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Originally Posted by Laugh-O-Matic
I wish I had caught that match, my friends told me it was a beauty.
Italy, France and Germany, who were excellent at the WC 06 are awful now.  |
To be honest, although France were not great against Romania, they didnt play badly against Netherlands.
They had a 50/50 penalty shout and Henry missed a sitter - a couple of 50/50's gone the other way and the game would have had a different result... was a great game though.
France's problem is at the back... Thurame looked old and Gallas looked out of position, Makele's powers are failing... and they have lost their leader and havent quite replaced him yet.
Italy are also missing most of their first choice back 4... and lets not forget that Romania are a very tidy and good footballing team, they arent mugs.
Its a classic group of death, and really there's no shame in any team in that group losing to any other. Romania are in the top 20 teams in the world, and its really not exactly a shock to see them get a result against anyone.
The same with Croatia. People were making out that the Croats beating Germany was a huge shock... Croatia are a very good team, full of team spirit and every player confident on the ball, lead by a fantastic manager... Germany were favourites, but losing to Croatia is not exactly a shock result for any team in the world.
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Saying, that I have been impressed with Netherlands.
The number 2 impresses me, he's a bit of a big lummux, but he gets stuck in and shows courage and heart; world class kepper, Nistelrooy has lead the line brilliantly, van der Baart looks a good player, and the big guy who plays defensive midfield looks very effective. van Bronkhurst might not be the most solid defender in the world, but he is undoubted world class, and from what I have seen Schnejder looks like a wonderful player. Not just his goals, but the quick and neat passes he plays countless times, wonderful first touch, wonderful confidence on the ball... very good player, dont know how come Ive never seen him play before!
Other than defensive mistakes (and 3 of the Dutch goals were the result of poor French defending), they key was the way the Dutch controlled the pace of the game. They all pass the ball well. And finally it looks like they have a side that is united and playing together.