Fair enough. I'll admit that my experience, aside from sporadic matches every year, is limited to the World Cup (where scoring does seem to be very low on average). It just seems that the risk seeking team is usually not the team that wins.
EURO 2012
- Thread starter Jax
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Fair enough. I'll admit that my experience, aside from sporadic matches every year, is limited to the World Cup (where scoring does seem to be very low on average). It just seems that the risk seeking team is usually not the team that wins.
I suppose that depends on what exactly you mean by "risk seeking."
Is it relying on luck, like say Greece? That's a very defensive minded team that tries to stop any opponent from scoring goals and relies basically on luck to score themselves.
Or is it a risk seeking team in the sense that they are very offensively minded and mainly try to score more goals than the opposing team while being aware that their tactics can easily lead to enemy goals.
I'm referring to the latter.
Hm, well, there's no one really playing like that this year, maybe Germany comes closest. It's true that national team football seems more cautious than club football. I guess it probably has to do with it being easier to organise a defense than an effective offense, and the coaches don't have that much time with their players to train stuff.
Legitimate criticism imo, it's not a very "showy" tournament this year, probably not the best way to draw in casual fans.
Legitimate criticism imo, it's not a very "showy" tournament this year, probably not the best way to draw in casual fans.
There certainly seem to be more teams who're looking to build upon a solid back line, springing attacks on the counter instead.
Amusingly though, despite this, still no 0-0 draws!
Poor old Holland, one of the few sides to try and play attacking football and they got fcuked for the privilege!
Amusingly though, despite this, still no 0-0 draws!
Poor old Holland, one of the few sides to try and play attacking football and they got fcuked for the privilege!
I want England to win, too, but it'll probably be Italy.
People always spoke of the overrated Golden generation but it was only penalites that stopped them from getting to a EURO 2004 semi final or WC 2006 Semi final + 2006 we had bad injuries/fitness issues with several players. We have really failed to replace the likes of...
Owen, Beckham, Hargreaves, Campbell, Neville, J.Cole, Lampard and have paid the price with a terrible 2010 WC and well we will see in a few hours about 2012. Lets not forget over the next 2 years we will see Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry and A.Cole dissaper from the ENG team too.
Owen, Beckham, Hargreaves, Campbell, Neville, J.Cole, Lampard and have paid the price with a terrible 2010 WC and well we will see in a few hours about 2012. Lets not forget over the next 2 years we will see Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry and A.Cole dissaper from the ENG team too.
But Italy would be the bigger challenge and give Germany the opportunity to finally get over that dumb Sommermärchen trauma.
If England wins against Italy, one of my teams will be in the final, no matter who wins the semi.
^I'm supporting whoever gets through that side of the tournament. Really don't like Portugal or Spain.
Teams I want to win the Euro, in this order:
England
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
But will England even manage this evening? It could go either way... but I'm going to be optimistic. I'm calling a 1-1 and England win on penalties. I say this purely because of Hart.
Teams I want to win the Euro, in this order:
England
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
But will England even manage this evening? It could go either way... but I'm going to be optimistic. I'm calling a 1-1 and England win on penalties. I say this purely because of Hart.
That would be cool. They could finally get over their stupid penalties trauma.
It's not even that, Germany has yet to beat Italy in a tournament!
But Italy would be the bigger challenge and give Germany the opportunity to finally get over that dumb Sommermärchen trauma.
In any case, I hope Italy wins because of a dubious penalty kick. Gotta keep up the tradition.
England Italy already more exciting after 5 minutes than all the other quarter finals combined. 
I like this game. It's exciting.
I was surprised to see England being almost on par with Italy and that both teams were on the offense so much. Outstanding save by Buffon early on.
I was surprised to see England being almost on par with Italy and that both teams were on the offense so much. Outstanding save by Buffon early on.
Our tactic appears to be to let Italy keep shooting until they score!
Thought we were good for the first 10/15 mins, but after that, the Welbeck effort aside, it just looks like a matter of time before Italy score.
I'm disappointed, again, with England. Italy are there for the taking and we're just conceding way too much possession, territory and chances to them.
Thought we were good for the first 10/15 mins, but after that, the Welbeck effort aside, it just looks like a matter of time before Italy score.
I'm disappointed, again, with England. Italy are there for the taking and we're just conceding way too much possession, territory and chances to them.
England Italy already more exciting after 5 minutes than all the other quarter finals combined.
Yep, although the first 10 minutes seemed to have great opportunities for both sides. After that, just for Italy. It's still very tense even without any goals.
