The two 2006 World Cup finalists were fighting for Euro 2008 survival in this game, after both teams had lost to the Netherlands and drawn against Romania this game was anyone’s to win. Neither team went in favorite, so this game really was very open.
France started extremely badly, their midfield star Ribery getting a nasty injury which caused the French to make an early substitution. Not a good sign.
To make matters worse, Italy were playing tremendous attacking football, and Luca Toni was looking very threatening. There were several good opportunities for Italy, but it was only on the twenty fifth minute when Luca Toni was brought down from behind by Eric Abidal, and Italy had a penalty. Too add insult to injury for France, Abidal was also sent off. Pirlo kept his cool to convert for the Italians: an excellent penalty in to the top corner.
The Italians looked increasingly likely to score, and were appalled when the referee failed to stop play for an injured Italian player, and Pirlo received a yellow card for fouling to let the injured player receive treatment, and then the referee stopped the game for an injured French player!
In the second half the Italians still looked more likely to win, piling pressure on the French defense who started to look very tired, especially considering they were one man down. It was no real surprise when on the sixty second minute, a thirty yard free kick resulted in a cruel deflection off Thierry Henry which went passed his own goal keeper to make the French two goals down.
The Italians maybe should have got another goal or two, with Luca Toni looking very strong, but France held on to keep the score line low.
Overall a good game from Italy’s point of view, and they are through to the quarter finals, but the French will be upset at going out of the competition this early.
Final Score:
France 0 – 2 Italy
Watch both GOALS:
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June 18th, 2008
Barcelona is a troubled club now, so I expect we will be hearing many many news about many players moving from and to it. It is believed that a big number of players will most probably transfer from Barcelona this summer, after hearing that Ronaldinho and Zambrotta are moving to AC Milan and also that Thierry Henry will go back to the English Premier League, maybe going back to Arsenal, now it is the turn for some Eto’o rumors.
Ofcourse now we know that the AC Milan bid for Ronaldinho has failed, but when the news surfaced at first the thing seemed as a done deal.
Few hours after the big Barca failure in front of Real Madrid 4-1 we heard some news that Eto’o might transfer to Tottenham, then the news that maybe he will be exchanged with Adebayor, so he will go to Arsenal and Adebayor goes to Barcelona. I really really doubt that happening, but this latest news of him going to Inter Milan seems more believable.
The reports say that Inter Milan is preparing a 40 million Euros bid to capture him this summer, Inter Milan now is also trying to get Hleb, I guess that is a done deal, but Moratti now is also trying to get Ronaldinho. Moratti always likes to get big players, but will he be able to lure them to Inter Milan, he just failed getting Gerard after his 25 Million pounds bid was turned down by Liverpool.
Well, if Eto’o does come to Inter Milan that means Ibrahimovic will leave, so is it really worth it, can Ibra and Eto’o play side by side?? Well, actually yes why not, I can totally see them playing side by side, but it is too good to be true, Inter needs to be extra ready for the champions league next season, Ibrahimovic besides Eto’o makes a great attack. I know that some people will start shouting that maybe their style of play wont make them click upfront. Actually what does really matter now for Inter Milan is WHO IS THEIR MANAGER?? SHOULDNT THE MANAGER BE THE PERSON ASKING FOR PLAYERS? IS MANCINI IN OR OUT ?!!?!?!
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May 11th, 2008
They were ready, they were energized, they were organized and they won, they won BIG. Real Madrid could have easily won today with a way bigger margin, they should have scored something between 6 to 8 goals.
Barca players were like walking corpses, they were like ghosts, the only player that did something was Messi, although Thierry Henry scored the consolation goal he also was dead most of the time during the match.
Actually Thierry Henry was playing so weird, falling down everytime a player simply touches him. All the players of Barcelona where not normal. They were clueless during the full match, while Real Madrid players performed beautifully.
Some say that Barca did not play well because of the firing of Rijkaard, and some say it was because of Real Madrid winning the league. Whatever the reason is, Barca was weak and the players were eager to listen to the referees whistle that would end their misery.
Real Madrid players were so confident and delivered 4 great goals, the first as usual came from Raul on the 13th minute, then we saw a great header from Arjen Robben on the 21st minute. On the second half Gonzalo Higuaín scored on the 63rd minute and then on the 78th minute of the match Ruud Van Nistelrooy played the penalty and scored the 4th goal for Real Madrid.
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May 8th, 2008
It is sort of a stretch that ten players are set to leave Barca in the summer, but some reports lately are saying that Barcelona are going to go through major rebuilding of the club this summer. It is sort of clear now that Frank Rijkaard is leaving and Mourinho is taking over.
Barcelona is rumored to sell Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Deco, Lilian Thuram, Edmilson, Rafa Márquez, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gianluca Zambrotta, Santi Ezquerro and Sylvinho. Some Other rumors also state that Etoo might head to Tottenham.
It does seem a but too much, but I think Barcelona should do something as big as this to be able to compete next season. Although as a Real Madrid fan I wish they stay clueless the same way they are.
Now on the other hand, Barcelona’s shopping list is huge, they have around 40 names to choose from. They must be waiting for Mourinho to take over and choose.
The rumored names on Barca’s Shopping list are as follows:
Defense:
Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna) and Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander)
Midfield:
Seydou Keita and Christian Poulsen (Sevilla), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Attack:
Karim Benzema (Lyon) and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax)
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May 2nd, 2008
Arsene Wenger is getting a new DVD released soon where he talks about his favourite arsenal players in his time. Well the shocker is that he didnt include Cesc Fabregas.
What amuses me isnt that, its the kind of reaction from some fans who are angry or at least not happy because Wenger left Cesc out of his favourite ten players. If these people only waited to see what names where in the DVD they might have understood Why?
Here are the names:
DAVID SEAMAN
LAUREN
ASHLEY COLE
MARTIN KEOWN
KOLO TOURE
FREDDIE LJUNGBERG
PATRICK VIEIRA
RAY PARLOUR
ROBERT PIRES
THIERRY HENRY
DENNIS BERGKAMP
Can you disagree now ?!?!
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October 20th, 2007
