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Euro 2008- Knockout Rounds (R); Quarters, Semis & Final
Topic Started: Jun 18 2008, 09:19 AM (1,652 Views)
libero
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rosarino,Jun 25 2008
03:18 PM
So is it true that all the world missed 20 or so minutes of the second half?  Simon didn't make mention of it in his post so that makes me wonder if in the UK they had the problem with the feed that I had in the US.  My brother in Argentina told me they missed it too but they also had the same broadcaster ESPN which was showing it in the US.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-e...ov=ap&type=lgns

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The end of Germany’s 3-2 win over Turkey in the European Championship semifinal was a thriller that few outside the stadium saw.

A violent thunderstorm swept across Austria to knock out telecommunications for most of the second half of the gripping match. Television pictures reappeared briefly, but then vanished altogether for most of the last 15 minutes, when three goals were scored to give Germany a place in Sunday’s final. Internet coverage of the game also was interrupted.

Spectators at the match in the Swiss city of Basel remained dry and unperturbed throughout. Only on Swiss TV and Al-Jazeera was the entire game available.

The problems arose in neighboring Austria, where lightning, thunder and torrential rain caused a power outage at the International Broadcast Center in Vienna, from which the telecast is beamed all over the world. ESPN cut back to its studio analysts during the outages and showed video of spectators watching at a FanFest in Basel.

UEFA officials said the signal initially went down for six minutes in the 76th minute of the match, then “there were a couple of more interruptions,” said Wolfgang Eichler, a UEFA spokesman.

Officials also shut down Vienna’s main Euro 2008 fan zone and evacuated fans after the thunderstorm lashed the Austrian capital. Authorities said they gave the order to close the fan zone after the storm unleashed winds exceeding 60 mph.

Police say two fans were injured after being trampled in the evacuation, which was carried out during the match.


So it was the Austrians who screwed it up not the Swiss! But this really is inexcusable for such a major event. How about a backup transmission? Al Jazeera apparently had access to it!

Like Simon wrote Germany won but they were exposed by Turkey. Imagine if Turkey had Arda Turan and Nihat running at that German defense?
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dafyd
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Wonderful game, at least what I saw of it. Damn the feed for going out over and over again during the second half.

I was hoping that some how Turkey would pull this one off. With the first goal going their way I really thought for a moment that a miracle could be possible. Despite the 1-1 score at half time, the Turks truly had the better of play.

Rustu, as other have said, did not have the greatest game of his life. On the winning goal the announcers on ESPN in the US praised Lahm's finish as if he was Van Basten scoring one of his greatest goals ever (bit of an exaggeration there.) It was a fine finish, but I think Rustu committed himself early.

If only Turkey had even half the players who weren't available to them, it could well be Germany who would have fallen.
Leper In A Stange Land
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enganche
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Turkey continued to shock the world by playing well even with their makeshift team, they had one of their defensive midfielders playing centerback in this game. In the end they got beat when one of their players, who was tracking Lahm, twisted his ankle and fell and couldn't follow him into the area on the run which led to the winning goal. Tough luck for Turkey. Like others here I thought they played extremely well under these or any circumstances. And good point about how teams like Croatia and Turkey with their techncial passing game really caused Germany troubles. Germany won the game and advance to the final but Turkey won the hearts of fans around the world.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
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Merengue
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enganche,Jun 25 2008
10:35 PM
Turkey continued to shock the world by playing well even with their makeshift team, they had one of their defensive midfielders playing centerback in this game. In the end they got beat when one of their players, who was tracking Lahm, twisted his ankle and fell and couldn't follow him into the area on the run which led to the winning goal. Tough luck for Turkey. Like others here I thought they played extremely well under these or any circumstances. And good point about how teams like Croatia and Turkey with their techncial passing game really caused Germany troubles. Germany won the game and advance to the final but Turkey won the hearts of fans around the world.

I couldn't agree with you more enganche. Turkey were incredible especially under the circumstances and for long periods of that match they took the play to Germany. I'm not one for statistics but according to www.livescore.com the Turks had the ball more than Germany 54-46%, they placed more shots on target 10-3, had more shots off target 9-4 and took more corner kicks 8-2.

But Germany advance to the final after Rustu's error on Klose's goal and Kazim Kazim getting injured and not being able to follow Lahm into the penalty area on his game winning goal. Some might say it was time Turkey's luck ran out but they deserved more in this game in my view. They can return home with their heads held high and with the knowledge that their team can build upon this great tournament run.

Before the tournament many had discussed how Germany's half of the draw was favorable to them. That proved true and here they are in the final after really only playing well in one entire game in this tournament, versus Portugal and in parts of their opener against Poland.
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Don Balon
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Instead of discussing last night's game I'm going to look forward towards tonight's. Most talk has revolved around how this is a different Russian team now than the one Spain defeated 4-1 in the group opener for both. Arshavin does make the team different offensively and his movement, passing and ability to finish will be threat. But let us also remember this is still the same team Spain made look badly defensively. Spain's attackers used their speed effectively against Russia's defenders. Unlike Italy who sat back and didn't give Spain much room to operate, Russia will be looking to move forward which should provide Torres and Villa space to counter attack them. I don't see this being another 4-1 game but I do think Spain has the type of game which will give Russia plenty of problems. This should be an entertaining game but it is one Spain can and should win in my view.
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Pepe
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What a shame we missed parts of the second half between Germany and Turkey. What an exciting and dramatic game it was. What Turkey have done throughout this tournament has been extraordinary and they fully deserve their praise. It seemed that no matter who they put in attack, the team was effective going forward. Germany takes advantage of what is offered them, and Turkey's errors were punished. But it is hard to dispute the general consensus here that Germany despite being finalists, does have some weaknesses.

Luis Aragones is a superstitious man and doesn't like Spain's yellow uniforms which they will wear tonight (although last time they were worn earlier this year in a friendly versus France, Spain won!) Arshavin's presence is the wild card in this game, we have all seen how Russia have improved since he came into the lineup. And his play will cause problems for Spain defensively as he likes to drift out wide left, that will mean Sergio Ramos will have to play as he did versus Italy and be very alert.

Pavlyuchenko has blossomed since Arshavin came into the team and his ability to move without the ball caused trouble for Holland. Puyol and Marchena will need to be alert to him. And Spain's lack of a true winger may give room for Zhirkov to move forward from his left back position. But if he does there is space that Spain will quickly try to occupy once they get the ball back. For me the key to Spain will be once more to not only keep possession of the ball but use their own movement to pressure the Russian defense. In that first game, the diagonal runs of Villa, Silva and Torres drove Russia crazy. They can do that again tonight.

iAupa España!
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Martin
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It is quite amazing but Germany are one team attacking and quite another when they are forced to defend. And for long spells of yesterday's game Turkey did make them defend. Great determination by the Turks with their makeshift team. They have really made a lot of friends in this tournament. As Merengue noted Colin Richards aka Kazim Kazim injured himself when turning to cover Lahm and here is where Turkey's makeshift nature hurt them as midfielder turned right back Sabri Sabrioglu didn't react in time to come over and mark Lahm on his run which led to the game winner. That is a part of the game and something which happens towards the end of a match when your fatigued and your legs don't respond quick enough to what your mind tells them to do.

Both teams made that a thoroughly entertaining game, it is too bad UEFA's TV system didn't have a backup plan and the world missed some of the second half's most dramatic moments.

Quote:
 
Luis Aragones is a superstitious man and doesn't like Spain's yellow uniforms which they will wear tonight (although last time they were worn earlier this year in a friendly versus France, Spain won!) Arshavin's presence is the wild card in this game, we have all seen how Russia have improved since he came into the lineup. And his play will cause problems for Spain defensively as he likes to drift out wide left, that will mean Sergio Ramos will have to play as he did versus Italy and be very alert.

Pavlyuchenko has blossomed since Arshavin came into the team and his ability to move without the ball caused trouble for Holland. Puyol and Marchena will need to be alert to him. And Spain's lack of a true winger may give room for Zhirkov to move forward from his left back position. But if he does there is space that Spain will quickly try to occupy once they get the ball back. For me the key to Spain will be once more to not only keep possession of the ball but use their own movement to pressure the Russian defense. In that first game, the diagonal runs of Villa, Silva and Torres drove Russia crazy. They can do that again tonight.


Good commentary Pepe. I agree with a lot of what you have said. But I don't expect Hiddink to have Russia come out quite as open as they were in that first game against Spain. The two wise old foxes on either bench could end up making this quite a tactical game. Ramos will have his hands full as Russia with Arshavin, Zygaronov and Zhirkov love to go down his side of the field. But Spain's best hope is to keep the ball and make Russia defend. The speed and precision which Spain attacked them in the previous game is something Russia will have to deal with in this game too.

I expect Spain to use the same starting XI in this game but when a sub is needed I would like to see Sergio Garcia be given a shot in place of Cazorla as Garcia is a player the Russians haven't seen much, has great speed and loves to play on the flank where his work effort and presence will keep Zhirov pinned in his own defensive end. I just think giving Russia a different look off the bench is something which will throw them off a bit. Anybody else think Pavlyuchenko of Russia reminds them a bit of Jurgen Klinsmann? Not just the blond hair but the way he plays.

This has the makings of a good game, hopefully it lives up to that.

Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Yogi
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Re: last night's power outage:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-...uters&type=lgns

Quote:
 
Vienna’s International Broadcast Centre (IBC), from where TV pictures are relayed, lost power on Wednesday after being hit by hurricane-force winds and the system failed to automatically change to a backup supply.

Alexandre Fourtoy, head of UEFA’s media technology arm UMET, apologised for the loss of pictures and said UEFA and the system provider were sure there would be no repeat for Thursday’s second semi-final between Russia and Spain, or Sunday’s final, both in Vienna.

“Yesterday, because of the massive storm in Vienna, there were three minor power cuts, each less than a millisecond, which caused the master control room to reboot, which can take around five minutes,” he told a news conference.

“The system was defective in detecting the cuts and switching to backup power but we have changed this to ensure continuity of the signal for the remaining games.”


Great so the world feed was like my old 1998 era computer and took time to "reboot!"

Exciting game last night as everyone has remarked. Turkey and Croatia have shown if you take the play to Germnay you can make them suffer. It is true that the Germans attack much better than they defend. Turkey were a lot of fun to watch with their passing game last night. We can now see why Fenerbahce had such a good run in the Champions League this last season.

For all his success in taking teams to unexpected heights I don't think Guus Hiddink has ever made a final. Tonight is his chance. But after escaping against Italy I think Spain has too many offensive weapons and will pull out the win. But I do expect this too to be an entertaining game.
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valenciano
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Here are the starting teams for tonight's semifinal:

Russia: 1-Igor Akinfeyev; 22-Alexander Anyukov, 2-Vasily Berezutsky, 4-Sergei Ignashevich, 18-Yuri Zhirkov; 17-Konstantin Zyryanov, 11-Sergei Semak, 20-Igor Semshov, 9-Ivan Saenko; 10-Andrei Arshavin, 19-Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 5-Carles Puyol, 4-Carlos Marchena, 11-Joan Capdevila; 19-Marcos Senna; 6-Andres Iniesta, 8-Xavi, 21-David Silva; 7-David Villa, 9-Fernando Torres.

They are the same both used in the quarterfinals except Berezutsky has replaced the suspended Kolodin for Russia. I garee that this game likely won't be as open as the group game between the two but both teams do like to attack and have plenty of skilled players so we should geta good spectacle. I do think Spain will find that getting apst Italy and the quarterfinals will be liberating, I expect them to play more losoely in this game. Maybe this is the match where Torres breaks out? I too like Martin's idea of using Sergio Garcia as a 2nd half sub in place of Cazorla. Garcia gives Russia a different look than what they are used to from Spain.

Now excuse me why I go and get nervous!
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Pepe
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24 years! Yes after 24 years España is back in a European final! 3-0 tonight over Russia as Spain played one of the best halves of futbol I have seen in a long time in the 2nd half. The only sour note, David Villa injured his leg and had to leave in the first half and will miss the final. But in his place came Cesc who played a tremendous match as Spain's passing and intelliegnce ripped the Russian defense open just as they did in the first game. Xavi, coming in like a lightning bolt, converted a Iniesta pass for the first goal, Guiza received a beuatiful set up lifted over the defense from Cesc to beat Akinfeyev for the 2nd and the third was scored on a break when Cesc fed Silva who knocked it into the net.

Spain played beautiful ball tonight and were solid in all their lines. Arshavin and his friends couldn't get the ball often and when they did they were immediately surrounded by Spanish defenders. Ramos and Capdevila shut down Russia's attacks down the flanks and Senna, Puyol and Marchena clogged the middle. A wonderful all around performance. I am only sad that David Villa won't be around to play in the final.
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Manzanares
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iGracias España! Thank you for allowing me to dream it is possible to play good futbol and win a tournament. Thank you for letting me dream that Spain can win the European championship after a draught of 44 years! Just a wonderful game tonight from Spain. The comments here about getting past Italy while not playing well could give the team a sense of liberation seemed true. Spain took the game from the start and while they couldn't score in the first half you had the impression that eventually their skilled passing game and off the ball movement would result in a goal. Then David Villa went down injured, the team suffered a bit of a let down for a few minutes and Russia nearly scored when Pavlyuchenko's shot was well saved by Casillas. But that scare brought Spain into action and in the second half Luis Aragones' changes brought Spain into complete control of the game. They ted the midfield, controlled Russia's attacks and looked dangerous almost every time they broke forward.

The team will now only have two days of rest to get ready for Germany but with this commitment and this type of play, they really can make it all possible. Gracias.
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Don Balon
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It is a little past 3:00 a.m. now in Oviedo and while Doña Balon is finally asleep after the post game celebrations, I am wide awake still! I can't get that game out of my mind. What an incredible performance and it was pleasing to read the words from pepe and manzanares, who also are Spanish supporters. Their words bring so much joy to me but watching Spain play brought even more. Russia came in as the selection of the day based on how they dismantled Holland but Spain did the same thing, and to an even greater extent, in this semifinal to them.

Speed, possession, movement, tenacity, teamwork, Spain displayed it all. And while I am writing all these superlatives what I like about what Aragones has done is he's kept the team's feet on the ground and they all know that there is still a very difficult final ahead. But as manzanares writes, it allows all of us Spain fans to dream, and you know what? That is one of the beauties of this wonderful sport!

This game was Cesc Fabregas' presentation on the international scene. He may only be 21 but he played like a veteran and with he, Iniesta, Xavi and Silva in midfield, the so called jugones, Spain had Russia chasing shadows in that second half.
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rosarino
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Congratulations to the Spain fans here, enjoy this win, as it seems you are doing, as your national team put on a master class of futbol tonight against Russia. Beautiful team play, a sothers have written, passing, movement, teamwork, tenacity, they were all there for Spain and they barely gave the vaunted Russian attack any opportunities in this game. Germany will present different problems for sure but if Spain can play like this then they can win their first European title in 44 years.

I've always admired midfield play, and the way Spain played today in midfield was just brilliant. I also admired how Spain took Russia's midfield out of the game with their pressure so it was a great showing on both sides of the ball from Aragones' team.
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valenciano
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While I feel bad for David Villa and know that his injury will keep him out of the final, Aragones has gone back to the jugones lineup which worked so successfully in the last few Euro 2008 qualifiers and the friendly wins over Italy and France. That is 1 defensive midfielder (Senna) then 4 skillful ball playing midfielders (Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Silva) with a single forward (Torres) in front of them. Aragones himself said at a post game press conference that this lineup possessed the ball so well it tired the opposition out by making them chase the ball.

Simply put this was a brilliant game from Spain. 2 games against Russia at Euro 2008, 7 goals for, 1 against! Spain's entire defensive line were very good today and anticipated plays extremely well. Marcos Senna covered a lot of ground, always was there to break up a Russian attack and start a Spanish counter, the other midfielders, worked their tails off too and had the creativity, intelligence and movement to shred Russia's defense in the 2nd half.

It has been a long time, 24 years since Spain has last been in a final but this team is making believers of so many of us. It is strong mentally, level headed, and we all know, very skillful and quick.

iSi, Si, Si
Este año si!
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Simon
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Congratulations to Spain who cruised into the final. I have to say as a neutral I was a bit disappointed by the game as I expected more of an even contest, but our Spanish fans rightly don't care about that!

This was just one game too far for Russia and they were really bad. What was most noticeable for me was that the Russians had so much less energy than their counterparts. While Spain were still full of running throughout the second half, the Russians just looked exhausted. The biggest disappointment of all was Arshavin who just sank without trace. Okay, you can't play brilliantly all the time but as the captain and figurehead of the team I was at least expecting him to lead by example with his workrate, and try and rally his troops but to be honest he just didn't look bothered. It was just a surprisingly lazy and disinterested performance. I actually said to a mate that as he's such a young lad he'll be able to learn from this, but it turns out he's 27! Western clubs said to be interested in him, such as Arsenal and Barcelona, were given some food for thought.

Russia did have a good tournament and they are a young side. They are neat and tidy in possession and at their best they do carry a sting on the counter-attack, but overall I think Holland are the better team and from my neutral perspective it's unfortunate that Holland didn't survive to play last night as I don't think they would have gone under in the same way. Anyway, too much talking about Russia! It's a real shame that David Villa can't play in the final as he definitely deserves to. But I still think Spain are almost certain to beat what is just a really average Germany team. Or, let me word that better, I really hope Spain win because it would be a bit silly if that German side were European champions. They are a mess at the back but I think they lack options up front as well. So far they have profited from opposition goalkeepers flapping at crosses for their goals, but I don't think Casillas will do that.
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