Tonight? Isn't Croatia v Turkey tonight?

The last quarterfinal iinm. Holland plays tomorrow.

After the results of the recent quarterfinals I'm getting abit more worried for Spain. I really hope that the players turn up on the day.

Pirlo is suspended so that should help us. With Villa and Torres upfront we should be able to score.

What are they supposed to sing? Spanish anthem has no words

I have no idea where u got that from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcha_Real


Damn Italians with their negative football. Go Espana!

YES!!!
SAN IKER!!!

The better team won

Russia are a different team now to the one we faced in the 1st game. Ramos up against Arshavin

Xabi playing in the wings? lol I don't think that will work. Cazorla should start the next game. Iniesta has been poor so far.

I don't think that will work either
Just bench Xavi as well

I thought Ramos had a decent game. He lost possession one or two times but it was mostly in the center of the field not in the deep end. He played some nice passes out of defence too so I don't really get where all the negativity is coming from. He didn't contribute much going forward; it seemed like Aragones had him tied on a leash as he hardly bombed forward like he does for us.

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Added on June 23, 2008, 10:47 amI think the problem is with the way Spain are playing. They play a narrow midfield which means the width has to be provided by the fullbacks. When fullbacks go forward to support the attack I don't think you can really expect them to rush back to defend in time. The midfield has to be responsible to cover for them. I think it's one of the reasons why Ramos is now being told not to go forward so much with Capdevilla given the license to support the attack instead.

This post has been edited by verx: Jun 23 2008, 10:47 AM

Yeah it will be. Especially with Arshavin available now. He has to be doubled up. The problem with Xavi and Iniesta is that they are so used to the slow possession game and they have had poor seasons for Barca as well. It's one of the reasons why I wanted Guti to be included in the squad as his eye for a pass is second to none. That said I think Fabregas should start the next game. I don't think Senna will be sacrificed as he has been playing very well.

With all due respect a midfield trio of Xavi-Senna-Iniesta is doomed to fail. It hasn't worked for Barca and there is no reason it would work for Spain as well. For a midfield 3 to work you need a dynamic player who can play from box to box. The only midfielder capable of doing that for Spain is Fabregas. And you can't say Villa and Torres didn't do their jobs. Xavi just didn't release the ball quick enough to exploit their pace. It's difficult to play the tiki-taka style when you have forwards that are more suited to the direct system. So who do you sacrifice? Villa/Torres or Xavi. It's an easy choice in my book.

Woo! What a first half!
Since the semifinal all the players have really stepped up and performed even beyond my expectations.

Silva has been quiet but he's done his role defensively so you can't really fault him. It's a team effort after all.

The ref was retarded. Casillas is captain and he just tried to pull Puyol away.

I think in the attacking third a little bit more lee way should be given. You can't expect players to get it right most of the time or football scores would be like rugby scores

Then you're in the wrong thread

ESPANA! ESPANA!

Fantastic game from the boys. 2nd half must have been extremely frustrating for the Germans
Possession football ftw!