Starts in 2 days. First game - Portugal vs. Greece.

Go Portugal. ;)

There's little confidence left here in our national team. They lost twice the last week, 1-0 against Belgium, and 1-0 against Ireland. I know they were only friendly matches, but they made it perfectly clear that there is no chemistry in this team. It's also clear that with THIS coach we don't have hope that things will look up in the future, because one thing he seems afraid of, is make changes.

Lucky for us the Germans are in an even worse condition. They lost their friendy matches with 5-1 and 4-1 if i'm not mistaken. The only thing that can rescue us now is a sniperrifle. Someone needs to take out our coach, so that another one takes his place. ANYONE will do.

For me, the French are favorite, with the Italians and the Czechs as dangerous outsiders.

[ 06-10-2004, 06:42 AM: Message edited by: johnny ]

OK you'll think I'm crazy but I'm backing Latvia to win as unfortunatly Scotland are not competing. Simply because their underdogs and becuase Craig brown tipped them. GO LATVIA!

I have a bet on with my mates, and I got 5th pick and I chose the Dutch... I hope they will perform for the tournament, I'm sure they will.

I like the Dutch... I have always been Brazil and Netherlands... since this is Euro yeah I am for the Dutch! :D

Go Denmark.
Underestimated by the world. Overestimated by ourselves.

I hope you didn't bet too much money on them, they're not exactly what you call "a team". More like Ego Gallore.

Johnny- I saw the Dutch game against Ireland they were pretty poor and lets not forget it was an under strength Irish side. But I believe the Dutch will have a good Euro 2004 though, simply because they have so many good players, experienced players who I believe will deliver on the big occasion. One of my favorite players of all time is Philip Cocu. I just think he's an excellent player, very underated! I hear he's going back to PSV pity, Man U could have used him for a season or two. I've always liked the Dutch so I hope they do well...

Germany though are terrible at the moment, but they were before the last world cup and got to the final, they know how to play in Tournaments. In their recent friendlies as you mentioned they lost 5-1 against Romania, beat Switzerland 2-0(thought Germany were very lucky the Swiss were the better team) and lost 2-0 at home to Hungary. Not very impressive!

But as I always say to fans of the big national teams who aren't doing so well at the moment you could always be from Northern Ireland! We are so bad we didn't score a goal in ten matches! :eek:

Overall though I want Portugal to win I really like their style of football...

The only contenders are France and Italy. The spanish, dutch and portuguese all promise so much and deliver nothing.

Actually, I may well be cheering on England and Greece. They're to good to be major underdogs, but not good enough to be favourites. The kind of teams I preffer watching. ;)

That's not exactly true. Holland reached the semi's in the last three European tournaments, and the semi's in the worldcup in France, and the only reason they didn't get one or two championships out of those tournaments, is that they choke when it comes to penalty's. Out of all those matches they were eliminated, they didn't lose a single one, they failed miserably from the penaltyspot though.

Yeah, all 'great' achievements for a semi-decent footballing country.

Holland, however, have a collection of some absolutely fantastic footballers who don't deliver results which you would expect when putting players of that quality together. That's more what I meant when I talked about failing to deliver. Really, the players collectively have enough talent and skill to win the thing... but never seem to get everything working to actually get there.

Or maybe i'm just bitter after that astounding beating you gave us. ;)

You're right about that i suppose, there's always plenty of talent, except they hardly ever know how to turn things into a smooth operating team. The best team we ever had failed to win the worldcup in 1974, and that sums it up pretty much. They were a better team than the one that won the European championship in 1988. It's the same old story this tournament, plenty of talent, no teamspirit, and a coach with failure anxiety. He can't seem to make up his mind, now he even wants to bring back Frank de Boer, who hasn't played since the 1-0 loss in Glasgow, go figure. Pure panic.

I have no real high hopes we'll go far this time, but as long as we beat Germany it's fine with me. :D

Portugal give 1 1/1/2 ball. but I still bet on Portugal to win the match.

I think France or Germany may have a chance at the cup. But who knows Portugal may have a go since they are in home ground. anybody wanna bet Latvia win the cup? The pay is 256 to 1. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

And Hungary isn't even taking part in Euro 2004? Shows that good teams don't get to qualify. :D

Things aren't quite going as planned for the homeside right now. 2-0 Greece.

Crap!! oh Crap!! I can't believe this. Portugal Lost 1 - 2 to Greece. Arghhh.. there goes my money.

LOL How much did you bet ?

And Hungary isn't even taking part in Euro 2004? Shows that good teams don't get to qualify. :D </font>[/QUOTE]Grr, yeah it's all thanks to those Latvians! Bastards! [img]tongue.gif[/img] But as my cousin says it's probably a good thing that Hungary didn't qualify for the last world cup or this Euro 2004 since it'd be a national embarrassment to see the team play crap on the international stage. :D

Oh and I just have to say, hahaha! Gutted Portugal! :D

[ 06-12-2004, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

I think France and Italy probably have the best shot. Lot of offensive firepower.

England has a decent shot, but I think it really depends what kind of performances they get from Owen, Rooney and James. Owen's gotta play the way he did in '98, Rooney has to play the way Owen played in 98, and James has a lot of pressure. My money's still on France though.

True on France, but on Italy ???? You're probably right about Italy having the necessary firepower, except there's a difference between having it, and having the balls to play offensive football. And the latter is something Italy is not familiar with.

Very true johnny. I haven't watched that much Italy, but on paper they have it. We don't get that much soccer on this side of the pond, so I don't know how they play. Are they somewhat like Liverpool in the sense of not showing up?

Well, Spain just won 1-0 over Russia. Not very convincing: they missed 3 or 4 crosses which would have been sure goals. Vicente played really well though. Should have won by a much larger margin, IMO.

YEEESSSS!! Spain won. They could have won by more goals if Morientes have taken his chances. Good thing is that I recoup back my money. haha!

I'm not sure if the comparison with Liverpool holds any water, at least Italy wins something every now and then. :D

It's just that they rely on their defence very heavily. If they manage to score 1-0, they tend to fall back and defend that lead, and often enough they get away with it. But sometimes they fail to hold on to the lead, like against South Korea during the last worldcup. Italy was far superior on the Koreans, but their chickenshit mentality got the better of them that time. Instead of pushing forward and score 1 or 2 goals to stuff them away, they decided to lean on the 1-0 lead until the final whistle. We all know how that ended.

[ 06-12-2004, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

I hope you didn't bet too much money on them, they're not exactly what you call "a team". More like Ego Gallore. </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, a tenner [img]graemlins/help.gif[/img]

[ 06-12-2004, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: drew_jarvie ]

Greece 2-1 Portugal

[img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

Go the Dutch and England ... though I dont think either of them will win. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Poor Portugal, how bad must they feel :(

Hooray for Greece and Spain! :D

Boohoo for my sister's favourite team, Portugal. [img]tongue.gif[/img]


I hope all goes well with Latvia(sorry Vask :D ) and I hope that France will ultimately win.

Damn those Swiss and Croats, they actually managed to make me fall asleep. I just wish it would have lasted a little longer, because the game isn't over yet. How the hell did these two teams manage to get here anyway ?

Boring United vs. Dull City :rolleyes:

Yes, it's a 0 - 0 game. Luckily I'm currently playing Ragnarok Online to pass the time or else I'll be bored to death.

England is leading 1-0 after half time VS. France.
I am eager to see the 2nd one.

OH ENGLAND !!! What the hell just happened ?

YEAH!! THEY DID IT!

OH MY GOD!!!! Simply unbelievable! :D

GO FRANCE!!! :D

WOOOOHHHOOOOO!! France Win 2 - 1 !! Zinedine Zidane is GOD!!! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Haha!! Poor Beckham can't score from penalty.They could have gone on to win from there. What was Steven Gerard thinking? And why wasn't David James sent off for that challenge?

The French won, I hear? I wouldn't know, I was watching Lord of the Flies [img]tongue.gif[/img] . Well, good for France [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] . So are England totally out of it or do they still stay in?

Arghh... I've got like 20 people on MSN Messenger who like football complaining to me about how the French are complete a******s.... idiots :(

To make 2 goal in 3 extra minutes is SIMPLY AMAZING!

You're right, Kakero. Zidane really is God! :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I really hope France will once again win in as cool of a fasion as was in Euro 2000. :D The shame of 2002 is gone! :D

I wouldn't get too excited about France, they looked pretty helpless offensively. England's defence looks pretty solid, i think they'll be alright. This was dramatic though, one free kick and one penalty knocked England out. For the reast the French didn't come anywhere near the English goal.

Football can be a weird game sometimes.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!


France won!

Master Zidane I bow before you!

Who's Zidane? A French dude?

He is one of the most expensive football players in the world.

He's the one who shot both goals.

He is God. :D

This game almost gave me an heart attack...absolutely unbelievable...

And maybe France seemed poor offensivly, but they spent most of the second half in the english side. The defense there was tight and athletic (Campbell was amazing). We still managed to win.

Go France. [img]smile.gif[/img]

(And yes, Zidane is God)