Spain to suffer more pain?

Spain to win euro 2008?. They have had a very strong squad for several years and have always disappointed. Teams such as portugal and italy have recently been going very far in major international tournaments as well as germany.

However for the euros, i dont see anyone troubling france. They have a solid back line of thuram,gallas,abidal and evra which is probably the most watertight defence in the whole competition now that cannavaro has left a gapping hole in the azzuri defence.

Then there is the attacking quartet of samir nasri,franck ribery,karim benzema and thierry henry who will be a nightmare for any defence at euro 2008. Add makelele and mathieu flamini to the centre midfield i think france will be lifting the euro 2008 on the 29th of june.

Holland? too early for them to be serious challengers in 2008. Come 2010 world cup i think holland will be major title contenders.

will it be another first round exit as in 2004 or will aragones lead spain to the elusive silverware?

Flamini didn't even make the team for the Euro and Thuram is 36 years old or so - far past his prime when he was a great defender (just watch his matches for Barcelona).

Spain have never been a team to beat big teams, so if they somehow avoid the big teams and get into the final then anything is possible. I don't see them winning Euro or WC 10 at all

flamini has been brought into the sqaud to replace the injured patrick vieia. Thuram is still a valuable player to les bleus maybe not in pace but in reading the game and experience.

Ahh lucky him, he still won't make a big impact I reckon. France's loss of Vieira is bigger than Cannavaro

Not sure. Cannavaro is also the captain of the team and his work improves with Italy somehow. France still has Makelele...

But Vieira is really one of a kind (or was) and he always manages to open the score when his team are unable to.

Vieira was one of a kind.

Yeah well Cannavaro too. I think he means more to Italy than Vieira to France...

Vieria is still in the squad. He is only missing the first game. This week we will find out

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=542416&cc=5739

Villa is out injured so much for Spain

He's had a little knock for awhile now. Isn't he supposed to be fit in time for the first match?

villa is a terrific player and spain have always crumbeled but yet again i will back them in the hope they do achieve......


Spain have a lot of good players to turn them around even without villa....


But a mate said to me if spain go down they drop there heads and dont have a talisman to drag them back and encourage the team to battle for victory.... he may have a point but i agrued that hierro was a talisman and a hardworker but never managed to ignite them....

In todays game italy have that type of player in abundance , also the german's and the French to a degree so will players like puyol ramos and co step up to the plate

Defenders can't win a match in theory

I hope you and I think of the same leader. And it's not Hierro...

Spain's leader would be Raul, for Aragones that leader is retired.

Watched Spain against the USA yesterday and they looked trash.It took them 80 minutes to score and their own arrogant fans were whistling.The goal that came was fantastic by an overrated player. Spain never had an answer for Freddie Adu, except to foul him every time he had the ball or when they thought he was about to get the ball.

France will win this tournament if they get up for the group stages which seems to always be a problem with them.If they make the K.O. stages, i take them to win it their depth is outrageous.
I watched france against Columbia yesterday also and it was a very good game. The south americans gave France big problems with their speed and skill ,and if it weren't for Thuram they would have lost this game,the man was immense.

Totally agree with you specnur, i have always been a great admirer of Lillian Thuram. Even at 36 yrs old he reads the game like no one else. Big, strong , he may have lost a little pace but he makes up for that with his intelligent and no nonsence defending.

Hahahaha americans... you gotta love them.

1st - Spain were trash, but they beat your "allstar" team
2nd - Arrogant your father
3rd - Xavi overrated? If you look up that word in the dictionary, "Adu" will come out
4th - "Spain didn't have an answer for Adu", hahahaha that's absolutely hilarious. You're right, Spain couldn't stop him nor any of his 3 goals and 4 assistances.

I thought he scored 4

Spain would've been my team, but Aragones is such an arse i'm rooting for Portugal. Spain will be my second team, because despite hating Aragones and wishing him all the worst, Spain are a great nation who deserve success.