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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Jun 7, 2008 13:02:56 GMT -5
Czechs opened the action defeating host switzerland 1-0. the espn crew has been very pro switzerland Portugal vs. turkey in about a half hour on ESPN classic. most games are on ESPN classic or ESPN 2.
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Post by HoyasAreHungry on Jun 7, 2008 13:29:26 GMT -5
the swiss looked a bit more dangerous than the czechs today....home field advantage and the opening game will do that to a far less talented team. At least the czechs pulled out the win. Hopefully the turkey portugal game will be a bit more entertaining though
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Post by HeartAttackHoya on Jun 7, 2008 16:59:37 GMT -5
Portugual looks tough to beat
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thornski
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Post by thornski on Jun 7, 2008 17:52:46 GMT -5
Portugal did look good. And if Christiano can throw in a few ridiculous performances like he did for United this year, then really look out (he was fine today but not completely dominant).
This whole tournament should be real fun and I'm really glad ESPN finally decided to broadcast it. Really looking forward to Italy-Netherlands on Monday - all those Group C matches should be great.
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moe09
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,101
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Post by moe09 on Jun 9, 2008 15:41:39 GMT -5
A bit ashamed to be in Italia at the moment.
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kghoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kghoya on Jun 9, 2008 15:43:10 GMT -5
watching italy lose 3-0 brought me great joy
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Jun 9, 2008 16:35:38 GMT -5
I love the way the Dutch play, but I just can't bring myself to cheer for a team wearing orange.
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Post by HometownHoya on Jun 9, 2008 17:06:39 GMT -5
Italy seriously did look shellshocked. That first goal was kind of cheap that it wasn't offsides b/c Italy had a man down off the field behind the goal. The second goal was insane. Those three goals are definitely gonna hurt Italy, they will need to probably have shut outs in the rest of their Group games.
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vcjack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by vcjack on Jun 9, 2008 17:12:07 GMT -5
A little unrelated but did anyone go to the US-Argentina friendly in the Meadowlands? Great job holding the FIFA #1 scoreless despite playing down a man.
And I must say I have been more impressed with western hemisphire teams I've seen in international play than I have with the European ones, although we do get screwed by the refs when playing Euros [see Germany, 2002 or Italy, 2006]
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kghoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kghoya on Jun 9, 2008 17:38:20 GMT -5
A little unrelated but did anyone go to the US-Argentina friendly in the Meadowlands? Great job holding the FIFA #1 scoreless despite playing down a man. And I must say I have been more impressed with western hemisphire teams I've seen in international play than I have with the European ones, although we do get screwed by the refs when playing Euros [see Germany, 2002 or Italy, 2006] yeah i was at the game...thats the first time ive seen giants stadium so packed...ive only been there for other us games and united games i dont know why they insist on playing johnson up top...he doesnt have it thought adu should have played more minutes since him and donovan will have to carry the us in south africa
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thornski
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Post by thornski on Jun 9, 2008 19:43:15 GMT -5
Was there as well for US-ARG, absolutely fantastic atmosphere, good to hold them to 0-0, and I thought we were definitely the better side for the 2nd half at least.
And the Netherlands looked fantastic today. True Ruud's goal was controversial, but they were by far the better side, and both of their 2nd goals were textbook counter-attacking. Tough to get much better than a ridiculous save by Van Der Sar at the one end followed by a goal at the other. Great match. It'll be interesting to see how the next games in the group of death shape up.
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Post by HeartAttackHoya on Jun 9, 2008 21:12:10 GMT -5
The France Netherlands match later on this week might be one of the most fun to watch in the entire tournament despite France's poor showing today against the Romanians (who are vastly underrated).
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Jun 9, 2008 21:16:47 GMT -5
1) netherlands absolutely dominated. 2) i don't care what any rule says or what anyone wants to argue if you get knocked out of bounds and you're laying on the ground, you're not in the play. Should've been offsides, but the way they were playing the dutch would've won anyway, the second goal was gorgeous.
3) Romania is #12 in the world according to FIFA so someone recognizes how good they are.
4) very impressed with the US result. We just desperately need a striker. We have no good options up top.
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kghoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kghoya on Jun 9, 2008 22:50:50 GMT -5
1) netherlands absolutely dominated. 2) i don't care what any rule says or what anyone wants to argue if you get knocked out of bounds and you're laying on the ground, you're not in the play. Should've been offsides, but the way they were playing the dutch would've won anyway, the second goal was gorgeous. 3) Romania is #12 in the world according to FIFA so someone recognizes how good they are. 4) very impressed with the US result. We just desperately need a striker. We have no good options up top. our best striker retired years ago from international play...he basically kept fulham in the top league all by himself when he got back on the field towards the end of the year i think the eddie johnson experiment is over
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moe09
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Post by moe09 on Jun 10, 2008 2:45:52 GMT -5
kg, why the malice towards Italy?
During the game, I kept making jokes about what a sissy Totti is to the family I'm living with who are Romans.
It was a good match, Italy definitely had some opportunities to get back in it, but the Netherlands was definitely the better team yesterday. Now if Totti wasn't such a sissy...
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kghoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kghoya on Jun 10, 2008 9:19:56 GMT -5
kg, why the malice towards Italy? During the game, I kept making jokes about what a sissy Totti is to the family I'm living with who are Romans. It was a good match, Italy definitely had some opportunities to get back in it, but the Netherlands was definitely the better team yesterday. Now if Totti wasn't such a sissy... the italians level of gamesmanship is very high...i think that sucks
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theexorcist
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by theexorcist on Jun 10, 2008 9:34:15 GMT -5
I'll kill myself if Portugal doesn't win!
And FIFA rankings are a fraud.
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nodak89
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Roy Roy Royyyyy!!!
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Post by nodak89 on Jun 10, 2008 9:51:36 GMT -5
Lest anyone think I'd avoid this thread after a craptacular Azzurri performance, here I am. That was bad. ps we still got 4 stars, even if we ain't playing like it now tinyurl.com/5ygrv4
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Post by HometownHoya on Jun 10, 2008 15:17:08 GMT -5
Great win by the Spanish, they need a performance like that to start of the tournament.
Didn't watch much of the Sweden-Greece match but the first goal was an incredible shot and the second one was an ugly goal, but a goal is a goal
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thornski
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Post by thornski on Jun 10, 2008 15:40:56 GMT -5
Glad Sweden won. It's one thing for the Greeks to play defensive soccer, but it gets frustrating when the team just seems to show absolutely no interest in going forward at all (except on set pieces).
Agree HometownHoya - two favorite goals of the tournament so far are Ibrahimovic's and Sneijder's from yesterday. Ibrahimovic from the pure-strike aspect; Sneijder's just an outrageously good team goal going end to end.
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