Euro 2008 Disaster
By: Inara | June 20th, 2008I’ve totally been avoiding writing about this because part of me still believes that it’s only a nightmare…But man, out of the eleven OL players in Euro 2008, only one will be showing his face in the quarterfinals.
I have nine other identical pictures just like this.
To recap:
SWEDEN: Final standing: 3rd, 3 points
Greece 0 – 2 Sweden
Sweden 1 – 2 Spain
Russia 2 – 0 Sweden
Kim Kallstrom: Inexplicably benched for Daniel Andersson of Malmo, Kallstrom played for 45 minutes…total. He came on towards the very end against Spain and early in the second half against Russia. Maybe that’s why Sweden, who only needed a draw against Russia to progress to the quarterfinals, lost in humiliating fashion and will be watching the rest of the tournament on television.
SWITZERLAND: Final standing: 4th, 3 points
Switzerland 0 – 1 Czech Republic
Switzerland 1 – 2 Turkey
Switzerland 2 – 0 Portugal
Patrick Muller: Muller played every single minute in all of Switzerland’s group stage matches. For the most part, he and the rest of his team performed above and beyond expectations as Switzerland were REALLY unlucky not to progress since they played better than most of their group. But several bad refereeing decisions and losing Alex Frei early in the tournament pretty much doomed them from the start.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Final standing: 3rd, 3 points
Switzerland 0 – 1 Czech Republic
Czech Republic 1 – 3 Portugal
Turkey 3 – 2 Czech Republic
Milan Baros: He only played in one of Czech Republic’s matches, and that was against Portugal, where he played for the entire game. I happened to be watching that game, and I’ve come to the conclusion that he only plays well for his national team. Baros played with more enthusiasm and energy in that one match against Portugal than he has in an entire year at Lyon. That being said, Czech Republic would have been in the quarterfinals if they hadn’t handed over a two goal lead to Turkey, who scored three goals in the last 15 minutes.
ITALY: Final standing: 2nd, 4 points
Netherlands 3 – 0 Italy
Italy 1 – 1 Romania
France 0 – 2 Italy
Fabio Grosso: The only OL player who is actually having a good tournament. Once again, Grosso is proving that he plays better in Azzurri blue than in Lyon white (see: Milan Baros). Appearing in all three games, he came on as a second half sub in Italy’s disastrous encounter against the Netherlands but started the two other matches. He’s played well in all his appearances so far and will probably be in the starting XI in Italy’s quarterfinal match up against Spain. From what I hear, Grosso has possibly been the best Italian player so far – and to think that no one in Italy wanted to sign him from Inter last summer.
FRANCE: Final standing: 4th, 1 point
Romania 0 – 0 France
Netherlands 4 – 1 France
France 0 – 2 Italy
It’s fair to say that every single French player had at best a mediocre tournament. No one stood out, not even Franck Ribery, who was unfortunate to pick up an injury in the early minutes in the game against Italy. It’s also fair to say that France are solely responsible for ending last in their group – they scored only one goal and gained only one point. They created nothing in the game against Romania, several collective errors saw them ass-raped by the Dutch, and both Italian goals were scored because of retardedness by French players – Abidal gave away a penalty and Thierry Henry deflected the other goal into his own net.
Gregory Coupet: He had a tournament to forget. Well, that’s a bit harsh. He didn’t have anything to do against Romania, and against Italy, he played really well. If it hadn’t been for Coupet, Italy would have beaten France by four or five goals. Unfortunately, most of us will remember his match against the Netherlands, where he conceded four goals. Two of those goals, he probably couldn’t do anything about, but the other two…very disappointing. He is a world class goalkeeper and rarely if ever makes errors, so I don’t know what that was about. But it was as if he had reverted to his form right after he returned from injury, back in January.
Francois Clerc: Benched for the first two games, after Willy Sagnol’s poor performances, he started against Italy. Like all other players in that game, it’s hard to gauge exactly how he did since the entire team was in chaos after Eric Abidal’s explusion, but I thought he did fairly well. Offensively, he didn’t contribute much, but with only ten players on the pitch, I’m pretty sure Domenech told Clerc to stay back. But defensively, he was really solid, except for his foul on Antonio Cassano (which indirectly led to the second goal).
Jean-Alain Boumsong: He was never intended to be anything except a bench player, which is why he didn’t play at all in the first two matches, and why Abidal was preferred to him when Domenech decided to bench Lilian Thuram. However, once Abidal was sent off, Domenech called up Boumsong, who I thought was actually more reassuring than William Gallas.
Sebastien Squillaci: Didn’t play for a single minute in the entire tournament. Was probably shocked to see Boumsong selected ahead of him when Abidal’s spot needed cover.
Jeremy Toulalan: Since Patrick Vieira failed to regain fitness, Toulalan played in every minute of France’s group stage matches. He did his job to perfection, which was keeping things tight in the midfield. Combative, he and Makelele were the reason that the other teams had to utilize the flanks to get past those two. However, Toulalan drew a lot of criticism for his lack of offensive activity – even his long passes were so-so.
Sidney Govou: He didn’t play against Romania, but started against Netherlands and Italy. And like always, his performances were all across the board. Against the Dutch, Govou was a significant attacking threat and looked closet to scoring, but like always, squandered those chances. Against Italy, he was not a threat and was substituted out early in the second half.
Karim Benzema: This wasn’t the tournament Benzema was hoping for – or expecting. He was supposed to pull a Wayne Rooney circa 2004, but unfortunately, Benzema will have to wait until World Cup 2010 to assert his international dominance. Against Romania, Benzema was played totally out of position and was forced to act more like an attacking midfielder than a striker. He didn’t play at all against the Netherlands – supposedly Domenech was unhappy at his arrogance and Makelele took Benzema to task after that loss in the locker rooms. It’s an unsubstantiated rumor, but one I can believe. Benzema was put back into the starting lineup against Italy, and though he had some good moments and was probably the biggest attacking threat, with one man down, Benzema was once again forced on the left to help compensate defensively.
Category: 
Tags: Czech Republic, Czech Republic National Team, Euro 2008, Fabio Grosso, France, France National Team, Francois Clerc, Gregory Coupet, Internationals, Italy, Italy National Team, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Jeremy Toulalan, Karim Benzema, Kim Kallstrom, Milan Baros, Patrick Muller, Player News and Rumors, Sebastien Squillaci, Sidney Govou, Sweden, Sweden National Team, Switzerland, Switzerland National TeamSubscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
it’s hard to put too much blame on makelele and toulalan for their lack of offensive play. i mean really the root of the problem was domenech’s extremely stubborn and puzzling insistence on using two defensive mids. could not one of those spots been sacrificed for a central mid? Nasri perhaps? Or Bodmer (if he had been included in the squad?
i remember the game against holland, when out of frustration from his teammate’s lack of creativity up front, makelele took it upon himself to play the offensive mid role. Makelele! wheres your head domenech?
Posted from
United States
-
Hey Inara, do you mean Makelele confronted Benzema after the Romania game – surely he couldn’t have done after the Netherlands if Benzema didn’t play. Hope this doesn’t mean Benzema will underperform and be lazy next year. So much of his success came from his determination to show everyone what he can do. I think most of the blame should go to Domenech, as the fact he kept changing things meant that the players couldn’t really settle so the team never really was able to gel. There are so many good young French players that I’m looking forward to what the future may hold.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Rumors are going around that Coupet is on his way to Atletico Madrid. The deal is supposedly being worked on.
Japple: I agree: I wanted to see Toulalan’s position on the feild to be Nasri’s as an AMF like Zidane used to, or I don’t know if maybe Flamini could have played a more traditional CMF role like Viera. I’ve heard some say he can.Posted from
Costa Rica -
japple: I agree that Toulalan isn’t at fault for anything since he’s only doing exactly what Domenech told him to do. He is capable of playing in a more advanced midfield role – he did so at Nantes and even for the U21. We’ve also seen glimpses of it during certain NT games, albeit ones with less pressure where Toulalan had more license to roam. Unfortunately for Toulalan, his presence was deemed redundent by most of the media and the fans, who thought that two DMs on the pitch. So it’s not his fault but really Domenech’s, if that makes any sense.
Sam: Here is the link to the article.
Apparently, Makelele took Benzema to task right after the game in the locker rooms. Benzema was apparently unhappy with how the team performed on the pitch (who can blame him), and Makelele accused him of not having enough respect for his elders. On one hand, I see why Makelele was annoyed because he’s been with the team since forever while Benzema hasn’t, but on the other hand, I think this “respecting the older players” is getting a little out of hand. The older players seem to think that it’s their right to play, a state of mind that Domenech has encouraged, and that they are above criticism. Plus Benzema comes off as arrogant to most people – he was the kid who at 17 calmly announced during his promotion to the first team that he would be taking over the senior players soon.
John: Coupet looks to be signing a three year contract. Plus next year Atletico will be in the Champions League. He’s got himself a really good deal actually. No way he’d get three more years at Lyon. Plus Atletico is a pretty good team. They aren’t crap like the ones older French players tend to go to.Posted from
United States -
Svensson being played instead of Kallstrom is the biggest mistake Lagerback ever made (twice too, in 2006 as well). I felt that Toulalan did so well in Patrick’s position –it’s a pity the rest of the team didn’t play as great.
Posted from
United States -
honestly the team that Domenech had and he finished last with 1 goal is crazy. I know he’s not that bad but we don’t have time for that and no team does these days -give him the boot!Look at perrin and grant fired for doing well but not great. He knew that playing abidal as center back could go wrong and he would be blamed for it and would lose his job because of it and still gambled
Posted from
Canada -
Totally off topic, but for those of you who also keep track of the USMNT, Carlos Bocanegra was signed by Rennes. So we’ll be seeing a Yank in L1 next season.
Posted from
United States -
Ah, I know Bocanegra well as I’ve been a Fulham season ticket holder for a few years. He’s a hard working, solid but unspectacular player. Glad he’s moved to Rennes rather than a promoted club in England. Look forward to seeing how he gets along
Posted from
United Kingdom -
So, when Ribbery got injured, Domenech substituted him with Nasri, who 15 minutes later got substituted again…?(sorry for my english today if it sucks). I really hate the fact that Swedens coach (Lagerbäck) prefered to play Svensson, or even Andersson, instead of Källström.
Posted from
United States -
Grosso and Italy lost to Spain in the quarterfinals, so that’s it for OL in Euro 2008. That’s sad on one hand, but it’s good on the other because that means players will be a bit more rested before the start of the season.
Posted from
United States -
Oh, and some more L1 transfer news: Jose Antonio Reyes might be coming to Monaco on loan. It just makes me laugh – this guy turned down Lyon for Atletico because he wanted to be in Spain, and now that Atletico, who will be in the CL next season, don’t want him, the only place he can go is to a half Italian French club that is seriously destabilized. Atletico might also send Maniche there as well.
Posted from
United States
Comments are closed
Home 
