So it's down to 8. Here are my guesses at who go through to the semis:
Portugal, Turkey, Netherlands, Italy.
You know me - I am AWFUL at this so if I were you, I'd bet against me.
As I said in last night's post, the main story for me so far is the old v young debate. To be a successful manager you need to figure out the right balance. If Spain can drop Raul then Italy needs to leave Del Piero home (did anyone else notice that the one game we won Ale was on the bench?) and France can say adieu to Titi... you get the point. While on one hand I am sad that the players that made me love Italy are now old and gone (Maldini, Nesta, Totti) I am also so happy to see boys like Aquilani getting their chance.
And while everyone loooooves the Dutch right now (my coworker who has been forced to watch the games with me in our office has declared his support for the Oranje because of their attacking play), if they don't win it in the end, will everyone remember how great they were in 20 years? Or will they just see the Dutch have failed to win a tournament in a billion years???
Here, too, there must be balance. You've got to remember to win games in order to win a tournament. That's the hard part.
Overall, I am more than happy with what I have seen these past 2 weeks and I am already starting to panic at the thought that it is almost over. Seriously, I do NOT want to think about the withdrawal I am going to go through on Monday & Tuesday of next week. This is when I miss the show the most. My love to all of you Treble listeners. *sniff*
1 comment:
i'm also happy- exstatic with the play & passion from the tournament so far.
clearly, you're right about the ageing squads. it's hard to let go of players that worked well for the team four years ago, but hanging on to players who've added four years' worth of mileage to their bodies surely outweighs the benefit of the experience.
i feel like holding on to older players is the surest way for a team to really shoot itself int he foot. if the choice is made to call an oldie instead of a youngie, then you're blocking the youngies from gaining the experience that, by the same logic, would be so essential four years in the future.
sure, keep some veterans who've had great seasons for their clubs, but don't be afraid to call the boys that the press are touting as the next big thing. why not? the experience they gain might actually turnn out to be the catalyst that fulfills the prophesy for them.
i cannot make predictions, nikki, but yours look sound enough to me.
-jenny
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