Euro 2004

[Jokopoko]

[COLOR=TEAL][SIZE=1]Hello Football fans! In case there are any European people on OB that have an interested in the current Euro 2004 football comp. I am making this thread.

I'm an English man myself and I am utterly gutted about our defeat last night [B]2-1[/B] to France, [B]WE WERE ROBBED![/B] is all I can say seeing as France scored during stoppage time that wouldn't have been there it it hadn't been for the French players acting up their injuries. So if anyone else is into Euro 2004 reply here and we can discuss ^_^.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]I was going to make this thread myself before I saw this one. I'm not really that big a football fan, but I love watching international teams play, I don't know why, there's just something about it. Regarding England's match yesterday, I truly believe that they deserved to win. One little screw up from Beckham wasn't funny, but at the end of the day, it's the team that comes out with the most goals that proves who's better. France won fair and square.

The French were actually quite non-existent in the first half. A handful of shots at goal, but then again, how many people can blame them for being wary of England suddenly becoming another Senegal?

Eriksson has become the Houllier of international football. Bringing Heskey and Hargreaves on can only mean one thing; more defensive football, which, if the French were more adventurous, could prove to be more disastrous than Iceland's 1-6 defeat.

Rooney was terrorising the French defence. As much as they knew about this man, they had no idea how to contain him. If the new boy wonder's passing and off-the-ball running skills mature and improve, he can become an England star far shinier than Beckham. Yet, Eriksson chose defence and the rest has become history.

I believe England lacks an inspirational leader on the field, someone who can bring the team together on the pitch and plough through the match. Beckham tried but somehow he does not have the leadership skills of Bryan Robson or Alan Shearer on the pitch. Despite the fact that he plies his trade at a very big club and he is playing at his peak, he contributed very little as the captain. I am not saying that Zizou was an inspirational leader (as opposed to an inspiration for his team), but together with Vieira, they pulled the team together nicely. Unfortunately, I can't think of someone in the entire PL who can be a leader on the pitch for England.

Another factor was how Eriksson's squad, except for James and Campbell, were all under the age of thirty. I felt that a big match composure was missing and it was possibly [I]that[/I] that led to silly mistakes made by James and Gerard. Heskey shouldn't be blamed for conceding the free kick though. You can't blame anyone for Zizou's brilliance, and James shouldn't be blamed entirely for conceding the free kick either as I believe that attempt wass not something I consider as easy to save.

I want to believe that France are merely slow starters and are being cautious to prevent another repeat of their World Cup outing the last time round because it'll be a real shame to see them leave so early. I'll try to make more updates as the tournament progresses.[/color]

[JC Goodwin]

Jokopoko:I'm an English man myself and I am utterly gutted about our defeat last night [B]2-1[/B] to France, [B]WE WERE ROBBED![/B] is all I can say seeing as France scored during stoppage time that wouldn't have been there it it hadn't been for the French players acting up their injuries. So if anyone else is into Euro 2004 reply here and we can discuss ^_^.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]





Yeah im a full blooded english man myself and it was heart breaking to watch those final two minitues. I really believe belived when lampard from chelsea( my team) scored wih that header i couldnt believe it and i went mad :wigout: Any way that penalty beckham missed was diappointing. They should of kept wayne rooney on than replace him with heskey. He is not that great. I knew zidane was going to score from the free kick. David James didnt have much choice when henry attacked. He did the right thing but it was ashame when henry scored the penalty. All well we can still beat the swizz. :D

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]At Full Time the score is 1-1.

A fair outcome to an exhilarating match-up I'd say, both squads really gave it all they had and neither deserved to have lost. Being a Germany fan myself, I was slightly disappointed with Frings' goal as I was really expecting something far more dramatic from them, but it'll do.

In my opinion, the Man of the Match should definitely go to Oliver Kahn. His level of play was brilliant and he put up well with Holland's tough pitbull nature. I wouldn't pity him though, Germany's defence was extremely poor towards the end of the game and almost all of their passes and such were way off. We're going to have to do better than that if we want to stand a chance. Van Nistelroy's goal was very sudden and out of the blue, heh. It was a nice volley that was almost at Holland's 'normal' standard level from close range, and brilliantly held off Worns' challenge and finishing Van der Meyde's low cross from the right touchline. Holland's last chance stood at their final free kick, but Van Hooydonk blew it by blasting the ball well wide as it hit the back wall.

Great football as I said before, a cunning performance if anything. I'll be looking forward to Germany's future games, though Holland is a force to be reckoned with. I'd like to see them both make it through to at least the quarterfinals.[/color]

[Red]

[color=#002E55]Ah, it's about time somebody made a thread about this, heh.

England's game against France was an excellent display of football, despite the end result. In all honesty - if Gerrard hadn't passed back to James at the end of the game it would have been a well-deserved draw, on both sides. I really don't know what Gerrard was thinking; he should have known Henry would exploit the fact that he wasn't offside and literally sit inside the box in case a ball came back. No one can really blame James, considering it was either he go one-on-one with Henry or try and force a free kick (instead of a penalty) by challenging him outside the box.

Beckham's penalty was well saved in my opinion, and Zidane's free kick just showed why many people regard him as the best footballer in the world, lol. Nothing amuses me more than someone basically avoiding the wall entirely and still managing to completely baffle the keeper.

I didn't like the way Wayne Rooney was getting hot-headed towards the end, not a good way to try and show that you have talent as a young player.

As for Holland's match against Germany.. as usual I felt that Germany played a thoroughly boring game of football, until Schweinsteiger came on. Now [i]there[/i] is a player with a heck of a lot of talent, I can imagine him causing havoc later on in the tournament should Germany play him more. I really didn't think Holland played well at all until around the 75th minute, just before their goal. I hope they pick up a bit, it would be a pity to see such a skilled team lose out early on.

Although, Ireland aren't in it, so I'm left with no one to support. :([/color]

[Juu]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=deeppink]I'm supporting Denmark and England- simply because those are the countries I'm at this summer, lol. I was rooting for Holland last night because I was supposed to go to Amsterdam, but they lost to the Czech Republic. (Darn, their Goalie's good.)

Man... I can't believe there's just five posts in here, though. It's huge! Århus is EMPTY during each match and it's SO quiet!! But during the day, everyone's wearing red somewhere and selling Danish flags. It's crazy- and cool.

It sucks we don't get football in America. - .-;[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]I can't believe Germany drew with Latvia the other day. I guess I underestimated them because I really thought that Germany would win so I started making future plans already. We're going to have to beat Czech Rep. in that case and by some miracle I hope Holland lose to Latvia just as a back up.

Anyone catch Spain vs. Portugal yesterday? The stipulation was rough; whoever wins goes through, whoever loses gets knocked out. My brother was in deep depression after Spain lost... they were his team. Portugal won a hard earned game though, what can I say, they truly deserved that win as Spain aren't exactly a pushover.

My hopes are really high for Germany, their game against Czech will be a good one even if we lose--two top class teams playing pitted against each other is all I could ask for really--but most of all I'm looking forward to England vs. Croatia today. I can't quite put my tongue on which I think will win; they're both pretty evenly matched in my opinion. Anyway, lots of luck England fans, there's a massive park that has a huge widescreen TV near where I live so I might go there to watch it.[/color] :p

[Juu]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=deepPink]OMG!!!!! England was spectacular last night!!! ^____________^

I was so proud of them, lol. Rooney made TWO more goals last night, and that sets him as the top scorer so far. That's really amazing! Wow! I didn't really know why he was so popular until I saw it last night. That one shot he made from pretty far away... MAN! I was holding my breath the whole time. It was a really intense matched. Loved it. ^^

But their next match is Portugal... I'm a bit worried about that. As much as I support England, Portugal's going to give them a good match. Plus, the crowd will be pretty intimidating. x.x

Tonight's games are: Denmark VS Sweden and Italy VS Bulgaria.

Well, at least I can expect more drunk singing near the pubs tonight.

Oh, and did everyone hear about the guy stabbed after the game? Prettttty freaky.

ERG... I won't be in Europe to watch the final match, though. The only way you can see it in the US is on Pay-Per-View... T-T;;;;[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]Yesterday's match with Italy and Bulgaria was the first one I actually sat down and watched all the way through. It was such an intense game and Italy played really well. It's a shame they didn't make it through, though, I really felt for Cassano when he scored his goal in the [i]last[/i] minute; it must have been like a dagger in his heart when he found out that Italy couldn't go to the quarters, full stop. I watched his face drop in awe and was quite surprised to be honest because he was taking it pretty well.

What was up with Bulgaria yesterday? They spent half the match on the floor falling over, faking injuries, while the other half consisted of them getting up... ridiculous, especially as they had no chance of going any further.

Oh and, poor England. Their quarter-final match will be against Portugal, France's match will be against Greece. In all fairness I think it should be the other way round, but that's life. Kudos to England for making it this far though, I really wasn't expecting them too.[/color]

[JC Goodwin]

OH NO i cant belive in England are knocked out. I just cant believe it cause im still shaking right know. We should of won that anyway with that final goal from sol campbell. I just cant believe that we came that close and know it just slipped away. Damn :flaming: We had all the bad luck with rooney gone aswell. I just cant believe it. all well i still sing [FONT=Impact]THREE LIONS ON A SHIRT.[/FONT]

[Vicky]

[SIZE=7]WTF?![/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][B]WTF?!! What the hell was that ref doing?! WE WON! WE SHOULD HAVE! That.... was not FAIR! I CANNOT believe England LOST because that STUPID ref couldn't handle the fact that England was GOING to beat them! WHO THE HELL WOULD LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT?! We won! We should have won! Why didn't someone slap that idiot silly!

.....Words cannot express how angry I am, only cap locks can....

Now I'm pretty much calmer, I think I'll go and bang my head on the wall... I just can't believe it! England had that goal, fair and square, and what... it was just... gone? What was wrong with that ref? If anyone in the world was on drugs, it was him. That was just... poor... England should have won, I know it for a fact! The match was ours... tell me... why is it everytime England is finally in the light, but suddenly a poor excuse comes and ruins it? It just can't believe it, really...

Again I say... words cannot express how gutted and angry I am...[/SIZE][/B]

[Zidargh]

Someone should've placed a frigging grenade in that referee's boots. Then, someone should've plucked all of Deco's eyebrows so they did not extend and shorten in synch with his emotions. Then let's remove all of Ronaldo's make up that he wears for luck and stop his cocky smiles.

Sol's goal was in. Those are the facts.

Now tell me one thing. WHY THE HELL DO WE GIVE AWAY A FREE KICK WHEN ROONEY GETS INJURED!?

I'm sorry. As immature as this sounds, I am purely shocked.

[Doukeshi]

That ref was playing for portugal I swear it. I half expected the guy to don a portuguese shirt and score a goal himself. Some of those fowls were horrendous and that goal...I don't believe I've ever seen such a complete farce in all of my life.

Having said that they other team played spectacularly and we had no control of the ball. Our defence was keeping it together just out of desperation more than anything and it was just inevitable they portugal was going to score. It then came down to penalties...and we know how oh-so-good England is at penalties *sighs*. You have to feel sorry for Vassel, they poor guy must be gutted.

I hear that the goal incident has gone to UEFA..though I doubt anything is going to happen. Its just another almost win to add to the notches on our wooden spoon and as much as I hate to say it, there'll be rioting in the streets of lisbon tonight.

[Posthumous]

This is kinda weird...Over at another forum everyone says that England defender John Terry was obstructing Portugal keeper Ricardo. I agree, after watching a clip. If Urs Meirer was on Portugals side, don't you think he would've done a little more than disallow a goal which was cleary a foul?

[Boo]

[QUOTE=Juuthena][SIZE=1][COLOR=deeppink]I'm supporting Denmark and England- simply because those are the countries I'm at this summer, lol. I was rooting for Holland last night because I was supposed to go to Amsterdam, but they lost to the Czech Republic. (Darn, their Goalie's good.)
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE]


[color=gray][size=1]Their goaly indeed was good, but we dutchmen shall get in the finals with Czech and then take revenge >:^o
But we lost the match not because of the keeper, but because of the reffery gonzalez. He was sooo for Czech. Someone was practically hugging Van Nistelrooy (he has most goals of Euro2004 since Rooley is knocked out woohoo), and gonzalez said nothing. But when someone would even snease over a Czech, it would be a red card -.-

Atleast we beat Latvia (their goalie was their best player though), so now its against Portugal...
Nice match Portugal-England... It was like: England is winning! Tie! Portugal is winning! Tie! Portugal won!
I'd liked a match between the Netherlands-England more though. Ah well.

Germany is knocked out, thats what matters. [/color][/size]

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]Germany and Czech always end up together. Euro 1996 they were in the same group and then met later on in the final, where Germany won might I add, so that pretty much explains why they're my second choice.

I really hate situations where the outcome of one match all depends on the status of the other; it was like that for Italy and Germany and didn't work out in either's favour regardless of how well they played. Kuranyi can't head the ball for beans, by the way.

I believe that Portugal played a lot better than England though. Their control of the ball and the one two passes were enough to put them in possession down their neck of the field. Campbell's goal was acceptable in my opinion, Terry may have been obstructing him a little, and it can be said that if it weren't for him then England would've won, but Ricardo really had no chance with those odds.

It's ironic how both teams each had one of their best players taken off and substituted, I don't think Rooney's injury was so bad that he had to be withdrawn from the game, and Figo really wasn't himself last night -- come on, I've seen the free-kicks he's taken for Real Madrid.

It all adds up to make the tournament a tad bit more interesting, methinks.[/color]

[Posthumous]

Germany haven't been able to beat Czech Republic since defeating them in the Euro 96 final. Currently France and Greece are at 0-0 at 23 minutes. Anyone have predictions for this match? Czech Republic have become a football superpower the last year. They have and awesome midfield with Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky, Karel Poborsky, and great strikers Jan Koller and youngster Milan Baros. IMO Baros is the best striker in-form in Euro 2004. He's scored 3 times already and is spectacular. Now I hope Liverpool start him more often.

[Juu]

[color=deeppink] [size=1]Ronaldo annoyed the HELL out of me last night. DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE AFTER HE KICKED (erm... the other guy)!??? GUH!!

*sigh* I was SOOOO upset England lost last night. But I have to say James isn't exactly the best goalie out there. I mean, Portugal blocked at least ONE penalty shot, but James missed that one shot that was so... so... arrgggg.

Rooney getting out was a BAD sign. If he had still been out there, I could really see England taking a victory. And when Becks missed the first penalty shot. *dies*

And yeah, it was a bit weird how both teams had their two highest players out. I didn't get how Rooney was injured in the first place. I just remember his shoe falling off and as for Figo... at least he was giving a lot into it.

Gosh, even though Portugal was pretty good last night, I was really surprised at how well England was moving the ball up the field the whole time. Their passes were really accurate, though I noticed this drop in confidence when Rooney was taken off. But Owen was really great on the field last night.

Poor Becks and Vassell. But what's that whole thing about the ball moving?

Grr. I was SHAKING last night after the game. But then, it was an awesome match. ^^;[/color][/size]

[Posthumous]

Boy, Becks is horrible at penaltys. He's like Clarence Seedorf. Missed against Turkey in the Euro 2004 qualifiers, missed against France, and now missed against Portugal. Imo, he's very overrated and I can't believe players like Nedved are never mentioned. Nedved IMO, is alot better than Becks, but Spice Boy always gets in the news. Nedved was the best player during the European Champions League in 2003, what did he get? A European Player of the Year? that's it.

I agree David James isn't the best keeper, but he's the most experianced out of him, Walker, and Robinson. Robinson is a very good keeper, but doesn't get noticed like Nedved.

It's still 0-0 between France in Greece at the '55th minute. Hopefully France can score...

[Doukeshi]

That disallowed goal was not a foul. Terry and Campbell were clearly intent on the ball and no attention was spared to the keeper. The keeper was underneith the ball and could in no possible way catch it. You have to have your arms up when you jump and the keeper just got in the way.

On another note...GREECE BEAT FRANCE!!!! Can you believe it!? Its a miracle, its amazing, its unheard of!

[Vicky]

[quote name='doukeshi03']That disallowed goal was not a foul. Terry and Campbell were clearly intent on the ball and no attention was spared to the keeper. The keeper was underneith the ball and could in no possible way catch it. You have to have your arms up when you jump and the keeper just got in the way.[/quote]

[SIZE=1][B]Totally agree with you. Campbell and Terry had their eyes on the ball all the time, and the Keeper was just getting in the way. He jumped up afterwards, and if he did get smacked in the face or whatever, tough sh** it was his own fault. Even if a foul [I]was[/I] intended (I don't think it was... pfft), the goalie was in no way injured and was hardly touched.[/SIZE][/B]

[Posthumous]

It's amazing how France lost to Greece. Is the legendary nation falling? They started screwing up after Santini became the new coach. I'm so happy he's left to manage Tottenham Hotspurs. IMO, France should bring back Lemerre. He was a great coach. Either that or get a coach that isn't from their country.

Charistaes(sp?) Is a great foward. Greece has a good attacking threesome (Charisteas, Nikolaidas, and Karagounis), although their defense is okay, I was wonder how they held up against a France attacking force consiting of Henry, Trezeguet, Zidane, and Pires. Their goalkeeper has done a great job today in front of net. He made fantastic saves, to keep France scoreless and get a clean sheet.

[Juu]

[color=deeppink] [size=1]Well, Korea beat them in the World Cup last time. That might've been a sign...

But I totally thought France would win. In World Cup 1998, wasn't it France and Brazil at the final match? *can't remember*

Anywho, about Becks, he is a bit overrated- though he IS gorgeous. It's just that he's got his own movie named after him, and the fact he's got a famous wife. But he's not THAT bad. I mean, he wasn't so great in Euro 2004, but there's a reason he's team captian. Sure, there's plenty better who don't get as much publicity, but that's what being a celebrity's all about. Being 'marketable'. - .-;[/color][/size]

[Posthumous]

[FONT=Palatino Linotype]Yes, it was France v. Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final, France won 3-0. Yeah, I also thought they would win, but you can't really say that they would've won like the did 4, or 6 years ago. They had different players back then. Deschamps, Karembeu and on. They had a different coach also. Alot can change in little time an thats what happened with France going down, and Greece becoming good.[/FONT]

[Zidargh]

You can't criticise David James because of the penalties. No one is expected to save those things it's just a 50/50 chance. The only reason Vasell's goal was saved was because he looked directly at the spot of where he was going to place it. Easy for the goal keeper to read off of.

To be honest, James doesn't deserve to lose his position in the England squad because he did make some bloody good saves against France. It was the defenders fault like John Terry that lost the game for us. Sol and Cole were the men of the match. They truly put passion into the game.