26th June: Spain v Russia

[kompressaur]

Russia (4) Draw (3.5) Spain (2.11)

Spain best priced with Pinnacle and russia with Skybet

[Martens]

Russia for me

i go with the only fresh team of the tournament

this tournament should change name, something like : "the tourney of the tired men"

tired men after long season, empty batteries all of them, out of energy indeed

only team fresh and apsolutely full of energy is russia, in the middle of their championship, hungry to prove their selves.....dont you see torres guys???

he even cant move his legs, same with cristiano ronaldo and many many others

the guys should be in vacations this time of the season, NOT playing jesus...

they might will to contribute for their countries, but body DOESNT follow, doesnt react, the biological time was expexting vacations and REST this time of year...

Russia all the way to reach final

[Kiko]

No offence Martens but what a load of bloody rubbish you spout sometimes.

Tiredness?

I seen Torres - he was having a bad game, simple as that.

What about your Russians representing Zenit who went all the way to the finals?

This is professional footballers at one of the biggest International tournaments about. We aren't speaking about amateurs who do little training and then complain of tiredness. These are pure athletes who train everyday on fitness etc to be able to compete at their best in these games.

A place in the final awaits the winners...I really can't see tiredness playing a factor here. Even if they were the adrenaline should be enough to see them through.

I don't see why Russia have got all this momentum all of a sudden. Yes they are a good side and the result was impressive against the Dutch but this is the same Russian side that was thumped 4-1 earlier to Spain and the same Russian side who played pretty poorly in the qualifiers i thought.

Even Israel beat them.

A couple of decent results, infact one decent result against the Dutch, the rest were expected and now they are the flavour of the month.

I am going to go with the quality here and thats Spain who player for player are a far better outfit than the Russians.

They have played reasonably well. A lot has been said about their struggle to break down the Italians but come on, Italy who are known for being one of the best defensive sides around and they are playing even more defensive with 9 men behind the ball for the best part of the game.

Most sides would struggle against that.

Against a Russian side who will go for it, and fair play to them, i can see the Spanish side countering them very well (as shown in the first game) and getting a few goals here and progressing.

Spains odds are good IMO.

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by GaNgStA kEeKs

this is the same Russian side that was thumped 4-1 earlier to Spain

Not quite, they were missing Arshavin for that game, and look at the impact he's had since returning from suspension. I know one player doesn't make a team, but he makes a hell of a difference to the Russian side.

[Kiko]

Originally Posted by rcgills

Not quite, they were missing Arshavin for that game, and look at the impact he's had since returning from suspension. I know one player doesn't make a team, but he makes a hell of a difference to the Russian side.

I don't see how much difference he would have made. The Russians are woeful in terms of finishing missing chance after chance, whether he would have made a difference is irrelevant really.

They came up against an ageing Swedish side who are past their best years, the same could be said for Greece to infact. You have to win the games and fair play to them but they had some weak opposition.

Holland played very poorly,whether it was due to Russia playing so well or Holland being so bad i don't know but it seems many people are playing off this game alone.

Spain all the way for me, undefeated throughout so far and already won aghainst Russia 4-1. I like the depth of their squad Spain has also with more impact players off the bench than Russia.

Good luck and may the best team win

[keemanan]

The only thing I do see with any confidence is goals, kiko is correct (see how I have the decency to read the posts on thethread before replying ) Spain have the greater quality , Arshavin and maybe the left winger Zhirkov ( there's always a jerkoff or wankoff aint there) excepted .
If I was pushed for a winner I would look at one massive factor , the boy Fabregas, now the old racist turd Aragones certainly has them fired up but he also seems to have his favourites, obviously at his age he cant be hopping on to easyjet to the emerates every week so maybe that's why he's left out.
Iniesta and xavi have underperformed and they relied upon an excellent defensive display and tireless forward running to outlast the Italians. With Cesc pulling the strings they will surely cut through the russian rearguard far more often and we all know they have the forwards to win this.

Russia have benefited from their domestic league just starting or at least midway through so martens does have a point kiko and maybe not tiredness , although the extra time wont have helped, but the freshness of Russia will be a big factor.

I would maybe fancy the overs more than any result, it's just too close to call

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by GaNgStA kEeKs

They came up against an ageing Swedish side who are past their best years, the same could be said for Greece to infact. You have to win the games and fair play to them but they had some weak opposition.

They had some weak opposition, yes - exactly the same opposition as Spain had, in fact, which allows some reasonable comparisons to be made. Leaving aside the Greece game, seeing as Spain had their reserves out, that leaves the Sweden game, and Russia beat them comfortably, while Spain were pretty poor and IMO were pretty lucky to get that late winner (although Sweden got what they deserved for their negative tactics in that game).

[Kiko]

Originally Posted by keemanan

The only thing I do see with any confidence is goals, kiko is correct (see how I have the decency to read the posts on thethread before replying ) Spain have the greater quality , Arshavin and maybe the left winger Zhirkov ( there's always a jerkoff or wankoff aint there) excepted .
If I was pushed for a winner I would look at one massive factor , the boy Fabregas, now the old racist turd Aragones certainly has them fired up but he also seems to have his favourites, obviously at his age he cant be hopping on to easyjet to the emerates every week so maybe that's why he's left out.
Iniesta and xavi have underperformed and they relied upon an excellent defensive display and tireless forward running to outlast the Italians. With Cesc pulling the strings they will surely cut through the russian rearguard far more often and we all know they have the forwards to win this.

Russia have benefited from their domestic league just starting or at least midway through so martens does have a point kiko and maybe not tiredness , although the extra time wont have helped, but the freshness of Russia will be a big factor.

I would maybe fancy the overs more than any result, it's just too close to call

Your never going to let me live this down now are you

Anyways my thoughts are Russias only 2 top players are Arshavin and Zhirkov (Always mad russian with silly name isn't there.

Aragones needs to drop the underperforming Xavi and Iniesta and take in Fabregas but that RACIST Aragones has his favourites.

The Russian league has not long started and they may be a bit more sharper but tiredness shouldnt be a factor.

Its too close to call but i do think overs is a decent punt

[Martens]

i wonder guys,

is it first time to hear about this theory of empty battery?

well, i am ot the first to found it

i dont know if it is correct, because i never asked any player how he feels when playing during june, after so long and excusted season

soccer changed fundamentally in last 10 years, we cant go in past and compare what they were doing

greece won the tournament in 2004, because ALL of their players were fresh-being reserves in their teams-

and i beleive russia will do the same

thats my betting logic for this match, i am on russia to qualify, and wait to see

no problem if i lose, just i invest some money to that theory, which looks realistic in my eyes, according to what star players of all teams showed here

see you :chicken

[bromsgrovegreen]

russia 3-1 at skybet are the value for me,
whether holland were extremely poor or russia that brilliant we will discover on thursday,should be a cracker hopefully, at least we wont have to suffer the italians killing the beautiful game

[Martens]

hello again,

i agree of course with you dear cat, i know very well what an athlete is being, what the daily programm, the diatrophy, and the military discipline

i agree, so? the question is, does any of that exceptionally expensive and detailed programs, predict any EXPANCION?????

PREDICT any expancion of one month full action commitments??

i doupt, unless doping drugs provided, something i reject, and something is prochibited

lets see anyway, you make me to feel sad lets say, but i dont agree with your arguments, calling my post as " load of rubbish

[ONEDUNME]

Theres an old French saying from the ancient region of Gaul (locally known as a "Gael cliche") which says that it's all about opinions and most of the above makes sense to me. However, I've looked into my crystal ball (£9.99 from most good department stores and Argos) and this is what is actually going to happen.

I agree with the open game bit in general. I see plenty of chances in the game BUT I see Spain playing the part of the boring bastards (taking over from the predictable boring football-killing Italians) for the first half of the match and a distinct possibility of the teams being level at half time. The Spanish WILL score in the second half but even that may be on the counter attack.

I see Fabregas being the man of the match and with the Spanish progressing to the final and there being no decent outfield contender yet for the player of the tournement yet (Ballack my fuckin arse) the final will decide whether he or David Villa lift that award. This despite the fact that Cassillas has been the outstanding player so far but UEFA (with the yet to be publicised agreement between Sep Blatter and Michel Plattini outlawing the use of goalkeepers from 2010 in mind) will opt for the outfield player.


In addition, no Brit will make it to the final of Wimbledon yet again - a trend which has continued (with the exception of 1977 when some bloke with a face like a horse donned a skirt and entered the women's competition for a laugh) since a poor polo shirt manufacturer from the backstreets of Birmingham picked up a racket and won the competition in 1726.

There will be snow on high ground and diesel will fall to a price of £1.50 per gallon.

The drink will flow and blood will spill and if the boys want to fight you'd better let 'em.

Here endeth the first lesson.

[bromsgrovegreen]

Originally Posted by bromsgrovegreen

russia 3-1 at skybet are the value for me,
whether holland were extremely poor or russia that brilliant we will discover on thursday,should be a cracker hopefully, at least we wont have to suffer the italians killing the beautiful game

a little bit worried about the russian keeper who doesnt inspire me with confidence,especially with crosses as he looks a flapper!

[traeth]

Originally Posted by ONEDUNME

Theres an old French saying from the ancient region of Gaul (locally known as a "Gael cliche") which says that it's all about opinions and most of the above makes sense to me. However, I've looked into my crystal ball (£9.99 from most good department stores and Argos) and this is what is actually going to happen.

I agree with the open game bit in general. I see plenty of chances in the game BUT I see Spain playing the part of the boring bastards (taking over from the predictable boring football-killing Italians) for the first half of the match and a distinct possibility of the teams being level at half time. The Spanish WILL score in the second half but even that may be on the counter attack.

I see Fabregas being the man of the match and with the Spanish progressing to the final and there being no decent outfield contender yet for the player of the tournement yet (Ballack my fuckin arse) the final will decide whether he or David Villa lift that award. This despite the fact that Cassillas has been the outstanding player so far but UEFA (with the yet to be publicised agreement between Sep Blatter and Michel Plattini outlawing the use of goalkeepers from 2010 in mind) will opt for the outfield player.


In addition, no Brit will make it to the final of Wimbledon yet again - a trend which has continued (with the exception of 1977 when some bloke with a face like a horse donned a skirt and entered the women's competition for a laugh) since a poor polo shirt manufacturer from the backstreets of Birmingham picked up a racket and won the competition in 1726.

There will be snow on high ground and diesel will fall to a price of £1.50 per gallon.

The drink will flow and blood will spill and if the boys want to fight you'd better let 'em.

Here endeth the first lesson.

Didn't that crystal ball come from Ratner's , can't see Spain playing a boring game , but most of the other predictions look a distinct possibility, with many here on Villa for top scorer , not so sure about the tennis bit , could be that rain is making your ball cloudy , snow at £1.50 and looking forward to the second lesson .

Spain here I come

[Cinny]

Originally Posted by ONEDUNME

I see Fabregas being the man of the match and with the Spanish progressing to the final and there being no decent outfield contender yet for the player of the tournement yet (Ballack my fuckin arse) the final will decide whether he or David Villa lift that award. This despite the fact that Cassillas has been the outstanding player so far but UEFA (with the yet to be publicised agreement between Sep Blatter and Michel Plattini outlawing the use of goalkeepers from 2010 in mind) will opt for the outfield player.

Fabregas player of the tournament and he cant even command a first team place in the spanish first eleven??