Official Football Thread

One of the worst games of the tournament, again England with a poor perfomance. Super penalty by Pirlo.
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
It was a clear offside - not by inches, but by a meter.
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Had the linesman seen the off-side, not only would the embarrassment of goal-line technology been unused be mute, but it would have been the first time England had actually caught the opposition offside. The first and second times were both in the Italy game. Amazing.
 
Huh, not sure if you (or your commentator hehe) understand(s) how those penalties work but Ronaldo was going to take penalty no. 5. The thing is: his teammates had already missed one more than their opponents, so Portugal's 5th penalty kick became irrelevant.

You could criticize the Portuguese coach that they´ve put him on spot 5, but he was on the list.
 
I was watching the game with a mate, and before the penalty shoot-out I stated that I thought Ronaldo would take the fourth penalty. I was really surprised to see him wait for the fifth. After all, the second team does not always get that far.
I wonder if that confusion between Nani and Alves about who should take the 3rd penalty was what caused Alves to deliver what was, frankly, a bad penalty. Nani's was class, though, as was the one from Spain's Ramos. Yet another Panenka-inspired penalty in the same tournament!
 
Forostar said:
Huh, not sure if you (or your commentator hehe) understand(s) how those penalties work but Ronaldo was going to take penalty no. 5. The thing is: his teammates had already missed one more than their opponents, so Portugal's 5th penalty kick became irrelevant.

You could criticize the Portuguese coach that they´ve put him on spot 5, but he was on the list.
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I'm quite aware that Ronaldo was slated for #5, but obviously that is meaningless if you never get there. To use a baseball analogy, If you are facing elimination in the World Series, you don't shelve your ace and save him for game 7. Stupid move, and given the confusion or indecision about the 3rd kick, my inference is that the Portugese manager botched this badly. Of course, he may have just faced a situation in which he didn't HAVE five people who could deliver a quality PK, but even if that's true, you still use your ace earlier to put pressure on the other side to make its kicks.
 
I get what you guys are saying. I guess the coach gambled for (hoped for) a better outcome at the moment when penalty 5 was about to come.
 
Ronaldo failed a couple of penalties in several games prior to the Euro. Maybe he wasn't confident. But it was a mistake, i agree. As the team leader, he should have taken the first one. But Ronaldo is a bad team leader, honestly.
 
That's true. He missed several penalties in big games, in the last years. So maybe that's why they put him at 5.

edit: Schade Deutschland. Alles ist vorbei!
 
Uff, late drama. I'm glad Italy won this one (sorry Perun). They were the better side, and passing-wise they are proving to be the best team of the tournament. I hope they win the final.

Forza Italia :p

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edit: Je suis désolé, Platini. Votre désir ne sera pas exaucé.
 
Don't think I would ever say it but I hope Italy wins the tournament. I like the way they got this far, and I'd like to see some change as well. Let's not have a country winning a great tournament 3 times in a row (2008 / 2010 / 2012). Not yet. ;)
 
national acrobat said:
That Italy - Germany match was 'kin brilliant.
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Germany were second best in every department of that game and on that form, I can't see Spain getting the better of the Italians. I won't be rooting for Spain.

About Ronaldo and taking the 5th pen - I seriously would consider that he wanted to take the 5th pen to get his glory (the 5th pen can so often be the decisive one) rather than the teams success. Or am I being just too cynical?
 
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