España -v- Germany, Wed 7:30pm RTE & ITV HD

Lukker-

OPENROAD wrote: »

Come on The Dutch now imo

Indeed, hate watching Spain.

steelcityblues

Van bommel and de Jong will win the midfield battle.

OPENROAD

Lukker- wrote: »

Indeed, hate watching Spain.

Its a Barcelona thing with me

tolosenc

What match, exactly, do the RTE pundits watch???

Het-Field

An utterly forgettable game in a long list of utterly forgettable games.

Germany were outplayed and outquaffed in every way. Spain didnt have to do much to win this one, and it took a gaping hole in the defence of the German team to win it.

The Cannibal

Spain would be lost without Villa I think. It took a set piece to break Germany down in this game, and they hardly threatened from open play.

Apart from that, Villa has scored all but 2 of their goals in the tournament. Without Villa that Spanish team would be left passing in front of the back 4 for all eternity.

OPENROAD

tolosenc wrote: »

What match, exactly, do the RTE pundits watch???

More interested in revisiting the England match, why are they not slating that German performance

Wolfe Tone

Dunphy: I know everything.

#15

Lukker- wrote: »

Indeed, hate watching Spain.

Sometimes it's awful hard to watch. Monotonous.

mcwhirter

Why are the rte pundits such miserable old gits, they are depressing old farts
I am forced to watch bbc, at least they are under 50

mcwhirter

OPENROAD wrote: »

More interested in revisiting the England match, why are they not slating that German performance

Yes, at least England were in the competition, bitter and twisted fools

The Cannibal

I think Holland are the most Mourinho like team in the tournament, so it will be interesting to see them up against the National Barcelona team.

Hyndsy85

The best team went through .

While the Germans might'nt have provided much of a test it was my favourite game of the tournament because the game was played in the proper spirit. No petty fouls,no questioning every referee decision and no diving.

It was fair play from both teams and it's what i like to see

argosy2006

Van bommel and de Jong to see red in final, least one

super_furry

Dunphy reckons Alonso 'had a poor game tonight'.

Am I the only one who thought he was the best player on the pitch? I feel slightly better about Benitez leaving Liverpool after that because he thought Gareth ****ing Barry was a better player.

recyclebin

The damn octopuss was right.

I feel sorry for the poor Germans. The last three comps they have been there or there abouts. Spain are Barcelona in disguise and it will take an organised team like Holland (a dirty version of Inter) to beat them.

Bodhisopha

As long as the majority of Irish people find watching Spain boring Ireland will always produce technically sub par players and consequently pretty poor teams. Spain are an absolute joy to watch.

Step out of the Premiership shadow you knuckleheads!!!

Olé!

OPENROAD

Bodhisopha wrote: »

As long as the majority of Irish people find watching Spain boring Ireland will always produce technically sub par players and consequently pretty poor teams. Spain are an absolute joy to watch.

Step out of the Premiership shadow you knuckleheads!!!

Olé!

You haven't watched The Arsenal then ?

baldbear

I thought Alonso was decent enough. Dunphy just said we will get an enthralling final! I can't see it happening, i'd say it'll be a brutal final.
The 3rd place play off will be better! Come on Forlan

murpho999

Bodhisopha wrote: »

As long as the majority of Irish people find watching Spain boring Ireland will always produce technically sub par players and consequently pretty poor teams. Spain are an absolute joy to watch.

Step out of the Premiership shadow you knuckleheads!!!

Olé!

Disagree totally.....Spain were completely different in Euro '08. Played much more attractive football than they have this year.

The Cannibal

Bodhisopha wrote: »

As long as the majority of Irish people find watching Spain boring Ireland will always produce technically sub par players and consequently pretty poor teams. Spain are an absolute joy to watch.

Step out of the Premiership shadow you knuckleheads!!!

Olé!

Really? It took a set piece to break the Germans. They won the game with a defenders header. For all that non stop passing, you wouldn't say that Neuer was over worked. Villa has scored all but 2 of their goals which shows how heavily they are leaning on him to break teams. It is boring because there is no penetration. All of their wins have been tight "just enough" jobs.

Shanotheslayer

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Spain are an absolute joy to watch.


Olé!

Couldn't agree more \o/

Bodhisopha

I have received a few replies so i will reply with one general reply.

It's not how Spain play that makes games boring, it's how teams recognise their brilliance and see fit to line up against them that makes games boring, if you find it so. I found the first half absorbing and the second half brilliant, personally. To me, that is football.

Someone mentioned Arsenal, they are not your archetypal Premiership team. You know this.

steelcityblues

Still can't bring myself to put this team on the same level as the France of 1998-2000, but unbelievably they are one step away from achieving the same feat!

The Cannibal

Germans for the Euro's

TiGeR KiNgS

Van Bommel to break Xavi or Iniestas' leg in this match.

unkel

Well I'll take it all back. I watched the Spain vs Switzerland match and Spain was p1ss poor. Tonight they didn't do anything wrong. They passed well, didn't lose possession, dispossed Germany all the time and they worked hard. Great defence too. Not many real chances, only one goal (again) but a deserved win.

Looking forward to the final now

Deeper Blue

Deserved win for Spain, they dominated pretty much the whole game.

I was surprised by the amount of people predicting a comfortable german win, I was fairly confident Spain would do it.

Viva España

murpho999

steelcityblues wrote: »

Still can't bring myself to put this team on the same level as the France of 1998-2000, but unbelievably they are one step away from achieving the same feat!

Agreed, and Holland are one game and few a Mark van Bommel hacks from being world champions.

Think this tournament is producing the most negative champs in a long time.

Hope Spain win for the sake of football, as they are not as negative as Holland.

NickDrake

For all their apparent amazing play, they still only scored from a set piece. And a very average defender scored it. Neuer was hardly tested.

_Bella_

Germany Brazil final in 2014

Bodhisopha

NickDrake wrote: »

For all their apparent amazing play, they still only scored from a set piece. And a very average defender scored it. Neuer was hardly tested.

That can happen when a very good team accepts being second best and sets out to stifle a great team in the hope of nicking a goal on the counter.

Hyndsy85

NickDrake wrote: »

For all their apparent amazing play, they still only scored from a set piece. And a very average defender scored it. Neuer was hardly tested.

That's what happens when the other team has every player just defending.

Some posts seem to look at what kind of goal Spain got and not seem to realise they completely dominated Germany.

Had the Germans not had all their players defending the spanish would have ripped them to shreds

Paul Tergat

Better team won.

Not sure who I want to win in the final now so just hoping for a good game.

Boskowski

Far better team deservedly won. Same like two years ago.

_Bella_

Hyndsy85 wrote: »

That's what happens when the other team has every player just defending.

Some posts seem to look at what kind of goal Spain got and not seem to realise they completely dominated Germany.

Had the Germans not had all their players defending the spanish would have ripped them to shreds

I don't think anyone is denying that Spain were the better team but I don't think it was the Germans night. They had two penalty decisions go against them and a free kick in the same position from which Oezil scored against Ghana. Spain should have won by more but they didn't take their chances.

DazMarz

By far the better team won tonight. I was stunned by the lack of pace, guile and control from the Germans. No truly good chances created at all. Muller was painfully missed here, as Trachowski and Kroos were by no means adequate replacements.

Spain looked excellent tonight; passing, control, possesion, everything was top drawer. They deserved to win by more.

Well done to Spain. May not have been pretty (until tonight!) but they are in the World Cup Final, and they do deserve to be there, without a doubt.

Dublin_Gunner

Was delighted to see Spain go through.

Played excellently, I called how this one would end up (though I predicted 2-1, ah well).

Very assured on the ball, the Germans just couldn't get enough of the ball to play how they did against England & Argentina.

Hope Spain can do it against Holland - who've sort of bullied their way through, and somehow haven't had at least two players sent off at this stage.

I can see Holland being dirty in the final also, as Spain will really frustrate them.

Why oh why didn't Pedro pass to Torres???? Didn't matter in the end, but that should have been 2-0 and sealed it.

missingtime

Are people actually saying Spain are boring? Do you even enjoy soccer? Every team they have faced have parked the bus in front because they know that if they try to take them on they will be torn to shreds.

Delighted for Spain. Hope they win it. Sorry Dirk

Pro. F

People complaining about being bored watching Spain is amazing to me. They're a joy to watch most of the time and they were again tonight imo. The only reason that the game wasn't more exciting was that the Germans weren't able to anything other than defend for most of it and so they ended up sitting deep.

Like I predicted this was just a step too far Germany. All the signs were there in the Argentina game that they just aren't quite ready yet. They have a fair bit to learn about fighting for the ball and holding onto it when they need to. But they have time on their side and by the next wc they will probably be favourites.

I hope Spain do something similar to the Dutch in the final but I think they're going to find it a lot more difficult.

redout

Spain into the final and they deserve it - by far the better team tonight.

A bit surprised Germany didnt offer more but I reckon thats more down to the fact Spain were tougher opposition than England or Argies.

Tonight was the first game in the tournament that Spain really pressed the opposition and didnt give them much time on the ball - the Germans I feel did not expect nor like it.

I could have hit someone when Pedro failed to square it to Torres at the end but overall he had a good game.

The defence done their job and Iker was up to it when called upon in the only real German chance of the second half.

Germany are a good team but they need another couple of years to tune themselves - I reckon Euro 2012 they could well take it if they keep improving at this remarkable pace.

As for the final the Dutch will provide a stern opposition but hopefully Spain will have too much for them.

Viva España

parker kent

murpho999 wrote: »

Disagree totally.....Spain were completely different in Euro '08. Played much more attractive football than they have this year.

I don't think they were different to how they played tonight. Watch both 1-0s over Germany from tonight and 2008 and there will be very little difference.

baalthor

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

Van Bommel to break Xavi or Iniestas' leg in this match.

Why wait for the match?
Van Bom should head to the Spanish hotel tonight and get it over with :-D

_Bella_

Do you think that Loew should keep his job? I actually think Ballack might have made a difference tonight. Klose isn't really a leaderand they needed someone to inspire them.

redout

_Bella_ wrote: »

Do you think that Loew should keep his job?

A big resounding yes.

parker kent

_Bella_ wrote: »

Do you think that Loew should keep his job? I actually think Ballack might have made a difference tonight. Klose isn't really a leaderand they needed someone to inspire them.

Hells yeah. This is a work in progress, give them time. He is building a very good team. A few more players from their extremely successful youth teams might make all the difference.

They just played an extremely good team tonight and lost, no crisis.

cooker3

That was awesome by Spain; they schooled the Germans there. As Side Lowe is fond of pointing out the true strength of the tiki-taka is the defensive side. For all the talk here pre match of how poor Spains defence is, how much Spains play suits the German counter-attack, how Germany have scored 4 times in three games it was irrelevant as Spain barely gave them the ball and barring a few half chances never really looked like conceding.

Germany played poor because Spain forced them to.

I expect a repeat on Sunday. Viva Espana.

thegen

Delighted Espana are through, gave Germany a lesson in how to pass a ball tonight, could not believe how many times Germany
gave away possesion, don't care who wind final but will be shouting for Spain

cooker3

_Bella_ wrote: »

Do you think that Loew should keep his job?

Lol, final of Euro 2008 and then the semi of the world cup with what everyone thought was a poor German team. He is 1 of the managers of the tournament.

CorkMan

_Bella_ wrote: »

Do you think that Loew should keep his job? I actually think Ballack might have made a difference tonight. Klose isn't really a leaderand they needed someone to inspire them.

IMO Ballack should take over as manager if he retires.