The Lions' Pride

Very poor game for the Dutch. Kudos to Denmark for not settling and continuing to play their game in the second half.

He is not the player he once was and predictable, ball hog. Tthought Percie played well, but Huntelar should have come on sooner IMO, goal was a fluke, thought Van Der Saal was in goal. Next up perhaps best match this week, Go Deutschland! I left Deutschland before i bought a jersey, ok only 20 franks.

I don't. They're overvalued individually and as a unit.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Huntelaar/RVP/Sneijder/Affelay next game. Also rather see Van der Vaart over De Jong to start the game.

Not sure you can do that. VdV isn't mobile enough to cover defensively, and you don't want to drop RVP that far. Their best offensive formation would be a 4141 w Robben, Sneijder, RVP, and Affelay in support of Huntelaar.

thought both teams played well, Germany had better chances until the goal, but Portugal has great chances after the goal as Germany went into protection mode. See it happens in fussball as well as at PSU. Portugal almost stole a point. Still like Klose better than Gomez. Kroos for Mueller late in game is a puzzling move, I like Schurelle better. Perhaps Kroos is a better defender.

Germans were not impressive. Gomez was Gomez. Not pretty..............But, he just scores goals. 3 points is 3 points.
Tough loss for Portugal.
Still a lot of action left in this group!!

In Big Intl Tourneys, Portugal needs to slot CR as a central forward. Scoring against prime competition has been an issue in 3 consecutive Tourneys. Portugal doesn't possess a Benzema or Higuain in the box. His great runs are wasted, and opponents can double his flank without an in box threat. He needs to have more of the ball in better scoring opportunities. Postiga or Almeida aren't going to get it done. They have quality in defense and MF if they had a lead finishing striker. Would've liked to see what difference Dannys creativity could've made as well.

TOTO!!! Italy playing pretty well right now. Had a feeling they'd get one. De Rossi has been fantastic playing out of position. Let's see if they can keep it up

Ed: jinxed it haha. Great game

Was just thinking the same thing.

Was really impressed by Italy. Thought they were going to struggle today

Agree. Maggio, Marchisio, Chiellini, and De Rossi were outstanding. Pirlo is always capable of the brilliant pass. Now, the combo of Cassano and Di Natale looked extremely dangerous up front. Italy looked quite confident and a serious threat today. They need to avoid a letdown in the next 2 matches. They have the potential to compete w anyone in a one off.

I thought Ireland got screwed today. 2nd goal was offside for Croatia and Ireland deserved a penalty