Euro 2008 Prediction : Holland v. Italy

The second match tonight, – and arguably the more interesting one, is Holland v. Italy.  For obvious reasons, a lot of people have these two teams as their strongest candidates of this year’s champions.

 

Let’s take a look at them one by one, shall we ?  Holland’s main strength is their open play, fast with short passing with tricky wingers a la Robben and van Persie.  I don’t think we should bring up the total football issue anymore for them.  There’s really very small possibility of actual total football nowadays.  The standard of play today is such that had one team choose to adopt total football as their style of play, they had better be damn uncannily good at it; for one small mistake will be readily converted to the opponent’s advantage.  With all due respect, I think 2008 Holland team is not that good.

 

However, they are really good in the offensive site.  I mean, who in their sane mind will love to play against a team with Nistelrooy, Robben, van Persie, van der Vaart, and Sneijder up front ?  Bad news is, their defense is a bit shaky.  We miss the days when Jaap Stam is a colossus in their backline.  Also, the latest news tell us that Robben and van Persie may miss tonight’s match due to injuries.

 

On the other side, Italy is a team with a totally different strength.  Their football philosophy has always been, – and still is, defense first, short bursts of attack later.  Plus a willingness to use any means necessary to win, a.k.a. mind games.  This style of play was proven effective when they won their last World Cup.

 

On normal conditions, this will mean that Italy will sit deep in their own half, and do a fast counter-attack for any failed attempt at goal by Holland.  God knows that any long or direct ball to their strikers will be relished by the Monster Up-There : Luca Toni.  But my question is : will they be able to hold on as strongly as their proverbial catenaccio when their most influential defense general, Fabio Cannavaro, is absent ?  Their life maybe easier with the absences of Holland’s best wingers, but I guarantee that Holland still have a bag of tricks ready.

 

Key figure, I reckon, is Materazzi.  A master of intimidating defense play, this man may single-handedly destroy any opponent’s attempt to play, let alone to attack.  If let loose, he is like a ghost who haunts your mind everytime you ponder where to pass the ball. That’s his best strength.  He may be a bit weaker in actual defending than Cannavaro; but no opponent will be calm when he’s around.

 

Then again, this is a first match.  I seriously doubt if Materazzi will play with his usual uncompromising style.  Italy wouldn’t want him to pick up cards, they will tend to save it for later, more important games.  On the other hand,  I think Holland will also focus to have a respectable result tonight ( draw ), and then forcing a win against Romania to qualify from the group.  Simply put, they will cancel each other out in the field.

 

To sum it all, Holland v. Italy will have draw as a result.  But rest assured, it will be exciting.  Indeed, I think they will have a 1-1 draw, rather than 0-0.  An exciting night we have today..!

EURO 2008 PREDICTION : France v

EURO 2008 PREDICTION : France v. Romania

 

This post was mainly made because one of my online friend, snydez, challenged me to publish my precictions for Euro 2008 matches.  OK, fair enough, I call your challenge, buddy .

 

Without further ado, this is my prediction for France v. Romania match tonight :  France will win, but Romania will score a goal.  Let me elaborate.  This will mean that France will win at least by 2-1 score.

 

Now for the reasons.  I always have a love affair with the French national team.  As per today, I think they’re the most complete and balanced team.  They have high football techniques of France and strong physical stance of Germany.  Let’s admit it, not many football teams manage to achieve such balance. 

 

For tonight match, I think they will utilize what they have in beating Romania.  I am aware that Romania is very dangerous, particularly in left wing with Adrian Mutu; but as long as Sagnol is ready to play in the right side of French defense, then life will be hard for him.  Arguably, if football is all about techniques, Romania may win tonight.  But I think France will simply cancel Romania’s creativity by uncompromising pressing and physical battle with the likes of Makalele and maybe, – who knows ?, Viera.

 

Which bring us to the interesting point.  When Romania’s initiative to attack ( because they are the underdogs of the group ) is cancelled, what would happen then ?  This is the spot where Ribery will capitalize.  If all happens like I predicted, this will serve as a pedestal where he can capitalize fully with his vision and flair.  When he does, no matter who play up front for France, be it Benzema, Henry or Anelka may actually score for fun. Hungrily.

Blasphemy 1.0 – a Football Manager tactic

This is my first tactic I posted here.  I’ve been playing FM since the first year and have considerable success…until FM 2008.

At first I was frustrated as to why my previously successful Sidewinder tactic ( you can find it in thedugout.net forum ) always fail to work.  I then decided to build a new one from scratch.

Now, about the strange name, for some reasons I am always fond of “mediocre” team ( in my game I use Everton, sorry Everton fans ); and therefore, dislike big teams with a lot of money to spend.  Blasphemy is my personal middle finger to the Big Ones as I plan to disenthrone them using my Everton over the years.

The tactic itself employs my main weapon in Sidewinder : Attacking Wingers with back arrows.  I am a huge fan of wide players and see no reason why this style – of – play wouldn’t work.  One difference is in the striking force.  I use only 1 striker here, basically because I have one “grudge” that I haven’t resolved in FM :  I never succeed using one striker.  So once and for all, this would be my last gamble in trying a formation with a lone man upfront.

You can download the tactic here. I will post updates about the tactic performance in the future.