Ronaldo looks to be finding some form, but Helder Postiga is a big loss for them I think.
EURO 2012
Yeah old lover boy Ronaldo is stepping up after a quiet start, which is what the Portugese craved. They'll give anyone a good game now: I reckon their two centre halves have been outstanding, especially Alves. England need Rooney to do something similar to progress, although this is not a vintage Italian team, and the Spanish will be too strong for the French methinks(frogs tearing themselves apart off the field apparently...again). Prediction: 2-0 to the Spanish...
The German blitzkreig is steamrollering Greece, but for some tenacious resistance.
(and some poor finishing)
If England win on Monday the prize will be a match against Germany. Who now have had some practice in dismantling two banks of 4 defenders.
I've just been pleasantly suprised that England have got this far and nobody as acted like a complete tw*t yet.
Hoping portugal or germany win it.
Greece out, thank goodness. Now the same for Italy, and my faith in humanity will be restored.
Thinking France could win tomorrow morning, should be a great game either way
Picking Spain 2-0. Think they'll have too much for the frogs, who are in more disarray than they're letting on...
Yeah the irony is, a lot of the people are saying we won't use it for offside. But if we had goal line technology for that play,people would be crying to use it for offside "we already stopped the game to check if it was over the line,we could also see it was offside,we may as well have checked that too'its a tragedy for the England team!"
also saw some guy on twitter calling platini an idiot because 'whether a ball went over a goal line is black and white - offside is not' face palm.
Maybe he meant that goal line technology is black and white in terms of having a motion sensor that can give you a decisive answer in a second, without needing a replay. You could argue that an offside call isn't quite as black and white because you couldn't use a motion sensor, you'd need at least a replay. That could then entail a bit of a judgment call as to whether the player was involved in the play, played onside by the opposition etc. Mostly black and white, but potential for grey areas, unlike goal line technology, which would give you a clear yes or no answer, in an instant, 100% of the time.
I assume the technology improved since they trialled it at the Under-17 World Cup in Peru in 2007? In the trial, it signalled false positives and was deemed a failure with only a 95% success rate.
Screw you guys for making sense haha.
I actually do like it,but am very wary of the snowball effect that happens in every other sport that adopts technology.
The situation i described would still have happened (minus the stopping play part)
These are valid points, but imo FIFA shouldn't refuse to bring in technology that would greatly benefit one aspect of the game (GLT) just because there would still be other aspects of the game (offsides etc.) that still have problems. Those need to be two seperate debates.
FIFA refusing to bring it in? The IFAB need to bring it in and not FIFA. It's not Blatter's call, even though he is often used as an easy scapegoat on this issue and will undoubtedly wield political influence. IFAB is made up of the four UK nations and four FIFA representatives. To change the law of the game requires six yes votes from the eight. If the FIFA panel members were persuaded to vote together, you could argue FIFA can refuse it. The same applies to the UK reps.
The last time the goal line technology proposal came up, only two of the eight said yes - England and Scotland.
Spain to beat France 2-1. England to beat Italy in extra time.
England to beat Italy in extra time.
Extra time, penalties, default, I don't care how. Just knock them out for Christ's sake.
Greece out, thank goodness. Now the same for Italy, and my faith in humanity will be restored.
I'm not sure how you can recoil from the Greek style and clutch England to your breast.
God today's game was awful, hope tomorrow's is much better. English pundits getting carried away underestimating Italy so expect the poms to be going home
This morning's game was one of the worst games I've seen in the tournament so far. Was a waste of time getting up for it.
"English pundits getting carried away underestimating Italy"
Evidence?
Everything I've read has the match 50/50 with lots of articles about the ability of Balotelli and Pirlo especially...
Thought the French were really poor this morning: very little fight and deservedly eliminated.
"English pundits getting carried away underestimating Italy"
Evidence?
Everything I've read has the match 50/50 with lots of articles about the ability of Balotelli and Pirlo especially...
Thought the French were really poor this morning: very little fight and deservedly eliminated.
some choice quotes:
"They still have some really good players but they have no-one to really frighten England, apart from Mario Balotelli."
"I just don't think this is a classically good Italian team. My only worry is that me might lose 1-0 to a late Balotelli goal but my gut feeling is that we will get to the semi-finals and lose to Germany."
"I am backing England 100% here. Italy look very ordinary for an Italian side, although they will be difficult to beat."
Each one of those is from a different pundit. All 3 picking England to win, 2 of them picking England to win on penalties! Arf!
or this headline from espn.co.uk: http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/156892.html
I do agree that a lot of commentary has been quite fair though
Useless French twats.
Word is Nasri was behaving like a little cunt in the build up to Spain. OR he was just used as a scape goat, in either case, lol.
Greece out, thank goodness. Now the same for Italy, and my faith in humanity will be restored.
I'm not sure how you can recoil from the Greek style and clutch England to your breast.
I just hate Italy that much. I'd probably even support Australia against them.
Well here are some other alternative "choice quotes":
James Lawton: Swordsman Pirlo has class to cut a swathe through England
Paul Hayward
Brian Glanville: Can England beat Italy? Of Course. Can Italy beat England? Certainly. For this is plainly a tournament in which anyone can beat anybody.
The comments you example are hardly evidence of the English pundits "underestimating" the Italians: they offer the view that England will win, but still recognise that Italy have quality players( I would suggest that the Italian pundits are voicing similar views, but with Italy being the winner). All the articles I've read (Telegraph, Independent etc) have touched on the same theme: a 50/50 game in which the Italians have greater technical ability, but England seem to be a highly motivated "team". Pundits picking a winner(which is their job) doesn't necessarily mean they are "underestimating" the opposition, or being over-confident etc. The belief that England can win in a shootout centres around the quality of their goalie Hart, not some super confidence in their own penalty takers.
Whoa, sorry if I touched a nerve. As I said above, I think a lot of commentary come into the match has been fair on both teams' chances. I've been clear that I'm backing Italy all along so I'm biased too, but hey, that's the way it goes when people talk about sport.
I had just read some stuff I thought was a bit silly and made a comment on it. I think Italy are much better than people are giving them credit for, and that historically England have a tendency to overestimate their chances in major tournaments. This time they haven't been doing that, so I was just being a bit cheeky now that a few people are talking up their chances. Also, England are traditionally poor at penalty shootouts, hence the joke about that - I thought that was a common football gag. Hart is good keeper but Italy have Buffon, who isn't exactly bad either!
I know Evra is declining, but surely he's still better than Clichy..... Some very odd selections from France, Benzema can't buy a goal at the moment, Debauchy looked lost in midfield. Thought Koscielny was immense however, really rate him.
Can't see Portugal beating Spain unless Ronaldo does something really special.
Greece out, thank goodness. Now the same for Italy, and my faith in humanity will be restored.
I'm not sure how you can recoil from the Greek style and clutch England to your breast.
I just hate Italy that much. I'd probably even support Australia against them.
Steady on!
Not Balotellis morning! C'mon England!
Did anyone else get their MySky booking for England v Italy deleted?! I'm sure kickoff was originally 6:45am, got up checked the sky recording schedule - no mention of the game, go to the TV Guide England v Italy 6:35am 
Mine is recording. It is on a series link though.
Wow very lucky there! Hart kept very busy
Italy need something different - take off Cassano for Di Natale. And maybe bring on Giovinco too
hmmm de Rossi off is a bit odd, thought he's been one of the best players on the pitch
sooner or later one of these Italian long-range drives is going to hit an Englishman in the testicles
Let's hope it's terry.
Boring boring England.
Jeezus, just score already Italy
cheeky penalty from Pirlo
WOOHOO!!!! Forza Italia!
Goobye England. You will not be missed.
lol at Ashley Cole too, while I'm here.
cheeky penalty from Pirlo
Brilliant.
lol at Ashley Cole too, while I'm here.
