Euro 2012

Yeah because believing anything the Italians tell you is sane behaviour. France got what they got, they still have to beat the opposition.

Spain should beat Croatia tonight, meaning a win for Italy over Ireland should be enough. But a 2-2 draw or higher between Spain and Croatia will put Italy out, regardless of what they do.
 
Spain won 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Jesus Navas, Spain weren't at their best, it was very gripping at the end when Croatia knew they needed a goal. Even at 1-0 they still had a chance, had they equalised Italy would have gone out, regardless of their win over Ireland, due to the weird permutations of the group.
 
Springsteen said:
Spain won 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Jesus Navas, Spain weren't at their best, it was very gripping at the end when Croatia knew they needed a goal. Even at 1-0 they still had a chance, had they equalised Italy would have gone out, regardless of their win over Ireland, due to the weird permutations of the group.
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It really didn't much look like Spain had an interest in winning the match until the end. They were playing it too cute in the Croatian zone... making an extra pass instead of shooting, dribbling a little longer instead of shooting. The poor Croatian keeper had no shot when that pass went up and over to Iniesta, and I think Spain got a little lucky as Navas was about a half step offside when that pass was made, but in the end... they got the goal and the win. Spain's passing always impresses me, and it did tonight, but like I said... it seemed like they were trying to do too much rather than just putting the ball on goal; passing up good opportunities in search of great ones that never materialized. I'm glad to see Croatian go home though, simply because their fans disgust me with their racist taunts towards Balotelli and the flares being set off... the tournament is better off without them advancing.
 
Had Croatia not bothered attacking Spain, Spain would have played like that all the game, it's tiki-taka (the passing style) all the time, and while it's lovely to watch sometimes, it doesn't always get the job done. But one great ball from Fabregas made all the difference, Navas wasn't offside because it was a square ball from Iniesta. I haven't really taken to Croatia that well, and the fans letting off flares is annoying. As well as the Ballotelli stuff.
 
I was actually talking about him being offside on the initial pass to Iniesta... but then I remembered that I was applying hockey offsides rules to soccer. Since the ball wasn't played to him, Navas then reestablished himself as onside, which made him eligible to receive the ball again. In hockey, it would've been a whistle for an attacking playing being offside on the play.
 
That used to be the way of the offside, but then they changed it to "if the player is in an offside position but not 'active' then play must go on", along with first and second phase play. Navas was off in the first phase (The Fabregas ball) but not in the second (The Iniesta pass). It can, and has been, heavily exploited in the past since the rule change came in.
 
Really poor performance from England in the first half, Ukraine have been much better and with better finishing would be at least 2-0 up. The only saving grace is it's still 0-0, but a big improvement is needed. How Parker and Milner get to play International football is beyond me.

But it's still 0-0, somehow.
 
England really looks like they're having a hard time figuring out how to defend Ukraine's passing... they're getting all the way up the field in 2-3 passes at most and getting some great scoring chances. That being said, England just scored a minute ago, making it 1-0, so they're in the driver's seat at the moment... but Ukraine looks pretty good just the same.
 
That's what I'm saying, people still questioned it. Rooney really is England's only truly top class player at this time. Gerrard's about the second best player, but isn't top class anymore. So he absolutely had to be taken, even had the three match ban not been reduced.

I'm not sure about England at the moment. They've won the group without playing that well, they're playing Italy on Sunday who could easily beat England 3-0. But they could also lose 1-0 to a gritty performance. A better team than England turns up, and plays to their potential, England will get absolutely destroyed, because clearly the team is far from top class as a whole unit. But more pulling our of gritty performances, England could do a Chelsea.
 
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