[Krijn]

Guardiola, Sergi and Abelardo can go home. Spain's out. A few minutes before the end Abelardo was pulled down by Barthez, so Spain got a PK. Unfortunately Raul missed. NO SPAIN VS HOLLAND IN THE FINAL

 

[real player]

No one shows your compassion to poor Spain/Raul here in Barca board???
Oh, I got it, Barca fans juat are Holland fans

 

[Oly]

Hey, i said that i felt sorry for him on the real board, so don't make such assumptions about us please.

 

[Krijn]

What happened to Raul is the most terrible thing that can happen to a player, but that's something we will talk about at the Real-board indeed.

 

[Flashman]

No Spain Vs Holland in the final, but I still hope Portugal VS Holland!!!!!

I feel sorry for Spain, especially for Guardiola, Abelardo and Sergi, and Raul...he missed the penalty...I couldn't calm down. What a important goal!!!!!!if it's scored
maybe I shouldn't talk so much in here.

 

[Rondinaire]

Ha Ha! Madrid based sports papers have really made a fool out of themselves these last few days, haven't they? After the Norway match the headlines were "We don't need Guardiola". They then went on to question Barça players contribution in general. Then Pep went on to be the best player in the team for the next few games, not to mention Sergi and Abelardo's contribution. Their darling Raul not only fluffed that penalty but he didn't do anything in the whole tounament,neither did Hierro. Another one of their favourites is "Kluivert's got good technique but no clout in front of goal". It looks as if a few journalists are in for the sack.

 

[hala]

Players are what they are really, 2 or 3 games don't make or break a footballer's career, and shouldn't.

Guardiola did play terribly in the 2 first games (especially the 1st) and great in the last two, Raul did almost nothing except for the goal he scored, Hierro was injured so he can't really be judged and Kluivert has made a reputation of himself missing chances all over the world, not only among Real Madrid press. In this particular game he just didn't.

 

[Krijn]

So Pep was great all the time afterall....

And about Kluivert's reputation: being topscorer in EURO2000 at the moment, he proved it to be untrue.

 

[hala]

2 games out of 4 is hardly "all the time" as you say. Just 50%.
And on whether Kluivert's reputation is unfair or well deserved only time will tell.

If all you Barca fans and us Real Madrid fans really want to be objective, then we all have to acknowledge that the MVP of the Spanish squad was Gaizka Mendieta.


P.S. Another Barca player sure earned a title in this Euro: that of the "absolute master diver".



[Edited by hala on 26-06-2000 at 22:54]

 

[Rondinaire]

Diving in football didn't use to exist until Butrageño invented it. Mind you, he was only half the player Figo is, wasn't he?

 

[hala]

Where exactly do Figo and Butragueno fit into this conversation?

 

[Rondinaire]

Hala.
Figo fits in because the Madrid papers constantly accuse him of being the "master diver", as you quite quaintly call it, almost to the extent that they ignore his footballing skills. Butragueño fits in because he had diving down to a fine art. If you're referring to Abelardo, I wouldn't call it diving but you could be right if you're suggesting that Spain's penalties were very dodgy decisions, especially the one in the Yugoslavia match.

 

[hala]

Well, I don't live in Spain, so I can't follow the spanish press (except for Marca Digital and a few other sites) to see what they write about Figo. He really doesn't look like a "master diver" to me. At least not when guys like Pippo Inzaghi and Mijatovic are around...

On the Butragueno matter now, the only thing I can say is that he was the initial reason for my being a Real Madrid fan, which automatically means that I'm 100% biased so I will not even get into this conversation.

 

[Rondinaire]

Hala
Point taken and fair enough.

 

[Krijn]

Mendieta was indeed the best Spanish player overall.

 

[Rondinaire]

I agree. I'm no expert on tactics but it's difficult to see why he was taken off so soon in the France match. Likewise, why did Camacho prefer Aranzabal to Sergi after the latter's fine display against Yugoslavia?

 

[Flashman]

I agree that Mendieta is the MVP, and Guardiola was really quite terrible in the first match, but the whole team didn't play very well in the first 2 matches, and I think Guardiola and Abelardo were quite ok in the last few matches. I think Camacho didn't use Sergi in the last game because he didn't want the left back to attack so much, that's what he needed in the match played against Yugo. Raul almost did nothing in this tournament, maybe he's too tired, but I think he could do much much more better, that's not his standard. I really feel sorry for him about the penalty. Hierro didn't play a lot of games, I think it's difficult to say anything about him.