I’ve believed for a long time that finishing one’s chances is the most underrated aspect of the game. I believe the Netherlands learned that yesterday. I don’t know if this is a record, but the Dutch had twenty (20) attempts off target.
I don’t believe that the Dutch needed both van Bommel and de Jong in central midfield against the Danes. They may against Germany.
I apologize for not having mentioned Michael Krohn-Dehli before. I had never seen him play until yesterday. He wasn’t in the squad for the 2010 World Cup.
I think you’ll see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar start against Germany. Whose place he takes remains to be seen.
This is definitely not the Netherlands of 2010: Denmark outfouled them 19 to 12.
Germany’s victory, while narrow, illustrates the paucity of Portugal’s options. Jerome Boateng did a largely effective job of closing down CRonaldo while Nani was largely invisible as was Helder Postiga.
Germany defended bravely, but they need to do a better job in finishing. Portugal had seven shots on target to Germany’s four and eight shots off target to Portugal’s four.
I believe that the next games in this group will be the most critical: if the Netherlands lose to Germany and Portugal lose to Denmark, then the road to advancement out of the group is clear for the Danes and the Germans.
On a personal note, today is our eighteenth wedding anniversary, so no football for me until I watch the games on DVR tonight. I’ve scheduled open threads for both games today, but the scheduling function hs been a bit buggy, so John will check and see if they publish.
handsmile
Hearty congratulations to you and Mrs. Randinho! Caipirinhas for all! (I’d like to think that on the eve of this celebratory occasion, you were not consigned to the coach last night.)
A few mumbles in reply to your thoughts:
On Dutch wastefulness in front of goal: as I obliquely commented yesterday, it reminded me of Barcelona’s futility in their CL semi-final matches against Chelsea. (To be fair, Chelsea’s defense was much more formidable than the Danes.)
Huntelaar, for his height/upper strength, will start against Germany in place of RVP who, with all that he had to do for Arsenal last season, appears somewhat blunted (and did so in Arsenal’s final weeks.) He could be a very effective “super-sub,” however. With his display of pace, creativity and ball control, Ibrahim Affelay looked like he could pose some questions to the German defense.
Vaunted German engineering did exactly what was necessary against Portugal yesterday. I found it to be a scintillating match overall. And what a pleasure to watch Mesut Ozil in action, particularly when he’s not playing for the Eye-Poker.
Hundreds of thousands, nay millions, of punters (myself included) will be astonished and aggrieved if Denmark advances.
handsmile
Zut alors, moderation! Because of the beverage? Well, at least this lonely thread now has two comments.
BGinCHI
The Germans looked solid but mediocre. This generation of players hasn’t gelled as a team, which seems odd as many of them have been playing together for a while.
I thought they looked narrow, slow, and predictable. Gomez’s header was nice but against the run of play. Agreed, Randy, that Portugal isn’t able to open up the game, but they should have got themselves a draw yesterday. But as you say, rightly, it’s all about finishing in a tournament with only a few games before you are out.
The Danes played the best team football in that group yesterday.
ETA: Happy anniversary, though I don’t see why you can’t take some time out of staring into each others’ eyes to watch some footie. Marriage is the art of compromise.
M-Pop
I have no interest in futbol but congratulations on 18 years!
sb
Germany did not look like a super team yesterday; they were damn lucky Pepe’s shot didn’t find the back of the net or this conversation is completely different. As for CR7, it’s hard to score when you’ve got three defenders watching your every move. The runs he did get were one-on-one against Boateng; the only time he was ‘stopped’ was when Boateng had a lot of help.
As for the Dutch, I did not recognize Robin Van Persie out there. I did recognize Arjen Robben–same one we saw in the CL Final. They were two of the best players in the world but they let their team down badly yesterday.
Spain v. Italy this morning. God, I love the Euro championships.
BGinCHI
@sb: Yeah, plus the French Open final and some cycling.
It makes living in America tolerable.
Mark S.
That’s the Dutch team I know. Dominate the entire game with precision passing and lose 1-0. I don’t know what that 2010 version was, Italy in orange jerseys? It’s good to have them back.
pseudonymous in nc
Many happies.
I missed Germany-Portugal, as I had stuff to do, but the reports made it sound pretty dour. The Dutch have a habit of disappointing, and whether it was the 4-3-3 or the personnel, they weren’t capable of switching to a less fancy, more direct attacking mode, which is what they needed.
I’m expecting a draw from Italy-Spain, but I think Ireland-Croatia will be entertaining.
burnspbesq
Interesting that no one has said a word about the beginning of World Cup qualifying in this region.
Not sure what to think about the US’ 3-1 win over Antigua and Barbuda, a country of 80-some-odd-thousand people whose best player, Dexter Blackstock, is an irregular starter for a team that flirted with relegation from the Championship to League One. The weather sucked, and A&B played out of their skulls, but if Leander Saarlaeckens really thinks we were under threat when A&B scored to make it 2-1, he needs to be tested for drugs.
The interesting problem is who plays in central defense on Wednesday night down in Guatemala. Klinsmann’s decision to not bring in either Lichaj or Spector now looks disastrous, but who could have predicted that three left backs would go down? Bocanegra will be serviceable at left back, but Onyewu is a disaster waiting to happen against a smaller, quicker team. Cameron? Parkhurst? Eek!
C’mon Ireland. Robbie Keane has been shite for the Galaxy, hopefully he will wake up today.
Apparently the 81,000 people who showed up for Brazil-Argentina at New Swamp Castle were treated to quite a show.
Wyrm1
@burnspbesq:
Before we play Guatemala on TUESDAY night.
I thought we looked pretty dismal against A&B, but I also watched the Jamaica-Guatemala game and both of those teams looked pretty horrible as well. Honestly, A&B played much closer to their potential then any of the other three teams.
I disagree that we were not under threat at 2-1. A&B was primarily countering, but they were doing so much more effectively then they should have, largely because of the idiotic sub to put Onyewu in the game when he has been a disaster.
I would prefer Parkhurst in the center and Boca out to the left but any way you look at it, it is going to be scary.
Raven
@pseudonymous in nc: So, is this a big game or what?
handsmile
Waiting for the promised Spain v. Italy thread….
I’m fascinated how few football pundits (Guardian, Zonal Marking, NYT Goal blog) have rated Spain’s chances to repeat as European champions.
To be sure, Puyol’s leadership and ferocity will be sorely missed and Pique has had a disappointing season. But the squad is virtually identical to that of the 2010 World Cup winners and several players (Fabregas, Llorente, Silva, and Mata, the latter two compensating for David Villa’s absence) have notably improved over the past two years.
Maybe it’s a sense that decadence has crept into a team that has performed at such an exalted level for the past four years. (I must admit that I don’t foresee Spain hoisting the trophy on July 1.)
Italy seems to have flown under the radar of most analysts, who have focused on Serie A’s latest match-fixing scandal. Very curious to see what squad selection/style of play Prandelli brings to this tournament. And just how long until Mario Balotelli loses it from provocations both on and off the pitch.
BGinCHI
@handsmile: I’ve said this before but I think Spain is the class of the field. Lots of haters about that side but once they started playing as a team, they got rid of that “great players but can’t win a tournament” curse.
If Italy can score goals they’ll be tough, but they have such an Achilles heel with that…..
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@handsmile:
It was the card game at the end of your next-to-last paragraph.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
You were asking recently about getting around the Times paywall on your iPad. Here is what I have found to work on my Droid, where the browser makes it hard to manually edit the URL to remove the blocky stuff:
I go to the Times site, navigate to a story I want to see and then select “Open in new window.” For some reason that doesn’t trigger the block-mo-tron. When I’m done with that story, I close that window, go back to the other window and select another story.
On the Droid you can get the “Open in new window” selection if you press and hold a URL rather than just touching it.
Hope this works on the iPad.
(Note: This doesn’t seem to work in a “real” browser on my computer, only on the Droid. Maybe an artifact of the mobile version of the Times site.)
Raven
@Steeplejack: Cool, thanks!
SRW1
I am tempted to think that point about finishing was also on display in the CL final. Should make one think that at least Robben might have picked up on it.
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Randinho on the 18 years and best wishes for many more to come.
BGinCHI
OK, footie fans, who is the best finisher in the game right now?
And who was the best you’ve ever seen?
Raven
What a pooooosssieeeei
handsmile
@BGinCHI: (#18)
1) Best finisher now: given his record-breaking goal production, it’s hard to consider anyone but Leo Messi. But if “finisher’ is more narrowly defined, I might choose Miroslav Klose (nominative determinism I suppose).
2) Best ever: Raul Gonzalez. Lethal. Outlawed in several countries.
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): (#14)
Ah for cripes sake! Thanks for the tio!
handsmile
Well, that didn’t take long: Balotelli gets a yellow card booking in the 37th minute.
There is no better motivation for me to learn Spanish fluently than to listen to Ian Darke and Steve McManaman calling a football match. What half-wits, spewing potted fodder. (Variations on this rant will be repeated over the next several weeks.)
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@BGinCHI:
I think a case can be made for Chicharito…When he’s healthy.
Onkel Fritze
nope
J.W. Hamner
Bad first touch by Torres… but rumors of the Spaniards’ demise seems greatly exaggerated. Even drawn 1-1 with Italy they look worlds better than ether the Dutch or Germans have so far.
Tony J
Randinho, Congrats!
Holland were.. Holland. Beautiful football until they hit the 18 yard line, then they consistantly fluffed it. Denmark played as a team, did exactly what they needed to do, and won the game. It ain’t spectacular, but it works.
Germany were bloody lucky to be up against a Portugese team that only started playing in an attacking way for the last ten minutes. Why they still insist on playing this way when it clearly hasn’t worked in the last few tournaments continues to baffle, and especially so when you see them go on the offensive and they look as dangerous as they did last night.
Spain vs Italy is exactly what you’d expect of the first game in their group for these two teams. Spain dominating possession without carving out chances, Italy containing them and hitting on the break, Spain getting frustrated, Italy stepping up to pinch the first goal, then Spain lashing back with a quick equaliser. Neither side is at 100% yet, both of them look like they have enough in the tank to take apart any of the teams that have already played.
Plus, Torres has been on the field for less than ten minutes, has fluffed three or four chances, and picked up a yellow card. Thought his form was picking up after a disastrous first season at Chelsea – evidently not.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Balotelli was disappointing. Torres was more disappointing.
sb
I’m a City fan through and through. I love Balotelli.
I think he’s played his last game in this tournament.
sb
@BGinCHI: Messi and Pele.
Bill Murray
@burnspbesq: The A&B game reminded me of the 3-2 win over Grenada in 2004 qualifying.
I think it has to be Parkhurst in the center — Cameron seems too much like Goodson. I suppose Edu could play in the center, but the one time Bradley played him there, Edu was awful
pseudonymous in nc
Got my prediction right, but the match wasn’t really what I expected: Spain looked a lot like the Dutch, with lots of fancy build-up and not much else. Italy looked pretty decent, and only really got undone by a loose ball out of defence that allowed the Spanish to pounce.
@Raven: First group matches aren’t generally “big” games because they’re not decisive. They’re more about matching up the expectations of a team with the reality.
Dbaker
Couple of random thoughts:
Spain lost 1-0 to Switzerland in their 1st game of the World Cup. I think they did ok after that.
Michael Krohn Dahli failed at several Dutch sides from Ajax to RKC, before reviving his career at Brondby. Think he might have been motivated?
Did Nigel deJong play yesterday?
Both VanBommel and Balotelli were even money to get a yellow in their first game.
The lack of a good defensive midfielder, as well as a quality striker is why CR7 does not perform at international level. Helder Postiga? Miguel Veloso?
The Germans do not appear to move as well as they did during World Cup 10. They have a lot of Bayern and Real players who have played 80+ games this year. Ozil and Khadeira have become better players at Real though.
Philip Lahm STILL does not have a left foot, at least one that he can pass a ball with, yet coaches put him on the left side.
I don’t know if Arsenal will get value for Podolski.
DelBosque was very lucky that he got away with a no striker lineup, but understand why Torres did not start.
Both Pirlo and Sneijder were brilliant but their efforts were wasted on their fellow strikers.
In one play Mario Barotelli showed why he is brilliant and infuriating within 30 seconds of each other. It was his last moment on the field.
Giuseppe Rossi will not have a career in broadcasting. Still reserve my judgment for Kasey Keller and Michael Ballack, but I am not hopeful for them right now.
WereBear
Just a reminder: tomorrow is JUST ONE DAY.
All across the nation, people are refusing to euthanize in animal shelters, and finding animals homes, instead.
Please spread the word.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
That didn’t take long. Bad start for ROI.
Randy Paul
@sb: With regard to Portugal, the fact that they shut down CRonaldo regardless of how many it took and Portugal for all intents and purposes had no response illustrates my point.
Thanks to all for the kind words on the anniversary wishes. Tomorrow I’ll be near a computer for the in-game open threads.