The Shining Source

Well, one of us had to mention it 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 ].

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 ] 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

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

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 ][/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!

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   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: