Tomi on 21/6/2012 at 22:26

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So now that the Czechs are out as well after losing to Portugal, all of my favourite teams have been knocked out during the last few days. What next? I'm definitely jumping on the German bandwagon now, as I don't really like any of the other remaining teams. :p Except for Greece maybe, but either Germany or Greece will be out tomorrow as they play against each other, and I just can't see Greece winning that game... wouldn't be the first time they prove me wrong though!

Portugal were the better team today and really deserved to go through, especially after the pathetic display from the Czech team on the second half. And apart from CRonaldo's annoying goal celebrations and the occasional glimpses of annoyance by Coentrao (sp?) I didn't find Portugal too annoying, so despite of them being at the bottom of my Sympathy Cup rankings now, I think I'd still rather see them win this tournament instead of Spain or Italy for example...

As for the England vs Ukraine match the other day, I was really surprised to see Roy Hodgson's (England manager) approach for that game. I thought that they would be a bit more positive after the Sweden game, but they looked like they were just going for a 0-0 draw straight from the kick off against a team that should be weaker in just about everything. I felt a bit sorry for the goal line referee whose only job is to confirm whether the ball goes inside the goal or not, and then the big moment comes and the guy makes a wrong decision. But I felt even more sorry for the Ukrainians who were robbed off a goal, and played so well that they would have at least deserved a draw (if not a win) from the game.

They really need to introduce some goal line technology in the game now, video cameras or some microchip inside the ball, or something, but I'll still be a bit sad when that happens. And I don't even know what's so sad about that. :p

N'Al on 22/6/2012 at 06:36

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Let's not forget that the first pass was (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M71QFzrnHTM) offside, so it's not quite as clear cut as 'a disallowed goal'. Nevertheless, doesn't take away from the fact that we need some sort of goal line technology - and pronto.

Tomi on 22/6/2012 at 08:43

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Heh, that reaction is quite funny. I hadn't actually seen that before as I chose to watch the Czech vs Poland game instead of Greece vs Russia.

However, in Karagounis' defence, I wouldn't be so sure that it was a dive actually, there was some contact with the Russian defender and him. Over-dramatized fall perhaps, but doesn't almost everyone do that nowadays...

And this brings us nicely to another topic: What's up with the referees' "no red cards and definitely no penalties" policy? There were two red cards and one penalty in the opening game of the tournament, but after that, nothing (unless I'm forgetting something). I must admit that there has been hardly any dirty tackles or incidents that would have warranted a red card, but Sergio Ramos' (Spain) dangerous tackle on Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) for example should have been a red card in my opinion, or at least a yellow. But Ramos didn't even get booked, because luckily for him the incident happened inside the penalty area... Perhaps the referees are now too scared to send players off after the red card fiasco in the Poland v Greece match (where the Greek player should never have been sent off), but you would expect professional referees to have balls to make their own decisions.

Haplo on 24/6/2012 at 02:33

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I woke up at 4:30am to watch Spain-France. And what a boring match it was.

nickie on 24/6/2012 at 14:01

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It's definitely shaping up to win the most boring tournament prize. On the other hand, the European Grand Prix was FUN and I'm pleased for Alonso winning on home ground.

Edit. Klinsmann is great!