Laugh-O-Matic

2 days to go for the Euro 2008, to be held in Austria and Switzerland. I'll be cheering on Germany.
A lot of big guns like Nedved, Zidane, Cannavaro, Kahn, Figo, England (:P) and so on will be missing, and this year could be a chance to spot some young blood. Fair play, people

Match fixtures (taken rather shabbily from the website)

Saturday 7 June 2008
1 Grp A Switzerland 18:00 Czech Republic Basel - St. Jakob-Park
2 Grp A Portugal 20:45 Turkey Geneva - Stade de Genève

Sunday 8 June 2008
3 Grp B Austria 18:00 Croatia Vienna - Ernst Happel
4 Grp B Germany 20:45 Poland Klagenfurt - Wörthersee

Monday 9 June 2008
5 Grp C Romania 18:00 France Zurich - Letzigrund
6 Grp C Netherlands 20:45 Italy Berne - Stade de Suisse

Tuesday 10 June 2008
7 Grp D Spain 18:00 Russia Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
8 Grp D Greece 20:45 Sweden Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim

Wednesday 11 June 2008
9 Grp A Czech Republic 18:00 Portugal Geneva - Stade de Genève
10 Grp A Switzerland 20:45 Turkey Basel - St. Jakob-Park

Thursday 12 June 2008
11 Grp B Croatia 18:00 Germany Klagenfurt - Wörthersee
12 Grp B Austria 20:45 Poland Vienna - Ernst Happel

Friday 13 June 2008
13 Grp C Italy 18:00 Romania Zurich - Letzigrund
14 Grp C Netherlands 20:45 France Berne - Stade de Suisse

Saturday 14 June 2008
15 Grp D Sweden 18:00 Spain Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
16 Grp D Greece 20:45 Russia Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim

Sunday 15 June 2008
17 Grp A Switzerland 20:45 Portugal Basel - St. Jakob-Park
18 Grp A Turkey 20:45 Czech Republic Geneva - Stade de Genève

Monday 16 June 2008
19 Grp B Poland 20:45 Croatia Klagenfurt - Wörthersee
20 Grp B Austria 20:45 Germany Vienna - Ernst Happel

Tuesday 17 June 2008
21 Grp C Netherlands 20:45 Romania Berne - Stade de Suisse
22 Grp C France 20:45 Italy Zurich - Letzigrund

Wednesday 18 June 2008
23 Grp D Greece 20:45 Spain Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
24 Grp D Russia 20:45 Sweden Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu

Thursday 19 June 2008
25 QF Winner Grp A 20:45 Runner-up Grp B Basel - St. Jakob-Park

Friday 20 June 2008
26 QF Winner Grp B 20:45 Runner-up Grp A Vienna - Ernst Happel

Saturday 21 June 2008
27 QF Winner Grp C 20:45 Runner-up Grp D Basel - St. Jakob-Park

Sunday 22 June 2008
28 QF Winner Grp D 20:45 Runner-up Grp C Vienna - Ernst Happel

Wednesday 25 June 2008
29 SF Winner #25 20:45 Winner #26 Basel - St. Jakob-Park

Thursday 26 June 2008
30 SF Winner #27 20:45 Winner #28 Vienna - Ernst Happel

Sunday 29 June 2008
31 F Winner #29 20:45 Winner #30 Vienna - Ernst Happel

More info and news on the official website: http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/index.html

Which country will you be supporting?

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

Glory's Sun

I think I'll just cheer whatever cinderella story comes about

snowy

Edwin van der Sar, the Dutch keeper, is saying this will be his last internationals before retirement. I hope the Netherlands goes far and does well for his sake and mine; the team has been a bit of a disappointment following their awesome performance in Euro 2000.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

healer

As always, GO ORANJE!!

__________________

snowy

Hell yeah!

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

highthief

Given as how we, England, were let down by the tactically inept, poop-eating grinning, umbrella toting Steve McLaren and did not qualify, I can't say I'm for any particular nation. Will offer some support to Germany as the wife is half-German, and some to Holland and Spain, as I like the football those teams play, although defensively both are a bit suspect and with Holland being in the Group of Death with Italy, France and dark horse Romania, I'm not sure I like their odds.

This tourney is wide open - aside from Austria, Switzerland and Turkey, I think any of the teams can win it but if I had to put money down, I'd go with Italy, even though I despise them. They just come up big in big tournaments - their biggest challenge might be getting out of their group as it is the toughest group and Italy can be notoriously slow starters.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Glory's Sun

given the fact that England has become a club that has completely lost their way I guess I could cheer on Netherlands only for the fact the Van Der Saar was spectacular for ManU.

Laugh-O-Matic

Netherlands and Spain always seems to have a great team, many excellent players, proper attacks and game play, yet they never seem to impress anyone here in India. Almost everyone supports Brazil and England.

Germany, as I said. Netherlands followed (especially for Robben and RVP). One thing nice about Spain is that many of their players are young, hopefully we'll be seeing the same chaps for a few years.

The Italians play one hell of a game, not unlike a thousand charging barbarians with a rock solid defense. Good looking barbarians, I might add.

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

MexicanOnABike

Go canada! oh wait, euro. well anyone who makes the game interesting gets my vote.

__________________

- Movie Reviews - Ratings-

Strange Famous

couldnt care less...

I'll probably watch it - hope anyone of the top boys but Portugal, cheating bastards. That fucking winker Ronaldo

edit - and in the big games Spain ALWAYS blow it, and the Dutch team will be in a state of open civil war by the second round as usual as well I expect. France are still trying to figure out how to play without Zidane...

Probably end up Germany vs Italy and a penalty shoot out in the final...

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Glory's Sun

I don't see what everyone gets so upset at Ronaldo for. The man is a brillant footballer. I can do without some of the diving, but he's surely improved in that area. He's a spectacular striker both on the ground and in the air and he's a hell of a control artist.

Strange Famous

Because he is a cheat.

He certainly is fantastically talented, which makes his constant barefaced cheating even worse - a player of his natural gifts shouldnt need to resort to feigning fouls and injury at every possible juncture

Winking little bastard and his band of cheating mates cost us the last world cup. Portugal have a great squad of talented players, but the whole bunch of them would rather cheat and dive than play football.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Glory's Sun

oh come on.. most players dive at some point or feign injuries to gain time. You can't just call out one guy.

It didn't matter if it was Portugal or not.. England wouldn't have won it anyway.

England just expects people to lay down for them instead of playing with passion and everyone fucking knows it.

Strange Famous

England vs Portugal 2006 was, unfortunately, proof that most times cheats prosper, cheats win, cheats get away with it - and men who go out there to play - with all their passion and pride - the game in the spirit in which it was meant to be played come in second place.

To be honest, I have no time for Ronaldo at all.

No one would deny his talent, and nor he is the only person in the game who cheats: but the indelible memory of the little wink to the bench after his team had cheated the ref into sending off Wayne Rooney overshadows anything else he will ever do in his career. He may have strength, skill, and daring - but he will ALWAYS be utterly classless, a showboating, vainglorious, cheater.

There is no such thing as "a little bit pregnant" and there is no such thing as "a little bit of cheat".

Just the same that, however magnificent Maradonna was, we all remember "the hand of God" and not the other, sublime, goal he scored in 1986.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Glory's Sun

I will concede that his act in 2006 was deplorable. Especially since I'm a huge fan of Rooney. However, I will also grant that the man has come quite a way since that time and he doesn't seem to do it as often. I suppose once is too much however.

And spare me the English bravado. I'm so sick of cheering them and watching them squandor everything. They act as though it's their right to win instead of earning it (with a few exceptions of course). England needs to balls up and play like they are world champs..not just a bunch of players in a good league.

/end threadjack

highthief

Suprised you're defending Ronaldo, guccilvr - given as he looks poised to tell United to go fuck themselves so he can be a Galactico!

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Glory's Sun

I'll defend his playing, but if he does leave united I'll place him in the same rank as JT.

dlish

strange,

i dont see how it cost u the world cup since i couldnt see anone beating the italians. they worked their defence superbly and from memory only had ONE goal scored against them, which i think was an own goal against the USA.

so please dont talk up your boys when you know damn right that there were others more worthy of that cup!

my prediction - go italia!

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Strange Famous

dlish, I guess you dont remember Zidane's penalthy in the final in that case?

Anyway - I dont think England have a God given right to be in the final, and Croatia qualified ahead of us because they outplayed us over two games... and a very bad decision and some individual errors cost us points against Russia.

I am 100% saying we didnt do enough to deserve to qualify over the course of the qualification table - BUT it has to take something away from the tournament when one of the big boys is missing.

Financially, and in football terms - Euro 2008 will suffer without England.

And as I said, Germany and Italy are both boring, well organised, defensively sound teams - I think they will both do well.

Spain have underachieved in every major final in my living memory, dont see why this one will be different, France have lost their star player and a lot of their big guns have got old at the same time, and the Dutch team, as all Dutch teams do, will likely hate each other and implode... youve got teams like Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic - who are outside bets, but its hard to look past the big boys, and Germany and Italy seem to be in best shape.

The sad thing is, if England had made it I think we would be favourites.

The "Golden generation" probably have one shot at glory left in the next world cup, before OUR stars start to get old. Becks has already decided to take early retirement in an emerging league.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

pig

I'm exactly of the opposite opinion as you strange: cheating has always been a part of the game, and it always will be. playing with the refs and figuring out how to deceive them is a huge part of the game, and i think it adds another dimension to the match. if you try to fool the ref and you get caught, then you get penalized. if you're successful, then you give your team an advantage. ronaldo is an amazing player, and if he can leverage that skill to get advantage from the referees, i would say he would foolish not to use that. at the end of the day, you either win the game or you lose it. leave it on the field - frankly, it seems (and i don't particularly mean any disrespect to you with this) that you're whining about ronaldo whining...but he gets paid to do it, and it's part of his job. if it didn't work, i'm sure he would stop doing it. your complaint, i think, should either be with the referees, or else it's just something you have to accept as a part of the game. i look forward to seeing what ronaldo pulls off in the tournament, because i love to watch him play.

__________________
You don't love me, you just love my piggy style

Laugh-O-Matic

%&^*

I'm not getting ESPN here! It's just static, and some stupid tennis match going on on Star Sports.

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

highthief

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/

Is your friend.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Laugh-O-Matic

I got that one, and checked it out. My speed isn't anything great, so the buffering is a major drawback.
I'm crashing in at my neighbour's place, an 85-year old prune. She's incontinent.

Anyway, how were the opening matches? Plain vanilla or were they interesting?

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

highthief

Portugal played Turkey off the pitch, looked really good.

The Swiss got a bit unlucky against the Czechs and probably should have gotten a result but they lost their best player, Frei, at the half and that really took the shine off them.

Oh, and Turkey officially has the ugliest fans in the world. The Portuguese fans all brought their pretty girlfriends and sisters along; the Turks seem to all brought their father-in-laws and Uncle Fester to the match.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Laugh-O-Matic

@highthief: I'm watching the match online (that doctor livefooty link), on a faster connection. But it's in Chinese or something, any idea where I can get one in English?

I can't wait to see the Italian, Spain and German fans. Male that is

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

Strange Famous

Portugal looked ok, Czech Republic were pretty disappointing.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Bees

I am rooting for Germany because I have a ton of online friends there and it gives me a way of staying in touch with them while they watch the matches on TV. I understand Germany is one of the favorites even though thay haven't won it all since 1996.

You might try this link; http://www.channelsurfing.net/ The Germany vs. Poland match is starting up in about 15 minutes. Make that 2:45 PM Eastern Standard Time.

__________________
The sands of time past keep shifting according to how we remember or forget or refashion it in hindsight, which is no sight at all.
Kajal Basu

highthief

The livefooty site often has several different feeds going - it might say click on channel 1, 7, or 9 - and one will be Chinese, one English and one Korean or something.

Also

http://www.livesoccertv.com/

That site will often direct you to various P2P feeds.

Good luck.

Austria were a bit unlucky not to get a result against a Croatia side that didn't look all that tough. The penalty was a bit dubious, IMO, and without Eduardo Croatia doesn't look like it has a real finisher.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Laugh-O-Matic

^I'll try them all out. Thanks!

Germany fan here. The current team is really good, and they have been consistent in the matches they played after the WC (Curse Grosso and Del Piero).


Thanks! I'll check it out.

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

Bees

Great match for the fans of Germany.
Germany 2 ~ Poland 0.

Both German goals were scored by Lukas Podolski who was born in Poland.



Quite a good looking fellow and very humble as well.
He didn't celebrate his own goals in the normal fashion.
Instead he showed respect for his native country and cooled off the normal antics.

__________________
The sands of time past keep shifting according to how we remember or forget or refashion it in hindsight, which is no sight at all.
Kajal Basu

Laugh-O-Matic

^That's what I think too. Nice of him to wear the Polish jersey.
What was the point of bringing in Kuranyi for Klose in the 91st minute?

Sad match between France and Romania. I turned it off just 5 minutes before half time. Hopefully, Oranje vs Azzurri should be a treat.

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

Strange Famous

Germany played pretty well. Didnt catch the France game cos I was at work. Croatia looked nice and tidy but a bit toothless. Austria are the weakest team in the whole thing and they should have put them away a lot more easily.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Laugh-O-Matic

^You didn't miss much. Boring game.

__________________
How you bore me, Florrie,
With those eyes of vacant blue;
You'll be very sorry, Florrie
If I marry you.
Though I'm easy-goin', Florrie,
This I swear is true,
I'll throw you down a quarry, Florrie,
If I marry you. - Saki.

highthief

Great, great game by the Oranje! They decimated Italy ... is Total Football back?

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

thats more like it, wonderful game

I think Italy can come out of it pretty upbeat, even though it was a heavy loss.

The first goal was an absolute shocker of a decision... and then two pieces of absolute magic produced goals 20 seconds after Italy thought that they had scored.

But Italy kept possession well for long periods, they just need to get men up to support Luca Toni more quickly, and they probably need to be a bit more solid at the back - but to be fair, one goal was offside, and the other two - there is probably nothing any team in the world could have done about either of them.

EDIT - and Holland looked strong. But you dont often see a Dutch team that doesnt know how to pass the ball. The key is sticking together as a team. Van Bronkhurst was magnificent tonight, and I thought the big lad in centre mid a very decent game as well... if you add Van Persie and Robben to that mix, they are going to be a threat for anyone.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

MexicanOnABike

it was never offside. if you look close enough, an italian player is behind the goal making it NOT offside. great game for sure! i missed the end, what was the final score?

__________________

- Movie Reviews - Ratings-

highthief

How much are Italy going to miss Cannavaro? A great deal I'd say ...

Glad to see Holland do the business but Italy probably should have scored a couple themselves late in the game so they need to firm up back there. Not convinced by Ouijer, who let Toni get away from him more than once, and Boulharouz who was inconsistent.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Strange Famous

definite offside Nistelrooy himself knew he was offside.

I guess any team in the world is going to miss a defender of Cannavaro's class.

It was just good to see a game between two teams playing football in the right way and at such a high standard.

The Dutch second and third are two of the great all time international goals... the first one especially. From a clearance off the line to a goal in 19 seconds and virtually all one touch football - simply magnificent and unanswerable.

Del Pierro made a difference for Italy in the second half and I think they arent out of it - France vs Italy game is now a must win for both teams - because you have to assume Holland will beat Romania.

But I dont see Italy were decimated. Van Der Sar pulled off a couple of great saves and van Bronkhurst cleared off the line - Italy did product chances and the expected defensive frailty's were on show a little bit, but Italy also looked vulnerable at times. The Dutch simply executed a bit better, and produced two very special goals.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

highthief

Del Piero came on after about 65 minutes - and it was only in the last 25 that Italy were starting to produce chances. No matter how you want to slice it, 3-0 is getting decimated. Italy were unprepared for the Dutch counters.

Having said that, France looked so awful I'd still pick the Azzuri to get in ahead of Les Bleus (which sounds weird when you translate that into English, but you know what I mean).

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

snowy

I am disappointed to say I saw nothing but highlights from the match between the Netherlands and Italy; I had to work.

Whether anyone here realizes it or not, this was a grudge match; the Dutch had a great compulsion to win against Italy after losing in the Euro 2000 semifinals to them--an especially bitter loss considering that the Dutch were the half-hosts. I'm glad to see the Dutch were vindicated today, and cleaned the floor with Italy.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau