De Jong hit the bar a moment ago. He’s another one who looks a little suspect technically, a lot of the Dutch lads seem to be big strapping lads with not an awful lot of football in them which is uncharacteristically Dutch.
Wijnaldum scores a great goal with a run and strike from outside the box. He has been the most impressive player for the Dutch in the tournament.
Been quite impressed by Shatov for Russia this evening, a very tidy and technical player.
De Jong heads a second for the Dutch.
Well executed second goal there. Lovely cross.
Russians have one back.
Cracking initial header I thought.
3-1
Ola John.
Really nice finish from John after a good flick on from De Jong.
Dutch have done well in this second half, John and Wijnaldum have been threatening on the wings and De Jong is a real handful with his physicality. Clasie came on there a couple of minutes ago and shown some really nice touches. I’m very surprised he’s not starting as he seems to be a much more talented footballer than the likes of Fer, Van Ginkel and Strootman.
Fairly comprehensive from the Dutch in the end, they have a lot of big physical players in squad coupled with real pace. They will be hard to stop.
The two chips were nice finishes. They look a well balanced team.
Poor defending and even worse goalkeeping from the Germans
That’s the end of Germany. They didn’t bring anything close to a full strength squad so they won’t be overly concerned.
[FONT=Calibri]Havent been online for a while due to the legal action launched by Fenwaypark and the threats from other forum members over the high jinks last october that got a few people’s knickers in a twist. Apologies to all on this thread for my lack of engagement.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Im thoroughly enjoying this tournament so far but regrettably have only been to 1 game due to work and sporting commitments[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]I attended England Vs Norway in petak Tikwa last Saturday night and for 6 euros admission thoroughly enjoyed the fare on offer, [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]The game KO’d very early at 7pm local time where it was still 35 C ( not as hot as the Gaelic grounds yesterday but still tough going), what struck me was the fitness levels of both sides , it was superb apart from the English back 4 who looked horribly sluggish but im guessing weather wasn’t a factor here. The point must be made tho that the heat was not a factor in beating England, they simply weren’t good enough and just could not break down the Norwegians who didn’t have to do a lot to defend from a woefully inept English attack and took their chances clinically when the need arose.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]For England I was impressed with Jordan Hendorson’s work rate and industry, he however needs a creative influence next to him that was not there, but in fairness to the lad his desire to go at it 100% was admirable to the end. Thomas Ince was pathetic.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Up front they went with Zaha who was impressive and has a touch of class about him, however he needed someone to play with, at HT they brought on some lad called Connor Wickham who is in the classical English center forward mould, it was a case of long balls up this oaf who reminded me of Philly Hughes from Shelbourne, Rogne and his mates in the Norwegian back 4 just sat back and laughed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Shelvey came on towards the end but he is a nothing player at this level.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Norway were impressive , very well drilled and organized with excellent fitness, it didn’t take a whole lot to beat England TBH , [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]The organization was top class at the ground, both sides had a decent vocal traveling crowd and decent banter was had in a friendly, balmy , boozy athmosphere – a great evening [/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri]Last night I made the trip up to Netanya on my own with no ticket on the off chance id pick one up for Spain and Germany, the game was totally sold out and outside the touts were looking for 350 NIS ( 70 euro) a ticket to which I declined, however the main event happened later in one of the many makeshift parking lots where the process of abandoning cars is used as an alternative to parking.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]I trudged back to my car a little disappointed not to get a ticket but still buzzing a little after calling the ould fella who was in a boozer with a gang from Foynes after the Limerick game, anyway upon reaching my car it became clearly obvious that there was no way out of this parking lot as all exits were blocked,[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]A few more unlucky punters like myself who also were ticketless came back and the frustration of not getting a ticket ( whilst knowing there were many empty seats inside), the heat, Germans and now that we couldn’t get our cars out was leading to a rather tense athmosphere.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]A gang of Arab lads decided to take the law into their own hands and using their car attempt to push the pick up truck that was blocking an exit from the sidewalk, when then this failed we then decided to drag the truck off the path, this effort took about 8 men and 6 teenagers and was a wonderful example of arab/jew and token irish cooperation. The guy who owned the truck was a contractor of sorts who had a mobile number on the side of his truck, what followed then was a mob calling this guys number informing him that his life was in danger and finally one of the arab kids put a brick thru his windscreen. “ who cares” said his father,” I cant see him driving to Saknin to come after us”… I was in no position to disagree and headed to a boozer to watch the second half after reparking the car.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri]Il be at England and Israel tomorrow night in Jerusalem which is a dead rubber now, il report back with any findings of interest[/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri]An evening of absolute bedlam at Teddy Stadium that saw Israel send England home pointless with what must be one of their worst showings at an international tournament since Euro 88.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]It was a beautiful evening for football in Jerusalem, the altitude meant for a serious drop in humidity compared to Tel Aviv and Netanya and by the bizarrely early KO time of 7pm temperatures had settled at around 25 C.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Israel must regret not having played all 3 games in Beitar’s cauldron of a stadium, were it not for the violence earlier on in the season I think all 3 Israel games would have been played In Jersualem, however I almost think the Israel FA were afraid of what might have happened if this madhouse was used as a venue for all 3 matches, however I am glad to say that last night’s game passed peacefully enough and was devoid of the usual stuff that is associated with the sectarian element that is rife in Israeli football and that clubs like Beitar, Saknin and Mac TA are working so hard to purge from the game.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Israel without the influential Eyal Golassa started with Mohammed Dabbour ( Mac TA) and Ariel Turgeman ( Haifa) up front, and played an orthodox 4-4-2 with the magnificent Nir Biton ( a reported 5 million euro target of Benfica) running the show in the middle.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]England started w/o Jordan Henderson and went with the hopeless Connor Wickham up front and Zaha, Shelvey also was playing a support role in attack , more of him later.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Both sides started a pretty brisk pace, Israel roared on by the 22k crowd had chances and England threatened with the lively but disinterested Zaha loking dangerous when he got the ball.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]It was difficult to comprehend the game really, one side you had 11 players who ply their trade in the Israeli League, and on the other side you had a 15 million quid rated striker, one can say all they want that Israel had a greater desire to win the game but all things equal there is something very wrong with society and football if people are prepared 12 million quid for the likes of Thomas Ince.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]In the second half the tempo lifted and Israel took over , Biton hit the bar from 30 yards and began to pull the strings in midfield, England were so predictable in everything they did, once again I was most impressed with Henderson ( who replaced the woeful Ince at HT), he is a cracking player, however as I discussed previously he needs a creative element next to him and JonJo Shelvey quite simply is not that.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Ofer Criaff eventually scored in the 79th minute and the roof nearly lifted from the stadium, England’s route 1 response of hail mary balls up to the very physical Wickham was been very well defended by Ariel Ben Harush. Wickham is a huge man for 21 years of age but is so predictable, he is all elbows and brawn but nothing else.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]We were about 7 rows behind the England dugout and at one stage I thought Stuart Pearce was going to walk on and hit Shelvey. Shelvey is a Cillian Sheridan-esque player, the ball always bounces of his knee or his shin and he in general just seemed lost out there, I cannot believe he survived the 90 minutes[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]All in all a great evening for 8 euro, im off to the USSR and West Germany later in a classic encounter where I expect two fine renditions of the respective anthems[/FONT]
Looks like it will be Italy-Holland and Spain-Norway in the semi finals.
chewy louie, I have been quite impressed with Inigo Martinez in the tournament so far - probably the best centre back on show so far. How is he rated in Spain? I know he came to prominence last season (or the season before) by scoring two goals from his own half in the same season. He’s quite a burly barrel chested chap and not the tallest which reminds me a little of Barzagli as he seems to posses great strength and times his challenges very well.
Haven’t seen enough of him or Sociedad this season but is rated fairly highly after what has been a very good year for the club. He has been linked with Barca in recent times. Will be interesting to see how Sociedad do next year as smaller Spanish clubs have a history in recent times of struggling domestically the following year after making making the champions league places. Betis, Mallorca, Sociedad and Villareal all have struggled in the past decade or so after qualifying for the champions league
[SIZE=12px][FONT=verdana]Spain through to the final after a 3-0 win over Holland. They have been very impressive in the last two games they have played. Italy in action against Holland tonight in what should be a very interesting game.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=12px][FONT=verdana]Italy U21: Bardi; Donati, Caldirola, Bianchetti, Regini; Florenzi, Verratti, F Rossi, Insigne; Immobile, Borini[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=verdana]Italy bench: Colombi, Capuano, Biraghi, Marrone, Crimi, Paloschi, Bertolacci, N Sansone, Saponara, Gabbiadini, Destro[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=verdana]Holland U21: Zoet; Van Rhijn, De Vrij, Martins Indi, Blind; Van Ginkel,Strootman; Wijnaldum, Maher, John; L De Jong[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=verdana]Holland bench: Bizot, Van Aanholt, Van Der Hoorn, Nuytinck, Clasie,Leerdam, Fer, Trinidade De Vilhena, Jozefzoon, Hoesen, Depay[/FONT][/SIZE]
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