Euro 2004

[Spee]

YAY!!! MY PREDICTIONS ARE FINALLY GOING RIGHT!!!!! B)

Portugal played their best here. I said they'd get this far, and they did (despite I wishes for England to win). And I said whoever won England/Portugal would win the tournament, and that may happen.

It's nice to get something out of this

Saying that, I'd like to see either Greece or the Czechs go through. Best of luck to them. However, Portugal must win for me to be right.

*SOMETHING IN PORTUGESE THAT CHEERS THEM ON*

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Don't you think you're hedging your bets a bit?

[Brock Lesnar]

Czechs will win it all. I can't wait till they destroy Greece. Portugal/Czech Republic should be good.

[Herr Matzat]

Czechs will win it all. I can't wait till they destroy Greece. Portugal/Czech Republic should be good.

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you mean like france did ?

[therockbox]

you mean like france did ?

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The Czechs have been the best team by far in the tournament, France were average at best.

This tournament has been full of under-performers. France, England, Italy, Holland (who didn't deserve to be in the Semi's), Germany, Spain. The only team that's really lived up to expectations are Portugal, although they were lucky in the group stages. I hope an 'underdog' (read: Czech Republic) uses this as an opportunity to win a big tournament, they've deserved it.

[Herr Matzat]

it looks like its netwet no more

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I'll cry if Nedved is injured badly and cant start the season for Juve. Let's pray Czech win tonight and Nedved is fine for the final.

I was busy sorting my room out so only just see some highlights at halftime and Czech look better so far. Looking forward to this second half.

[Herr Matzat]

i don´t think Greece will be able to stand tis another 30 minutes

just to remind everyone, i hate silvergoal

i think greece seems pritty gased, it´s only a matter of time untill chez scores one, it´s up to greece to make this time 30 Minutes, Greeces goaly was fare better than Chezs goaly so they might have a slight advantage there.

Portugal is lauging at the moment, one day earlyer and 30 minutes less + who ever wins this one will be without a key player in the final (asuming nedved won´t be able to play)

Edited July 1, 2004 by Michael Matzat

[fineintent]

This match is boring, I miss Nedved...

Hopefully the Czechs go through - Portugal vs Czechs should be awesome, Figo and Ronaldo were amazing the other night.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

i don´t think Greece will be able to stand tis another 30 minutes

just to remind everyone, i hate silvergoal

i think greece seems pritty gased, it´s only a matter of time untill chez scores one, it´s up to greece to make this time 30 Minutes, Greeces goaly was fare better than Chezs goaly so they might have a slight advantage there.

Portugal is lauging at the moment, one day earlyer and 30 minutes less + who ever wins this one will be without a key player in the final (asuming nedved won´t be able to play)

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I think Nedved might be cleared to play now. I see him walking around having a joke so it cant be too bad, plus he's a tough guy and you know he wont miss a chance to play just over a little knock

And the match isn't boring, its good. There's so much at stake for both teams that they are doing everything they can.

Great Portugal have won it now, that's just all we need.

Edited July 1, 2004 by JohnnyPerfect

[Herr Matzat]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeece ----> FINAAAAAAAAALE !!!!!

see thats why i hate silver goal

Edited July 1, 2004 by Michael Matzat

[Franchise]

Yeah baby. Greece to win it all!

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Well Greece are in the final and yeah they have been good but they wont be able to beat Portugal who will have the crowd on there side. It's a shame because for a start Czech were the best team in the Euro, and not to mention the fact that once again Nedved is screwed out of playing in a final when he has been so out standing.

To say Greece deserve to be there is going too far too, they are so flukey to be honest. They didn't deserve to beat France, yeah France were crap but at the end of the day Greece's goal was a late lucky header, just like today. It'll be a shit final simply because Portugal will walk it now, but maybe that's just my opinion.

Look's like its back to praying for Juve to win the treble in the new season coming and on the way to it, knocking out Werder Bremen

[Herr Matzat]

Well Greece are in the final and yeah they have been good but they wont be able to beat Portugal who will have the crowd on there side.

Like in the opening Match right ? Uh wait greece won that ;-P

Look's like its back to praying for Juve to win the treble in the new season coming and on the way to it, knocking out Werder Bremen

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dream a little dream *sing*

[therockbox]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeece  ----> FINAAAAAAAAALE !!!!!

see thats why i hate silver goal

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Why? A golden goal would've had exactly the same outcome at the time they scored. The Czechs didn't even get to kick off.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I think he means he would prefere classix extra time, which is much better than these terrible skanky silver and golden goals

[britneyspearsisgod]

Golden Goal > ET > Silver Goal > Penalties

And well done to Greece, who I predicted would win. I said by penalties, but I predicted them

Now if Portugal can take it home (or at least down the road, as the case may be), then I will be laughing all the way to the... prediction league.

[Malenko]

As one of the few portuguese people on the board i may say i'm happy with portugal being in the final. Of course this doesn't mean by any means that portugal has been the best team in the tournament.

Above all, i'm a huge football fan, and i cheer for good football and not teams in particular.

As i usually don't post in this thread, i will now write a review on the whole euro2004.

The czechs were by far the best team in the Euro. I wouldn't call it a surprise cause i was expecting it all along. They lost to greece after dominating the whole 90 minutes (well... wasn't that what all the other teams beaten by greece did before?). Greece were actually better in those 15 minutes of overtime so it wasn't a total upset when they scored. Collina isn't the best referee in the world and screwed the czechs for the second time in 4 years. He's just another guy who's "over-pushed" :smug: for his image. Kinda like the david beckham of referees (to all english people in the board i'm not criticising england...just the way everyone talks about beckham when he's not that good).

Holland and the czech Republic were my personal favourites before the Euro started so i was thrilled to know they were playing eachother in the groups stage. I wasn't disappointed at all afterwards. It was the best match in the euro in my opinion even if it wasn't as great as Spain - Yugoslavia in the euro 2000. Speaking of Yugoslavia, i believe the euro lost in good football thanks to the absence of good teams like romania, yugoslavia or turkey beaten in the qualifiers by more efficient (and boring) teams.

There were three teams i was hoping they would lose in the early stages, cause i didn't like the way they played in the last few years. Those were:

Germany (who had a great team until the 90's but when your last great player is allready retired you assume things aren't going to be good).

Italy (a team full of good players who can't be put together cause when 7 of your starters are defensive players there isn't much room to the talent). I believe what i don't like about italy is their system... their coaches. Not their players.

England (i didn't like their style). They surprised me a lot bringing good plays and plenty of goals to the euro. They should have been first in the group so they would beat the crap out of greece afterwards. I truly believe greece wouldn't reach this far if england had come in their way. Just a reminder to some english supporters... the referee did some errors in the match vs portugal (e.g. a few fouls commited by jorge andrade weren't awarded) but the goal was well disallowed. You can't mess with the goalie in his area of action. That box is his box. He hasn't got to be kicked there for a foul to be awarded. If his action is stopped, then it's a foul. Read the rules kids.

Disappointments: Croatia - One of the best teams of the mid-90's. I guess people in croatia must miss the likes of prosinecky, suker, boban or even boksic.

Bulgaria - Read above, and replace mid 90's with early 90's and change the players to stoichkov, balakov...

Holland - Just cause i expected them to reach the finals, as i did in euro 2000. One of the best teams in the last 10 years is yet to win a major title.

France - Well...you watched the tournament...(they were better than greece though)

Teams who proved they didn't deserve the spot in the finals:

Latvia and Switzerland

Positive Surprises: Denmark - Come on fellow danish... After that lousy euro 2000 and after losing schmeichel, and both laudrups, you gotta understand i wasn't expecting much. It's true they lost in the quarters, but the quality of their midfielders in particular surprised me a lot. They were the best team in all 3 games of their group. Don't believe me? watch them again and you'll see.

England - all reasons were written above. It wasn't their progression that surprised me. It was the quality of their football...and Rooney :smug:

Finally as for my birth country... Portugal isn't playing as well as they did from 96 to 2001, but it seems to be enough. They keep the tradition of missing goals going one on one with the keeper though. That was the part they were supposed to stop doing . At least they're playing better than in the friendly games prior to the euro finals.

If the quality of play was what defined the champion czech republic would win it.

Final Things: I'm sorry if the post is too long but i almost never write in this thread, that's why i'm writing it all now. I'm also sorry if you don't understand it I know my english is only good enough to write small statements or opinions but not to write a huge report like this one.

And to put an end to everyone's pain (if anyone does bother reading this) this are only my opinions. I don't own the truth. Noone does. This is how i've seen the tournament.

Luv u all

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I disagree with only a few things. For a start Italy didn't play seven defensive players. If you watched the Sweeden game we were attacking for the whole of the first half, which is a rare sight, so in Euro 2004 I cant see we really went into defensive mode much.

Second is the Beckham thing. I'll more than likely get flamed for this as so many people seem to not like the guy, but he is not one bit over rated. He is easily one of the best midfielders in the world and just had a terrible tourniment because of fitness. He has had an awful time over the last year or so if you ask me. When he's at his best he is arguebly the best midfielder in the world.

[Malenko]

answering johnny perfect...

i agree with you when you talk about italy dominating sweden in the first half. i was actually very impressed. but check the subs in that game just because italy was winning 1-0 ... and you'll see what i meant. Giving the game to a team with a forward line like sweden is terrible... you know they will probably score if given to many chances. I know italy also played a really offensive game in the second half against bulgaria. I didn't mention italy as a disappointment if you check. But i wasn't to impressed as a whole either.

About the beckham part, i don't agree one bit. Beckham is a good player...yes it is... but is far overrated. He is probably one of the best in the world in crossing and free kicks, but what else? he's only average in dribbling, i wouldn't even say he's good (and that's very important for a winger), he isn't as fast as a winger should be, and he doesn't even compensate with other characteristics unrelated to his position. He could at least be a good header, he isn't. He could at least be good at getting the ball back. he isn't (and i know he is a lot better in his defensive duties than he was a few years back). To be one of the best you need to be great in your position or at least be a complete guy. He is good at his position but not great, and even if we can see he's trying to be better in all aspects of his game, he still isn't that good.

EDIT: just one more thing.. when i said 7 defensive players, i don't mean 7 defenders, i'm counting the goalie and the anchorman also. Either way there's not much room to put talent in when you only get 4 spots left

Edited July 2, 2004 by Malenko

[Herr Matzat]

Why?  A golden goal would've had exactly the same outcome at the time they scored.  The Czechs didn't even get to kick off.

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i hate golden gaol to . . . do you even read what i say all the time ore do you just try to disagre as hard as posible so you never get the idea that i could be right annywere, let´s say on a refferes decision some crybabys are using as an excuse ?