketball in terms of well orchestrated and structured (fast breaks) counter-attacks. The English on the other hand play ball like Nigerians; direct ball, long ball, "gra-gra" or "wuru-wuru" football. Its not uncommon in the English league to see a defender instead of giving short passes and possessing the ball, instead he boots it 30 metres in the air. The English players unlike the Super Eagles have no skill and technique at all (at least, we have the Okocha's and the Kanu's), all they do is play physical football and to make matters worse are not comfortable with the ball at there feet which is what Fabio Cappello is trying to teach them. Case in point, how many English players can do what Ruud van Nistlerooy did to keep the ball from going out of bounds while at the same time passing to Robben? None, end of story.

As for France, Marco van Basten took over 4 years to prepare this young players to play like this, and he has been experimenting for several years now and now its coming to fruition. The French and the Italians are now suffering the effects of not developing and integrating there young players since they've been living in past glory. The French team have a combined age of 208 years and they were going against the fleet footed Dutch, ha, what a difference 2 years make. The French and the Italians should have retooled immediately after the world cup but they didn't now they are suffering the aftermath of being complacent and sticking to the old guns. Also, i don't understand why Raymond Domenech likes to stick with older players? the guy was the French U21 coach before coaching the senior team.

On a side note, thank God that Marco van Basten put his ego aside and decided to beg RvN to play in the tournament, it has worked well thus far.

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What thrills me about d oranje is that their counter-attacks are so precise and with devastating effect.no one puts a foot wrong.

I am happy that van Basten now understands Dirk Kuyt's usefulness in a team. They say, Variety is important. And thats what the 1988 team had.
I will feel bad if d dutch dont win this tournament.
KNVB-DUTCH FOOTBALL-SIMPLY THE BEST!!!

@bgees
You want the Dutch to win cos of Kuyt



Imagine Ronaldo weaving his way thru the Dutch defense and making good use of his knowledge of Van der Saar's weak points Now wouldn't that be something!

Portugal,Croatia,Holland. Current best 3.

@cristalz
don't be silly. The current best 3 are Holland, Portugal and SPAIN. Croatia ain't going nowhere.

Those of you that were clamoring for France to include there younger players saw how Patrice Evra went missing in such an important game.

Oops.My bad.I totally forgot about Espanyol.Ok,current best 4. I ain't dropping Croatia just yet.

@davidif
For the love of God,lay off Evra already.Waz he supposed to single-handedly be the goalie,defend,hold the midfield and score the goals all at the same time?
Its a team thing.One young player alone cannot efficiently do everything.If Clichy,Sagna and Benzema had played yesterday along with Evra and the team still messed up,then you will have condemning rights.But with the team that played last night,guy,abeg leave Evra alone.Blame Domenech. Its he that seemed not to know how important the game waz.

davidif:

Those of you that were clamoring for France to include there younger players saw how Patrice Evra went missing in such an important game.

Patrice Evra is 27(he doesn't qualify as a young player as he is more than 23). Secondly, Evra didn't go missing in the game. Malouda was the idiot that does not understand how to play in a full back in an attack. There were many incidents Evra fed the ball to Malouda and Evra ran into acres of space expecting a return pass from Malouda but Malouda chose the wrong option by running into a sea of orange shirts. U need to watch how Ronaldo and Evra combine together to launch attacks on the flank. Evra never stopped running last night but the plonker ahead of him is not an attack-minded player.

Domenech's team lacked understanding.They played almost like the Super Eagles at Ghana '08. Most players messing up,leaving the good ones like Osazee (in this case,Evra) working in vain due to lack of adequate team-work,wrong player choices and wrong player-positioning.

The Oranje boys again!! These guys simply cant be touched a bench with players like Robben and RVP each time they broke forward there where 9/10 looking likely to score i see no other team besides the Dutch 4-1 against France 3-0 against Italy

For the doubters of the Gunners and their class RVP came in scored and provided an assist

I wont be suprised if Domenech gets his sack letter from the FFF via fax those guys are simply clueless his selection was whack.What was Gomis doing in that pitch that guy looks like a flash in the pan after all i also think he is in the wrong team he should be playing for the Reggae boys with those natty dreads


The Portuguese have nothing on this Dutch team i saw their game against the Czech and no disrespect to Koller and Baros but if they had a better striker the Portuguese would have lost and besides they have to get past Germany first even though i wouldnt bet on them either but for now its all about the Dutch.Sneijder,Robben,RVP,Kuyt,Van Nistelrooy,Van der Vaart,Van Der Save can this team be stopped?

Chelsea do have a knack of making good players useless.Malouda was shambolic last night so was Anelka

The Dutch are yet to meet Portugal,so there still exists the possibility that they can be stopped. A matter of time and we'll know for sure.

Spain to beat the Swiss.

Goal for Torres! Seems hez ready to make up for his less-than-perfect performace in his last game.

Oh no.Puyol's being subbed,injury. Blow to the Spanish defense.But they should cope.

Puyol leaves, Ibrahimovic equalizes. Game should get more interesting.

@Cristalz
You say that because you are a Portuguese fan.Sincerely can you tell me that Portugal would have been able to survive that Group of Death? would they have been able to thrash the World Champions and France

Puyol tried in the first game its a big blow Marchena looks horrible

@A-40
Come on,be real.The so-called Group of Death didn't turn out to be such a deadly group afterall.Italy's been a mess.Tired legs and old bodies.They didn't even play like World Champions.
Dunno if France is worse or better.Dint you see yesterday's game?Henry is tired.Hez now erratic.Le Sulk messed up.Makelele and co,nuthing.Domenech created a confused,disorganized team.Abandoned his real fire-power on the bench.

Fact is,this Portuguese team is way better than France.And Italy.My point now is,the competition between them and Holland will be very stiff,and an added advantage to the Portuguese is,Ronnie knows Van der Saar's moves well. VDS should know Ronnie's too,but Ronnie's quicker.Trickier. That's why i said therez a possibility that Portugal can beat Holland.Its not because i support Portugal.I'm for the Dutch too.


This match is boring. Spain shoulda wrapped this up long ago.

@Cristalz
You are the one not being real.Did you watch the first game between Italy and the Dutch the Italians played well but the Dutch where just too sharp and clinical each time they broke forward you knew they would score they moved forward with breakneck speed that i am not sure Ronaldo and his goons would have been able to cope with besides the French where not that bad either can you compare France and Italy to Czech and Turkey be honest?

Spain and Sweden that game get as e be .One wonders how the Russia vs Greece game would go i definitely wont be watching that game it doesnt whet my appetite lol

Goal! David Villa wraps it up beautifully for Spain. I knew they waz going to win 

@A-40
This ain't about Turkey or Czech.For teams with world class standards,Italy and France have been huge disappointments.Portugal has been way better.Thats all there is to it.
As for speed,do you know any player faster than Ronaldo? All a player needs to do is get the ball to him and he'll tuck it in faster than a rocket.Not saying categorically that Portugal will beat Holland,i said therez a possibility.
To me tho,France waz really bad.

Russia- Greece? Gosh.Not attractive at all.

Villa is certainly doing the business.Arsene please break bank and sign this bloke.I wouldnt want to be screaming uuh's and ahh's when Adebayor or Bendtner misses another sitter

@Cristalz
Walcott is faster lol.France and Italy where unlucky on the day especially Italy even though my Dutch boys where good too but look closely at their goals most of them where devastating counter attacks that would bury any team if you watched those games you would see that for a large part the Dutch where under pressure and with a mixture of luck,good defending and Van Der Save's excellence they where always able to weather the storm.Trust me Portugal would not have won both games against those two teams the way and manner the Dutch did i am also not saying that the Dutch will win categorically but there is something in this Oranje boys that i have not seen before from any Dutch team

@A-40
Walcott? Don't worry,he'll get there in time   

The Dutch played with a greater sense of urgency,lots of drive and determination.That helped them a lot coupled with VDS,because their defense had loopholes sometimes.And anywhere therez a loophole,Ronaldo gets through.
Portugal may not be as flashy as the Dutch with the counter goals and stuff,but they get the job done well.Anyway,time will tell.If they meet.I hope they do.

@Cristalz
Aiight lets wait and see all i know is the Portuguese cannot match the French and the Azzurris.

Russia 1- 0 Greece

The Greek are out of Euro 2008 as they've lost both matches. Their 4-year reign is over.Adios,Greece.

i had told a lot of people to be wary of the dutch but they won't listen, the oranje boys are matching on.
aragona is another to be recon with
here are the quater-final matches i would love to see
Portugal vs Croatia but i think it would be Portugal-Germany (sure the potugese are relieved dat Grecce is out to erase any chance of meeting them again)

Czech Vs Germany (czech zooms pass)but if czech meet Croatia it's goin to be
Holland Vs Sweden (another wonderful disply from the dutch)
Spain vs God knows but not France again (remember the world Cup)

lol

I just dont see the Dutch winning this at all

yes, they are playing so beautifully well at the moment but arent they known to have lost their steam in like manner hitherto ?

what of their defence ? PATHETIC !

u dont win the Euro with a pathetic defence, does anyone still wonder what difference Greece had that made it win the last Euro ? the FACT THAT THEIR DEFENDERS WERE SO DISCIPLINED AND COMPOSED !

if the average Dutch defender is run at, just watch how jittery he gets, clearing the ball into safety

The FRENCH havent surprised me in any manner ! Domenech is the biggest dolts of all time - - -what was Gomis doing on that field ? MALOUDA ? what was Nasri and Benzema doing on the bench ?

well, u reap what u sow . . .left to me HENRY tried his best and Ribery was way too much on top his game plus he is now being saddled with too much responsibility since the exit of Zizou, no one to complement him especially as that fool called Malouda is just a[i] malu [/i]

As much as I love the dutch, I see Cesc Fabregas kissing the cup at the end of this tournament. 4 real.
The only edge the portugese have is that the dutch & spanish defence seem to be wack.

Petr Cech should be shot.
At least now we know why he is so good in the Premiership. . . . The wonderful defence and shield he gets from Terry/Carvalho n Makelele.
How can a Premiership-class goalie goof like that?
Its pathetic!!!!

are u just knowing that

Sorry to go a bit off topic but I've got a question for you guys
living in the UK.

Which station is showing the Euros?

I'm asking because there is one dodgy station on HITV where I
saw Richard Keys anchoring the studios and the guests were
Peter Reid and Trveor Francis.

That's a SKY SPORTS crew.

Jackal and other. What do you think?