Alas, my prediction became true!
Italy will play Spain for the Euro 2012 title.
Today, in Warsaw, Italy taught the German Panzers a lesson and beat them, fully deservedly, 2-1. Germany has never beaten Italy in an official competition and they did not break this 'record' today.
Balotelli and Pirlo were amazing and although Germany started up very strong it was Italy who scored 2 goals before the half, via Balotelli.
Germany could never recover from the mental anguish of being 2 goals down but they did score one goal from a PK awarded in the last minute of the game.
Italy showed their class and I am thrilled to see the final with Spain.
Italia! Italia! Italia!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Euro 2012 - Eighteenth Day
Today, in Donetsk, Spain and Portugal played an amazing game that ended 0-0, even after extra time.
Spain was fresh and played more aggressive but Portugal managed to have an all field game that could have sunk the Spanish Armada. This was the best game of this championship so far, no doubt. Tactical and physical, skills and chances, drama and spectacle, all in one.
Portugal entered the game determined and with a clear game plan. They would not let the Spaniards play their 'tiki-taka' and would challenge every single pass attempted by Spain. The game became razor sharp and, at times, it looked like either team could have scored and settled the game.
Portugal players became very tired by the end of the regular time and the extra time was a bit too much for them. Spanish players looked like they could have played a brand new game immediately after the end of this game. Amazing.
In extra time Spain could have scored at least 3 times and the Portuguese were hoping that they would be getting a chance at PKs. Portugal did get the PKs chance but could not concentrate all the way till the end.
For Portugal it was not to be and after penalty kicks Spain qualified (4-2) to play the final of Euro 2012.
They will play the winner of the Italy - Germany game to be played tomorrow in Poland.
Spain was fresh and played more aggressive but Portugal managed to have an all field game that could have sunk the Spanish Armada. This was the best game of this championship so far, no doubt. Tactical and physical, skills and chances, drama and spectacle, all in one.
Portugal entered the game determined and with a clear game plan. They would not let the Spaniards play their 'tiki-taka' and would challenge every single pass attempted by Spain. The game became razor sharp and, at times, it looked like either team could have scored and settled the game.
Portugal players became very tired by the end of the regular time and the extra time was a bit too much for them. Spanish players looked like they could have played a brand new game immediately after the end of this game. Amazing.
In extra time Spain could have scored at least 3 times and the Portuguese were hoping that they would be getting a chance at PKs. Portugal did get the PKs chance but could not concentrate all the way till the end.
For Portugal it was not to be and after penalty kicks Spain qualified (4-2) to play the final of Euro 2012.
They will play the winner of the Italy - Germany game to be played tomorrow in Poland.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Euro 2012- Seventeenth Day
In Kiev, right now, Italy plays England for the last spot of the semifinals.The winner of this game will play Germany next Thu.
At the half the game has ended 0-0 but it could have ended differently had the opportunities been taken advantage of by either team, although Italy appeared to have an edge but with few sharp teeth.
Nonetheless, I believe Italy is slightly better than England and a final score of 1-0 for Italy would be fair. By far, Italy and England are not among the top teams of the tournament.
If this is not the ugliest game of the Euro 2012 tournament then it is most certainly the second ugliest game.
The game goes into extra time, but it does not deserve to be extended as its ugliness is unsettling given the caliber of the teams involved. England has had no chance in the second half. None. Zilch. Zero.
We are in extra time and the game drags on like a disease. Very unpleasing. 0-0 still.
We will have penalty shoot-outs and that is a complete gamble. Will win who wins...
Ita-Eng
Ita scores: 1-0
Eng scores: 1-1
Ita misses:1-1
Eng scores: 1-2
Ita scores: 2-2
Eng misses: 2-2
Ita scores: 3-2
Eng misses: 3-2
Ita scores: 4-2
Italy-England: 4-2, after pks. Italy was the better team, no doubt. Justice was done. Game over.
Italy plays Germany next.
At the half the game has ended 0-0 but it could have ended differently had the opportunities been taken advantage of by either team, although Italy appeared to have an edge but with few sharp teeth.
Nonetheless, I believe Italy is slightly better than England and a final score of 1-0 for Italy would be fair. By far, Italy and England are not among the top teams of the tournament.
If this is not the ugliest game of the Euro 2012 tournament then it is most certainly the second ugliest game.
The game goes into extra time, but it does not deserve to be extended as its ugliness is unsettling given the caliber of the teams involved. England has had no chance in the second half. None. Zilch. Zero.
We are in extra time and the game drags on like a disease. Very unpleasing. 0-0 still.
We will have penalty shoot-outs and that is a complete gamble. Will win who wins...
Ita-Eng
Ita scores: 1-0
Eng scores: 1-1
Ita misses:1-1
Eng scores: 1-2
Ita scores: 2-2
Eng misses: 2-2
Ita scores: 3-2
Eng misses: 3-2
Ita scores: 4-2
Italy-England: 4-2, after pks. Italy was the better team, no doubt. Justice was done. Game over.
Italy plays Germany next.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Euro 2012 - Sixteenth Day
Right now Spain plays France against France (in Donetsk).
Spain took the lead in the 19th minute and never let go.
France has tried very hard to score and get back in the game but Spain purely crowded them out. They do not allow empty spaces to be filled in by the opposing team's players.
Spanish players storm into any empty zones and the game goes side to side and it gets almost impossible to move the ball up the field.
Then the Spanish counterattack and hold the ball in a very frustrating and not very pleasing way. The game sort of lingers in the midfield and it loses all its 'sparks and shine'. The Spaniards win by frustration forfeit (as it were), as the opposing team gets the ball very sporadically and if they do and do not make the best out of every opportunity then they are going to lose. It is as simple as that.
There is little doubt that Spain has managed to shake the tactical foundations of the game of soccer and I have yet to see a team able to counteract the 'tiki-taka' Spain has pioneered, although it would seem to me that a valid answer to 'tiki-taka' would be overwhelming speed in order to stop the Spaniards from triangulation all over the field.
Spain scored again in the last minute of the game -from the penalty spot- and the game ended 2-0.
Spain will play Portugal for the first semifinal of the championships to be played next Wed in Donetsk.
Spain took the lead in the 19th minute and never let go.
France has tried very hard to score and get back in the game but Spain purely crowded them out. They do not allow empty spaces to be filled in by the opposing team's players.
Spanish players storm into any empty zones and the game goes side to side and it gets almost impossible to move the ball up the field.
Then the Spanish counterattack and hold the ball in a very frustrating and not very pleasing way. The game sort of lingers in the midfield and it loses all its 'sparks and shine'. The Spaniards win by frustration forfeit (as it were), as the opposing team gets the ball very sporadically and if they do and do not make the best out of every opportunity then they are going to lose. It is as simple as that.
There is little doubt that Spain has managed to shake the tactical foundations of the game of soccer and I have yet to see a team able to counteract the 'tiki-taka' Spain has pioneered, although it would seem to me that a valid answer to 'tiki-taka' would be overwhelming speed in order to stop the Spaniards from triangulation all over the field.
Spain scored again in the last minute of the game -from the penalty spot- and the game ended 2-0.
Spain will play Portugal for the first semifinal of the championships to be played next Wed in Donetsk.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Euro 2012 - Fiftteenth Day
Germany was very emphatic today and beat Greece 4-2 in Gdansk.
Germany scored first and the lead stayed 1-0 at the half. Germany played crisp and dominated copiously the entire first half and they deserved at least 2 more goals before the half ended. Immediately after the second half began Greece scored on a counter-attack and appeared to be back into the game. Germany was very elegant and scored 3 more goals before long and Greece scored another goal from a penalty kick caused by a handball.
Greece was very aggressive and 'doggy' and were counting on the counter-attack but stood no chance in the front of the German Panzers.
Germany is the second team of the semi-finals and will wait for the winner of Italy-England on Mon to play in Warsaw.
Germany scored first and the lead stayed 1-0 at the half. Germany played crisp and dominated copiously the entire first half and they deserved at least 2 more goals before the half ended. Immediately after the second half began Greece scored on a counter-attack and appeared to be back into the game. Germany was very elegant and scored 3 more goals before long and Greece scored another goal from a penalty kick caused by a handball.
Greece was very aggressive and 'doggy' and were counting on the counter-attack but stood no chance in the front of the German Panzers.
Germany is the second team of the semi-finals and will wait for the winner of Italy-England on Mon to play in Warsaw.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Fed: Policy, Credibility, Collusion, and Absolution Deficiencies
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve System chairman announced that he is 'open to more QE' to drive/keep long term interest rates down. Long term interest rates have been really low for the past 4 years or so and the economy has not improved too much.
The current Fed's policies suffer from four major deficiencies: policy, credibility, collusion, and absolution. All these deficiencies are deliberate and are aimed at preserving the Fed's current role of the fourth power of the government.
Policy
Interest rates are one of the most important signaling mechanism of any financially open economy. When the economy is expected to grow the interest rates tend to be high and when the economy is in recession the interest rates tend to be relatively low.
Credibility
When the Fed, in a totally deliberate manner, wants and promotes low interest rates then it is basically saying that it expects low economic growth for a very long time. Bernanke is a liar when he is saying that low interest rates will spur growth since the current economic conditions are almost identical to the ones we have experiencing since 2008.
What the current economic crisis shows -unequivocally- is that it has strong psychological undertones related to the complete lack of trust in the banking and financial systems. No matter how low the interest rates are people will not engage in financial transactions with institutions they do not trust. The Fed's credibility is close to the long term interest rates.
Collusion
The current interest rate policy followed by the Fed favors only financial and banking institutions. Why should we believe that the Fed is trying to help the economy when the Fed seems to be primarily interested in protecting the financial system and not protecting rational economic choices?
If we take rational decisions and save money the Fed is telling us that we are fools. We should be spending the money and we should do this as quickly as possibly, 'to spur economic growth'. Our interests, as savers, conflict with the Fed's chairman interests.
The Fed should increase interest rates to promote economic optimism and prove that it values rational economic choices. Due to its massive borrowing needs, the government is another massive beneficiary of the Fed's drive to lower long term interest rates but nobody seems to care about savers.
Absolution
Almost everybody in the current leadership economic circles is willing to sacrifice rational economic behaviors in favor of the 'spend more than you have' doctrines. One of the proofs lie in the fact that the US Treasury owes most of its debt to the Fed. How will the Fed pay its debt to the US Treasury if not by printing money?
Policy, credibility, collusion, and absolution deficiencies undermine the strength of the US economy and support the very existence of an institution -the Fed- that should be brought under much more public control than it is now.
I am amazed that people get worked up and angry by the individual mandate of the new health care law but do not flinch an eye at the sight of the Fed destroying the fragile beauty and strength of the banal interest rate.
What can we do to protect ourselves from the Fed's rapacious appetite to economically destroy all those of us who are savers?
The current Fed's policies suffer from four major deficiencies: policy, credibility, collusion, and absolution. All these deficiencies are deliberate and are aimed at preserving the Fed's current role of the fourth power of the government.
Policy
Interest rates are one of the most important signaling mechanism of any financially open economy. When the economy is expected to grow the interest rates tend to be high and when the economy is in recession the interest rates tend to be relatively low.
Credibility
When the Fed, in a totally deliberate manner, wants and promotes low interest rates then it is basically saying that it expects low economic growth for a very long time. Bernanke is a liar when he is saying that low interest rates will spur growth since the current economic conditions are almost identical to the ones we have experiencing since 2008.
What the current economic crisis shows -unequivocally- is that it has strong psychological undertones related to the complete lack of trust in the banking and financial systems. No matter how low the interest rates are people will not engage in financial transactions with institutions they do not trust. The Fed's credibility is close to the long term interest rates.
Collusion
The current interest rate policy followed by the Fed favors only financial and banking institutions. Why should we believe that the Fed is trying to help the economy when the Fed seems to be primarily interested in protecting the financial system and not protecting rational economic choices?
If we take rational decisions and save money the Fed is telling us that we are fools. We should be spending the money and we should do this as quickly as possibly, 'to spur economic growth'. Our interests, as savers, conflict with the Fed's chairman interests.
The Fed should increase interest rates to promote economic optimism and prove that it values rational economic choices. Due to its massive borrowing needs, the government is another massive beneficiary of the Fed's drive to lower long term interest rates but nobody seems to care about savers.
Absolution
Almost everybody in the current leadership economic circles is willing to sacrifice rational economic behaviors in favor of the 'spend more than you have' doctrines. One of the proofs lie in the fact that the US Treasury owes most of its debt to the Fed. How will the Fed pay its debt to the US Treasury if not by printing money?
Policy, credibility, collusion, and absolution deficiencies undermine the strength of the US economy and support the very existence of an institution -the Fed- that should be brought under much more public control than it is now.
I am amazed that people get worked up and angry by the individual mandate of the new health care law but do not flinch an eye at the sight of the Fed destroying the fragile beauty and strength of the banal interest rate.
What can we do to protect ourselves from the Fed's rapacious appetite to economically destroy all those of us who are savers?
Euro 2012 - Fourteenth Day
On the fourteenth day -in Warsaw- we have the first game of the quarter finals. Yesterday was a rest day and maybe UEFA does not really like to have any games on the 13th day of the tournament. Who knows?
Portugal plays Czech Republic as I am updating this article. I think Portugal will win the game by 1-0 and will be the first team to qualify to the semifinals. Czech Republic plays a 'wait and see' game and appear to be looking to want to end the game in a tie and go on to play extra time while Portugal tries to score in any which way they can.
Ronaldo, for Portugal, just scored in the 79th minute of the second half and this is how the game will end.
The game just ended and Portugal will wait until Saturday to see who the winner of the game between France and Spain will be.
Portugal plays Czech Republic as I am updating this article. I think Portugal will win the game by 1-0 and will be the first team to qualify to the semifinals. Czech Republic plays a 'wait and see' game and appear to be looking to want to end the game in a tie and go on to play extra time while Portugal tries to score in any which way they can.
Ronaldo, for Portugal, just scored in the 79th minute of the second half and this is how the game will end.
The game just ended and Portugal will wait until Saturday to see who the winner of the game between France and Spain will be.
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