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| 2012 Olympics--Soccer/Football/Futbol | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 29 2009, 07:20 AM (2,817 Views) | |
| Merengue | Jul 30 2012, 03:16 PM Post #46 |
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An absolutely embarassing performance from Spain against Honduras. Ok sometimes the ball does not go in, the post/bar kept 3 or 4 goals from going in and Mendoza the Honduran keeper, as autogol commented, also made several nice saves. And yes, the ref missed a clear penalty late in the game and possibly even another one previously but these Spanish players lost their heads and did not leave a good impression of our country's futbol with their remonstrations at the end of the match. They are young kids but their frustrations got the better of them. Bottom line is in 2 games if you do not score, you do not deserve to go through. Thiago Alcantara was clearly missed from the team which thrilled Europe last summer in the U21 tourney (see our thread from last year in the UEFA forum) but others who also were productive last summer, namely Adrian Lopez, Ander Herrera, Iker Muniain and Isco simply did not cut it in this tourney. And even the revelation of Euro 2012, Jordi Alba looked a shadow of what we saw with Vicente del Bosque's senior team. I am not worried about the future as this is still a good generation of young players coming up and many of them will soon be integrated into the full team for 2014 World Cup qualifying, but on this Olympic stage, this team laid a giantic egg. Ultimately this failure may be beneficial as it will demonstrate that simply showing up in a Spain jersey is not enough. Nevertheless, I am still feeling pain at the way this team was eliminated. |
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| Merengue | Jul 30 2012, 03:25 PM Post #47 |
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John, I think some of that unbalance from Mexico yesterday, actually a lot of it, was due to an injury to their excellent right wing Javier Aquino. He is one of this team's best players, but was hobbled by injury and his replacement Javier Cortes was not anywhere near as effective. Neymar was really impressive against a much better than credited belarus team. And Oscar really looks composed in midfield, especially for a 20 year old. |
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| valenciano | Jul 30 2012, 07:48 PM Post #48 |
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I think Merengue's comments which I quoted above, pretty much reflect my views on Spain's elimination. They just did not get the job done, particularly the players Merengue named. I also like Merengue's light at the end of the tunnel view, that this Olympic failure could in the long run help this group of players by making them realize nothing is to be taken for granted. But they also need to accept defeat and not be so churlish when beaten, even when the ref does screw them over like on Sunday. |
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| Johnbuildr | Jul 31 2012, 05:07 AM Post #49 |
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Thanks for that item on Aquino M. I didn't hear the comentators mention it and if they did not, it demonstrates their lack of prep for the game. To go on and on about the deficient right side play and not know or mention the main reason for it is amateurish broadcasting, unless I missed their mention of it which is possible. And thanks for the comments on Spain's match from the avid fan's point of view gents. There doesn't seem to be much overall interest in this thread from the board so I was hoping to hear your thoughts. The ref may well have passed on a PK call that could have been made(something refs tend to do all to often in my view) but I simply did not see a one sided or lop sided overall refereeing job in this one guys. I "get" that is is only U-23 soccer, but I am still a little surprised at the sparse following for 'our' sport in the Olympics here from a board that can generally get enthusiastically going on the most innocuous of soccer subjects..... |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| Pique | Jul 31 2012, 09:01 AM Post #50 |
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Well let's get this thread going then John! Merengue is right about Aquino's injury, he is expected to play tomorrow though against Switzelrand. Midfielder Hector Herrera, so vital to the team's ball movement is questionable due to injury. Chivas Jorge Enriquez likely will play if Herrera can not but Enriquez is more of a midfielder destroyer. Herrera can break up play defensively too but is really good with the ball. Like with Aquino, you will see him soon with mexico's senior national team. Final set of group games tomorrow, in Mexico's group it is Mexico-Switzerland and South Korea-Gabon with all 4 teams still with a chance to qualify. Mexico and Korea top the table with 4 points each and goal differences of +2 and +1 respectively. Switzerland and Gabon each have 1 point and goal differentials of -1 and -2 each. So far Mexico have been improving in each game, which is promising but there has still been that disconnect between Fabian and Giovani, the team's top two creative players, and center forward, and overage player Oribe Peralta must think the Olympics have not started yet because he has disappeared in these first two games. By the way, nice win by Honduras on Sunday vs Spain. The catrachos showed a lot of character in with standing Spain's pressure. but they looked composed and good on the ball. Roger Espinoza of Sporting Kansas City had what i thought was an excellent game in midfield. And New England's new center forward Jerry Bengston is so far the joint top scorer in the Olympic tournament with 3 goals. |
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Esas son las leyendas de futbol mexicano, En todo Mexico hay un Chiva hermano! | |
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| shelsoccer | Jul 31 2012, 09:50 AM Post #51 |
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John raises a good point about the general (not devoid) lack of posting about the Olympic soccer tournament. I think there are two factors in play. There is some but not a lot of interest in women's soccer in this forum. As for the men's tournament, most of Europe doesn't put a lot of stock in it. That's particularly true for our British brethren here. If the tournament wasn't being played on their home turf, there'd be almost no interest in the UK. With their historical resistance to fielding a unified team, they would be ignoring it totally (i.e., not even participating). By the U-23 level, most of these players are major components of their club team and senior national team, which is where we tend to focus (and should). I think Olympic soccer/football carries a greater cache outside of Europe. It means more in CONCACAF, Africa and Asia; maybe a little less in S. America other than Brazil's desire to finally win a gold medal. |
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| Johnbuildr | Jul 31 2012, 10:13 AM Post #52 |
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...add to that, Shel, that it is fairly hard to keep up with the multiple games per day and hold down a full time job! And we US fans don't have a rooting interest with our men not in it dammit. Still, Pique picked up the challenge, thank you, and it will get more interesting in the coming days as we get into the single elimination rounds. Mexico and SKorea better play out their group on their toes or Switzerland could sneak in! Tomorrow in men's we have: Egypt - Belarus › 1 Aug Brazil - New Zealand › 1 Aug Spain - Morocco > 1 Aug |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| vince stravino | Jul 31 2012, 06:30 PM Post #53 |
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I have not watched a second of either the Men's or Women's Olympics, yet! I get my info here. |
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| raconteur | Aug 1 2012, 03:47 PM Post #54 |
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Wednesday's results Brazil 3-0 New Zealand Egypt 3-1 Belarus Mexico 1-0 Switzerland South Korea 0-0 Gabon Japan 0-0 Honduras Spain 0-0 Morocco Great Britain 1-0 Uruguay Senegal 1-1 UAE So Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Great Britain win their respective groups and Egypt, South Korea, Honduras and Senegal finish runners up. The quarterfinal pairings, including order in which winners will meet in the semifinals are: Mexico-Senegal Japan-Egypt Brazil-Honduras Great Britain-South Korea Some intriguing matchups, Honduras already knocked Spain out, now they get a crack at Brazil, the other pre tournament favorite. So reviewing group play, major disappointments for Spain and Uruguay. Slightly less but still disappointing play by Switzerland. For me the surprises of group play-Japan, South Korea and Honduras. I still think this tournament is Brazil's to lose. They have looked the best overall team. |
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| Don Balon | Aug 1 2012, 09:24 PM Post #55 |
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3 games played, 0 goals scored for Spain. An embarassing Olympic performance. Not a single player stood out. But as we said the best we Spain fans can expect is the players will gain some sense of humility from this epic failure. Brazil are looking good, but if they do not win this year, when will they ever be able to do so? |
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| Rufus T. Firefly | Aug 1 2012, 09:51 PM Post #56 |
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Good wins on Tuesday for Brazil and Egypt with each scoring 3 goals. Don't count the Egyptians out, they've played pretty well since the first 30 minutes against Brazil in their opener (when they trailed 0-3.) It has been an excellent tourney for both Japan and Korea and both I think have legtimate chances at earning a medal. I do feel a little sorry for Honduras though, you eliminate Spain and your prize is a quarterfinal with Brazil! Ouch. But who knows what can happen if Honduras can keep their nerve? |
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| Johnbuildr | Aug 2 2012, 09:36 AM Post #57 |
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Looking forward to seeing at least a couple of these quarterfinals hopefully. GB will face a relentless So. Korean team, but one has to wonder if the home team dosn't have a bit more of a driving psychological factor going for them. As a CONCACAF homer I will be pulling for Mexico and Honduras, but the Hondos really did get the worst of the q-final pairings. If they ignore the hype like they did against Spain, it should be a great game to watch. One would think Mexico should prevail vs. Senegal but unlikely results seem all too common at this level of play. |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| Dr. Z | Aug 2 2012, 09:51 AM Post #58 |
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I think playing Switzerland yesterday, who had a big and fast team will help Mexico prepare for playing Senegal. The difference is the Swiss are better on the ball than Senegal but with Konate and his 4 goals Senegal have the tournament's top goal scorer. I think Mexico are improving game by game and finally the trio of Fabian-Dos Santos-Peralta seem to be on the same page. That makes Mexico's attack dangerous and their ball possession abilities are excellent. Getting Herrera back healthy in midfield will be a real boost too, Enriquez did OK yesterday but he simply is not the passer that Herrera is. But no word yet on whether Herrera's ankle will enable him to play but nearly a week off since the Gabon match should be enough. Honduras are full of confidence and they do pass the ball well. Espinoza has never really impressed me when i have seen him play before but he has had a very good Olympics, the right back Crisanto also is good and Bengston may be the new Carlos Pavon. Nice to see the catrachos doing well and it has been a great tourney so far for CONCACAF, they were the only confederation to have ever particpant in these Olympics make it to the quarterfinals. |
| Poniendo el pecho a las balas! | |
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| Merengue | Aug 2 2012, 02:14 PM Post #59 |
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The quarterfinal pairings, including order in which winners will meet in the semifinals are: Mexico-Senegal Japan-Egypt Brazil-Honduras Great Britain-South Korea Spain and Uruguay are the surprising absentees but neither team could score so they have nobody but themselves to blame for their elimination. We have already discussed in detail Spain's failings at this competition but Uruguay whose overage players were expected to give them a big lift were almost as disappointing. A lone win over UAE was followed by losses to Senegal and Great Britain where Uruguay with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani in attack, were shutout. Gaston Ramirez had some good moments but the two overage stars for Uruguay simply did not get it done. Both seemed like a pair of players in preseason form. So on to the quarters where the competition really begins. I join others in thinking this is looking better than ever for Brasil to finally claim that gold medal. But they first must get by a surprisingly strong Honduras team. Luis Suarez has them well organized and they do, as most Honduran teams can, know what to do with the ball. Aart from the praise given to Espinoza and Bengston, let me add some words in praise of midfielder Mario Martinez. Honduras may finally have found somebody to replace their aging and now retired creative midfielders Amado Guevara and JC De Leon on their senior team. Still Brasil must be big favorites in this game, Neymar, Hulk, Leandro Damiao and Oscar are a thrilling set of attackers. And Danilo, who came into midfield in this last group game for Romulo, added more dynamism to Brasil's play. I would not be surprised to see Danilo start this quarterfinal. Great Britain-South Korea should be a pretty intriguing game. Korea will not be afraid of GB and they have the organization, speed, skill and strength to trouble the host nation. But the question will be whether Korea can score goals? They scored twice in defeating Switzerland but went scoreless in 0-0 ties with Mexico and Gabon. As for Great Britain, I think Cleverley has looked good in midfield, Bellamy does a lot of work and creates danger and Sturridge is providing the goals. Playing at home helps and they will be favored to win but there is something about this GB team I can't quite figure out but they seem vulnerable to me. I'm just not certain if Korea has the scoring ability to finish them off. Japan-Egypt is a nice clash of styles but both teams like to pass the ball and both are full of skillful players. But I think Japan are better organized and defend better and I think they will pull off the win. That leaves Mexico's match with Senegal. The African team is physically strong but limited technically. They'll test Mexico with their size and power but if Mexico keep themselves focused and don't get put off by some rough play, they have the ability to carve open Senegal's backline and I think they should win this match. |
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| hobbes | Aug 2 2012, 02:33 PM Post #60 |
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I've been pretty impressed by Espinoza and how he's played with Honduras lately. He's always full of running and around the ball and making himself available. Crisanto is going to be a good one too. I thought he might start in one of the qualifiers, but he hasn't featured yet. Martinez is a player I haven't seen before, but I thought he played well yesterday, though Espinoza was absent. I think Figueroa brings a lot of leadership and solidity to the back and Johnny Leveron is a quality young defender as well. As a Canadian fan, I don't need Jerry Bengston finding his form. I don't think he's as good as he's playing, but he's playing well right now. I generally try to watch some of the Olympic football tournament, but the time change doesn't help me at all this year, I was gone for the start of the Games and I've been putting my energy into getting up to watch the women. I watched Honduras-Japan yesterday, but had it not been Honduras on I might not have made the effort to get up and watch. I do want to see GB play at some point as well. I'm not really surprised that Japan and South Korea are doing well. They are often in the knockout stages at age-group events. Similarly the African nations (Egypt and Senegal in this case) also typically fare well. I think Honduras is the most out of left field of the quarter-finalists, but had the U.S. nicked that last CONCACAF spot no one would have been surprised to see them at this point. cheers, hobbes |
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