OT Poll - Who Will Win The UEFA Euro 2004 Football Championship?

[awe4one]

What I want to know is what's up with Michael Owen? He was near invisible against the French and when he got the ball against the Swiss seemed to mishandle or give it away....

 

Jim

[comicmankev]

Well, he could have had that first goal himself, but he gave it to Rooney.

 

Owen showed a lot more last night than he did against France. I don't think he is up to full strength at the moment, and he's not used to the left side. Mix this with teams keeping him closely marked by usually more than one player, keeps him closed out. Many a time on the France game he was marked by 3 men, they closed him out completely.

 

Saying that, I think he will shine on the Croatia game. They will be worried about Rooney and leave Owen open a bit more. We shall see.

[osborn_fr]

And the French will be going home.

 

[awe4one]

If you didn't watch the Netherlands-Czech Republic match, you missed a classic! Definitely the best match of the tournament!

 

Jim

[Arty]

Best game of the tournament so far Dutch Vs. Czech (sp.)

Damn.. it was really entertaining.

Czech won 3-2 after Dutch were leading 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.

[delekkerste]

If you didn't watch the Netherlands-Czech Republic match, you missed a classic! Definitely the best match of the tournament!

 

Jim

 

THE CZECHS ARE CHEATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Pavel Nedved is a DISGRACE. His shameful Serie A-style dive to get Heitinga sent off changed the outcome of the match. Simply disgraceful. I think he showed what little class he has, particularly vs. the other superstars on the continent like Zidane and Henry.

 

And the ref was awful, simply awful. Like Ian Wright said during the halftime commentary - "what do you have to do to get a penalty called" from this guy? It was as if the defender was "spooning" van Nistelrooy, like it was "the World Wrestling Federation" (all quotes from Wrighty, not me). I'm not sure I could have dreamed of a more clear-cut penalty than when the defender was dragging down Van the Man in a bizarre wrestling hold in the box in the first half.

 

If there's any justice, the Czechs will beat Germany and Holland will beat Latvia so the Dutch will go through to the quarter-finals...where hopefully the Czechs will get bounced out so they can haul their cheating, diving carcasses back to Prague.

 

I actually enjoyed yesterday's Sweden-Italy match quite a lot. The Italians, until the end, played very stylish football (though Vieri couldn't hit the side of a barn the way he was shooting) - thankfully there was very little of this Dino Zoff-style catenaccio bollocking anti-football. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's equalizer for the Swedes was, for my money, the best goal of the tournament so far. That was outrageous skill, though not quite as good as his goal for Ajax against AZ Alkmaar at the end of the season where he hit a similar strike while being pulled down by a defender. Still, I think the Italians looked the more dangerous of the two sides overall.

 

I think every side has shown enough weaknesses that they can be beaten on any given day - the tourney's wide open in my book. I wouldn't even bet against England at this point...they are clearly not the best team in the tournament, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, as the Czechs proved today.

[awe4one]

Agreed on both points.

 

Nedved's fall was a disgrace. Both teams were doing it though. Even my wife commented on it.....

 

This was the worst called game of the tournament so far. The Ref was extremely inconsistent with his calls and frankly hurt the flow of the game.

 

One minor point as far as Ibrahimovic's goal is concerned. I agree it took great skill to get to the ball but there was as much luck as skill involved to get it to the back of the net. Vieri was in perfect position to knock it away if it hadn't just floated over his head.....the Swiss weren't near as efficient as they were against Bulgaria....

 

Jim

[blowout]

If you didn't watch the Netherlands-Czech Republic match, you missed a classic! Definitely the best match of the tournament!

 

Jim

 

THE CZECHS ARE CHEATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Pavel Nedved is a DISGRACE. His shameful Serie A-style dive to get Heitinga sent off changed the outcome of the match. Simply disgraceful. I think he showed what little class he has, particularly vs. the other superstars on the continent like Zidane and Henry.

 

And the ref was awful, simply awful. Like Ian Wright said during the halftime commentary - "what do you have to do to get a penalty called" from this guy? It was as if the defender was "spooning" van Nistelrooy, like it was "the World Wrestling Federation" (all quotes from Wrighty, not me). I'm not sure I could have dreamed of a more clear-cut penalty than when the defender was dragging down Van the Man in a bizarre wrestling hold in the box in the first half.

 

If there's any justice, the Czechs will beat Germany and Holland will beat Latvia so the Dutch will go through to the quarter-finals...where hopefully the Czechs will get bounced out so they can haul their cheating, diving carcasses back to Prague.

 

You wouldn't happen to be slightly biased towards the dutch would you? I agree with what you say about Nedved, but sadly this kind of over-acting is part of the game these days. Just about evey team is guilty of it at some time or another. Hopefully though, these things even themselves out over time.

[blowout]

If you didn't watch the Netherlands-Czech Republic match, you missed a classic! Definitely the best match of the tournament!

 

Jim

 

THE CZECHS ARE CHEATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Pavel Nedved is a DISGRACE. His shameful Serie A-style dive to get Heitinga sent off changed the outcome of the match. Simply disgraceful. I think he showed what little class he has, particularly vs. the other superstars on the continent like Zidane and Henry.

 

And the ref was awful, simply awful. Like Ian Wright said during the halftime commentary - "what do you have to do to get a penalty called" from this guy? It was as if the defender was "spooning" van Nistelrooy, like it was "the World Wrestling Federation" (all quotes from Wrighty, not me). I'm not sure I could have dreamed of a more clear-cut penalty than when the defender was dragging down Van the Man in a bizarre wrestling hold in the box in the first half.

 

If there's any justice, the Czechs will beat Germany and Holland will beat Latvia so the Dutch will go through to the quarter-finals...where hopefully the Czechs will get bounced out so they can haul their cheating, diving carcasses back to Prague.

 

You wouldn't happen to be slightly biased towards the dutch would you?

 

I agree with what you say about Nedved, but sadly this kind of over-acting is part of the game these days. Just about evey team is guilty of it at some time or another. Hopefully though, these things even themselves out over time.

[ultimatevenom]

Well three teams are through now, i predict France and England through tonight.

 

I agree that the Czech v Dutch game was and probably will be the best of the tournament.

 

Did any of you sit through that dreadful Germany match?

[comicmankev]

That Germany match was the pits But the Czech game was definately the best

 

Shame that if we win we will now have to play Portugal, would have been much better off with Greece But then again, France could draw/lose to Swedes

 

All eyes on England today, but still not convinced But hey, I'll be there with my flag

[ultimatevenom]

That Germany match was the pits But the Czech game was definately the best

 

Shame that if we win we will now have to play Portugal, would have been much better off with Greece But then again, France could draw/lose to Swedes

 

All eyes on England today, but still not convinced But hey, I'll be there with my flag

 

Don't you mean to 'the Swiss'.

[comicmankev]

Don't you mean to 'the Swiss'.

 

 

yes

[awe4one]

Don't you mean to 'the Swiss'.

 

 

yes

 

If England goes through, all will be forgiven!

 

Jim

[ultimatevenom]

Don't you mean to 'the Swiss'.

 

 

yes

 

If England goes through, all will be forgiven!

 

Jim

 

I think England are going to go out and try for a draw and when teams do that it just doesn't work.

 

If they do this, expect a loss.

 

Anyone think the Swiss will squeeze it through? Only need 5+ goals against France...Easy

[Arty]

Croatia- England 1-0

was this a neck breaker ....will Brits go home

 

Edit

 

 

Looking much better now, equalizer for England.... 1-1

 

wow..just before halftime 2-1 for Brits...they clearly dominated game after Croatia's early lead.

 

[delekkerste]

I just hope France can get it in gear in the 2nd half and win the other match so England will have to face Portugal in the quarter-finals...

 

England score a third...it's all over for the Croats. Only question now is who they will face next.

 

And it's Henry to make it 2-1 for France!!

 

And Lampard scores a 4th for England...

 

...and Henry to make it 3 for France!

 

So, it's France vs. Greece and England vs. Portugal. Should be an intriguing set of matches - I'll probably have to slip out of the office to watch one or both (couldn't justify it today - though they both look like good matches, the final outcome of both was never in doubt in my mind).

[ultimatevenom]

A new youngest scorer ever in the competition.

 

Beat Rooney.

 

Great game, very entertaining.

 

Second best game so far. (will any game beat the Czech v Dutch game?)

[delekkerste]

Second best game so far. (will any game beat the Czech v Dutch game?)

 

I think we'll see better matches to come, when the stakes are higher. I think the teams are getting more used to playing as units and that we'll see some teams kicking it into the next gear in the quarter-finals. To me, the CZE-HOL match was not the instant classic that the media is making it out to be. There was really sloppy play on both sides, no defenses to speak of (aside from the goalkeepers) and none of the goals scored would come close to ranking among the best in the tournament so far (e.g., Ibrahimovic v. Italy, Prso v. France, Zidane v. England, Larsson v. Bulgaria, van Nistelrooy v. Germany).

 

Worst of all, I still can't get over how poor refereeing totally changed the outcome of the match (I saw one English newspaper gave the ref a 4/10 grade for the match, which I think was still generous). If they're going to give penalties for Silvestre barely touching that Croatian striker who basically dived in the box in the France game, how can they not give a penalty to the Czech player who was doing his best Hulk Hogan impression on van Nistelrooy? And then the ref buying Nedved's bulls*** Italian-style diving to get Heitinga sent off...the Czechs, at best, would have drawn the match if not for the ref.

 

If this was a "great" match, then I guess we'll have to include Argentina's 1986 and 1998 World Cup victories over England as "great" matches and hail Maradona and Diego Simeone as heroes instead of cheaters.

[Arty]

Oh C'mon... you whine like those Brits after France beat them.

We know that Dutch team is your favorite, but stop looking those matches through orange lensed eyeglasses.

 

If not the best game of the tournament, Czech v Dutch was at least most entertaining. My only complaint is that Nedved didn't score his cannonball shot from 35 meters. Amazing shot and would have been best goal so far.