España -v- Portugal, Tues 7:30pm RTE & BBC HD

JP Liz V1

I hope Portugal wins

Warper

SlickRic wrote: »

you can see both are knackered and unfit.

now Rooney has an extra 2 weeks rest, and has Fergie back in his life, he'll be back to normal unfortunately.

Torres, if he stays around, i'm not so sure about, because Spain, let's face it, are likely to go deep in this, unless Portugal pull off something remarkable; and Torres desperately needs time off. he has done for close on 2 years now.

i'd worry for him next season.

How is Torres knackered? He barely played 20 matches all season.

CR 7

conno16 wrote: »

ronaldo will be the difference
he'll take great pleasure in destroying sergio hairband ramos and pique

Yeah, you're right. If he doesn't get at least a hat trick, I'm not renewing my Real season ticket. Ever.:mad:

SlickRic

Warper wrote: »

How is Torres knackered? He barely played 20 matches all season.

because he's unfit, due to the continued injuries.

Podge2k7

Im looking forward to this tonight

eZe^

conno16 wrote: »

ronaldo will be the difference
he'll take great pleasure in destroyingpique

He's really proven that the past three times he's played against him in the past year too.

CorkMan

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Ugh. As an England fan I get pretty annoyed with the talent Spain has. Aye, drop Alonso and throw on Silva, maybe drop Torres and put Mata on, move Iniesta in the centre to play with Xavi. FU SPAIN :mad:

England have Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand etc. They are about equal probably in terms of individual talent, its just as a team they don't mix.


IMO if Torres scores 1 goal he'll not stop scoring, and he is getting fitter all the time. If Spain progress past Portugal, this could be important. Not only statistically with goals, but psychologically for other defenses.

I hope Japan win today, because they would be the easier for Spain IMO.

DazMarz

I hope Portugal win, cos I have them in the sweep in my local!!!:D

But can see Spain just having too much in the tank... If Spain win tonight, they have a handy waltz into the semis. Paraguay won't be much of an opposition for either of those sides.

redout

España lineup:
Casillas; Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Capdevila; Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Xavi; Torres, Iniesta, Villa

CorkMan

redout wrote: »

España lineup:
Casillas; Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Capdevila; Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Xavi; Torres, Iniesta, Villa

I still think Fabregas should be somewhere in the starting 11, and Xavi is 10X the playmaker Alonso is.

Remember though, if Spain win tonight and then beat Paraguay, it will be their first ever time in the semis! It really is the best spanish side of all time. It is reminiscent of Barca, who have their best side ever at this time IMO.

SlickRic

CorkMan wrote: »

Xavi is 10X the playmaker Alonso is.

while i agree Xavi is the better player...

1) it's not 10X; and,
2) Alonso's had the better tournament so far.

if anyone's to go it should be Busquets.

redout

SlickRic wrote: »

while i agree Xavi is the better player...

1) it's not 10X; and,
2) Alonso's had the better tournament so far.

if anyone's to go it should be Busquets.

NO.

_Bella_

Teams:

SPAIN: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 9-Fernando Torres, 7-David Villa.

PORTUGAL: 1-Eduardo; 2-Bruno Alves, 21-Ricardo Costa, 6-Ricardo Carvalho, 23-Fabio Coentrao, 16-Raul Meireles, 15-Pepe, 19-Tiago, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 11-Simao Sabrosa, 18-Hugo Almeida.

gimmick

SlickRic wrote: »

while i agree Xavi is the better player...

1) it's not 10X; and,
2) Alonso's had the better tournament so far.

if anyone's to go it should be Busquets.

Aside from Villa, Busquets has been Spains best player thus far.

Disappointed the extremely out of form Torres starts again. Hopefully he will prove us all wrong, but it must be very disheartening for the likes of Mata and Silva.

SlickRic

gimmick wrote: »

Disappointed the extremely out of form Torres starts again. Hopefully he will prove us all wrong, but it must be very disheartening for the likes of Mata and Silva.

fwiw, i'd also drop Torres.

yes, i have vested interest seen as i'd like to see him get as much rest as possible for next season if he stays with us at Liverpool, but he's been far too out of sorts.

Silva should be starting in a supporting role to Villa.

and Alonso has been better than Busquets, easily IMO. but we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

and you're never going to drop Xavi, so that leaves Mr Sergio.

Mr Alan

Alonso and Villa have quite comfortably been Spains best players imo.

~Rebel~

gimmick wrote: »

Disappointed the extremely out of form Torres starts again. Hopefully he will prove us all wrong, but it must be very disheartening for the likes of Mata and Silva.

At this point while still just recovering from an operation, Spain would be much better of just using Torres as an impact sub, focusing on his training and getting him ready for the next round, or even the semi's, where he could actually make the impact he's capable of, rather than being the shadow of himself he has been thus far.

Frisbee

---

Iker

---

Ramos

---

Pique

---

Puyol

---

Capdevila

---

Sergio

---

---

Xavi

---

Iniesta

---

Mata

---

Silva

---

Villa

---

Would just work so much better imo...

Kev_ps3

Dont see why Torres is still in the team..

CorkMan

I saw Mata before and he didn't impress. Great central midfield though.

Do you think Mata is better than Joaquin?

SlickRic

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Dont see why Torres is still in the team..

probably a similar reason to why Rooney was still in the England team.

managers lean on their best, tried and tested players.

CorkMan

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Dont see why Torres is still in the team..

you have to remember he is getting fitter and sharper everygame. He could score tonight to set up himself for the tournament.

mike65

While is questionable that he should start from a fitness point of view, his presense does effectively take two players away from Villa.

MagicMarker

C'mon Portugal!

gimmick

CorkMan wrote: »

I saw Mata before and he didn't impress. Great central midfield though.

Do you think Mata is better than Joaquin?

Mata is far better that Joaquin.

Mr.Nice Guy

Iniesta should cause plenty of problems for Ricardo Costa. He didn't look at all comfortable against Brazil.

MagicMarker

Great effort from Torres.

_Bella_

Great shot by Torres there

MagicMarker

Absolutely zero atmosphere in that stadium.

_Bella_

Did he say Pique was getting rave or grave reviews?

redout

Ramos with a suicidal header across goal!

Spain look dodgy from crosses

_Bella_

Spain started off the better team but Portugal have really got into it in the last 3 mins

The usual cheating BS from Spain as usual I see

Thargor

The horns are particularly annoying this evening.

kwestfan08

Anyone else watching the BBC finding Johnathan Pierce's faux Portuguese accent on certain players hilarious.

Headshot

if he dived book him

and it wasnt a dive

Headshot

so close

_Bella_

Very close there from Portugal, I'm really liking Coentrao

JohnnyRyan99

Just walked in .. Hows it shaping up.. Livin up to the hype? Serious chance for Porugal there!

redout

Casillas once again showing his crap judgement :rolleyes:

Over the bar or off to the side minimum.

Peyton Manning

Casillas really is a shadow of the keeper he once was. Still makes the odd wonder save, but he's gone backwards so badly in the last year.

Peyton Manning

Coentrao is a wonderful left back. He's been great this World Cup so far.

cruiserweight

Casillas looking dodgy again

Keeper :eek:

_Bella_

Portugal seem to be the more likely to score, their quick breaks are really causing the Spanish problems while the Spanish style of play suits Portugal with their slow build-up.

Headshot

ref has been crap again

cruiserweight

Headshot wrote: »

ref has been crap again

Referee seems determined to not give any "soft" frees

Wexler12

Ronaldo you disgrace, ive never seen a player who plays less for the team.

Take Torres and Alonso off, bring Silva and Navas on

Headshot

cruiserweight wrote: »

Referee seems determined to not give any "soft" frees

Ronaldo got kicked by puyol and he was obstructed by a Spanish player
far from soft