02 was ... don't remind me on that final

04 ... lol at 04 .. Italy perfected this style?? Hell, what you call Greece with Rehagel then?? He's the uber master of that style, since not just won EuroCup with (no offense greeks) quite bad team, he even won German league with team coming from second devision oO dont know how portugal guys felt after loosing greek in own land

06... damn Italy!!!! otherwise Germany would've won

08... i tell you, final will be Italy vs Germany you'll see, germany plays always bad between tourneys, but when it comes to tourney they usually play like a close team..winning but not being really better (ok, 98 and 00 .. forget that ones as french guys will forget 02 )

so my bets go for germany vs italy...this time we win
maybe french can have a word..but i somehow don't think so..no zidane, no big action

sorry smaller nations but you won't go to finals

Regards,
a patriotic Absti

Small and big nations does not exists. Exists only nations well populated and so on...

In fact that is rude phrase. No matter Germany have 80 millions and Croatia have 4.5. Still exists in battleground only 11 of us and 11 of yours.

And as you had chance to see how 11 Croats defeat 11 Englishman.

And China then should be every time World Champion ?

I doubt Absti's meaning of "small" or "big" in reference to nations in context of football teams is actually about how many citizens a country has. More like, how strong their teams are.

Btw, we're already in the finals, lol. You mean, "final", Abman.

Also,

wrote:

Italy perfected this style?? Hell, what you call Greece with Rehagel then?? He's the uber master of that style, since not just won EuroCup with (no offense greeks) quite bad team, he even won German league with team coming from second devision oO dont know how portugal guys felt after loosing greek in own land

Damn right Italy did. They perfected and popularized it. Doesn't mean their NT team has a coach or players who are able to execute it well. Greece just:

1) Got extremely lucky, that they met with teams which preferred all-out offensive tactics (all-out offensive in comparison, ofc).

2) Had both, a coach with the necessary vision, and players which could make this vision come true.

I don't like playing the role of a seer, but i'm pretty damn sure that Greece will not go really far in the upcoming main tournament, everyone knows by now what to expect from them and how to play against them. Italy is better off in the respect they have a whole damn lot more of talent in their ranks.

Hey guys sorry i wasn't intended to offend you!!

With smaller nations i mean on one hand the nations that have less population (in fact croatia just has a lower population than Germany or England..) but on the other hand "big" nations are nations were soccer is like the main national sport, nations which have big league's with great teams, a large and successful soccer history, a grown system of playing style and many fan's which support them..
So maybe China is good populated, but they don't have a clue about football...Croatia have clue about football, but not much population and no successful history..
I would even count Poland as small soccer nation, even while they have big population...but no success yet.

Somehow you are right, 11 vs 11, 90 minutes, everybody can beat everybody....but if you listen to Luka Toni who just said after Scotland game "It's like everytime when Italy has important match...we just don't lose that important one's.." Germany is often like that too..
One time when i was in London i met a guy..it was shortly before world cup...Germany just lost some games and played bad as they always do between world cups...and England had great individuals...so i said that i think England will be better than Germany in this WC...but he told me that he thinks England always loses in cups because they have no nerves (penalty )..but Germany plays often good because they concentrate and have great team spirit...and what can i say..he was right

Big soccer nations for me are Brazil, Italy, Argentinia, France, England, Spain and Germany..those who always start as favorites for tourneys...

So please don't be offended by simple words "big" and "small"...
For sure in other sports compared to other nations, Germany is "small" nation too .. (see basketball, icehockey..)

Hope you understand my point

Regards,
Absti

ehm and Rena...Croatia did great..but England just is the unluckiest soccer nation ever

wrote:

Big soccer nations for me are Brazil, Italy, Argentinia, France, England, Spain and Germany..those who always start as favorites for tourneys...

No, not always, and certainly not all of them. In the first half of the last century, the allocation of power in the football world looked very differently.