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0 Subject: Euro 2004 Play

Posted by: Twarpy
- Leader [386242821] Sat, Jun 12, 2004, 13:38

Wow quite the shocker so far with Greece playing well and up 2-0 vs Portugal.

Was wondering how many people actually watch the Euro's on these boards, along with what your level of knowledge of teh game/teams, and the countries you're rooting for.

I must admit that other than the games I watch on TV (mainly english premier league, and champions league) it's nearly impossible to know all the players on every team, I know most players and was seeing an interesting fact the other night about how many people are from the EPL on the various teams, it was by far the most.

In terms of countries I have allegiance to, with both my parents being from Europe (Germany and England) and the fact that Canada's team is subpar I cheer for Germany first and England second.
1Piccolos
      ID: 265101113
      Sat, Jun 12, 2004, 14:03
I wanna know what Scolari is doing not starting Deco and Ronaldo. Why he's starting Maniche I'll never know and starting Simao wasn't the best move IMO either. Greece played exceptionally today but I can't believe the pathetic performance Portugal put on. If we don't get it together in the next 2 games, theres gonna big big trouble in Portugal....
2youngroman
      ID: 59242611
      Sat, Jun 12, 2004, 14:09
I see the trouble coming in game 3 vs. Spain. Today they were very nervous and Greece surprised them with their fore-checking the whole game.

Deco should have played from the beginning, but Ronaldo showed not much for the game, only a few technical tricks that ended in a turnover.
3Piccolos
      ID: 265101113
      Sat, Jun 12, 2004, 16:09
But at least he showed something youngroman. A lot of those other guys like Maniche, Costinha and Simao showed nothing out there yet Maniche played til the end. I agree with you tho that Spain is big trouble in game 3, especially the way it looks like the Spainards are coming on today. Thats why its critical we get a multiple goal win against Russia in the next game or else the tournament is as good as over.
4JCS
      Sustainer
      ID: 20102934
      Sun, Jun 13, 2004, 16:38
Zidane is God. If he ran for president right now, he'd probably get elected by a landslide. What a robbery! Man, to steal the game like that in the last 2 minutes, this is not gonna help the lost love between France and England.
5Piccolos
      ID: 265101113
      Sun, Jun 13, 2004, 16:57
What an unbelievable game that was. England is near perfect for 90 minutes and then one innocent set piece turns an amazing triumph into an outstanding disaster. How badly would you feel if you were one of the French fans that left the stadium when the clock struck 90 minutes? About as bad as an English fan right now I'd think.
6Swish City
      Leader
      ID: 931275
      Fri, Jun 18, 2004, 12:23
Zidane made the whole of Scotland jump for joy, with those wonderful penultimate minutes against England. JCS, you must be loving that Zizi magic too ;) The French were lucky against Croatia to get a point. I have been less than impressed with Henry and to a lesser extent, Trezeguet thus far.

I leave for Albufeira tomorrow morning, right in amongst the violence - nice! Then its off to see England v Croatia on Monday in Lisboa, followed by the Winner A (looking suspiciously like it might be Greece!!) v Runner up B QF in Lisboa also. Hello to Edgar, who's out there in Lisboa already, and got to witness the French doing the English in first hand.
7Mike D
      Sustainer
      ID: 41831612
      Fri, Jun 25, 2004, 18:17
Wow, England lost, and France lost. Interesting stuff.
8smartone
      ID: 313039
      Sun, Jul 04, 2004, 22:17
congrats, Stamati!
9Swish City
      Leader
      ID: 931275
      Tue, Jul 06, 2004, 19:44
Well done Greece! Maybe not the obvious choice, but at the end of they day they defeated Portugal not once, but twice - right at the beginning, and fittingly, right at the end. Just goes to show that you really can go places with great organisation and maybe not the greatest talent. Time and time again, we have seen flair teams like the Dutch and Spanish fail, so for Greece, this is a fantastic achievement.

Many disappointments throughout the tournament - Spain, England, Germany, Italy and France all with really poor showings. I thought the Czechs were a breath of fresh air - did anyone see the Czech 3 v 2 Netherlands game? Game of the tournament in my eyes.

A few players i thought were great...

The Good

Wayne Rooney (Striker, England) - Roonaldo was just sensational. I was lucky enough to see him play against Croatia and this guy is for real. No doubt.

Maniche (Midfield, Portugal) - Fantastic tournament, and a wonder goal against the Dutch in semi-final. Amazingly consistent, everything Portugal did went through him before arriving at Figo and Ronaldo.

Pavel Nedved (Midfield, Czech Republic) - Nedved cemented himself as a player of world class stature with one dominant display after another. Superb.

Honourable mentions - Milan Baros (Striker, Czech Republic), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Striker, Netherlands), Sol Campbell (Defender, England).

And the players with less impact than an English penalty kick...

The Bad (oh, and there were many)

David Beckham (Midfielder, England) - Dreadful. He looked jaded and tired. Set pieces were poor and missed 2 crucial penalties. He is not the inspirational figure he was 2 or 3 years ago.

Raul (Striker, Spain) - Another supposedly world class player that just did not perform at all. Long season or not, if you can't get pumped up for the Euro's, what's the point?

Francesco Totti (Midfielder, Italy) - Disgusting spitting behaviour got him banned for 3 games. When he did play, just looked average. Cassano looked a better fit, to be brutally honest.

Figo (Winger, Portugal) - Best game against Netherlands in the semi-final. Disappointing apart from that. He cannot have more than one major tournament left.

Christian Vieri (Striker, Italy) - Quote of the tournament: "I am more of a man than all of you put together. You have no idea how much of a man I am. I can walk down the street with my head held high, I can look myself in the mirror in the morning. You can't, because you have no conscience. Enough!" No wonder Italy were awful with such spiralling morale.

Probably no one will read this now, but would still like to hear your views, and at least know that a few other people watched Euro 2004 :)
10Swish City
      Leader
      ID: 931275
      Tue, Jul 06, 2004, 19:46
And for those of you that want a really good laugh, check out these rather hysterical England Euro 2004 songs:

Engerland Euro 2004 Songs
11Piccolos
      ID: 28652514
      Tue, Jul 06, 2004, 20:28
Swish,

I agree with all your assessment and I have some others to add:

The Good

Christian Ronaldo - What more can be said about this Portugese wunderkid? A marvelous performance, one has to wonder if the outcome of this tournament woulda been different had he and Deco had started that first game.

Ibrahimovic/Larsson - Played really well together for the exciting Swedish team.

Greece's Central Defence - Dellas especially was an awesome defensive force and his clutch header to send Greece through.

Frank Lampard - England's midfield wasn't that great but his play really stood out. A top notch job and he's proved himself to be a terrific clutch player.

Arjen Robben - The Dutch attacker really bolted onto the world stage in this event and showed he's the future of Dutch football.

Portugal's bench - Really stepped up whenever Scolari called upon them, from Postiga's header to Nuno Gomes consistent play to the consistent defense of their backline.

Antonio Cassano - The Italian striker outdid his more hyped teammates like Del Piero and Vieri and won the hearts of every Italian fan.

Theo Zagorakis - Can't forget about the tournament MVP. I wonder what odds you would have gotten on him pre-tournament.

The Bad

Del Piero - Played like crap, same as Vieri except had even less opportunities.

Alexander Frei - The Swiss's spitting fool.

Beckham - It can't be stressed enough just how badly he played. Pitiful performance...

I'd love to hear everyone's else's views, I know a few of you still read this board.
12Twarpy
      Leader
      ID: 386242821
      Wed, Jul 07, 2004, 16:42
Well I think what we got from this tournament, is the team that played better overall in a given game didn't win a lot of these games. The old adage of if you know you're not as good as a team in skill that your only hope is to load up on defense and wait for a scoring opportunity and make best of it certainly helped Greece.

I for one am not a big Beckham fan but he didn't play as badly as most people say he did. He got 3 assists on the first 4 goals iirc, take away the missed penalties (one which Bartez absolutely robbed him on) and add a set goal, and he looks like a hero. Of course such is that of any soccer star.
13Swish City
      Leader
      ID: 931275
      Wed, Jul 07, 2004, 18:36
Piccolos, some good calls there. I thought Lampard was only average, but his goalscoring is the crucial element that makes him the important player for England that Paul Scholes was a few years ago. Owen, as well as the rest of the midfield (Gerrard, Becks, Scholes, Hargreaves) were all little better than dire. England will continue to have problems progressing to the further stages of tournaments until they find a reliable compliment to Ashley Cole on the left hand side. This has a direct effect on the workload placed on the opposite wing...

As for Beckham, You can throw around all the assist stats you like, but when all is said and done, he was really poor. Aside from that, he's now missed 4 penalties in a row for England - they were lucky to even get through after he missed against Turkey in the Playoffs. Throw in the poor season at Real, a complete lack of fitness, and a failure to inspire the team at the moment of truth, i can't see how his tournament could be regarded as a success for him in any way.

And while we're on the point, why did Eriksson not have the guts to haul off his captain for someone like Keiron Dyer or Joe Cole? Even once. Surely, either would have done better in the last half hour of games as Becks continued to toil. Scolari showed that bold moves can pay off when he ripped out Rui Costa and Figo when they were underperforming. I also though Nuno Gomes was really unlucky to lose his place to Pauleta. Gomes clearly had the better tournament in my eyes.

Completely agree on the rest of the mentions. Some more random observations:

- Vieri couldn't hit a barn door the whole tournament.
- Del Piero is not even half the player he was before his injury. Cassano should be starting in that team.
- Ballack was decent, but he has the worst supporting cast in the entire tournament.
- David James is a poor excuse for a goalkeeper!
- Deco dives far too much!!!
- Goal of the tournament - a very close call between Tomasson and Larsson for me. Although Maniche's screamer in the semi is right up there too.

I bloody love football :)
14Twarpy
      Leader
      ID: 386242821
      Thu, Jul 08, 2004, 02:30
Ibrahimovic's goal is right up there for me, with Ballack's shot being a striker myself those two are some of the most amazing goals in my mind.

Like I said I'm not the biggest England supporter, but as someone who plays or refs soccer once a day I think often times the mental toughness of a penalty kick is mixed in with skill. I constantly hear people now saying Beckham has lost his skill due to his penalty kicks. He hasn't looked ready from what I've watched of him, but at the same time got horrible luck with the turf, and Bartez reading him. Was the tournament a success for him, hell no, did he play as bad as most people seem to have labbelled him I don't think so.

SGE and Scolari are quite the different coaches, England had the lead in the quarterfinal and its very hard to take off your best midfielder captain if youre winning the game. Scolari was looking for a boost when he pulled Figo, but I think even Scolari in Englands position that game wouldn't have pulled Beckham.
15Twarpy
      Leader
      ID: 386242821
      Thu, Jul 08, 2004, 02:35
Sorry if I came off a little like my opinion is right and yours is wrong, quite late here and some of my wording is quite off, I just enjoy debating soccer with someone.. Reading over you last post again, what about James did you feel was poor.

And what Portugese speaking player (Brazilians included) don't dive;)
16leggestand
      Sustainer
      ID: 451036518
      Thu, Jul 08, 2004, 08:42
Twarpy, as a ref, what did you think about the disallowed Sol Campbell goal against Portugal?

As an England fan I may be biased, but, I cannot find a foul besides Campbell taking out his own man.
17yup
      ID: 56234220
      Tue, Mar 22, 2005, 01:34
cool
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