Euro: QF: Germany vs. Italy, 7/2/2016

[Jeffrey]

4 of the 5 penalty bottlers play in the EPL...

I count 7 bottlers.

1. Zaza
2. Pelle
3. Ozil
4. Schweinsteiger
5. Mueller
6. Darmian
7. Bonnuci

So 4 out of 7.

 

[Power Man]

I count 7 bottlers.

1. Zaza
2. Pelle
3. Ozil
4. Schweinsteiger
5. Mueller
6. Darmian
7. Bonnuci

So 4 out of 7.

I didn't sleep much last night tbh

 

[Machinehead]

Just dawned on me that 11 World Championships have been won out of Europe and 8 of them were on the field today. Class.

 

[Power Man]

Simone Zaza announces his retirement from the NT

 

[Hadoop]

The back four of Germany won them the shoot-out. Hector was lucky his PK went in but the other 3 were brilliant.

 

[Machinehead]

The back four of Germany won them the shoot-out. Hector was lucky his PK went in but the other 3 were brilliant.

Yeah, it was nice of Boateng to do something today that didn't give me a disease.

 

[Vipers31]

Obviously a bit late to the party that wasn't as much of a party but more of an extended sigh of relief, but thank god we ended up winning. I mean, everyone calling it the worst penalty shootout ever din't witness last year's Copa America (?) or the German cup semis last season (purely on Bayern's side, to be fair). I don't know how you can go from unstoppable on PKs to being this safe to miss like Müller (who now has missed 5 of his last 10 if I'm counting correctly, which should be bloody near some kind of record). Thank god Zaza got in and Pelle felt like taunting the best goaltender in the game before taking one of the worst attempts in professional football ever. But kudos to the rest of the Italian squad and their coach. This felt much bigger than a quarter final.

 

[darko]

Cop that Italy.

 

[cgf]

Yeah, it was nice of Boateng to do something today that didn't give me a disease.

:/ Jerome's been our best player at these euros.

 

[Vipers31]

:/ Jerome's been our best player at these euros.

My buddies and me were literally talking about how long it had been since he did something stupid seconds before the handball.

But seriously, I wouldn't trade him for any center back in the world; he is unbelievably good. The pairing with him and Hummels is outstanding.

 

[Deficient Mode]

My buddies and me were literally talking about how long it had been since he did something stupid seconds before the handball.

But seriously, I wouldn't trade him for any center back in the world; he is unbelievably good. The pairing with him and Hummels is outstanding.

Look who suddenly decided to like Hummels. I wonder why.

Boateng is amazing despite his wacky arm position for the penalty. He or Kroos for Germany's best player so far.

 

[Machinehead]

:/ Jerome's been our best player at these euros.

Wholeheartedly agreed, but not today

 

[Vipers31]

Look who suddenly decided to like Hummels. I wonder why.

I wouldn't possibly know what you're talking about.

Honestly, though, I thought I was relatively genuine about being a total opportunist in regards to Hummels before, at least most of the time. His outspokenness was easy to hate as a Bayern fan. Him playing next to Boateng has a good chance to be easy to admire, thankfully, so I may gracefully accept that as a sort-of apology.

 

[Machinehead]

What was it, three times Germany miss their penalty and they're out of the tournament?

I've seen some **** in my career as a sports fan but nothing like that.

 

[les Habs]

Germany may be favorites to win the whole thing, but a pretty unimpressive run it's been from them so far. Very fortuitous to get the win today. Ozil's goal only happens because of an unlucky deflection for Bonucci. Then during the penalty shootout Italy had the upper hand only to give it away. Italy didn't have the same energy or drive as they did against Spain either. A few other things:

-Ref was awful.

-Despite the lucky deflection on Germany's goal, what a play by Gomez. Holds up the ball and then makes that pass. He's been such a boost for Germany this tournament.

-I assumed Draxler was injured when I saw he wasn't starting. Not sure what Low was thinking there. He didn't as much an impact in this one, but he buried his penalty.

-Pelle with some horrible touches. A couple of nice plays, but nowhere near his performance against Spain. Then he motions to Neuer before his penalty about Neuer diving and he takes one of the worst penalty kicks I've ever seen. FFS just focus on the task at hand and if you're going to pull that you'd better make sure you at minimum put it on target.

-Despite Neuer actually making saves, I thought Buffon was better during the shootout. Buffon guess right nearly every time (actually every time if I recall correctly) and came close to a couple of saves. Neuer didn't guess right nearly as much and the saves he made weren't well taken shots.

-Schweinsteiger was awful and his shot during the shootout summed up his performance.

-Some of the embellishing from Germany goes relatively unnoticed here. Were that any "Latin" country it'd be a *****fest.

-I'll leave it with Muller. He's been quite average this tournament from what I've seen. What's amazing though was the display in this match. Just dreadful performance. On top of that though he's embellishing, trash talking and trying to get calls that aren't there. If that were a certain other player (actually a couple of players come to mind) it'd be a ********* of criticism. Again, like I said with Pelle, focus on playing. Then that poor penalty from him yet afterwards he's celebrating like he carried the team on his back or something. The guy would probably double Bendtner's self-perceived competence score.

 

[cgf]

Buffon didn't guess correctly on a number of the initial kicks; including Ozil's post shot.

Schweini was trash

For as much as Mueller dominates WMs, he is equally crap at Euros.

And it's tough to say Germany have been unimpressive when we've been the most impressive team still standing.

 

[Machinehead]

Unimpressive is becoming this team's thing. I've seen them look amazing like, once the last three years, and that was one night in Belo Horizonte.

Rest of the World Cup - Solid but not overwhelming. Extra time with Algeria. Skin of our teeth against Argentina. Outplayed by France tbh.

Euro Qualifying - Meh

Euro 2016 - 20 minute period against Ukraine where we got straight dominated, snoozefest against Poland, did the business against Northern Ireland and Slovakia albeit not great competition, and then this mess.

But they win.

 

[les Habs]

Buffon didn't guess correctly on a number of the initial kicks; including Ozil's post shot.

Schweini was trash

For as much as Mueller dominates WMs, he is equally crap at Euros.

And it's tough to say Germany have been unimpressive when we've been the most impressive team still standing.

He guessed correctly on a good number of them and more than Neuer.

Being the most impressive team this tournament much less still standing isn't saying much. To be honest I have to catch up on one more match, but that's Slovakia and generally they've not been impressive.

 

[Eisen]

Yeah, it was nice of Boateng to do something today that didn't give me a disease.

Boateng played really good yesterday apart from the penalty.

 

[Theokritos]

Yeah, it was nice of Boateng to do something today that didn't give me a disease.

Huh? Outside of that disastrous brainfart that led to the 1-1 for Italy he played very well, didn't he?

EDIT: I didn't read the earlier replies before posting.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Boateng played really good yesterday apart from the penalty.

Bingo. In his early years as a pro I've never been a fan of his game, because I thought he was very, very slow (including his decision making).
Today I rate him as one of the most important players on the team. This player is the leader of the NT (along with a few others).

 

[Bon Esprit]

LOL at many so called "experts" back in Germany who criticize Löw's change of tactics. Italy didn't much in the offensive department.
Lucky win, of course. Great Italian team.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I still don't think that's a penalty by the actual rule rather than by the now common interpretation that refs and the media essentially created together. The rule stating that intention must be found, that interpretation essentially suggesting that if your hands aren't tied behind your back it's a penalty.

There is absolutely no way Boateng intentionally handled that ball or even intended to use his hands as a shield or whatever. What he did was, knowing he's playing against an Italian who will use any trick in the book to get his way, lift his arms to show he is not holding the Italian in any way. That's a common move made by defenders to signal to a ref that you aren't touching the opponent.

It wasn't a wise choice of course but it also wasn't intentional handball and therefore no penalty.

 

[Bon Esprit]

I still don't think that's a penalty by the actual rule rather than by the now common interpretation that refs and the media essentially created together. The rule stating that intention must be found, that interpretation essentially suggesting that if your hands aren't tied behind your back it's a penalty.

There is absolutely no way Boateng intentionally handled that ball or even intended to use his hands as a shield or whatever. What he did was, knowing he's playing against an Italian who will use any trick in the book to get his way, lift his arms to show he is not holding the Italian in any way. That's a common move made by defenders to signal to a ref that you aren't touching the opponent.

It wasn't a wise choice of course but it also wasn't intentional handball and therefore no penalty.

I have an idea what Boateng was doing. I guess he was lifting his hands to show the ref he wasn't poking the Italian attacker. Maybe the Italian has a history in forcing penalties that way.
Anyway the decision by the ref was correct and we had to deal with it. Tbh this is maybe the first and only time I'm saying Löw was right with his system. I was never anxious we would loose this.
There's still a lot work to do. Our offensive game wasn't creative at all.

 

[MarkStone]

Yeah, I noticed that. He called Neuer a diver

I've rarely ever seen a keeper that isn't a diver, it's a pretty common motion to make in order to attempt a save