EURO 2012

but I'm pleased they won it like this

Zzz spain.

Eamon Dunphy - "notably, when the national anthem was played none of the Spanish players sang it"

zzz indiscriminate spain fans

loool shearer "these guys have had an unbelievable amount of sex- SUCCESS"

i feel really bad after that. as bad as i can feel after an international game, because italy is my team in the euros. there's a big gulf between the quality of the two, but italy went for them and so the game was open. this meant spain's usual "boring" play was translated into chances and goals, because italy didnt park the bus. so it feels like vindication for the "no striker" tactic, but of course it would've been a totally different game if di natale had scored one of his chances, and prandelli hadnt taken off marchisio, and italy hadn't been reduced to ten men. the last 10 minutes were likely to be an onslaught from spain in any case, as we saw in the first game between the two,but 2 nil down and down to ten men was just too much for them. bruuuuutal.

omg srsly #0?

xavi will probably be there in 2014

iniesta certainly

Did Italy really fly into Kiev at 3am last night? Someone's going to get absolutely castigated for that.

Iniesta will, not sure about Xavi - that might be the first big selection mistake. Bosque is ruthless so I reckon he'll let him go.

But hey replacements are there.

Golden Boot for three goals is pretty lame.

there were pics of them getting on or off a plane in daylight yesterday

it was "a show of solidarity between the Spanish and the Catalans". He wasn't joking

there are no replacements for xavi or iniesta

thiago alcantara in five years maybe

Know what you mean, but actually I can see those levels of passing and fluidity being maintained if Xavi left. They are a team+++

it was "a show of solidarity between the Spanish and the Catalans". He wasn't joking

― Number None

that is incredible.

xavi is amazing, there is nobody else who has ever been able to do what he does

iniesta is similarly amazing in having the skill and vision to rank with just about every #10 this side of maradona while playing in central midfield

spain have loads of great players but those two are above them

@Grahamdorrans17 Busquets has now won the Euro's x1,World Cup x1, La Liga x3,UCL x2, Coppa DR x2,UEFA SC x2,Club World Cup x2. At the age of 23. #Justretire

the whole point is Spain don't have to be boring. They could be a lot more exciting than they are. How hard is that to understand?

cos anti-football's alright as long as you do it with the ball ;)

23. Shit.

yes i agree but i think what Spain are able to achieve can be replicated with some of those great players. Its not going to fall off if at least one of them left.

They are quite far above anybody as a collective group, although we will see how that translates to South America and what Brazil & Argentina are like then. xxxp

love that graham dorrans is keeping count

graham dorrans won promotion to gods own epl tho

That Dunphy quote unbelievable!

Also kudos to Sky Sports News guy - "3 of the goalscorers are from the Premiership so England can take some comfort from that."

yeah i just don't think they can tho

barcelona look notably weaker without even one of x or i

in their absence spain will become more like any other great side, probably players like muniain martinez and canales playing an ever so slightly more vertical game

graham dorrans won promotion to gods own epl tho

― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Sunday, 1 July 2012 22:25 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

nakhers man even for you ur damn near foaming at the mouth when it comes to great brit clogging lately, whats up

did a white van man draw a cock n balls on your moleskine or something

dorrans isnt a clogger, hes pretty nifty

and yeah i was responding to sky news and their gloating at epl 3 serie a 0

after euros finishing i am bereft.

ya, i just wanna rewind my life 3 weeks and start it all again.

im realizing how im kicking english fitba a lot right now but it's just sitting blind drunk and vomitstrewn on a surrey golf course and it's just asking for a five iron's coup de grace to the temple

not gonna stop til phil jones and daniel sturridge are the only english players in the epl

yeah see i was already itching to get back into the epl swing of things even before tonight's festivities

i mean i do know in my heart of hearts it's deplorable in every way but i guess in a general sense i'm still loving da banta as it were

You guys. I feel like I've been demobbed, six weeks of respite isn't long enough.

Give it a week and I'll be agog at Terry with the rest of you.

<3 nakh

Not read thread yet, hope nobody's giving it the ”are they STILL boring now eh? Eh?” after that. Cos that's the first ambitious spanish performance i've seen this tournament.

They are incredible tho.

epl last year was great but maybe i'll follow the bundesliga next year

trouble is that everyone apart from the top six kinda bleeds into one, you don't get content like qpr or west ham

i keep watching those two through balls over and over and over they're just incalculable

^ same here

if you're talking about the first two goals, i mean

http://f.cl.ly/items/0w080W3A2e0d043w2K0Z/Screen%20Shot%202012-07-01%20at%2023.36.36.png

i missed the first half and watching it now, casillas' fingertips were men of the match contenders

each one of his fingertips from I to XI was different class

i just find it funny that fans of england, scotland etc can call anyone boring

― it looks like something rupert the bear would wear (Algerian Goalkeeper)

i believe that noted ilfer 'darraghmac' tackled this very subject with aplomb in the post-wc2012 depression thread on ilx- epl fans' addiction to drama has left them bereft of patience/tolerance for the style of possession and movement that is required for consistent success in international tournaments

the wc, you will have noted, took place in 2010

nakhers man even for you ur damn near foaming at the mouth when it comes to great brit clogging lately, whats up

did a white van man draw a cock n balls on your moleskine or something

was thinking this also, but didn't want to start some row by saying it. i assumed these feelings were just more prominent due to the brief fervour about england/roy.

exorcising the zeitgeist never as U&K as when the english feel optimistic about football imo, usually means that postpub kickings are due a rise and probable invasion of a developing nation is just around the corner

think we're at capacity at the mo for finding small strategically located countries to have "wars" in

tournament football turns me into the biggest anti-english cunt in the world purely due to the coverage that you get in britain. yet i'll still be dribbling, like nakh, all over whatever monikered epl thread - which will have more posts in it than all of ilf combined - in a few weeks time.