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Euro 2008: Matchday 11 (Group C)

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Three teams. One spot. We all knew Group C of the European Championships would be the most competitive, but I’m not sure many of us could have imagined just how the group would play out.

The Netherlands have torched Italy and France on its way to a berth in the quarterfinals. That leaves Romania, France and Italy to vie for the second quarterfinal berth in the group. This brings us to France-Italy, a rematch of the 2006 World Cup final. The winner will reach the quarters if Romania loses to the Netherlands. If Romania ties the Netherlands and Italy and France tie then we are in a dizzying series of tie-breakers to determine the second qualifier.

France and Italy will be facing off today on ESPN at 2:30pm. Whether it’s Italy-France or Netherlands-Romania, please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on today’s action in the comments section below. I will post my own commentary in the comments section as well.

Enjoy the matches.

Comments

  1. hey Span,

    don’t mistake William’s comments as the typical Dutch attitude. The Dutch are very friendly and easy going. Also, the Dutch actually like Italian soccer, especially since Van Basten, Rijkaard, and Gullit were a big reason for the Milan dominance in the late 80s…

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  2. OK, it is one thing to want Italy to lose. It is entirely another to hope that their team bus crashes.

    That said, I hope Italy lose to Spain in the Quarterfinals so I don’t have to hear about, think about, or read about the Italian team anymore.

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  3. Mon, Dieu!!

    I really thought our team of aging primadonnas would beat their team of aging primadonnas. Cest la vie et ….. Allez, Espana!!!

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  4. hey terrorizing everybody but me William: we got a miracle, despite a poor game against a french nut we’re still in. And you know what? We love having you and the rest of the world yelling at us. We’re the bad, corrupted and diving boys that could even win the the final match. that’s life my dear, the goods win only in movies ;o) cheers from Italy, enjoy.

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  5. “I guess I can always hope that the Italina team bus slides off an icy Alpine road on the way to the game and falls into a 4000′ crevasse ” ~ William the Terror

    I hope you get splinters in your feet from your clogs you irrational coward. Try to show a little class a-hole.

    I’m so tired of the Dutch attitude…”we play the prettiest football, it’s sooo unfair that we never win when it matters…waahh” Come on…results are what matter and NOT the round robin ones. I sincerely hope Holland lose to Sweden/Russia in penalties (salt in the wound, tulip boy)

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  6. Now would the FFF please please PLEASE fire Domenech?!?!? As Grant Wahl noted, it’s stupid to keep four defenders and two d-mids on the field when you’re down two goals and need to score to survive.

    There is simply too much talent on that French squad for them to be playing that poorly, and that’s gotta fall on the coach, who refuses to let the past be the past, refusing to give the younger players (with the exception of Ribery) a chance. They’d get better results with Bruce Arena running the frickin’ team!!

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  7. Hey William,

    The reason why the idea of the Dutch laying down in the last game was considered a possibility was due to the fact that it happened in EURO 2006 (Denmark & Sweden). But Van Basten is a friend of Donadoni, and I also read that he wants to coach in Italy someday, so there wasn’t a chance of them laying down. Stop saying that the Dutch should have just laid down. THAT would have been shameless!

    You are correct that the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain have played the best thus far. However, should we just give trophies out for doing well up to the quarterfinals and everyone else should just go home? I am looking forward to these insane quarterfinal matchups. Hell, we have Portugal vs Germany and Spain vs Italy. Can you get any better than that?!

    One last thing, if Italy does make the final, I think it is pretty damn obvious that they won’t make it there by playing boring, defensive soccer. They don’t have the defense to do it, and Donadoni has a mostly offensive squad.

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  8. You’re right Will, you don’t have to be rational. I’m too tired to spell out a counterargument in its entirety, but basically, all that matters is the elimination games, and getting there one way or another. That applies to many sports, and while it might not seem fair in every instance, it’s the way things work.

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  9. Huh??

    Just because you love the Italians doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to. Nor does it mean that we have to be RATIONAL about it.

    Holland, Portugal and Spain have played BY FAR the best football in the tournament. France and Italy have played the worst. That is indisputable.

    And yet, if Italy somehow manges to bore their opponents to death for the next 3 games and somehow wins, the Italian fans will marvel at their victory and cogratulate themselves on their greatness.

    Over the last 3 days, their have numerous stories about former Italian coaches and players begging Van Basten not to throw the game today to give Italy a 2nd chance. That’s PATHETIC!!! Well, the Dutch had too much pride to throw the game (despite the fact that it was in everyone’s best interests that they do so). It will probably come back to haunt them.

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  10. Dante, I agree completely.

    Italy got off to a rought start. If everyone remembers way back when to the WC, Italy had a rough go of it in the group stage as well. Sure, they have a few key injuries and suspensions this time around, but look for them to turn it up a notch in the elimination stages.

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  11. I really have no idea what game some of you were watching with some of these comments. Italians being shameful is just an insane comment to make. You’re just trying to wind people up. Instead, you make yourself look foolish. What is going on with SBI lately?

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  12. @ peteo

    “Anyone know why Tommy Smyth has been AWOL the past few days?”

    He’s been calling the game opposite Andy. Since there are 2 games on at the same time, Andy calls one and he calls the other, and neither are in the studio.

    It’s a fringe benefit of having 2 simultaneous games.

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  13. If Domenech still has a job by the time World Cup qualifiers start after this horrible tournament by France then people need to cut Bob Bradley some slack. Because France was inept in this tournament and only Scotland blowing it against Georgia got them in the tournament in the first place. Managers have been fired for a lot less than the garbage France inflicted on us for the last two weeks.

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