Germany v Spain

BBC ^ | June 29, 2008 | BBC

[Berlin_Freeper]

Germany coach Joachim Low generously praised Spain ahead of Sunday's Euro 2008 final in Vienna, pinpointing their consistency throughout the competition.

"The Spaniards have been the most constant team here," said Low.

"They have shown consistent levels of performance, they are flexible regarding their positioning and they are sure of the passes they make.

..."We have the experience of this kind of tournament. We believe we can win such games - we have a winner's mentality."

[Berlin_Freeper]

GO DEUTSCHLAND!!

Wives and girlfriends of some German team players:

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Look, Ma, no Hans!

[corkoman]

Wow - who knows which team(s) will show up to play. Both have had lackluster matches. Holland was stellar and then fell asleep against russia. Then the russians fell asleep against spain. Spain and italy both snoozed through that match with the shoot out deciding the match.

The Palm Beach Post finally had a few words about the Eurocup - and three letters to the editor complaining about the lack of coverage.

The local pub has 19 screens all will be on the final at 230 today. I cant wait. Hope Spain and Deutschland play aggressive or we will have a repeat of italy/spain.

Go Spain? - i go for the underdogs.

[ml/nj]

Spain looks tough. I think it's interesting that Donadoni was dismissed by Italy when he recognized that Italy's best hope against the stronger Spanish side was to get to PKs with his usually stronger goalkeeper. (Of course, I would eliminate PKs altogether but that's a different issue.)

ML/NJ

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

Que Viva La Madre Patria, España!

Sorry, BF -- I'm going for my "Motherland" (having been raised in Puerto Rico) -- SPAIN!

[1rudeboy]

I must be biased, but from experience, I say that Germany has the hottest female fans. I mean, jaw-hits-the-floor hot.

[corkoman]

Bottom left, dark hair. oh my.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Germnany to win on penalties,

though I would love Spain to win.

Well that's not quite true, because I would have LOVED England to win, but they did't even get through!

Anyway, my guess is it will be a great game.

[1rudeboy]

http://euro2008girls.com/

[JimSEA]

It looks to be a great final. Spain will miss David Villa and Germany may not have Michael Ballack. I have to go for Spain because of their style on offense. Hopefully it will be a “barn burner” with both sides going all out.

[REDWOOD99]

What a tragedy! I think the girl in the 2nd row dropped a beer.

[ml/nj]

Check out the eyes on the guy checking out the Lady Brandner as she passes by with her two cups of beer!

ML/NJ

[JimSEA]

Oops! Michael Ballack will play. Advantage Germany??

[Berlin_Freeper]

LOL!

[Berlin_Freeper]

The word is that Ballack is good to play. Yet he has not been out on the grass yet, but not all the German players are out on the grass yet (it is now 1 hour till game time).

I am glad to have Ballack fit to play the game, especially with the Spanish striker Villa being out who had scored 3 goals in one game against Russia. So in that respect we are ahead.

[J Aguilar]

¡¡¡Viva España!!!

Viva Luis Aragonés, the Spanish coach, that in the best of our traditions has fought not only to beat the other teams, but to beat their on superiors, alone and knowing that he will be fired this summer.

Big Guts Aragonés, there are in Spain still brave men!

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

My cable TV and hi-speed Internet were off for about a half-hour.... I see that Spain score a gol.... INCREIBLE!!!

YEE-HA!!!

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

Ole! Que Viva España!!!

[darkangel82]

It’s over. Good-bye Germany, or should that be Auf Wiedersehen...

[Jakarta ex-pat]

It’s great to be wrong sometimes.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Final: Germany 0 Spain 1

It was a great game with lots of action.

Congratulations Spain!

[Berlin_Freeper]

Goodbye for now (you know they will be back).

[J Aguilar]

Thanks, Germany!

Aragonés and his men had something to demonstrate, against all odds: not just the rivals but also the high rank officers of the Spanish soccer federation and the national media.

They have won Spanish style.

[JimSEA]

Condolences, but it was a great final.

[MinorityRepublican]

Whatever happened to FReeper Soccer_Maniac who used to ping me to all World Cup threads? Anyone remember that guy?

[MinorityRepublican]

Bump!

[corkoman]

Wow - Deutschland came out strong and were out running spain. But thats not enough. Spain had more skill. Ball handling. Better situational awareness.

That goal was made out of 100% guts. You gotta want it and Spain wanted it more. Viva Espana.

[dfwgator]

The right team won, Spain owned Germany, should have been at least 3-0.

[dfwgator]

I plan on going to the 2012 Euro in Poland (assuming they can get their act together and start building the stadiums).

Can’t wait for the World Cup.

[darkangel82]

I watched all of the last World Cup and participated in the threads on here despite the grief we got for it.

[lajollasurfer]

Great job Spain, you deserved the win. Germany never got any thing going.

[NYC Republican]

As expected... All of that running up and down for a single point... zzzzz... always earns the nod for the most boring major sport... EVER

[Clemenza]

Whats the best thing about being a soccer fan?

You don't have to go through the trouble of explaining to your family that you are gay. ;-)

[Berlin_Freeper]

It could have been 3-0 if we had no goalie. Lehmann did a fantastic job and was the best German last night. Thus the score remains 1-0. ;)

[Berlin_Freeper]

The score is never 1-0 in baseball, which could take way longer than 90 minutes of play.... okaaaaay.

There are better ways to attack soccer than your boring attempt.

[Berlin_Freeper]

>Great job Spain, you deserved the win. Germany never got any thing going.

The 1 point win was no cake walk for Spain that's for sure.

Germany was third in the last World Cup and second in this Euro Championship... sounds to me like Germany got plenty going.

[Berlin_Freeper]

See pics at top of thread.

[Berlin_Freeper]

>Wow - Deutschland came out strong and were out running spain. But thats not enough. Spain had more skill. Ball handling. Better situational awareness.

>That goal was made out of 100% guts. You gotta want it and Spain wanted it more. Viva Espana.

Good summation. Although the Germans definitely wanted it their major problem was not getting it done up front and getting caught with their back too open. Thus the argument can be made that Germany wanted it too much.

[dfwgator]

So is this pretty much the German team we’ll see in 2010 (assuming they qualify, which is probably about as safe of a bet as there is)? Obviously Lehmann won’t be there, but it looks like there is still a good young core there. I don’t think we’ll see Lahm in 2010 (it’s great he scored against Turkey, but he’s there to stop goals, and his mistakes cost Germany 2 goals in the semis and finals)

[NYC Republican]

1-0 is fairly rare... It’s by no means common. Soccer is boring as SHIITE... Ugh. Deal with it... It’ll NEVER catch on in the U.S. thankfully

[Berlin_Freeper]

I will try to deal with that while you deal with this: Not one but TWO (note use of caps you find essential) baseball games ended 1-0 yesterday. Reasonable and informed people would call that COMMON. BTW, you got to be really bored no matter what is going on to come into a thread about a SPORT (more caps for you) and be a total CRUD (had enough now?).

[wolf78]

1-0 is fairly rare... It’s by no means common. Soccer is boring as SHIITE... Ugh. Deal with it... It’ll NEVER catch on in the U.S. thankfully

It' knowledge of and all the history and intrigues surrounding the sport that makes it interesting. Europeans shake their heads in disbelief when they see NASCAR, because, my, racing in an oval is just so boring...

If you played American football in highschool, you're more or less hooked. Most European schools play soccer football. You go with what you know. Germany - Italy in 2006 had it's first goal in the 118th minute of the game, but the strategic finesse and sheer athleticism made it an interesting match to watch. Same goes for football, baseball, basically any sport.

[PoliticsAndSausages]

I’d also guess it’s a matter of understanding. I prefer the dynamic tactics of football to the static, pause-ridden play of american football. Goals are nice because they mostly force a tactics change. In the most popular US sports, the score does not influence the tactics so directly (or at least I don’t see it because I don’t watch ‘em enough).

I like football because it is a very balanced mix of individual and team action, a very dynamic game without many breaks, and tactics/strategy play a fair role in it.

[dfwgator]

Nice to see the German team got a very nice reception in Berlin, the fans there didn’t seem to take the loss too hard.

[L.A.Justice]

Speaking of Lehmann...He spent most of time on the bench for Arsenal last season. He signed with some team back in Bundesliga...

[lajollasurfer]

I was referring to this match, it did not appear they ever had much going. I certainly agree with you Germany has a powerhouse program.