Storm

Jun 9 2012, 11:43 PM

Rebel, Portugal were shocking defensively. One of their defenders is more of a winger than a defender for a start since he could attack but do nothing else. Podolski, Mueller, Ozil and Khediera were finding it very easy to slot balls between the defence and make space for an attack, and that's not good defending, Portugal were barely hanging on. In comparison, Mats Hummels of Germany was fantastic. The amount of times he blocked the ball and stopped Portugal's chances - on his own - was enough to make him my own personal man of the match. The fact that there were 3 other defenders there made Germany's defending stronger than Portgual though towards the end they seemed to be getting tired. Manuel Neuer the goalkeeper also was barely tested. Nani came close by hitting the bar but it was safely over, Pepe did hit the bar but it was dead on the line and therefore not a goal - the shot itself was good cuz Neuer couldn't get near it but that one shot, along with Varela's attempt on goal, which was indeed the only time Neuer was properly tested, don't seem to me like Portugal were particularly good offensively either.

Germany did themselves no favours playing Mario Gomez up front. He's a very lazy player and got lucky with the goal they got. Had they introduced Miroslav Klose earlier or indeed from the start, Portugal would have been destroyed. Defending well against Mario Gomez isn't hard since his ability to run is poor, it's their defence against the German attacking midfield players that Portugal needed to cope with, and sure, they did but they weren't hugely effective because it looked like Portugal were aiming for a 0 - 0 draw for most of the game. It was only after the first goal they actually started playing some football but by then it was too late.

Pookie

Jun 11 2012, 04:06 AM

I didn't like the way the English commentators commented on the Spanish game today. I like listening to their historical facts and how they portray a team in most matches that I've watched them commentate on. They really hated on Spain and really praised Italy. I'm not sure why that was. I usually don't have an issue with them, but today I did. The only players they tend to have respected was Torres because he was in the Premier League, but even he was criticized by them. There was no escaping their comments and unfortunately I had to listen to them throughout the game. Even HustLa was a little interested in what they were saying and he usually doesn't pay attention to that stuff. He didn't say much about it, but he did say they were hating just a bit.