Semi-Finals: Portugal vs France

[wcsoldier]

don't hate on them tho, they deserved something from 2nite's game

you think? i can agree with you that they did have large spells of possession.. but in the final 3rd of the pitch they never looked like scoring witch could be down to having Pauleta as you lone front man.. the dude is lazy and makes his runs far to late and is static for most of the game.. which makes it fairly easy to defend against.

yep.. they hadn't huge opportunities in 2nd half, outside this free kick Barthez couldn't control. Anyway the best 2 defense are in the final, Barthez has to stop 9 shots the WHOLE Tournament (before this game).. Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Thuram, Sagnol you have the perfect defense right here  

[Mac 10 †]

grosso hasn't really put a foot wrong either - and im not just blowin him coz he scored a good goal last nite

[Intriago33]

Portugal don't convince me one bit, I think Germany will rip the piss out of them.

I'm glad it's this way, it's destiny, France-Italy.

[Mac 10 †]

Portugal don't convince me one bit, I think Germany will rip the piss out of them.

I'm glad it's this way, it's destiny, France-Italy.

revenge for euro 2000

[Machiavelli]

Portugal deserved the win

[Mac 10 †]

Portugal deserved the win

that's a bit of a statement right there

[Intriago33]

Portugal don't convince me one bit, I think Germany will rip the piss out of them.

I'm glad it's this way, it's destiny, France-Italy.

revenge for euro 2000

.. and '98.

I think times come good, I'm sure Italy can do this, it's going to be one hell of a battle.

[Intriago33]

Interesting stat was, all of France's backline won their domestic league last season, but STILL, I think there inferior to the Italian back-line.

There's gonna have to be some class going forward to unlock these backlines, (or a Barthez clanger ).

[wcsoldier]

Fact is that some our players were very afraid to be suspended for the final , it's obvious that Vieira and Sagnol weren't at their best , they tackle like once or twice the whole game.. Vieira can't be physical as usual so we basically lost the fight of the miedfield.. our center defense is very solid, so is Sagnol.. Abidal is shit though(in this game) so is Malouda (the whole tournament). Portugal was a very good team, talented players, cheaters too  

[wcsoldier]

Portugal don't convince me one bit, I think Germany will rip the piss out of them.

I'm glad it's this way, it's destiny, France-Italy.

revenge for euro 2000

.. and '98.

I think times come good, I'm sure Italy can do this, it's going to be one hell of a battle.

and 86 

[Intriago33]

Fact is that some our players were very afraid to be suspended for the final , it's obvious that Vieira and Sagnol weren't at their best , they tackle like once or twice the whole game.. Vieira can't be physical as usual so we basically lost the fight of the miedfield.. our center defense is very solid, so is Sagnol.. Abidal is shit though(in this game) so is Malouda (the whole tournament). Portugal was a very good team, talented players, cheaters too  

I certainly think that's where Italy can really get to France is down your left-sided, both Malouda and Abidal doesn't convince me.

[wcsoldier]

Interesting stat was, all of France's backline won their domestic league last season, but STILL, I think there inferior to the Italian back-line.

There's gonna have to be some class going forward to unlock these backlines, (or a Barthez clanger ).

Gonna be an interesting final.. two very experienced teams, with monster players both side.. Don't worry about Barthez, he never makes a mistake in big games... Anyway it's gonna be a chaos where I live, there are A LOT of Italian people... this gonna end up in fights in the streets like in 98 and 00 , sad but unpreventable

[wcsoldier]

Fact is that some our players were very afraid to be suspended for the final , it's obvious that Vieira and Sagnol weren't at their best , they tackle like once or twice the whole game.. Vieira can't be physical as usual so we basically lost the fight of the miedfield.. our center defense is very solid, so is Sagnol.. Abidal is shit though(in this game) so is Malouda (the whole tournament). Portugal was a very good team, talented players, cheaters too  

I certainly think that's where Italy can really get to France is down your left-sided, both Malouda and Abidal doesn't convince me.

yep Abidal is usually solid (without being great) but wack tonight... Malouda is very average in this tournament, though I gotta admit that in our system he has to take care of the defensvise job a lot..

[Mac 10 †]

Abidal was awful 2nite, it surprises me Domenech didn't take him off.

He potentially could have lost them the game.

[wcsoldier]

Domenech is a strange coach but I admit he did an amazing job tactic wise in this tournament, Spain, Brazil n Portugal weren't able to develop their game though his subs are  (read Govou) but I don't know everything this guy predicted actually happened