Euro 2004

[G-O-D]

Nice game for Tudor. He scored an own goal, got a yellow card, and made a sloppy back pass that allowed France to score.

[Herr Matzat]

still no ivan, i need to go to portugal and hit that coach

[Turbo Yannis]

Henry and Desiallly have been been utter shite tonight, with the exception of Henry's "offside" run :/

[Whisper]

The draw is pretty much perfect for us so I hope it stays like this. 2-2 would mean France can still go out and we only need a draw with Croatia to qualify.

Although Greece are playing well i'd still prefer them over Spain/Portugal since Greece are playing above themselves in that they probably cant play any better than they are doing. IMO theres no way they can keep that going forever. Spain/Portugal on the other hand, can both turn on world class performances in one off games which makes them potentially far more dangerous than Greece.

As far as the win earlier goes, the performance was poor but the result was what really mattered. I personally didn't think any individual performances stood out. Rooney played well but the midfield were poor and Owen flat out sucks at the moment. I hope Sven notices that every time Vassell comes on he sparks some life into the game.

[botchedpiledriver]

We only need a draw now, going into the Croatia game. That should be pretty easy, but then again, nothing is easy when it comes to England.

[Herr Matzat]

Henry and Desiallly have been been utter shite tonight, with the exception of Henry's "offside" run :/

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i am not shure if that was offside, besides, if thewissel haddent gon several seconds early er i bet thes people would not jsut have let him go.

Although Greece are playing well i'd still prefer them over Spain/Portugal since Greece are playing above themselves in that they probably cant play any better than they are doing. IMO theres no way they can keep that going forever. right]

read their coaches biografy, he puled by fare bigger suprises like winning the german league with a team that just came out of second devision, that took him to hold something together for over a year. - The deal with greece is that they hated each other, he made them a team, don´t forget that this "going on forever" already includes them winning their qualification group and beating spain twice (if i remember it corectly, i am not 100% shure) - i did not predict them as winner just for lucks matter, even if i know that they are somewhat of a underdog.

[fineintent]

I see Vassell as a final 1/3 of the game player - when people are tired he sprints past them. He's good at it, and when he's started for England he hasn't been too great. Also remember his club form isn't great. But for those 30 minutes he's fantastic.

Remember Owen's decent cross for Rooney's 1st goal? That and one by Ashley Cole were the only two decent crosses I saw - I'd leave Owen for the moment.

Off topic - I now have '3 - Cole' on my England away shirt. Must be the only one. Me and my friends got them done - I got Cole, and my mates Hargreaves, Heskey and King. A nice break from the norm I think, did get some stick in the pub though...

[Herr Matzat]

Could be an entertaining last game day, even switzerland could do it and england can´t get the ref´s that good 3 games in a row, let´s see how they can hold up if they have to play on their own.

[G-O-D]

How the hell did Mornar miss from three yards out?!

Looks like France still has some luck.

[Big Red Fury]

Damn Trezeguet and that handball, damn him to hell!

[Whisper]

read their coaches biografy, he puled by fare bigger suprises like winning the german league with a team that just came out of second devision, that took him to hold something together for over a year. - The deal with greece is that they hated each other, he made them a team, don´t forget that this "going on forever" already includes them winning their qualification group and beating spain twice (if i remember it corectly, i am not 100% shure) - i did not predict them as winner just for lucks matter, even if i know that they are somewhat of a underdog.

As far as beating Spain in qualifying, we are talking about Spain remember. MASSIVE underacheivers who hardly ever manage to put a consistent run together. My point was simply that Spain can produce one-off fantastic performances whereas Greece perform at a consistent level reguarly. I'd rather play Greece because you know what you're gonna get from them, whereas with Spain you can never be sure making them more dangerous in a one-off match situation such as the knockout stages. Like I said, Greece are playing above themselves and make a good unit, but they are beatable. Spain however, if they play at their very best, are maybe not.

[botchedpiledriver]

I'm glad Mornor did miss, we would be in the shit if he would have scored. Croatia would have gone second, and we would of HAD to win.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

God Maztat your such a moron

Stop saying the England/France game sucked when it is by far the best game of the tourniment, simply because it was the biggest and had the most emotion in my opinion. Also how the hell are England playing awful football? I admit they are over rated(Well I think so) but they are far from awful. Today they played very well, still nowhere near good enough. I'll agree with Maztat that they cant come close to winning with this style of football.

Another poor game for Beckham if you ask me. He isn't even seeming to be trying in these match's. Will they never start Vassel? He came on and did brilliant. I also still stick to my word, Rooney is over rated. The first was an okay goal, good from Beckham and Owen. Second was all thanks to super Vassel with his determation to win the ball.

Croatia, well lets see. If they play the whole game against England like they did in the second half today, they will win easily. Yeah France played poor in the second half, but god did Croatia take it to them. They deserved to win if you ask me.

A good day of football again. We see the two worst misses of the tourniment(Gallas header and that Croatia guy at the end). England/Croatia is going to be such a big game if you ask me, I cant wait to see it.

Onto something else, Totti is banned for three games! This is such a bitch. I am dreading tomorrow without this guy because he is so damn great. We will have to play amazing football and Traptonni needs to bring in Gattuso for Totti. Looking to be a huge day tomorrow thats for sure.

Oh I also just realised Totti comes back for the semis if we make it. I worked it out that could be the game that Italy meet England if it all goes that way, which would be a huge game for his return.

Edited June 17, 2004 by JohnnyPerfect

[Farmer Reil]

Matzat hates anything other people like. He's always the same, wether it's football or computer games. Anything the majority of EWBers like, Matzat despises.

[Summers]

Maztat comes across as even more retarded every time he posts. He has the worst football opinions (when it comes to England) there is. He can't admit that we deserve to win games, oh well.

Owen is still playing shite, Beckham's playing below his level, and King performed better than Terry.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Seriously, there were only four players out there that actually gave a shit; Lampard and Gerrard like always, Rooney like always, and Darius Vassell, who really should be starting every game.

I thought besides his goal, Gerrard was pretty poor today. It's strange, because he played so damn good before the tournament for Liverpool, and now he's kinda subdued. But everyone else is correct. Darius Vassell should play EVERY game, hell yes. I said it before - when he's on the pitch, they get the attacking edge they need. England have weaknesses that won't be strengthened by Sven's tactics (let's face it, he's a nice guy and he can get us results, but we can struggle and even lose it just as easy), so they need to go with the strengths they got - namely, Rooney and Vassell. Owen's just been poor so far. He doesn't look to be in it.

As for the France/Croatia game... part of me wanted Croatia to win, just to fuck the French over Yet it was good it ended in a draw. Makes it easier for us to qualify. And hey, it's not convincing, but sometimes you need a little bit of good fortune to send you through. Now if Switzerland can to the unthinkable and upset France (which, let's face it, CAN happen if France play like that again), then that would rule. As long as England beat Croatia of course, which - full credit to Croatia, for they aren't difficult to beat - can be done if they play their cards right.

The Switzerland-England game, while not perfect, was good for me. England showed some flawes that can be exposed, as they looked a little unconfident or maybe just fright at possibly losing it, which is not going to be good. But, we scored and then it became more comfortable. I think our major problem is the midfield if anything. Once we had Vassell on, Rooney had someone who worked for him, rather than Owen who relies on others to service him. And the defence was solid enough to hold everyone. It's the midfield that's our major problem. Gerrard wasn't as good as he could be, but that can change. Beckham has been alright, but a little subdued if anything, Scholes is looking a little worn down and seems to be forcing it out of him, and Lampard has done alright, but something between them all doesn't seem to work right. They seem to not gel well, because their talent indicate that they could do so much better as a group. Yet, they struggle.

Still, we won, so I can't complain. I just hope England do as well as possible. To win would be great, if we can keep it going.

Personally, I would rather play Spain than Greece. Greece are doing really well, and we had difficulty beating them in qualifiers, so god knows what they'll be like now. Although it might be better to play them now, because they could get stronger as the tournament goes on. But with Spain, we have a good record against them. Spain are easier to bring down. They have high expectations, whereas Greece play with a underdog mentality, and that'll make it harder to beat them.

Although the way Portugal have played, it'd be best to play them. At least we can study how to defeat them and then do so.

Onto something else, Totti is banned for three games! This is such a bitch. I am dreading tomorrow without this guy because he is so damn great. We will have to play amazing football and Traptonni needs to bring in Gattuso for Totti. Looking to be a huge day tomorrow thats for sure.

Oh I also just realised Totti comes back for the semis if we make it. I worked it out that could be the game that Italy meet England if it all goes that way, which would be a huge game for his return.

And you said Italy would win

But Totti should have been banned for longer personally. Spitting on a player is just pathetic. 3 games? If that was an England player, he'd get a worse ban. It's pathetic.

[Summers]

If it was an England player - he'd have been kicked out of the tournament and fined.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Yeah while I like Totti a lot I do agree he maybe should of been banned for longer, but oh well I'm glad he isn't. I still think we can do well it's just it's going to be so hard with the guy as he is a huge player to the side. Just imagine England loosing Beckham or Cambell, it would be a huge loss.

I also agree with something Alan Hansen said about Sol being the best player of the tourni so far. It is true and after the game today he said a few quick words and he is such a nice guy. He doesn't chat shit like most players either. He simply admitted they wern't through yet, while all the other players seemed to think they were. I realised Sol is a good guy today

[Big Red Fury]

Yeah while I like Totti a lot I do agree he maybe should of been banned for longer, but oh well I'm glad he isn't. I still think we can do well it's just it's going to be so hard with the guy as he is a huge player to the side. Just imagine England loosing Beckham or Cambell, it would be a huge loss.

I also agree with something Alan Hansen said about Sol being the best player of the tourni so far. It is true and after the game today he said a few quick words and he is such a nice guy. He doesn't chat shit like most players either. He simply admitted they wern't through yet, while all the other players seemed to think they were. I realised Sol is a good guy today 

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Are you being serious, because from my vantage the player of the tournament so far has been (and as a French hater it pains me to say this) Zidane easily. That touch onto Gallas was ridiculous.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Tell me a single thing that Cambell has done wrong? Yeah Zidane hasn't done anything wrong, but if it wasn't for Cambell then England would have more than likely lost by a lot more to France. Cambell may not have skill but that doesn't matter, he is a pure rock in defence and has not made ONE mistake as of yet. So therefor he is my player of the touriment so far.