Alderman Barszcz wrote:


They still have the same front three. They don't look like tearing anyone apart at the moment.
As someone who didn't see the first half, I feel like asking whether, a deflected cross apart, have they actually created a chance? It's good up until the last twenty-five, then it slows right up and the players seem to run into each other...

Why did Ronaldo dummy the ball on a three man counter attack with no team mate within thirty yards of him?

The PA just warned the crowd about something, in English. I didn't hear what it was.

Beltrano Carpinteiro wrote:


He just can`t help it, dumbest player on the field by a wide margin.

What were the off-pitch shenanigans with Boateng that were alluded to?

Germany coach Joachim Loew has said defender Jerome Boateng 'owes' the team as the Bayern Munich star battles to make the starting line-up to face Portugal in their opening Euro 2012 match on Saturday.

Boateng hit the headlines in Germany at the start of the week after he was photographed in a late-night tryst with glamour model Gina-Lisa Lohfink, 25, in a Berlin hotel shortly before the German team met to fly to Poland on Monday.
Germany face Portugal in Lviv, Ukraine, and Boateng is vying with Leverkusen's Lars Bender for the right-back berth so the 23-year-old must prove himself having left Loew fuming.

"Jerome Boateng is fully focused because after causing these headlines he is a little bit in my debt to me, because frankly I didn't like what I read," Loew said at Thursday's press conference.

"I spoke to him about this and while he was doing all this during his time off, I didn't like what he did.

"He is ready to give 100 percent to prove his critics wrong and he has to prove himself over the next few weeks.

"On the right, the first option would be Jerome Boateng, but I have seen in training that Lars Bender could do well in that position and I'll wait until tomorrow (Friday) to make a decision."

Germany are bidding to win a fourth European title and Loew has brought in some rules for his players during the tournament which culminates in the final in Kiev on July 1.

They have been told they may not post on Twitter or Facebook anything regarding tactics, team line-ups or anything from within the squad, while they will be allowed visits from wives and families only after the games.
Alcohol is not banned, but any drinking must be in moderation.
Loew has said captain Philipp Lahm will start at left-back against Portugal, even though he plays the majority of his club football on the right for Bayern Munich.

linusz wrote:


I could see what he tried. Whilst there was no teammate that close, Lahm was right down the centre of the pitch, leaving Germany total absent of cover in their right-back zone. If he had bought the dummy, the ball would have ran into that channel, which a red shirt was running into (couldn't see who), and that player would have been clean through. I thought it was a rather clever attempt myself, but Lahm was just as good as he didn't buy the dummy and broke it up.

Why don't Portugal just play Ronaldo up front and have done with it. Their experiments with conventional strikers just don't work.

I thought Pepe was excellent tonight, Coentrao too. I thought Portugal were decent value for a draw myself.

My view was that Lahm was one of three German players who likely would have got to the ball after the dummy before one of Ronaldo's team mates.