The Official European Football Thread

lol italia hahahahahahahahahhahaha

Nope. whs's post pretty clearly says that it was offside, and that if Panucci had left the field intentionally then he should have been booked, but that would be a rare occurrence.

I think he was offsides too, but given that it was a live game, I think the refs had to make a judgment call and it was the right one. If replays were allowed, then it should have been reversed.

I edited my post too late, but whatever. It does seem like a weird occurence, some say the one 'rule' was made up and such. But so you can't say he's part of the game, then?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2008/7445476.stm

Another opinion.


Anyways, Spain v Russia will be good...Russia shouldn't be underestimated, a possible upset on the cards?

It's starting to piss me off already. Everywhere I look there's soccer. In the stores, on the streets, on tv. Even at uni. Damnit.

He's off the field, so not in play.

Think about it the other way; imagine a striker standing behind the goal line and running into play whenever a long ball was played up to him. He wouldn't be offside as he was out of play, but would be booked for leaving the field/unsportsmanlike conduct.

it doesn't matter, UEFA has backed the decision.


http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=544855&cc=5901



In other news, A LIFETIME OF FREE BEER! to the asutrian player who scores first

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=544984&cc=5901

2-0 or 3-0, whatever.

Well their theory is, had that goal not counted, a 0-0 game is played far differently than a 1-0 game is. However, Italy got completely blasted, whether you're a netherlands fan or not. You cannot deny that the Dutch just played better.

If Italy would have suffered an unfair penalty against them, then it would have been the PERFECT match.

Awesomeness, I had so much fun last night.

Even if he's off the field, as long as he's not being treated (he wasn't), he's still in play. That's why the rule about deliberately going off the field to make the striker offside is in place, except that particular rule doesn't apply here, since he wasn't doing it deliberately to make the striker offside, he was injured and went off, yet play hadn't been stopped yet and he hadn't received treatment, ergo he was still "in play" and counted as the last man.

Either way, it doesn't matter. It could/should have been more than 3 had Buffon not lucked out twice, once when he brought down VN in the area, and once when VN's shot hit the underside of Buffon's foot (at 2-0) and gone wide. Holland deserved a 3-0 win at least and they got it, they outclassed Italy, who played pretty poor, so I don't think they can complain.

It's the same as if the defender is stood on one of the posts but behind the actual line...if he was there nobody would be saying a damn thing.

Ahhh why isn't Fabregas in the starting 11?

I don't understand that either. WHY? I WANT MY CESC

Some very impressive play from Russia so far.


edit: welp

gol

unlucky for Russia but Torres is too damn good

Villa is looking really, really good for the Spanish.

Russia's defence is failing here. They have looked alright going forward. If they had Arshavin and Pogrebnyak they would be even better.

lol Villa's awesome, he reminds me of good ol' Emilio Butragueño. Let's hope he gets hired by R. Madrid this season.

So far the game's not too good but it's going to be a easy one. We have two AWESOME forwarders.

Cesc is not playing because we have too many players with the same features: Xavi, Xavi Alonso, Silva, Iniesta, etc...I'm pretty sure he will play some games in this first phase.

Yeah, plus apparantly he and Xavi don't play well together.

Yep, I love Cest btw, but Arsenal's style is way different than Spain's.

I am pro Guti tho, too bad he's not there Fucking Aragonés...

Hatrick Villa.

Villa with a hat trick. Holy shit.

I ALREADY POSTED THAT.
I FUCKING HATE YOU.

I'm so sorry.


It deserves posting twice because Villa has single handedly torn Russia apart. Hopefully Greece and Sweden will be more evenly matched.

And Russia get one back.

villa hatrick

hatrick

lol In Soviet Russia....

Not really good game at all, Spain can do much better. Actually those moments when Spain controlled the ball and did lots of passes, that's the real Spain.

Another off-side goal, what's happening with the referees? Anyway this must be the first time EVER that I see a referee NOT fucking up Spain, but actually giving us an illegal goal (we still have to learn a lot to get to Italy's level )

My God the female Sweden fans are hot

YOU ARE MY LARSSON
MY HENRIK LARSSON
YOU MAKE ME HAPPY WHEN SKIES ARE GREY
WE WENT FOR SHEARER, BUT HE'S A WANKER
SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY LARSSON AWAY

When I went to Sweden I couldn't believe my eyes. How can so many hot people be gathered in one place?

Good genes

their genes go to hotness and not soccer, clearly

wow that 2nd goal was slopppppyyyy

I don't know why he took Zlatan off and not Larsson...he has been much more effective really.

Zlatan hasn't played much since coming back after injury. Preservation, I'd say.

Ah, I see. Fair enough.

Greece deserved to lose. As a commentator alluded too, theres no wrong way to play, but the way Greece play is not right.

Plenty of teams play to their strengths, fair enough, but we saw in small patches Greece are quite capable of passing more than once in a forward direction to a Greek player several times.

God forbid a nation enjoys the achievements of their team in one of the most important sports events in the world.

Not everyone happens to be a social introvert like you, Gammo.

Yes, Slutan Ibrahimobitch is my hero.

I'm hoping for an awesome game tomorrow between the Czechs and Portugal.

Looking forward to watching holland/greece games coming up.

you would you dirty traitor

hey, the usa isn't in it.

I'm happy for Sweden, I think they played well today (Greece sucked BTW). Zlatan's goal was fantastic.

The second goal was pretty much the ugliest goal I've seen in my whole life. But hey, a goal is a goal.

Too bad Russia didn't have a chance against Spain. I put money on them

Game daaay! Come on Turkey, let's even things out in standings, gotta beat them Swiss knives. Hopefully there won't be too many incidents off the pitch.

Half the frickin team got injured in the Portugal game, I don't even know who is playing anymore. bah.

Is the Greece bit a joke?