Euro 2008!
 

2 days to go for the Euro 2008, to be held in Austria and Switzerland. :thumbsup: 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? :)

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

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.

As always, GO ORANJE!!

:thumbsup:

Hell yeah!

:hyper:

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.

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.

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. :shakehead:

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.

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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.

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.

%&^*

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


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

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

Is your friend.

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.:no:

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

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.

@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 ;)

Portugal looked ok, Czech Republic were pretty disappointing.

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 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.

^I'll try them all out. Thanks!

Germany fan here. :D 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. :thumbsup:

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

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

http://www.fussballportal.de/wm-2006...s_podolski.jpg

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.

^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. :grumpy: I turned it off just 5 minutes before half time. Hopefully, Oranje vs Azzurri should be a treat.

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.

^You didn't miss much. Boring game.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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).

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.

I had no idea about the grudge. I disliked Italy for the fact that they beat Germany in the WC.

Spain played well, hat trick by Villa. the Greece vs Sweden match is a tad frustrating, many goals off target and the like.

Also, Christian Wilhelmsson got kicked in the tush by a Greek, and Ibrahimovic got it in the nuts. ::oogle:

Spain looked really good - Villa and Torres really clicked. Iniesta, Puyol, Fabregas and Senna also played well. Could this be the year they ditch their underperforming label?

Turkey - Switzerland

farcical first half and game probably should have been called off. Turkey deserved to win because they were the ony team trying to play football... it was entertaining stuff I suppose, but two poor teams on the night.

Loved the first Swiss goal but I think the Czechs will feel good about getting past Turkey after a good performance against the Portuguese.

Well, the rain created some pretty shit conditions... not that it's any excuse, but talk about weighing down the game. Looked like they were all on a giant Slip-n-Slide or something.

Nice last-minute goal by Turkey, though... I was sure it was going to be a tie. And what was up with the Turkish guy bleeding from a head-wound, getting hauled off the pitch, and then just going right back out with a bandage wrap? Pretty funny/amazing, not sure which.

I thought it was a great game! It was just a bit weird to watch the ball come to a stop whenever it touched the ground because of the rain. KEEP on playing!!

hopefully the games tomorrow will be great.

Croatia seem to be pretty confident and gutsy about playing against Germany. And everyone's raving about Modric, so they might get a goal if they're incredibly lucky, but I think Germans own the game tonight :thumbsup:

Poland will probably beat Austria. :expressionless:

Oh, it is so good to be around people that are enjoying the Cup matches. I live in a wilderness of non-football loving Philistines.


I am not cheering for any specific team, I don't have any loyalties, I am only hoping for damn fine games to be played.

I rarely have the opportunity to watch a match, so I know nothing of histories, rivalries or major players.

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge.

You mean the United States? :lol:

I think that's what is good about the Euros - overall, the skill level is higher than at the World Cup, so you do get to see some great action. The goals scored by Podolski for Germany, Snejder for Holland, Villa for Spain and Ibramhimovic for Sweden have been fantastic, and some of the passing and counter-attacks sublime.

Germany will destroy Croatia.

What, again? Right after Poland, too. And Austria is involved. I remember this sequence of events from history somewhere ...

You're pretty funny for a scouse :p

We're known as a jovial and friendly people who speak a vaguely Indo-European dialect.

Boy was I wrong.

Ballack looked like a pure bum on the pitch.

you'll struggle to see a worse decision this tournament than that from Howard Webb...

Well... I watched the matches today and... whats up with germany? Could they have played any worse? Not that I'm a really big fan, I'd just like to see them reaching the quarters cause somehow theres a special thrill involved while watching my own nation play. Besides that I just wanna see some good football (not that greece-sweden crap).
Oh, and the referee from the Poland-Austria match did a really, REALLY bad job! Clear offside goal for poland, missed to give a penalty kick to austria (yeah, he gave one in the added time, but probably just because he had a guilty consience. That was not necessary) It should have been 2-0 for Austria. At least 1-0
And I would like to add my favourite Lukas Podolski quote:
"Football is like chess without dice!" ;)

I only wish I could make my face look like this --> :mad: WTF was going on with them? Marcell Jansen screwed it all up!

@guccilvr> Forget Ballack. Klose (who is The Invisible Man on field), Gomez and Metzelder were playing one hell of a miserable game! Gah, if only I could out into words how badly the Germans played yesterday. *Shakes fist*

Right, they played like Blackburn Rovers, if you could take Croatia as one of the high profile clubs. And talk about the card fest in the last few minutes. :sad: Bastian Schweinsteiger did try to create some chances and stirred up the game a bit, and looked very desirable to me for some reason. Must be the funky hairdo.

Anyone noticed that they played 7 Nations Army by The White Stripes?

BTW, EA sports says Portugal will win :shakehead:


Good one :thumbsup:

yeah all the color at the end of the Germany game was a bit annoying. Not that it wasn't deserved, but yeah it's annoying.

I tend to agree with EA sports on this one. After all, Portugal does have the "cheater" Ronaldo who you know.. really has no skill other than winking :rolleyes:

I detect sarcasm! :grumpy: :)
Looks like Big Phil's been brainwashing Ronaldo to leave ManU. At 180,000+ per week, who wouldn't? :no:

The Italy vs Romania is a decent game so far. Plenty of chances and shots on target for both sides. Toni's was was disallowed due to offside. I'll be missing the Oranje vs Les Bleus match tonight, but hopefully Henry'll work some of his magic. :thumbsup:

Wow, I can't believe the Dutch scored only 9 minutes in. Amazing.

Yes, I live in the United States. It gets worse.
I live in the Southern United States that only acknowledges American football, baseball and basketball as 'real sports'.
It is a sign when the networks I watch the matches play more European ones than any from the MLS.

You should consider relocating to the Pacific Northwest...soccer is incredibly popular here. During the last World Cup many bars here opened early so that people could watch the matches with others despite the time difference.:thumbsup:

Yeah, that Dirk Kuyt - a lot of fans give him stick at Liverpool but I thnk he is really a quality player. And his hard work gave him 2 assists in the first game and a goal in this one.

Oh, my! Arjen Robben - what an unbelievable goal! With him and Van Persie in form coming off the bench, the Dutch really have some depth.

Wow, what a game! I can't believe it. Sneijder's goal during stoppage time just blew my mind. And Robben's goal seemed so unlikely--the angle was so strange--but well done. And he set up that shot for van Persie so nicely.

I'm sooo happy my team will be moving on, and they look so sharp; I hope they continue to play so well.

Another great counter attacking perfromance from the Dutch

France will look at the game and see that they did a lot of things right and made chances, but the Dutch team is just full of goals.

I havent seen a lot of him before, but the lad with the no 10 Jersey who plays inside left, Schnejder, is a hell of a player... lovely finish for the 4th goal, and he looked pure class in both games so far - he's a very good player.

The Dutch defence still looks like they can be vulnerable, but when they have so much going forward its gonna take a big performance from someone to beat them.


The thing about Robben is he just gets his head down and runs at people, and he has pace and good close control, and that always makes him a threat.

His attitude and injury proneness have always be an issue, but when he is full stride he's a dangerous player, especially against an ageing defence when the game is breaking down.

It was a good delivery to set up Van Persie, but to be honest Gallas made it pretty easy for him by deciding to stand still on the penalty spot rather than closing the gap between the keeper and the winger.

I figured that the Northwest and Northeast were the places to go to find a fellow fan base, at least of MLS teams.
I have considered moving to the Northwest since high school, dreaming of attending Reed.

During the World Cup my boss was ever so kind to permit me to watch the games while I worked. That's a great favour for a line cook.

These last two days of games have been incredible. Heck, I do have some Dutch friends and there seems to be a nice representation here, so I shall cheer for Oranje!

I wish I had caught that match, my friends told me it was a beauty.

Italy, France and Germany, who were excellent at the WC 06 are awful now. :(

Hey! Don't forejudge germany ;) theres still one game coming up against austria, so nothings lost yet. They know they can do better (lets just hope they will:paranoid: )
France-Oranje really was a beauty. Best game I've seen in this tournament. Looks like the Dutch could really make it (my new favourite:thumbsup: )

To be honest, although France were not great against Romania, they didnt play badly against Netherlands.

They had a 50/50 penalty shout and Henry missed a sitter - a couple of 50/50's gone the other way and the game would have had a different result... was a great game though.

France's problem is at the back... Thurame looked old and Gallas looked out of position, Makele's powers are failing... and they have lost their leader and havent quite replaced him yet.

Italy are also missing most of their first choice back 4... and lets not forget that Romania are a very tidy and good footballing team, they arent mugs.

Its a classic group of death, and really there's no shame in any team in that group losing to any other. Romania are in the top 20 teams in the world, and its really not exactly a shock to see them get a result against anyone.

The same with Croatia. People were making out that the Croats beating Germany was a huge shock... Croatia are a very good team, full of team spirit and every player confident on the ball, lead by a fantastic manager... Germany were favourites, but losing to Croatia is not exactly a shock result for any team in the world.

__

Saying, that I have been impressed with Netherlands.

The number 2 impresses me, he's a bit of a big lummux, but he gets stuck in and shows courage and heart; world class kepper, Nistelrooy has lead the line brilliantly, van der Baart looks a good player, and the big guy who plays defensive midfield looks very effective. van Bronkhurst might not be the most solid defender in the world, but he is undoubted world class, and from what I have seen Schnejder looks like a wonderful player. Not just his goals, but the quick and neat passes he plays countless times, wonderful first touch, wonderful confidence on the ball... very good player, dont know how come Ive never seen him play before!

Other than defensive mistakes (and 3 of the Dutch goals were the result of poor French defending), they key was the way the Dutch controlled the pace of the game. They all pass the ball well. And finally it looks like they have a side that is united and playing together.

I think the much bigger shock was seeing none of the players living up to their potential. Almost everyone in the german team (excepting Phillip Lahm) did a very bad Job. But they seem pretty confident to rise up again and beat austria to make the quarters.:)

well played Turkey.

They arent gonna win the thing, but they are a good footballing team who play the game the right way. Great team spirit to come back tonight.

What a crazy finish to a match! And what a blunder by Cech ... for those who suggest he's better than Buffon, just watch the replay. Either catch it or punch it away!

And nice to see the Swiss get a win, too. The Portuguese don't really have the depth to field a B team and get away with it. Without Deco, Ronaldo, Simao, Gomes et al, they looked pretty ordinary.

Scholari was probably benching the top players so that they'll be in good shape for the more crucial matches

@highthief: I'm with you on that one. Buffon is far better than Cech, that penalty save against Romania was classic. I don't think Cech would have saved it. Casillas is excellent too, though he hasn't been in danger on the field so far.

Germany has a better lineup, Podolski will be playing, along with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Tim Borowski. Predictably, Gomez has been dropped. I saw some of the World Cup videos, Germany really did play a wonderful game. Klose and Podolski backup each other better than anyone else. Let's hope Klose plays against Austria like did before.

Does anyone have a clip of Hitzlsperger speaking in English? I want to hear his peculiar accent. :p

@StrangeFamous: The football coverage here is abysmal, just the EPL/BPL, UEFA and qualifiers, and a few of the La Liga matches (Madrid and Barca... Valencia to an extent). It's cricket, cricket, cricket. And cricket. So I always assumed that Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, France, England, Argentina and Netherlands are the big guns of football. And since many players from these countries (not many from Italy) play for clubs in England, I was more familiar with them.

It would appear that Total Football is indeed back..


Anyway.. bravo to the Turks. I wonder though, if they had fallen behind 3-0 if they would have had the same spirit?

Inside I was happy watching Cech have a rough go of it. Fuck Chelski :p
It was a pretty wild finish, I certainly know that.

this is what I've gathered so far.

If Poland beat Croatia, and Austria beat Germany by 3-4 goals, Poles qualify, right? If the worst case scenario, what would the Austrians need to qualify?

Miss of the decade in the first half!

Gomez! :mad: :mad:

I felt sorry for France, watching them loose miserably to Italy.

Without a serious retool, bet France don't qualify for the next World Cup. Thuram and Makelele just announced their retirement, Viera, Trez and Henry can't be far behind.

france-italy was a dismal match for anyone who is a fan of the french team.
by which i mean that i found it dismal.
fortunately, the evening held other sporting events in store which cheered me up. (yay celtics)

btw the french press, across the board, is calling for domenach's head over this performance. i don't blame them. poor selections, poor decisions, and an apparent inability to motivate the players he did select. he's history.

I couldn't watch any of the games last night because mandy and I were going over the menu for the wedding. The football had to come second.

I was very happy to see the Netherlands bench beat Romania, and the French got their asses handed to them. I was, however, looking forward to a Netherlands - Germany final but my prediction is that they'll meet in the semi's.

As always, Go Oranje!

I love you for believing that Germany could make it to the semi's/finals. :thumbsup:


Let's hope they beat Portugal first. :grumpy:

I have no love for Portugal, but they do look the better side than Germany - faster, more skilled, better coached. I'd rather the Germans win, but short of breaking Ronaldo's and Deco's legs, I'm not sure they've got enough in their locker.

I have to agree. Portugal is clicking. The Germans are a bit weak. Also, doesn't the German coach have a sideline ban for this game?? That has to be a huge distraction for the Germans. I'll take Portugal 2-0 with Ronaldo scoring in the second half.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3...nigoa3lbs5.jpg

Germany 3-2 Portugal. WHAT A SPECTACULAR GAME! :thumbsup:

@guccilvr: Your boy Ronaldo fell down, paused and then started moaning his soul out, clutching his leg. I call cry baby.

Deco, played well, so did Posinga and Nani. Great saves by Ricardo. One of the best matches so far, apart from the Turkey vs CR one.
And from the German side, hats off to Lehmann, Lahm and Schweinsteiger, heck the whole team, I love 'em! Poldi was invisible for most of the game though, and during his long range attempt, he did look a bit peaky.
<BR>

Wow what a match!
Of the five goals I think four were off headers.

Glad Germany won, although it did me no good in my fantasy footy pool as I figured Portugal would take it - my half-German bride, however, is snickering at me, as she had a boatload of Germans in her line up.

I was glad to see the Germans win this one; it will make the semis much more interesting to me.

Winning games they dont deserve to is what the Germans do and have done for the last 40 years.

Portugal were never in it

Why would you say that? They bossed Portugal around and took advantage of their physical superiority.

They were worthy winners today.

Huh? I wouldn't know about the older games, but Germany have been playing well since the last World Cup. As hightheif said, they did make the best of the current situation and held up well under pressure since they were facing the match favorites. I've been supporting them only since 2002, and I wouldn't if they were a bunch of cheats. They have been more or less consistent though they never seem to make it to the finals. :(

Germany exceeded my expectations in yesterdays match (except for flaws in defense), they hardly let Ronaldo get the ball. Good to see Klose coming back on form. That goal was more like the ones he always scores. :)

@highthief: I bet on Germany in the JVC predictor :thumbsup:

GO SCHWEINSTEIGER!!! Last night, he was the MAN!!!

and the only reason i backed them last night, was cos i have very strong feelings of dislike for the Portugese team...they play dirty!!!

I LOVE THE NETHERLANDS...always have.

i would like a Netherlands vs Germany final..., i predicted that from the begining.

but a semi will do i guess...both teams deserve to at least go through to the semi, well, now Germany is there already but yeah...

last nights game was off the chain!!!

The Germans really took advantage of their height. They finally put together a match that made them look like.. well.. Germany.

Fucking Ronaldo. Such a talent.. and to recover that fast after rolling on the ground 3 times.. I don't know whether to love him or hate him. Guess I'll find my answer soon enough.

Nani sucked. He wasted golden opportunities.

I believe the name SCHWEINSTEIGER means "pig mounter" in German.

We can expect one hell of a game if it comes to that :) Agree with you on the cheating bit.

@highthief: Schwein means pig, but I didn't know Steiger meant mounter. :eek:

EDIT: Ok, I Googled it, looks like Pig Mounter and Pig Riser are some probable translations. Hog farmer is more practical though.

extra time just ended in the turkey-croatia match.
pretty amazing...and while i don't understand where the extra extra time came from, the turkish goal to tie was impressive.

into penalty.


a few minutes later: wow. turkey is through. they'll be missing a bunch of players against germany, but it'd be good to see germany loose to turkey, dont you think?

well, these Turkish boys just dont know when theyre beaten!

great game. a bit sloppy but the 2 x last minute goals made up for it.

Damn, that's 3 games in a row for literally last minute heroics for Turkey.

And it looks like Croatia has been taking lessons from England in how to take penalties!

Too bad - Bilic's team was looking pretty good for a while, but I think their lack of an out and out striker came back to bite them in the butt.

Now for the tasty weekend games - Holland-Russia and Spain-Italy!

Yeah, but "pig mounter" is funnier!

:thumbsup:

:orly:
I think it'd be good to see germany taking Turkey as an appetizer before the great dinner in the finale against Holland. *yamyamyam*:thumbsup:

Nah, seriously, I don't think they're loosing against Turkey. After the great game against Portugal theres no one left who could stop 'em except for Holland. Also the Turks are a far less experienced team than germany. You just have to watch out for them in the last minutes or they could turn the whole game upside down.