The Soccer Crusader

Germany 4-2 Greece, The Battle of the Bailout

As expected by most of us, there was no bailout for Greece this time. The “total defense strategy” is a thing of the past. Trying to play the same cards, again and again, defending a “Fortress Europe”, accepting the “siege”, so deep in your territory that you could hardly counteract, can only lead to one result – defeat. Unless you are Chelsea this season or Inter Milan a couple of years ago, you shouldn’t even consider it. And even for them, success required a lot of good luck.

Germany was a delight to watch, in most of the moments. Although it’s very hard to break a team playing the style of Greece, they proved they have tools to do it. Their Free flow Scoring is working with different team configurations, but some weakness in defense is still there. Like Spain, they are not unbeatable! The other teams must have noticed it too. From now on, don’t expect it to be it as easy!

A final thought, Germany’s 16-year draught for a major trophy looks closer to an end than ever before.

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Czech Republic 0-1 Portugal, Ronaldo again

As we expected, a resolute Czech Republic defended stubbornly and almost pushed the game into extra-time. With zero attempts on target, they couldn’t pretend more. Portugal, although dominant throughout the game, especially the second half, waited patiently and eventually broke the deadlock, close to the end of the game. And, again, it had to be Ronaldo.

They need to win two more games to become champions.

One worrying sign remains: Portugal is wasting way too many opportunities. That could prove very costly in a game against Spain or Germany.

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Another group where all teams were still alive and hopeful for advancement.

Denmark 1-2 Germany, A well oiled machine

Germany took no risks and won the match. But, it was a tricky game though. Denmark, with a style somewhat similar to Germany, based on physical strength and hard work, could have posed a real threat. They were not afraid of Germany and played for their chance the entire game.

Portugal 2-1 Netherlands, Plenty of resources…not enough results…

Watch EURO 2012 Portugal – Netherlands highlights @ uefa.com

Netherlands – what a disappointment! After failing to perform in the first two games, they went into the last game with paper thin chances of qualification. Starting brilliantly and scoring a beautiful goal was all that was to be. For a short period we did think that Netherlands woke up and decided to live up to its potential. Germany was also leading in the other game of the group. Everything was going their way. However, they suddenly stopped functioning, probably on the news that Denmark equalized. From that moment on, they looked like they gave up.

What happened? Who knows? A bunch of stars doesn’t necessarily form a team. Did they lack commitment or ability? A far cry from the team that reached the World Cup final two years ago, Netherlands will finish their group at the wrong end of the standings and will go home pointless.

And when you think…they came in declaring loud and clear they can win it all…

The general feeling is that most Netherlands players were not in the best form. They seemed rather tired, exhausted. There was no fire in the entire team. On top of that, they got easily demoralized, and could not recover when falling behind.

Portugal reconfirmed they are in great shape and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go all the way.

And, with this, the Group B, the “group of death”, is completed. Germany is heading into a titanic clash with Greece and Portugal is going to meet Czech Republic. Both of these games promise to be some really interesting encounters. Be prepared, don’t miss them!

Filed under: EURO 2012 | Tagged: euro 2012, EURO2012, Football, Soccer, sports, UEFA | Leave a comment »