It's hard to remember that the first half was actually fairly even, though Spain had carried a little more threat. Both teams defended really well in the first half.

What was a surprise was how the Russians basically gave up after 50 minutes and the Spanish goal. They were utterly feeble after that, very much in their nature as someone mentioned, though at odds with the way they shrugged off the setback of conceding to the Dutch late on.

I think the criticism of Torres is highly unfair. He had a good game and always imposes himself on the play. He ran the Russian defence ragged and it meant that Guiza had the run of the game when he came on. Every striker's dream, running free against a tired opposition who have thrown in the towel. Yet to be dazzled by him actually.

Agreed on Senna who was excellent. It just shows what a modest player Engelaar was in the same position for the Dutch. I'd still make Ramos my man of the match though, he was great for the 90 minutes.

If anyone's gonna pick at a post about 1980s tournaments it'd be you, HoH, but I was thinking more of that Spain team in general - how they were set out and how they played across that tournament. Robbed against Brazil and very unlucky against Belgium for example.

If they were unlucky in 1986, and I wouldn't be convinced that they were, they fully deserved it for the shite that they got away with in France two years earlier. They were by some distance the dirtiest, luckiest and least likeable team at those finals.

I think that ramos' performance in this game is more of a reflection of how shite russia were. Time after time he overlapped the right sided spanish midfielder before cutting back onto his week foot and crossing the ball into the keepers hands or shanking a shot well wide. I mean fair dues to him he didn't get sent off, or make any horrendous mistakes (other than falling on the ball and handling in the penalty area five minutes after the first goal) but I mean he's still a witless bag of shite, and a liability for every team he plays in.

One note of caution about the Russian team and how the players have played so well. The russian season is actually only eleven games old, Zenit have only played 6 league games this calendar year. By contrast ronaldo and fabregas have played 60 and 57 games since their last break. No wonder Arshavin was playing like a breath of fresh air, he is the most rested footballer in europe. If he can look so tired after two games, perhaps he isn't as great as everyone says he is, and possibly there is a reason we didn't hear of him until he was 27

The game itself was fairly decent in the first half with some reasonable passing, I was surprised to see after about half an hour that Russia had 57% of the posession.

It was unfortunate for Spain that it was Villa rather than torres that was injured as Villa can play with the sort or tippy tappy midfielders in the spanish midfield whereas torres really needs to be given the ball a lot earlier. As a result torres has played in this tournament like he used to play for Atletico Madrid, i.e. flattering to deceive and shite. Watching him throwing himself at the ground and trying to knee the ball into the net, I just wondered what on earth he thought he was doing.

Still though, the three finishes were really good and I'm really glad I didn't have to run around out there and run the risk of being struck by lightning.

If you think Ramos is a rubbish player then you know less than nothing.

AIATL just doesn't understand Ramos culture.

Sergio Ramos is rubbish Remember that he is supposed to be a defender

Basically not only is he the most overrated defender in the world, he's basically just the spanish version of a cross between paul mc Shane and Kevin Kilbane.

just remember this is the cabbage that has managed to be sent off eight times in three seasons in a league where a real madrid player has to grope the ref's mammy to get sent off.

Youtube is full of really strange shit about sergio ramos. here's a weird one mashing him up with super sexy nando. Imagine the tribute videos otf's liverpool fans would make if he signed for them. two players who look like brandon teena, I don't know if hobbes or toro could take it.

Is there any topic into which you won't shoehorn a witless little piece of borderline homophobia like that?

i didn't know kevin kilbane was gay

Wasn't there a thread on here a while back, started by a Liverpool fan, about how sexy Torres was, and how good he would look in a long red dress?

He is and would, but that's neither here nor there. Ahem.

Every liverpool fan I know keeps going on about how beautiful fernando torres is and how he's just a better person than every other football, like he was gary barlow or ronan Keating or some other schoolgirl crush fixation. I've heard that he has "great hair," and "fantastic cheekbones," those "delicate eyes" and "such supple slender hips". It's very very weird. Personally I think he just captures the essence of Brandon Teena, a bit like sergio Ramos.

Looking at Youtube I think Real madrid fans have a similar relationship with Sergio Ramos, as nearly half of all videos about him are "so who would you prefer, ramos, torres or fabregas and won't it be great when they all sign for real madrid swoon!!!!!!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

I shudder to think how real madrid fans will respond if they manage to sign cristiano ronaldo.

Anyway, sergio Ramos is Shit and having really great hair that any girl would kill for isn't going to make up for that.

Torres looks like prince Harry with a mullet.

prince harry with a mullet would look like a cross between his mum and ronan o'gara.

There you go then

I think Prince Harry would be delighted to be able to sport a mullet given the way that his fringe has started to streak backwards across his head.

Prince Harry looks nothing like Fernando Torres. He's nowhere near pretty enough to unlock the heart of every liverpool fan.