Ye Olde Blah

Well, one of us had to mention it :P I don't know about the rest of the continent, but England is firmly in the grip of football fever now that Euro 2004 is underway [to non-Europeans, Euro 2004 is like the football World Cup, but obviously with only European nations allowed :P].

The big question is - just who's going to win it? I would have said the France, but they were quite fortunate against England [I'm not bitter :P] and equally fortunate tonight against Croatia. England won't win it, but they'll certainly fail heroically, as always. Personally, my money's on Germany or Sweden. Holland? Nah, they've got no chance :P

LOL!! Nah, Holland probably isn't going to win it. Sweden has a good chance though, just like Germany :).

Well it was nice to see Holland get a late equaliser against the germans. England stumbled past Switzerland, we looked far more solid with Ledley King in defence.

Lets hope we can beat Croatia now, and then start playing like we did against France for the rest of the tournament. Portugal looked good against Russia, i'm personally looking forward to the Portugal Vs Spain game, that ones gonna be huge!

I've been waiting for Portugal-Spain ever since i heard they were in the same group. It's really unfair that they play no Euro2004 games over here except in Pay-Per-View, $20.00 per game  :x . That hasn't stopped me from watching 75% of the games so far, though i only seem to pick the low-score ones.
I can't say i was very happy with Portugal's performance even against Russia (their defence was improved though), especially right after having watched Spain play, Portugal looked a bit weak on the field. Let's hope they have more motivation in the next game. I really liked the team Scolari picked against Russia, i only wish he had left Figo on the bench and included Ronaldo in the lineup, but i don't see that happening.
I was also "very" disappointed with Italy and the Netherlands, especially with the latter one. I liked Denmark alot though, i always liked the way they play.

you guys play too much hattrick

greece is going to be a big surprise.. 7pts !!!

france 1
spain 2
germany 3

I don't play HatTrick at all, but I always get interested in international tournaments :P

Denmark vs. Bulgaria is on at the moment, which could be a bit of a sleeper match. Bulgaria got thumped of course, but had some good chances, and Denmark are a very tough-to-beat side, and of course Italy vs. Sweden tonight, which I shall be watching. GO ITALY!

As for England, I agree with Edgey - the last ten minutes vs. Switzerland was good, but it came against a ten-man Swiss squad, so it's not exactly a breakthrough. We'll have a tough time progressing in the tournament unless these things happen;

1. Michael Owen is dropped, and replaced with Darius Vassell. Owen's done nothing so far, and Vassell is the sort of hardworking, fast-running player Owen used to be.

2. Stick King and Campbell in defence. Rock solid.

3. Do something about the left side of midfield

[okay, that one'll never happen :P][/list]

Okay, I've finished being a football manager now. Good luck to the Netherlands, Portugal, England and Germany, and all the other nations so proudly representing Ye Olde Blah! :D

Oh Dear Beckham! How embarrassing to have missed a penalty against his former Man-U goalkeeper, Barthez. The funny part was that Barthez said that last time he practised penalties with Beckham and he knew the chances of the ball going left were high. Use a little brains Beckham! Don't tell me that shaved that off too!

I think Germany will win. Cuz they've just that damn good! Altho i support England, they disappoint time and time again. Get owen out of there! *agrees with newts*

Oh yeah. Greece has been a surprise. Zeus must be happy ;)

The too much hattrick is because the swedes used to be allmighty in hattrick

NOOOO:(

Holland lost 2-3 to Czech republic in a spectacular match, in wich the referee played a big part.

I'm just gonnan crawl in a corner and cry now :(

IMHO the best team was Sweden - they played 2 great matches.
Next to that Czech republic played a fantastic match against holland.
Italy did a good job against sweded but they lack motivation and might fail to reach the playoffs.
England played a good game against france and Spain are playing successful which they usually don't do during tournaments.


As a German I say:
1. Italy/France
2. Germany.  
3. Sweden
4. Czech Republic

It is a tough decision as Italy and Germany might even fail to reach the quarter final - but if they should reach it they will go far as both teams are good in those playoff games.

Still, neither Italy nor Germany was very impressive in the games sofar. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Czech and England show much more promise imho.

And I really enjoyed yesterday's match, despite the fact that we lost :).

Yeah Italy and Germany sucked (xcept 60 minutes during the italy-sweden match and 80 minutes during the Ger-Hol match) - but both teams have strong playoff capabilities - both have a strong defense and it might be hard for them to win a match but it's even harder for their enemies  :D this ability is useless in the group matches but pays off later in the tournament

I would bet on Italy, although they're not that good, but, tell me, who's that good? Not the French...  :(

Yeah the French were the biggest dissapointed at the EM - but they had enough luck to qualify for the next round and things tend to change during the playoff maches

Yes... Portugal is through. Take that Spain. :lol:

After yesterday's match, I think Portugal could well go all the way to the final victory...

Depends on their opponents - I mean look how they played against rather defensive teams - Greece, first half spain - few chances, few goals - nevertheless it'll be interesting to see how they will continue - was a good match yesterday, at least in the second half  :D

Well, who'd have thought the Spanish would go out at the group stage? I fancied them this year, but as per usual they let themselves down. Tonight we'll see whether the English can delay their traditional explosion and failure, and whether the French can show their class against the Swiss. Go England!

2 tough matches:
England scored a lucky goal but they were the better team in the second half
France played still rather bad (for their possibilities) and switzerland proved that they had a chance Nevertheless I guess it is OK that france won the match - in the end they were cooler.
10 goals and 2 good matches - this rocks!

Absolutely, although I hoped Swiss would've won from the French :).

I just don't like the way the French play at the moment. England is a potential winner though!

England will win Euro 2004.

Then I will finish TSS.

Which is more likely? :P

I dislike Rooney for his behavior - he behaves like a bully  - in the game against the swiss he tends to play to aggressive in a unfair way (if you saw the game against the swiss you know what I mean) - but he's a fantastic footbal player. Hope he gets his behavior under control.

Anyway - the games today were fantastic - had to laugh as Italy failed to reach the next round - the faces of the Italian after they scored the second goal was fantastic - happyness followed by complete dissapointment - even better than the English fans after the match against France.

Somehow sad that they didn't reach the next round tho ... well somehow at least

Way to go Portugal.

Good, TSS will be finished in advance...

Hmmm... the English are surprisingly silent ;)

The question is:

Why didn't they hinder Becks to shoot a penality - I mean 22 players on the field, thousands in the stadion and millions watching the game on TV KNEW he would miss. I mean the might just have resigned, raised the whited flag, give Portugal a lead or sth....

Well, he is the captain, and has to show example to his fellow partners... Not too good an example, of course, yesterday night.

Tonight, we're playing the Greeks... I guess we'll finally join Italy Spain Germany and Englad in the Early-go-back-home band...

Zylokh, ever consider a career as a fortune-teller? ;)

I read it in Zidane's hand...
 :lol:

I think we owe our Dutch friends a large set of congratulations - at least one team has broken their penalty curse this year :P

Go Dutch!

...lucky day for the dutch - and as a German I have to wish that they'll lose their next match gainst Portugal - it'll be the smashhit of the next round anyway.
Czech dissapointed me a bit as they played only 5 minutes at full strength but how can you win a team that wins 3:0 anyway?
Gonna be a cool next round especially as the greece team might be able to surprise us once more.

I think it's already been quite a surprising tournament - Germany, Spain and Italy didn't even make it past the group stage, and now we're definitely going to see Greece or the Czech Republic in the final. I hope it's Holland vs. the Czechs in the final, and I won't care who wins, because they're both good sides.

Good luck to all the teams still in!

I hope it's a Portugal vs Czech Republic final. I still haven't forgotten how they eliminated us in Euro 96. Portugal vs Netherlands is just going to be one hell of an entertaining game, i think. :)

Hi all!
Just a quick visit while I'm on vacation :).

I just read a very sad article about Dick Advocaat being so messed up that he's going to give up his job as national coach, regardless of how Holland will perform. He's completely demoralized by all the bashing from the press :/.

Either way, I didn't expect the quarter finals to go like this at all! Still, I'm not complaining ;).

We are whooping some portuguese ass tonight :)

wayhay Holland greece final

Are you really? :P

hehehe, it was 1-214

put 5 euro''s on that one.... could have been 1070 euros :P

Holland are out, tough luck guys.

I think Edgar Davids may get a bit of stick after doing a kieron Dyer on the post for that set piece :P

Guess I wouldn't call it tough luck - they played bad. Portugal was better and had much more chances (Deko missed 2 unmissable shots in the end). From an optimist perspective I would say: At least you stayed longer in the tournament than most other "old" "big" teams (France, Italy, Spain and Germany). It's sad that those great players couldn't form a team.

I guess Greece will loose - though I'm still hoping that they'll make it somehow.

Unbelievable, Greece beat the Czechs to face portugal for a second time. I really hope Portugal can set the record straight with Greece after losing 2-1.

I've bet against Greece from the beginning...
Should I change for the final? I think the Greek will get their revenge from the first match.
I hope the Greek won't win. If they did, I already fear that some of our old players might say "Look, we played very well, but we just lost against the future champions, and only by 1-0." Argh... We s*cked so much, I would not stand it.

I guess Greece will lose the final match. I even think that Figo will score a goal in the final - he'll be holy 2 minutes after the match  :D
Portugal got better with each match while Greece got more lucky  :wink:
I mean the goal gainst the Czech was lucky - not the fact that they scored one but the timing. If Portugal can keep the level of the match against Holland without an own goal they will maked it.

You know ben, judging from the accuracy of your latest predictions i'm not sure if you thinking Portugal is going to win is a good thing. :P

LOL!! bEn was wrong once again! Greece has become Champion :P

You know, Greece used to give me the impression that they were winning by luck. Today, after seeing how their solid defense completely elminated Portugal's offense, i really have to give them the credit they deserve. I'm not unhappy with the outcome, not too much anyway, i have some sympathy for the Greeks :P, and after all they deserved it. A great Euro it was, right up there with England 96. :)

At least one German was sucessful  :D Otto Rehakles :wink:
The Greece had the luck of the brave - no more no less.

Yeah it was the best Euro since 96.... though it's hard to beat England-Germany THAT was one of the best games ever.

Isn't it always the case that the people that know the least of football are usually right with their predictions and the other way round.

Yeah you're right. At WorldCup 2002, my girlfriend predicted 3 losses for France, with no goal scored... It made me laugh at that time, but do you know what happened???

Well, I guess we'd better hire some German coach.

Of all the nationalities here, it's a shame we don't have a Greek we can congratulate :P Still, props to the Greek team and their coach - who fancies ?10 on them to win the World Cup? ;)

Yeah I guess we should end with:
See you all again in 2 years in Germany  :lol:

I can think of at least three people on this forum who would disagree with you :P

I'm looking forward to Germany 2006, although there's no guarantee England will actually be there :P

No matter who won - the game was great and it was actually one of the few games which actually deserved 2 winners - IMHO it would have been a real final. The outcome may be unlucky for the English but hell footbal ain't fair ;-)

nor Greece...

nor Brazil

Dude! I certainly haven't seen you in ages here :).

He left, remember? Never to return and all that :P

I bet if we invited him to a Ye Olde Meet-Up, he'd say he wouldn't turn up at all, and be the first one there :P