Football!

[Dave]

Thought Webb had a good game myself. Did his utmost to not ruin the game as a spectacle.

[BTA90]

I thought Webb had a terrible match, with a lot of wrong interpretations, yellow cards that weren't yellow cards (like Heitinga). Other fouls that should have been cards (like De Jong, but also, I thought Iniesta, giving a punch to Van Bommel after a foul). Still, Spain deserved the win, though both sides played horribly. Congratulations from The Netherlands.
And what is it with The Netherlands, and not being able to win finals?

[Wile E. Coyote]

One of best matches was for 3rd place. And final was so tough, that number of cards...

Congratz to Spain! My prediction was correct.

[Badger]

Webb had a great match, and could have so easily sent several other players off. Van Bommell was lucky to have made it through the 1st half and De Jong's "challenge" would have been a red card if it'd been any other ref. Robben could've been booked several times for throwing himself around like a spoilt child, and indeed did get booked for desent.
The Dutch seemed to be playing a bit dirty and Spain weren't much better at times. Thankfully the better team won in the end. As a match though, it was pretty poor.

[Dave]

Webb had an awesome World Cup, and deserved the final.

I've watched a montage of the bookings again: there's probably one that isn't a booking of a Spanish player that he has to make in the first half because the game is breaking down and he needs to restore discipline.

He should have sent de Jong off, he should have sent van Bommel off: the Dutch should have been down to 9 at half time - but that would completely ruin the most important game in the world, and he's tried his best, in the face of some of the worst petulance I have ever seen on a football pitch, to keep the Dutch in the game.

Can't believe they're giving out to him about the free kick. Yeah it should have been a corner but if he hadn't been lenient in the first half the Dutch would never have taken it to extra time.

Disappointing that the Dutch resorted to that game plan after being brilliant throughout the tournament. Howard Webb had a very hard task last night and I think he acquitted himself well.

As for the Dutch, well... 9 bookings between 14 players (and two that should have been red) gives them no room to complain.

[Wile E. Coyote]

And absurd was that only team who didn't lose one single match was absolute outsider - New Zealand. And after 3 matches without loss thay were eliminated.

[SwissFan91]

And absurd was that only team who didn't lose one single match was absolute outsider - New Zealand. And after 3 matches without loss thay were eliminated.

Indeed, just as in 2006 when Switzerland were eliminated without conceding a goal.

[Chrill]

Now, it's not about how many goals you score or how few goals you let past - it's about actually managing to win. No reason to go all "Aww we shoulda qualified"

[SwissFan91]

I'm not complaining about anything.. I support England. But it's funny how you can play so well defensively and still go out.

[Nite Owl]

The phrase "the best defense is a good offense" springs to mind.

[buckethead]

As Mourinho said: the team that wins a tournament is almost always the one with the best defense.

[Chrill]

Bump! Bit of friendlies going on in preparations for qualifying to Euro 2012. Sweden scored 1-0 on Scotland after merely three minutes. Yay!

EDIT: Sweden won 3-0. Good going

[SwissFan91]

I guess we'll carry on this thread for the build-up and for the tournament itself. A lot of the new kits are being released for the tournament:

Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

Group C
Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia

Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

Thoughts?
Sweden kit not released to the best of my knowledge

[orudge]

"Last edited by Chrill on 11 Aug 2010 18:18, edited 78 times in total."

That's a lot of edits. Maybe the topic title should just be "UEFA Euro Football Championship", without being edited every 4 years? Plus, I'd kind of like to know what the post originally said though, back in 2005. Maybe phpBB should integrate some sort of version control or wiki history for posts. Could be fun.

Anyway, somewhat more on-topic... I'd say "Go Scotland!", but it seems we failed to qualify. Oh well. I guess I'll have to say "Go England!" instead. (I don't subscribe to the "anyone but England" mentality, and personally find it somewhat distasteful.)

[Chrill]

Remember I did the same with the Formula 1 topic back in the day? I believe the original post just listed the groups of that world championship.

I also believe we have not released a 2012-specific kit simply because we will be using the one we've been using previously. Let me find an image of that so that you can complete your list, SwissFan91.

EDIT: We do have a new kit for 2012, home and away!

[Wile E. Coyote]

France switched to NIKE?

[Ameecher]

EDIT: We do have a new kit for 2012, home and away!

Away kit is decent.

[Chrill]

Belgium is out, this hasn't happened since 1978
These overpaid thicknecks are the worst generation ever

I congratulate Spain for giving us a whoop arse and putting our trainer back on his feet, hopefully we've seen the last of him

Well, this was posted 10 years ago but it's worth a bump.

Netherlands have failed to qualify for the 2016 European Championship. Meanwhile, Belgium will be number 1 in the next FIFA rankings. Well then, took 10 years.

[SwissFan91]

Meanwhile, Netherlands conceded more goals in qualifying (13) than England conceded shots on target (12). Apparently.

[Pyoro]

Maybe THIS time the England campaign won't go horribly wrong? For the first time in, roughly, 50 years?