Euro 2008 -- Any Englishmen Watching???

[Jerzy]

Well, the Euros end tomorrow, and I have to say, I'm going to miss them. Here on the East Coast of the States, we get the games at 2:45pm, so I get to work at 7:30, work a fairly full day, watch for two hours and am done by the time I'd normally get home.

Since England was knocked out, or didn't make the tourney, to be more precise, is anyone watching the tournament? I've seen more good games just for these 16 teams than I did for the last couple of World Cups.

Turks were amazing. When they leveled at 2-2, I thought they were going through. What a grand run. Also amazed at the number of players having two or three stratospheric games and then dropping of the earth (I'm thinking Wesley Sneijder or Andrei Arshavin). Guess my MVP of the tournament is either David Silva or Micheal Ballack.

[Val]

I agree, great tournament, though I'm going to miss the final today.

Good call on Silva. I frequent a lot of Arsenal boards and the over-the-top love for Cesc is amazing, even by homer standards. Silva's been good, but the surprise has been Senna. I'm not familiar with the guy, but he's been huge, and like you said, Jerry, you have to show up for every game, and Engelaar no-showed as well when the games mattered.

Funny to hear the Germans really whining about losing Ballack (possibly). They beat (barely) the most decimated team in recent memory in the Turks, the Spanish are missing Villa, and they think that losing Ballack is a greater catastrophe (though Ballack IS more important to the Germans than Villa is to Spain.

[JCoupe]

Well since Portugal got knocked out, I've been hoping Spain could take it. You know to rep the Iberian Peninsula hah. Its been a pretty good tournament this year, I hope they don't increase the number of teams allowed on the next ones.

[74offsuit]

Very enjoyable tournament. Not missing England not being there at all, to bring down the technical standard .

Most enjoyed watching teams with excellent touch, Spain,Italy, Croatia etc. all take those short free kicks to a team mate, whether they are marked or not, they have the quality to play themselves out of trouble.

I do think the physical side of the English game has improved some players. Fabregas, Torres etc, all look very strong and don't tend to fall over as soon as touched nowadays.

[Shrt bus]

Loved the Tournament this year!! Great come backs with just minutes remaining....

Watching Spain move the ball was just awesome......

[Val]

Yeah, the late game heroics were pretty amazing. The Turks were amazing, I'd written them for dead twice versus the Czechs.

Tactically, I was thrilled to see the coming of age of the 4-2-3-1 because it allowed for three attacking halfbacks, unconstrained by having to play the wing. All could interchange, like van der Vaert and Sneijder for Holland and Silva, Xavi and Cesc for the Spanish. Also makes you wonder just how bad it was in Spain: Xavi and Deco played like worldbeaters, and yet couldn't get serious game time from Madrid and Barca.

[Jerzy]

I've always wondered why more players don't switch the sides they're playing on more often, Val. I know all the teams are playing zonal defense, but it really doesn't matter that much, it's still your player with the ball against my player without the ball. Portugal's Ronaldo and Simao switched each game to good effect (though Simao was useless).

[74offsuit]

I agree, the game is pretty conservative on most concepts I find.

Are you asking about full backs swapping sides, or any position?

I often coach my youth team wingbacks, or left and right midfield to swap to mix things up. They rarely do it though, as it involves moving out of their comfort zone.

[lanesra]

Interesting note on the Spanish team. Aragones really had a 13 member starting lineup, in that Guiza and Cesc regularly came in at the 65 minute mark or so, which means that there are fresh legs on the field at crunch time, and certainly as regards Guiza vis a vis Torres, a whole new look for the defenders. I've always wondered why more coaches don't use all three subs every game.