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There's no thread for general, non-Ireland discussion so just thought I'd start one as I'm sure people will want to discuss games and issues not pertaining to ourselves as well.
(Is it OK to have it in this section or should it be in 'World Football'?)
I'd rather have it in here.
Jumping across forums is a real pain.
I hate that forums want to put everything in it's little pigeon hole.
Some people hate misplaced apostrophe's. Not me thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
You can take the goalkeeper away from Arsenal but not take the Arsenal out of the goalkeeper.
Russia are a nice team to watch when you are not on the recieving end of a hiding.
Nice to watch and good work rate so far, dropping into a really tight 4-1-4-1 when defending. They've a few lazy players though and I don't think they'll maintain the discipline, they'll concede from a set piece and then it's anyones game.
It wasn't a set piece but great call nonetheless. I didn't see the Czechs getting anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
Are the Russians an 'aging' team?
Something that always put you off backing an Advocaat team...
Great third there.
Cech looks average.
Both teams are very sloppy and wasteful with possession in this 2nd half, still an interesting game nonetheless, in that anything could happen.
The Russians were great. So, Ireland must be on their way to Greatness (Hopefully).
Czechs didn't have the discipline themselves when they got a goal back, kept getting opened up and eventually paid the price. There was definitely a spell where they could have got a point though as Russia looked tired and rattled.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I think Cech's club owner may have bought him a new villa in exchange for that performance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Just as well because the apostrophe denotes possession, thus I am correct because the place belongs to it so thus it is it's place.
Correct?
Nope.
Yes I see he was not even referring to that, not to sure exactly what he meant
but 7 other people seem to understand it, so I guess it does make some sort of sense.
It's = it is.
Its = belongs to it
Itz = goodbye grammar nazis, hello txtspk nazis...
Thank we had Richard Dunne out in Moscow.
2 cracking games.
Two very entertaining games to get the tournament under way. I think Russia and Greece will make it out of Group A. The Czechs were very poor last night and Russia were simply ruthless when actually applying themselves (bar Kerzhakov having a nightmare in front of goal for a spell before being subbed). Russia have a tendency to lose the run of themselves or take the foot off the pedal after an initial storming out of the blocks; maybe down to indiscipline and poor mentality. They did the same after going 3-0 up in Dublin when we brought it back to 3-2 and nearly even scraped a point. There was a spell when I could easily have seen the Czechs score an equaliser in spite of Russia's clear dominance and superiority. They're an able side but I also think they're bottler-material.
I'd be frustrated - maybe even angered - if I was a Greece fan having watched their 1-1 draw with Poland. I think they have a right to feel aggrieved coming out of that with just a point. The referee had a complete brainfart for about ten minutes before half-time, during which he sent off Papastathopoulos for very little and denied the Greeks a penalty after a blatant hand-ball by the grounded Polish defender inside the box. The BBC pundits didn't even touch on the latter in their half-time analysis. Add to that, the Greeks' domination of the second-half, Karagounis missing a penalty and a possible Salpingidis goal being ruled off-side. The off-side decision could easily have gone either way. Poland showed nothing in the second half in the way of the creativity that excited in the first and Salpingidis was an inspiration for Greece when he came on. They had a poor start but possibly down to nerves before settling in. I'd just like to add that Samaras is abysmal. There's just something about his appearance on a football pitch that grates with me. He looks out-of-place, is wasteful as a striker and is ineffective as a target man (despite his height). He's generally frustrating to watch and he carries himself like he hasn't a care in the world.
Anyway, nice to have a bit of atmosphere back in the stadiums for a major finals too. As "cultural" as the constant drone of the vuvuzelas was at World Cup 2010, there was absolutely nothing atmospheric about it. I missed the tensions, lulls and crescendos in crowd noise in response to events on the pitch.
Very good Danny, agree with all that. Just to add I thought in fact that Salpingidis was the player of the day, the way he totally changed that game was amazing. I do think a draw though was probably the fairest result.
Russia were great but as Beglin said on ITV, can they do the dirty work? Also seeing the Mexican wave was annoying - what kind of vanker does that during a game - im totally engrossed in a match no time with that messing!!!!
Russia were excellent in spurts against a dodgy back line. In the 2nd half for 30 minutes they couldn't string 2 passes but neither could the Czechs in the same period. If a team can just hang in there against the Russians they will get their chances. The Czechs are a team that could do with a coach like Trap, good technical players but with no defensive cohesion. There will be a scrap for 2nd place but I don't fancy Poland. If their second half performance is more representative of what Greece are about, then they might edge out the Czechs with a draw against Russia in game 3.