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Tidbits…

June 29th, 2008 | By: Jan | 36 Comments »

Tonight is the EC final. Germany vs Spain.

Too bad Holland isn’t it. I do hope Spain defeats the Germans and that Spain plays otherworldly football. It would be good for football in general and the Germans would probably hate it. Which is good.

Michael Ballack is rumored to be injured and won’t be able to play. That, in a way, is sad for the neutral spectator because whatever you can say about our neighbours, Ballack is a class act. David Villa is said to be injured still, which means Cesc Fabregas - one of the world’s best! - to finally play from the start.

Italian ref Rosetti apparently requested the Italian anthem to be played as well. Can you imagine a request like that??

Other news:
Seedorf has hinted before the BBC cameras that he’d like to play in the EPL. Can’t see that happening in the coming season, but who knows… Which team would suit him best, you think? Chelsea?

Huerelmo Gomes signed a deal with Tottenham Hotspur and will leave PSV Eindhoven. The fee the Spurs will have to pay is 9 mio euros.

In 2016, the UEFA will plan for 24 nations to compete for the title. And why not…

PSV talent Aissati will make a move to FC Utrecht. He’ll have more chance to play there, what with Van Hanegem being a fan of the young Oranje player.

Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie are nominated for the “Most Beautiful Goal of the EC”. Sneijder twice, once for the 17 seconds blitz goal against Italy and once for the beaut against France. Van Persie’s goal against Romania is neglected, his goal against France is nominated. Robben’s wondergoal didn’t make the list. Schweinsteiger, Ballack and Lahm are on the list as well, as are Nahit, David Villa, Zlatan Imbrahimovic and the Russian with the hard name. Who knows, we might yet win a title here…

Tags: Aissati, Background stories, Ballack, Euro 2008, Sneijder, van Persie, Villa

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 36 comments.

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By finnster01 | June 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am

@Dirk,
that is an excellent point. Further, now that there so many “new” countries in Europe, it has become mighty hard to qualify.

@Jan, do you have any idea what kind of format UEFA would be using for the 24 team tournament?

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | June 29th, 2008 at 11:48 am

NEWSFLASH!!!! BALLACK PLAYS!! Developing news from the German Bild newspaper:

They just have updated their front page

http://www.bild.de/

Posted from United States

By goose | June 29th, 2008 at 11:54 am

@alaa; hahaha.. amen to that my friend…looks like Ballack wont play; only him , Lahm and Frings are decent players..

remember that the germans played 1 good game v portugal (and i thank them for that one) the rest was awful and against poor apponents (Austria, Polen, Turkey, Croatia)

but eh; NEVER make a bet against the germans…NEVER

lets just all be very gratefull that the germans are not as lucky/succesful in War as they are in football!! haha

btw; im not for a 24 team EC…same as with the WC, the more teams the poorer the quality and since im not from Finland, Scotland or Norway i dont care bout those teams qualifying; i say; leave it like it is now

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | June 29th, 2008 at 11:59 am

@finnster; those f%^& germans..i knew it; it was all just a little mind game, wasnt it??

the spanish need to rip them up!!!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Van Basten | June 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

As far Football coverage in the US…It’s simple as this…Americans hate everything that Europeans love, and Europeans hate everything that Americans love.Thw WC2006 Final was not covered, but Zidane’s headbutting of Materazzi was covered on all shows including by the “Beltway Boys”, a political TV show from Washington D.C by FoxNews. The whole point of showing Zidane headbutting Materazzi was to simply bash and make fun of the French which Americans love to do (P.S Vice versa). I do feel sorry for the Australians and the Asians because they don’t know which side to back :America or Europe;.
Seedorf is one of the few great players of the 1990 to last this long. I don’t think he should ever live Milan because he is so well-suited to that system. Look at what happened to Shevchenko! With Milan , there is a certainty he will win more Champions League.
Robben’s goal against is a pure beauty, and should have been in the top 5 goals of the tournament. I did not like Ibrahimovic’s goal or those from Villa. The number one goal goes to Sneijder against Italy.
Had the Dutch played beaten Russia and Spain, today would have been our day. We would have won the trophy but unfortunately it is not to be.

Posted from United States

By Peter vdL | June 29th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Yes Germany has had some luck and haven’t been playing amazing football. but! they havent played an absolute shocker like oranje did in the knock out phase.
Btw, general feeling here in Cologne is that Spain is playing better football and will probably win. (and yes the national team hasn’t produced much in the way of quality, although they have managed the important thing, results.)

Posted from Germany

By goose | June 29th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

@Peter; think it looked worse with Oranje cause we played good in the games before, you are not suggesting that the Croatia/Turkey/Austria game were any good??!!
for a dutchman i have rather positive feelings when it comes to the germans (i lived in Germany as a kid) but i would say that this is the worst german team to ever reach a final..and thats up agianst some serious competition!! hahahaha

but you know what my german friend; in the end it IS the result that counts and for that i take of my hat for the germans (and envy them for it)

have a good one!

Posted from Netherlands

By OhYeah | June 29th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

What is wrong with Americans? They make fun of football, yet their favourite sport is a bunch of ugly f*ckers running into each-other until no bones are left intact in their body? I’m talking about “American” football here. Where is the strategy element in that game, where is the beauty and elegance? This is ridiculous beyond belief. I think the primitiveness and brutality of American football fits well with the enviable intellectual suppleness of the average American.

Posted from Estonia

By Jan | June 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

It’s funny indeed, how soccer - oops…footbal - can’t seem to “win” in the US. It’s very hard to gauge why that is. On the one hand, most youngster love to play it, but it probably has to do with the way Americans “absorb” information… I realize I am generalizing here, but I experience in Australia that most people who actually play the game adore to play it, but don’t like watching it! They love watching rugby though. A mate of mine always wants to know the score. “What did Spain do?”. They won 3-0, I answer. He says. Cool! And walks away. Isn’t interested in the quality of the game, the way the goals were made, whether Spain impressed…I’ts the score he needs to know. In Holland, you wouldn’t be satisfied with the just the score-line.

Maybe the American society in terms of media and information-service and information-processing is too much fragmented and focused on quick soundbites and “dumbed-down” action. The depth is simply missing. Being it Hollywood blockbusters, news-shows, sports… It has to be fast. People zapp through 120+ channels and if there’s nothing to hold their attention for more than 5 seconds, they move on to the next channel. In Basketbal or American football, something will happen in that 5 seconds, in football, you’re happy as they kick a ball in that time-frame :-).

It’s all instant frozen food, commercials, soundbites, microwaves and more commercials… Don’t know if you get my point, but it’s very clear in my head

I don’t mind the 24 nations: more games

It would have been great if players like Litmanen, Hleb, Giggs and co would have been able to present themselves on the big stages.

By Van Basten | June 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

In the closing ceremonies, they showed the Dutch Waltzing with the Russians, but only for a fleeting second. Then the Russians moved on to waltz with the Spanish. Today would have been our day…our moment, our due time!I wonder if the Dutch team and Van Basten will be watching this game.At least I hope they can learn from history, for history always repeats itself with football. By they way, should you not be sleeping Jan. I mean it’s like 4 A.M (or something) in Australia, and Monday is a work weekday.

Posted from United States

By Junior | June 29th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

There is no doubt the Dutch could have beaten Germany in the Final the way the Germans are playing right now. The million dollars question is whether the Dutch could have beaten Spain.But that is never to be found out for we needed to take care of the Russians.But by mathematical induction, we sure could not have. Since we were outplayed by the Russians, and the Russians were outclassed by the Spanish, and hence inductively, Spain would have outplayed and outclassed the Oranje in the semi.Oh Well!!!Poor Holland!

Posted from United States

By GD | June 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

‘But by mathematical induction, we sure could not have. Since we were outplayed by the Russians, and the Russians were outclassed by the Spanish, and hence inductively, Spain would have outplayed and outclassed the Oranje in the semi.’

Always hard to reason like that. I mean, we beat Italy 3-0 in 90 minutes while Spain had to slug it out with them in penalties after 120 minutes. But ah well, a loss is a loss. Spain didn’t lose any games, so they do deserve it. And yes, Germany got very lucky to land in that pool and got to the finals with this team.

By GD | June 29th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

I mean, the way they played in the pools phase, image if they switched places with Romania in our group of death. They would have been killed by the Dutch, Italians and the French and kicked off the cup right there and then.

By dirk v.d.berg | June 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

@Finnster
If they were to do a 24team Euro Cup, I assume it would be the same format as the old world cups used to do. 6 groups, the top 2 from each group go on, and the 4 best third place teams go through.

Posted from Canada

By Bart | June 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

Ha, Germany has lost. Thank you very much Espana!

Posted from Canada

By JacksonVK | June 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

Seedorf to Arsenal… I wish. Wenger doesn’t buy anything out of nappies anyway. Spain have won and they deserved it. Well done to them. One analyst I saw on TV here said that maybe this tournament has given us a glimpse of the future; The Spanish, the Dutch and the Portugese… whilst the Germans, the French and the Italians may have fallen behind. Lets hope ay!

Posted from Australia

By alaa | June 29th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

i am happy for spain, they deserve it, and so happy that the ugly german team has lost. for instance the germans they are really good and they can win the title. but spain was the first good team they played against,and guess what?? when they play against a good team they lose for sure. they were trailing 1-0 and still spain was the one who was attacking. ballack was inexistent. german team is (s)pain in the ass:).

but eventhough spain deserved it and i kind of like them because they play attractive and attack always, but still i had a biggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg rimorse in my heart when casillas hold the cup, for one second i imagined it was van der sar and sneijder who were holding this new cup. how sad!!!!

Posted from United States

By Marc | June 29th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

alaa i know exactly what u mean… i had a flash of sneijder and van basten holding the cup and it made me feel terrible. im so sad for van basten and the dutch national team. wc 2010 now to qualify for.. i liked the spanish tactic to use 4-1-4-1… amybe we could use it in 2010 to look like this:

——————————-stekelenburg———————————-

——–boularhouz———-engelaar——-heitinga———–drenthe——–

———————————–Dejong————————————

——–affelay———–sneijder———–vandervaart———robben——

———————————vanpersie————————————

we could put engelaar back like johan cruyff would probbably sujest and use affelay on the right wing instead of van persie who is a striker not a winger. van der vaart and sneijder would recuperaate and be the working dogs of the team while robben and affelay would be extremely dangerous on the wings. babel and huntelaar will be supersubs with bouma in central defence. what do u guys think?

Posted from Switzerland

By Jan | June 29th, 2008 at 6:55 pm

I like it a lot!!!

This could have been my line up, Marc. Well done.

By --HedonistiX | June 29th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

@OhYeah:

…. What is wrong with Americans? They make fun of football, yet their favourite sport is a bunch of ugly f*ckers running into each-other until no bones are left intact in their body? I’m talking about “American” football here. Where is the strategy element in that game, where is the beauty and elegance? This is ridiculous beyond belief. I think the primitiveness and brutality of American football fits well with the enviable intellectual suppleness of the average American.
*****

OhYeah,

Attitude like yours doesn’t help. I’m legally an American, not because I was born in the US but by way of migrating. I can go on at length, but I don’t feel “less American” than those who were born in this land.

It is very easy to judge that American football is ugly or primitive, but like I wrote in this thread earlier, it is a stupid judgment not unlike most Americans who think “football is not an attractive sport because it lacks scoring”. If you have some time to watch American football more closely, you’ll actually realize that it is a sport with ultimate strategy. It may not require natural talent like football, but it actually a sport that requires strategies exactly because it doesn’t require natural talent. It is not about if you like football, you have to hate American football or vice versa. I happen to be someone who loves both and I gained this by familiarity. Again, I can go at length to explain, but doubt you will be able to accept that explanation.

I guess my point is pls. do NOT pass on insulting judgment like that about a country or people that you are (probably) not familiar with ….. especially not in the medium where our common cause really is supporting Holland national team. It is annoying and not cool.

–H

By Carlos | June 29th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

@ Marc
Well done - you wanna be coach of Holland ?
I like the Engelaar and the 4-1-4-1 system too…Correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t Schuster use Drenthe as one of the holding midfielders in his 4-1-4-1 system ?

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | June 29th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

Marc ’s starting lineup is awful. The defense is not even solid enough. Heitinga??? Arhsavin crucified Heintinga in the 1/4 finals. Engelaar??? He’s too slow. He has yet to impress me!Boulahrouj???Is he consistent?I want him to be a lot tougher and mean.He is such a nice guy.Nice guys always finish last.
——–affelay———–sneijder———–vandervaart———robben——They need to play a lot of games together.They have to be united, win and lose as One.It’s not a one man show, they need to show they are a team, with a winning spirit. They should never lose the midfield or the ball.
Van Persie???Lone striker???Nooooooooooo! Huntelaar should be the one to play that role. I don’t mind both Van Persie and Huntelaar up front, but Van Persie at times wants to show off his skills, while Huntelaar has no style and only wants to score.
Van Bommel is missing, and I think this team is still quite weak to be a World Champion.

Posted from United States

By Caleb | June 30th, 2008 at 9:20 am

Carlos - Drenthe is a sub player at the moment, and usually played out on the wings, not as a holding midfielder. And Schuster doesn’t play a 4-1-4-1 system.

About a 24 team Euros… I think it’s a horrible idea! It’s just another shameless money grab by UEFA. Who cares is some semi-decent teams didn’t make it to the Euros… that’s the point of competition! Only the best are supposed to make it. England didn’t make it because they played like shite and didn’t deserve to make it. The Euro finals are supposed to be the best teams in Europe, the cream of the crop. There were already some pretty bad teams this year, imagine if we had a 24 team tournament??

Posted from Canada

By goose | June 30th, 2008 at 9:28 am

@Caleb; Totally agree on the 24 teams…who needs it, i would rather have an EC with 16 teams
the Uefa and the FIFA are just interested in one thing: MONEY

Posted from Netherlands

By Marc | June 30th, 2008 at 10:55 am

@ van basten… i like how u criticise the lineup while u come up with no concrete solution yourself… this had been thought of on the spot knowing that ourdefenders arent the best ones on the planet. Engelaar being slow? dont forget he used to play offensive midfielder in Fc Twente before van basten took him along.Matijsen makes too many mistakes and oijer is too old.heitinga will mature and watch it happen. He had a great season with ajax and i can see him as a futur pilla of our defence. Concerning the midfield, van persie s fav spot is not winger but striker at arsenal. Affelay is fast and technically gifted for the right wing and on the left we have the one and only robben. in the center we have the creative players van der vaart and sneijder who are the engines of the team. they play like xabi and iniesta. making passes through balls and recuperating the ball to restart te attacks. I see it becoming a lethal weapon. perhaps I would place van bonmel as holding mid and bring back de jong as a defender. im sorry u diodnt like it but i am aloud to dream

Posted from Switzerland

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