Euro2004 support thread

[Guest]

It was Terry, and he jumped with his arms up, that was all.

Anyway, it's done now, and Portugal still deserved to win, despite that.

My God, did we miss Rooney!?

Lou

 

[Liar]

Damn ... I rooted (and predicted) for England, but why in the world did Beckham shoot this penalty? And missed it god damn it .

Him, and Rui Costa. Two of the major stars. For some reason not an uncommon sight.

 

[neonlyte]

Still, at least the Italian's went home before the Brits...


and the Spanish...


oh


and the German's.


All in all, not a bad competition.

 

[Nemasis Enforcer]

Just sold and replaced all my English player with a tear in my eye

Its so unfair (lol)

 

[Guest]

Hi Nem.

Yes, I am stalking you.

Lou

 

[Nemasis Enforcer]

Hi Nem.

Yes, I am stalking you.

Lou

Hmmm did wonder...

Still it could be worse then having a sexy woman stalk me

 

[Guest]

 

[Nemasis Enforcer]

 

[SnoopDog]

Oh sweet Lou, come into my arms and have a hug. And since both our teams are out we should have a little kiss don't you think, *hugs n kisses*

If I were not straight I'd offer this to all the male England supporters as well....ah have a hug anyways.

Losing on penalties is a cruel thing that even the English don't deserve. But what is it with England and penalties anyways???
Why can't you guys shoot penalties? You know, one could train and learn this.

But I have to say for the tournament it's a good thing that the Portugese advanced.

Whatsoever, I feel for the english but just a little bit. And I can't say that I didn't have a huge laugh on my face when Beckham missed it. That's what hopefully will bring him closer to earth again.

Snoopy

 

[PaulUK]

The morning after. *sigh*

Beckham didn't have such a great tournament, and looked tired. I thought a lot of the England team appeared to be weary last night, except for Cole, who really did a good job on Ronaldo, and Campbell who was awesome.

But the thing with the Rooney thing is, of course, he gets to leave the tournament "unbeaten". English papers are full of "what if..." about him, and the unlucky injury (and the disallowed goal, of course). I shudder to think what the boy is worth in transfer money now.

Sold my English players... I've gone a bit Franco-Dutch now...

Predictor has my Joker team tonight...

 

[neonlyte]

Having seen a replay of most of the game on Portuguese telly last night whilst the party was in full swing in the streets outside I offer the following.

England knew Portugal would come at them from the start just as they took the game to Spain.

The English plan was to absorb the early attacks then slowly grind the Portuguese back as they tired.

The early goal for England made the Portuguese more determined and England never got respite.

The England game plan centred around Rooney and Owen up front, once Rooney came off, the plan fell apart, Vasell was the wrong replacement and though I cringe when ever Hesky takes the field, you needed a player of his 'weight' alongside Owen. England didn't have a plan to deal with losing Rooney.

Portugal never gave up, with only two days since Englands last game they were always going tire first, but no excuses.

Portugal deserved to win!

 

[PaulUK]

I dunno if Portugal desreved to win, but we deserved to lose. As you say, we couldn't deal with the loss of Rooney, and having Owen and Vassel up front when we needed to hold the ball was pointless. I wouldn't play Heskey in my local pub eleven... what we needed was to have picked Beattie in the first place; but on the night, I would have put King out in front of the back four, to break Portuguese attacks further up the field. We defended too deep, and terry made a terrible mistake for Postiga's goal.

But Rui Costa... what a brilliant goal that was, and Lampard's too.. a thrilling end to a great game we will talk about for ages.

Lauren, though, will not be able to speak for a few days yet...

 

[neonlyte]

When you have 65% of the possession you are almost certainly going to win. The England defence stuck to the task, apart from the Terry mistake, Portugal by weight of possession should have scored more goals in normal time, other teams may make them pay for that, but first they have to get the ball off them.

 

[PaulUK]

That's exactly how I see it, and how I used to coach my son's team. Even a team that isn't exactly pounding in goals, like Portugal, will score if you let them come at you 50 times in a game!!!

One thing that did make me smile. I watch a lot of Serie A from Italy, and Rui Costa hasn't been able to score for Milan all year. So, what does he do when he faces England? You just have to love sport... that was a truly amazing goal.

 

[Nemasis Enforcer]

Well Morning.. Like PaulUk said its the morning after...

So much for Sven saying when he first came to be manager... if a player isn't at his best no matter who it is he will be dropped... Becks should have been dropped long ago in this tournement but no coz of his name he played!!

Congrats to all you guys from Portugal hope you'll go al th way now you knocked us out.

 

[PaulUK]

Oh, yeah! We were talking about that here too last night! Players you can't drop from a side, even though they are having a terrible tournament. Beckham has looked tired and out of sorts all through the four games; he has done a lot of work, and provided cover for that hapless idiot, Gary Neville, which actually shored up the right side of our defence quite well, but where was the ball skill? Oh, well...

Sven only used 14/15 of his players, right? Not that there was huge amounts of talent on the bench, but even so... He had to rest Scholes all the time, when that guy is a 90 minute player, which meant that Owen or Beckham or someone had to stay on when they were clearly done...

We just weren't (quite) good enough. It's not a terrible first XI, but it goes down pretty fast. Outside of Manchester, is there anyone who isn't terrified at the fact that Phil Neville ran onto the pitch twice?

 

[SnoopDog]

Oh, yeah! We were talking about that here too last night! Players you can't drop from a side, even though they are having a terrible tournament. Beckham has looked tired and out of sorts all through the four games; he has done a lot of work, and provided cover for that hapless idiot, Gary Neville, which actually shored up the right side of our defence quite well, but where was the ball skill? Oh, well...

Sven only used 14/15 of his players, right? Not that there was huge amounts of talent on the bench, but even so... He had to rest Scholes all the time, when that guy is a 90 minute player, which meant that Owen or Beckham or someone had to stay on when they were clearly done...

We just weren't (quite) good enough. It's not a terrible first XI, but it goes down pretty fast. Outside of Manchester, is there anyone who isn't terrified at the fact that Phil Neville ran onto the pitch twice?

I think England wasn't too good yesterday. But it's a horrible thought that even an english team that plays not too well would probably win every tournament there is if they were able to score penalties.

Snoopy

 

[SnoopDog]

Since this thread seems to have fallen more silent (England supporters still suffer from the hang-over I suppose, )
I'd like to ask a more genral question.

What do you think of the tournament so far?

I think it's actually a pretty good tournament.
We've seen some awesome games, thrilling, full of good football. Some youngsters that impressed us and have shown us that sometimes old, experienced players don't have to be the 'star players'.
There were some boring games but not too many (only three that ende goal-less, and now Germany is out ).
Fans were having huge celebrations (esp. the Portuguese) and little hooliganism.

Most of the games were fast and entertainent from the very beginning, the players showing good effort, yet being pretty fair. (not too many red cards)

On the negative side there are some doubtful referee's decisions.

And the one thing i'm missing is some creative celebration after a goal. Players used to do some funny stuff after they scored but it seems this has ended in Portugal.

But all in all, so far, I'm pretty impressed by this Euro2004.

And who do you think will win tonight? I hope Greece since I think France has won enough in the past years. But if the French should advance I wouldn't be too angry. They still can be fun to watch. (Zidane alone makes any football fan be left in awe)

Snoopy

 

[steve w]

I have to applaud the fact that, generally, the team that has been positive and attacked has won, while teams looking to defend a lot (i.e. Italy, Spain against Portugal, and unfortunately England) have generally been punished. I also note that the three strongest leagues in the world are now back home.

However, at the risk of sounding like a disgruntled English fan (although it was a piss-poor decision) I have to say the officiating (yes, I'd include linesmen, and they're NOT referees' assistants, are they?) has been well below the standard of the players. It's to the players' credit that something major hasn't kicked off, given the number of relatively crude challenges (epsecially from behind) that go unpunished. And yet yellows are given out for precious little.

Collina stands out a mile and, while he would be a great ref in any era, it seems UEFA are happy for him to retire next season just because of his age (and not fitness/ability). No doubt they'll be unwilling for him to work for them as, say, a refereeing supremo or to train a group of top-class refs, as that might upset the cushy number of some dickhead in a blazer in a nice office in Geneva.

Just thought I'd mention it.

 

[Lovepotion69]

Sweden's playing tomorrow. I have a feeling we'll lose. Oh well. May the best team win. I'm just watching it all for fun.

 

[SnoopDog]

Tongihts game is pretty boring so far.

The Greek play the best they can which is not too much (you have to give them credit for it though because they are able to hold the French to a draw) and the French just suck despite all the big names.

The only thing I fear is that in the last couple of minutes Zidane decides to just take a random shot and France will win the title by this.

Snoopy

 

[Guest]

I have to applaud the fact that, generally, the team that has been positive and attacked has won, while teams looking to defend a lot (i.e. Italy, Spain against Portugal, and unfortunately England) have generally been punished. I also note that the three strongest leagues in the world are now back home.

However, at the risk of sounding like a disgruntled English fan (although it was a piss-poor decision) I have to say the officiating (yes, I'd include linesmen, and they're NOT referees' assistants, are they?) has been well below the standard of the players. It's to the players' credit that something major hasn't kicked off, given the number of relatively crude challenges (epsecially from behind) that go unpunished. And yet yellows are given out for precious little.

Collina stands out a mile and, while he would be a great ref in any era, it seems UEFA are happy for him to retire next season just because of his age (and not fitness/ability). No doubt they'll be unwilling for him to work for them as, say, a refereeing supremo or to train a group of top-class refs, as that might upset the cushy number of some dickhead in a blazer in a nice office in Geneva.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Steve, it has been rumoured that Collina is heading for The Premiership. UEFA's loss will be our gain.

Lou

 

[Guest]

This game is pretty boring, but I think any game would be after last night's epic.

Lou

 

[Guest]

Greece have scored!!!!!!!



Oops, sorry Charley.

Lou

 

[Nemasis Enforcer]

This game is pretty boring, but I think any game would be after last night's epic.

Lou

Greece 1 - France 0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!