Euro 2012 - Official Discussion Thread

[Insula Dei]

But 4-0? That's just too brutal.

[Keystone Phil]

Since Spain was already going to the Confederations Cup as the past World Cup champ I guess Italy will go to the confederations then right?

Yes unless Italy declines.

Losing by four sucks. Losing period sucks. But we had a good tournament and showed the world that the Azzurri isn't doomed for a generation. Watch out for us in 2014. Now let's see if Prandelli sticks around.

[politicus]

Since Spain was already going to the Confederations Cup as the past World Cup champ I guess Italy will go to the confederations then right?

Yes unless Italy declines.

Losing by four sucks. Losing period sucks. But we had a good tournament and showed the world that the Azzurri isn't doomed for a generation. Watch out for us in 2014. Now let's see if Prandelli sticks around.

Hope so. He is a great coach and clearly the man behind Italys succes. It would be stupid to blame him for the loss, even if the substitute thing was a mistake.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Now let's see if Prandelli sticks around.

He definitely should. He has done an impressive job in only two years. One bad result doesn't erase the impressive performances we had.

Italy in the past decade has had a ridiculous tendency to change its coaches constantly over silly reasons. Zoff led us to near-victory in 2000, he got out. Lippi made us win the friggin' World Cup, he got out. Donadoni led us to the quarter-final where we lost at penalties against the team which went to win the championship; he got out. The only one who got reconfirmed once was... Trapattoni. Clearly our federation gets something wrong.

[Hash]

Great game (and a surprisingly strong performance from Spain) and interesting all around. 4-0 is brutal.

[Niemeyerite]

Yeeeeeees, I knew we would win
 I'd have liked to see Llorente today, but it doesn't matter now (winners have to be happy, Del Bosque is our new God, if he thought we'd play better without Llorente, he may be right).
 BTW, Viva Sergio Ramos! Viva Casillas! And Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi, Silva, Alba, Cesc.... they were all great. I'm sooo glad we won again the Eurocope!!!
 I've just come back from the "cybernetic" fountain, in my town, which was full of people. Drunk people, of course. Spain is a great country full of great people. It's a pity a majority of them vote PP ¬¬

[Keystone Phil]

By the way, this was the highest goal differential in a Euro Final. 

[Keystone Phil]

Incredible stat: Italy had more possession - 52% - in the first half! Overall, we had 48% possession. Unheard of against Spain. If we weren't playing a man down in the final half hour or so, it probably would have ended 2-0. Guys, we really have to keep our heads held high.

[Peeperkorn]

Phil's team gets crushed. Looks like a Romney landslide in November.

Oregon +5 Romney in next poll.

Congratulations Barça.

[Tender Branson]

Phil's team gets crushed. Looks like a Romney landslide in November.

Oregon +5 Romney in next poll.

Congratulations Barça.

But Spain also won in 2008 when Obama won big and in 2010 when the Republicans won big.

So, we still don't know what will happen in November ...

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It's great to see Spain triumph. Too bad I don't really follow the sport otherwise.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Local newspapers fail.

You might have heard by now that the footage of the crying German fan in the semifinal in fact happened before the game and was spliced in by UEFA.

BNN responded by claiming that Italy's goals were also spliced in later.

[Velasco]

Phil's team gets crushed. Looks like a Romney landslide in November.

Oregon +5 Romney in next poll.

Congratulations Barça.

But Spain also won in 2008 when Obama won big and in 2010 when the Republicans won big.

So, we still don't know what will happen in November ...

Is Spain the presumed guilty of a future Romney's victory? Dear God, what a terrible news! It's better the Euro 2008 precedent ^^

I'm speechless, I didn't expect a game like yesterday's. I also missed Llorente, and I could say Mata but he played 5 minutes or so and scored. Italy did a great tournament regardless of the Final's score.

[SPQR]

Spain played at their best and deserved to win.
We were exhausted after a great tournament...Chiellini started even though he was injured (Prandelli's error number 1),Abate and Balzaretti weren't at their best,Thiago Motta is the most phisically unreliable man on Earth (Prandelli's error number 2)...

Spain managed to completely block Pirlo out of the match,and we didn't find many alternatives. And when we did,Di Natale wasted them as usual.
I think the main problem was trying to play like Spain against Spain. You can do that against the English and the Germans,and we did it very well,but playing against Spain is like playing against Barça: you can't beat them at their game,you need to win by finding some other way.

The last two goals were just for the stats,it was 11 vs 9 basically.

[Keystone Phil]

Phil's team gets crushed. Looks like a Romney landslide in November.

Oregon +5 Romney in next poll.

Congratulations Barça.

But Spain also won in 2008 when Obama won big and in 2010 when the Republicans won big.

So, we still don't know what will happen in November ...

...

I explained this in the other thread and you're still ignoring it: when one or more of my teams have a really good year, I have a really bad political year. When one of my candidates or my party has a great year, I have a really bad sports year. This isn't exclusively about Spain's performance.

Obama wins in 2008/horrible year for my party -> Phillies won the World Series

Italy bombs at the 2010 World Cup -> Great year for my party/Toomey wins.

[minionofmidas]

Yeeeeeees, I knew we would win
 I'd have liked to see Llorente today, but it doesn't matter now (winners have to be happy, Del Bosque is our new God, if he thought we'd play better without Llorente, he may be right).
 BTW, Viva Sergio Ramos! Viva Casillas! And Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi, Silva, Alba, Cesc.... they were all great. I'm sooo glad we won again the Eurocope!!!
 I've just come back from the "cybernetic" fountain, in my town, which was full of people. Drunk people, of course. Spain is a great country full of great people. It's a pity a majority of them vote PP ¬¬

I know one of those drunk people... who's the pretty woman?

[Velasco]

I know one of those drunk people... who's the pretty woman?

The pretty woman is Sara Carbonero, Casillas' girlfriend and TV sportscaster or talking head.

[Niemeyerite]

I know one of those drunk people... who's the pretty woman?

The pretty woman is Sara Carbonero, Casillas' girlfriend and TV sportscaster or talking head.

Yes. She may be a bit dumb, but is my favourite sports reporter hahaha. After the Portugal-Spain match, she asked Iniesta if he'd have liked to shoot a penalty... When he had done (and scored) it. LoL.

[minionofmidas]

Oh come on, who can tell all the different Spanish offensive midfielders apart. j/k

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Felicidades a todos los españoles del "Atlas forum".

Can't remember a more convincing win in a major final.

[minionofmidas]

Felicidades a todos los españoles del "Atlas forum".

Can't remember a more convincing win in a major final.

France vs Brazil, 1998. Though I suppose Spain were more convincing winners, Brazil just were more convincing losers than Italy yesterday. Special circumstances, only revealed later and still not in full, of course.

[minionofmidas]

Interesting stat I just found. All-time comparison of (somebody else's definition of) the Big Eight.

1. BRA 189 Matches 81W 51T 57L 1,62 pps average.
2. ITA 164 70 52 42 1,58 pps.
3.ENG 163 64 45 54 1,44 pps.
4.SPA 136 49 32 55 1,30 pps.
5. ARG 177 61 48 67 1,26 pps.
6. FRA 169 54 39 76 1,19 pps.
7. GER 187 58 51 78 1,18 pps.
8. HOL 151 59 42 45 1,01 pps.

The point of the comparison being, of course, that titles cannot be expected from Germany. (I wonder why England is placed that well? Do they do that well in friendlies? Or were so many of these games before the Second World War?)

Also, another fun stat: Brazil have never, ever, ever managed to beat Norway. Four games, two draws, two defeats.

[Silent Hunter]

Interesting stat I just found. All-time comparison of (somebody else's definition of) the Big Eight.

1. BRA 189 Matches 81W 51T 57L 1,62 pps average.
2. ITA 164 70 52 42 1,58 pps.
3.ENG 163 64 45 54 1,44 pps.
4.SPA 136 49 32 55 1,30 pps.
5. ARG 177 61 48 67 1,26 pps.
6. FRA 169 54 39 76 1,19 pps.
7. GER 187 58 51 78 1,18 pps.
8. HOL 151 59 42 45 1,01 pps.

The point of the comparison being, of course, that titles cannot be expected from Germany. (I wonder why England is placed that well? Do they do that well in friendlies? Or were so many of these games before the Second World War?)

England do well in friendlies and have also walked through most of their qualifying groups.

[minionofmidas]

England do well in friendlies and have also walked through most of their qualifying groups.

Their qualifying group games would be against different opponents, and not be counted in this table. This is just the matches ever played between these eight teams.

[Gustaf]

Interesting stat I just found. All-time comparison of (somebody else's definition of) the Big Eight.

1. BRA 189 Matches 81W 51T 57L 1,62 pps average.
2. ITA 164 70 52 42 1,58 pps.
3.ENG 163 64 45 54 1,44 pps.
4.SPA 136 49 32 55 1,30 pps.
5. ARG 177 61 48 67 1,26 pps.
6. FRA 169 54 39 76 1,19 pps.
7. GER 187 58 51 78 1,18 pps.
8. HOL 151 59 42 45 1,01 pps.

The point of the comparison being, of course, that titles cannot be expected from Germany. (I wonder why England is placed that well? Do they do that well in friendlies? Or were so many of these games before the Second World War?)

Also, another fun stat: Brazil have never, ever, ever managed to beat Norway. Four games, two draws, two defeats.

Germany's key strength is that they pretty much never lose against lesser teams. When they get knocked out it's pretty much always by one of the big teams. Italy for example often goes out against teams like Slovakia or South Korea (but usually does well against other big teams).