Official EURO 2008 Thread

[Crybaby Bunting]

That was awesome.

Whenever you see conference league refs crossed with martial arts style kicks and two technically awesome teams you get something like that.

Lets hope Deco's still in the Portugal squad

[The Quasi Juice]

Midfielder Ovidiu Petre has been forced to withdraw from Romania's UEFA EURO 2008™ squad after suffering a knee injury while playing volleyball in Turkey.

Leisure accident

The FC Steaua Bucureşti player was one of 18 players who, along with their families, met up for a pre-tournament relaxation and training camp in Belek, Turkey, this week. He damaged cartilage in his right knee while playing volleyball, however, and has been forced to pull out of the 26-man provisional squad for the finals. Romania coach Victor Piţurcă has yet to decide whether he will name a replacement for Petre, but will make an official announcement when the full selection meet up on Thursday at the National Football Centre in Mogosaia. The 26-year-old Petre played four times in qualifying and usually operates as a defensive midfielder.

Unlucky Romania.

Panathinaikos FC winger Sotiris Ninis made a dream debut as Greece beat Cyprus in a UEFA EURO 2008™ warm-up.

Early impression

The 18-year-old, deployed by coach Otto Rehhagel behind the two strikers, became his country's youngest goalscorer within five minutes of making his first appearance. Konstantinos Katsouranis doubled the margin of victory after 59 minutes, converting a penalty in his home city of Patras.

But today it was announced Ninis won't be called up, kinda odd.

[The Quasi Juice]

Breaking (well..) news:

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Amelia, De Sanctis

Defence: Barzagli, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso, Materazzi, Panucci, Zambrotta

Midfield: Ambrosini, Gattuso, Aquilani, Camoranesi, De Rossi, Perrotta, Montolivo, Pirlo

Attack: Toni, Borriello, Del Piero, Di Natale, Quagliarella, Cassano

24 men, 1 has to go. I'm saying Borriello.

[METALMAN]

I'm a bit out of touch with Italian football right now, but why's Nesta not in the team? He's still playing really well for AC Milan at 32.

[The Quasi Juice]

I'm a bit out of touch with Italian football right now, but why's Nesta not in the team? He's still playing really well for AC Milan at 32.

Good question actually. I think he stopped international football, just like Totti.

[therockbox]

I don't think he ever actually retired, he asked not to be picked for a game and then hasn't been called up since.

[Colossus]

Goalkeppers: Ricardo (Betis, Esp), Quim (Benfica) e Rui Patrício (Sporting).

Defence: Bosingwa (FC Porto), Miguel (Valência, Esp), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea, Ing), Pepe (Real Madrid, Esp), Bruno Alves (FC Porto), Fernando Meira (Estugarda, Ale), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea, Ing) e Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista).

Midfield: Petit (Benfica), Miguel Veloso (Sporting), João Moutinho (Sporting), Deco (FC Barcelona, Esp) e Raul Meireles (FC Porto).

Attack: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Ing), Simão (Atlético de Madrid, Esp), Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto), Nani (Manchester United, Ing), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen, Ale) e Hélder Postiga (Panathinaikos, Gre).

Well, Maniche not being is the biggest surprise.

Starting 11:

Quim

Bosingwa

Pepe

Carvalho

Ribeiro

Moutinho

Meireles

Deco

Simão / Quaresma / Nani

Robaldo

Gomes

Should be something like this, except Ricardo is probably starting

[britneyspearsisgod]

I set up a mini-league on the Metro.co.uk European Championship Fantasy Football game if anyone fancies having a go at it. The league is "METRO SuperLiga" and the password is "schlongx".

METRO FREE Fantasy Euro Championship Football Game

[The Quasi Juice]

Holland 3 - 0 Ukraine

- Kuyt

- Huntelaar

- Babel

Good result, without Van Persie, Sneijder, Van Nistelrooy, Robben etc. Greece lost against Hungary, oi oi.

Edited May 24, 2008 by Lt. Quasi

[Dan]

Go Sweden! ¬.¬

Edited May 26, 2008 by RingysTaintLickerDan

[Baddar]

Roxanne McKee with the shades on, anyone?

[brenchill]

Good shout. It does actually look like her.

Sorry to drag this up but I haven't been in the topic for awhile...

Well, its debatable. I'd say there's plenty of people who would say Clichy was better than Evra, and vice versa - and probably from all camps as opposed to Man Utd fans + people who like Man Utd more than Arsenal vs. Arsenal fans + people who like Arsenal more than Man Utd.

Personally, I think Clichy deserves it. And it's a shame he didn't called up.

But to say there's no way Clichy should be ahead of Evra in any team is laughable to be fair.

Laughable? You said it was debatable!

[IAceI]

They both had great seasons. Personally I thought Evra stood out a bit more towards the end, but Clichy had a fantastic season all round and I think I'd probably take him, just, and I bet theirs plenty of teams and systems that would prefer a Clichy to an Evra.

So yeah. It's debatable who was the best. I can see why people think Clichy was better and why Evra was better. I can see why people would want Evra, and I can see why people would want Clichy. You said Clichy wouldn't be ahead of Evra in any team, which is a bold statement to make - and as far as I'm concerned - laughable.

So please - show me a point in time where I was wrong with anything I said? As far as I'm concerned it makes perfect sense, and now we've had to drag this up from a few pages back for a completely trivial and pointless reason - when really, there wasn't any need?

It's debatable who was the best and who should be in a specific team.

It's laughable to say Evra would be ahead of Clichy in any team.

Edited May 26, 2008 by IAceI

[therockbox]

As long as we all agree that John Arne Riise is the finest left back in the Premier League.

[brenchill]

They both had great seasons. Personally I thought Evra stood out a bit more towards the end, but Clichy had a fantastic season all round and I think I'd probably take him, just, and I bet theirs plenty of teams and systems that would prefer a Clichy to an Evra.

So yeah. It's debatable who was the best. I can see why people think Clichy was better and why Evra was better. I can see why people would want Evra, and I can see why people would want Clichy. You said Clichy wouldn't be ahead of Evra in any team, which is a bold statement to make - and as far as I'm concerned - laughable.

So please - show me a point in time where I was wrong with anything I said? As far as I'm concerned it makes perfect sense, and now we've had to drag this up from a few pages back for a completely trivial and pointless reason - when really, there wasn't any need?

It's debatable who was the best and who should be in a specific team.

It's laughable to say Evra would be ahead of Clichy in any team.

Well I personally see Evra as a better player than Clichy. It's not "laughable" it's just my own opinion. Calling someones opinion "laughable" is smug and patronising. I actually agree with some of your points in the forum but your five pargraph long retorts trashing everyones opinions are getting boring to be fair.

[IAceI]

I am smug and patronising - so I guess it's alright for me.

[9 to 5]

As long as we all agree that John Arne Riise is the finest left back in the Premier League.

You sold the best left back in the league. >_>

[therockbox]

Warnock was too big for us, he had to move

[9 to 5]

At least you got a ton of cash for him to help cushion the blow.

[therockbox]

And we had Traore as well, although he eventually outgrew us to

Football isn't fair.

Edited May 28, 2008 by therockbox