Originally Posted by crofter:
“Most of these teams are so well drilled that sitting in for a 0-0 is entirely possible. I have enjoyed the championship thus far but the attacking and shooting simply hasn't been up to scratch from a lot of the teams ...
I suppose the Spanish and Germans would be favourites if teams decided to park the bus as they play against that most weeks and have the patience to simply keep playing their own game.”
To be honest, other than Italy (v Belgium), Belgium (v Ireland) and Spain (v Turkey) I think none of the big sides have looked overly brilliant and I think this is predominantly the reason - with the knowledge that all but six teams will qualify, three 0-0's might just do it teams are simply defending for 90 minutes instead of being forced to push out.
In the three I named above, Italy and Belgium were two big teams playing open football, Belgium broke Ireland down early in the second half meaning the latter had to open up and Spain scored early against Turkey resulting in the same thing.
The annoying thing is some of these sides - like Slovakia - have good players and could play a part in an entertaining game. They just choose not to.
