Okay, so who are you supporting in Euro 2008?

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.

=)

Austria - someone's got to...
1
5%
Greece - glory-hunting gone mad!
2
11%
Czech Republic - always crazy
1
5%
Italy - yawn
2
11%
France - double yawn
0
No votes
Poland - the only home nation to make it
1
5%
Switzerland - erm, Toblerones? Beating up Turkey?
0
No votes
Spain - sooner or later they're going to have to turn up...
4
21%
Russia - one for the Scots/Irish/Welsh ;)
0
No votes
Holland - maybe they'll play Portugal
3
16%
Portugal - maybe they'll play Holland
0
No votes
Germany - their manager is a dandy!
2
11%
Croatia - another for the Scots/Irish/Welsh :p
1
5%
Romania - coke-head striker!!!!
0
No votes
Sweden - no, they are there, honestly...
2
11%
Turkey - this time they're not thugs, apparently.
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 19

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the_escaflowne_2k
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Post by the_escaflowne_2k »

Other manager news, Scholari will be managing Chelsea from 1st of July. . . .Can't see it working, but then again didnt see Grant working and i was wrong their but at least he had some sort of experience of the premier league. .
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Am I the only one regretting that the Romanians don't seem to have thought of getting their goalkeeper to kick one of their defenders into the net every time the Italians try for a cross, just to see what they think of it?
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Post by AndyTurnbull »

Thierry Henry just experienced the best and worst in life all inside 45 seconds.

Great game to watch. Schneider's goal was a peach.

Andy
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Mmm, that was an absolute little belter of a game. Robben's goal was lovely as well... The Dutch are looking very, very, very good, though the French have been shite - I think they're between two good teams at the moment, it's a tourney too far for the likes of Henry, Thuram, Makalele, but a bit too early for Benzema, Ribery. Italy just seem to be luckless. Still, let's hope Holland tone it down a bit for the Romanians, who deserve to progress just for the way they've managed to combat Italy and France IMO. Has to be the first group of death that's ever lived up to its' billing.
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Post by Ozz »

Ribery was already quite awesome in last World Cup. But I agree about other young French strikers: I hear all this talk about how talented they are, but still Henry seems to be doing much more than them.

You know what I want right now? Spain - Holland. Preferably in the final, but: a) I'm not sure if the play-off setting won't pitch them against each other earlier, and b) those that look best often don't reach the final - for example I wouldn't be surprised if the Dutch played Sweden again in quarterfinal and this time it's them who'd lose in penalties (third time's a charm and all that).

In other news: apparently Poland are not shit at all. All this is the fault of the "traitor" and bald English git. Those who seem to think that it's actully because we only have, like, two or three players who can actually, you know, play, are obviously wrong. I mean, Austria just has to be the weakest side in this tournament (in theory at least), but they almost destroyed us (they would, if one of those great chances in the first 30 minutes ended in the net). Funny thing is, we still have (relatively small) chances to go through, even bigger now than we'd have if we had won - now Croatia might send in their reserves and Austria has the motivation to win with the Germans.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Yeh, the penalty was dodgy (more through bad timing - a last minute penalty to keep the hosts in the thing is never going to look solid), but truth be told Poland were lucky to have the lead in the first place. Not sure about anyone else, but the hurried citizenship of the Brazilian lad leaves a bit of a bad taste as well - I wonder how many worthy immigrants he jumped in the queue? I know it's an ongoing fact of international football (Podolski, Hargreaves, the entire French team), but the haste seemed a little indecent... On one of the Guardian blogs, someone suggested a rich Liechensteinian/Faroese millionaire buys up a team of 11 Brazilian players of the same "good, but nowhere near likely to get into the Brazilian team" calibre, wait for them to get naturalised and have a tilt at qualifying... I'm sure you'd be bale to find mercenaries who'd do it (with the bonuses of getting a clean sweep of domestic trophies in the latter case) as well.

And yup, you are right about Ribery. Not sure what I was on about... If I was Domench, I'd actually sweep out the old guard for the final game, and run with the kids, see what they could do. Even if they were to go out anyway, it'd give them something hopeful. All that said, Italy have been good so far, they've been a bit unlucky mainly - also, the Dutch look really, really good, as do Romania (Mutu is genuinely world-class).

Sadly, I think Holland are in the same side of the draw as Spain... IIRC, Germany/Croatia/Austria are in the 'soft' side with Portugal/Czech (providing they get through). The whole draw system has been a bit of a mess - the seeding thing messed up the qualifiers as everyone pulled up to avoid being best qualifier, and now teams can see more or less who they play in the next round. We're lucky it's generally been tighter than expected, as I don't think anyone's quarter-final is secure enough for them to really muck around in the last round of games.
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Target
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Post by Target »

Yep, Holland and Spain are in the same side, which is a hugh shame as on current form that would be a fantastic final.
I just hope Holland can carry on in this way and Spain don't bottle it...again!
If you can keep your head when all around are loosing theirs...you probably haven’t grasped the situation!!
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Christ, ITV are bitter about getting the Greece games, aren't they?
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Post by Blitzwing »

Wow... the finish to that Turkey/Czech game was just a gong show wasn't it?
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Yeh, insane... the Turks did deserve the win to be fair, the Czech were rattled as soon as they pulled one back. They should have put Baros on for mobility. Beautiful finish for the third, though.

One thing I didn't quite follow, though - the Turkish keeper (Volcan? played a blinder, anyway) was sent off for a shove in the penalty area - how come that wasn't a penalty, then? Because the ball was dead? Never really thought about it before...

Is it me, or is Petr Cech always unspeakably poor for the Czech Republic anyway?
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Post by Osku »

To answer the original question; Sweden as usual. They play the kind of game I'd wish Finnish national team to play. But with their star strikers in half or less condition, it'll be hard to get over Russia... :(
Cliffjumper wrote:One thing I didn't quite follow, though - the Turkish keeper (Volcan? played a blinder, anyway) was sent off for a shove in the penalty area - how come that wasn't a penalty, then? Because the ball was dead? Never really thought about it before...
Like you said ball was not in the game, situation over -> no penalty shot.

Red card was a clear thing on the other hand. Situations like that get treated more severely than when the error happens in the game situation. Same with the red card Schweinsteiger got against Croatia.

By the way, I started football referee hobby this spring, mostly junior games and lower division assistant. It's been mostly fun, kids are... cute. :D One of the reasons I've been out of touch lately, for example this month I've been whistling every night.

Edit: It seems I can't even write proper English anymore. :o
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Post by Ozz »

Cliffjumper wrote:Is it me, or is Petr Cech always unspeakably poor for the Czech Republic anyway?
I dunno, he did save them against the Swiss.

Shame about Volkan, but I think Turkey's not without chances against Croatia.

Oh, and I wouldn't worry about Sweden much, they need a draw against Russia and I'm pretty sure they'll manage. Russians might be great side in the future when they'll gain more experience (it's actually something Beenhakker should have done for us - find young good players, I'm pretty sure we have some, and build the team for the future, not play those same tired old "stars" - Zurawski, Krzynowek), but not yet.
-Okay, the bomb's dropped. Life goes on. No amount of sulking or worrying changes that. We've got our own lives to live. In that regard, in five minutes time, I am using the autopilot on the Midnight Runner and taking it down the pub. If I go on my own, I go on my own.
-Well. Wait up, you horrible English git. While I'm around, you don't have to go anywhere on your own.
And, one by one, the others follow.
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Post by Target »

That's the problem being the keeper, the other 10 players, manager, etc can all make mistakes and get away with it, the keeper makes one and it is all over the news.
Mind you I don't think Cech has been the same since his head injury.
If you can keep your head when all around are loosing theirs...you probably haven’t grasped the situation!!
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Post by redman prime »

well, been a fair bit, so much football..

Ballack scored a peach of a goal today, lightning bolt to the top bag.

I didn't really get to see why both coaches were sent off, but the commentators over here were taking the piss out of the ref for it..

big day tomorrow, which makes me wonder what the dutch do. Field a strong side and keep momentum or let romania possibly slip in the back door, knocking out the two sides that most pundits put through before the tourney started?
It's been fun so far.
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Post by CounterPunch »

thats a good question, do they field a relatively strong side and go for the win, keeping, as you say, momentum going in to what could potentially be a frustrating match in the quarter finals (Sweden or Russia) or do they field a weaker side and take out two teams who could cause them problems in a possible final.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Oh, this is marvellous... Ribery crippled, Abidal sent off, France a goal down, and it looks like they might be sending on Jean-Alain Boumsong =D

Go Romania!

EDIT: And they've subbed the bloke they just bought on. This is mental!
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Post by Osku »

Cliffjumper wrote:Oh, this is marvellous... Ribery crippled, Abidal sent off, France a goal down, and it looks like they might be sending on Jean-Alain Boumsong =D

Go Romania!

EDIT: And they've subbed the bloke they just bought on. This is mental!
Bloke = Nasri sure had a nice role in the game. :nonono:

I was hoping more from this game. Well, France still has second half to leave a better impression of themselves.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Erm, if anyone near Zurich want to pop in and let the French know they want to have a pop at, y'know, winning this?
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Post by CounterPunch »

What I find funny is two players touted to blow people away this tournament were Benzema and Nasri. Benzema has been absolutely dreadful all the way through every match so far, and Nasri came on for the first time this tourny (i think), and taken off like 10 minutes later, pretty funny.
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Post by Osku »

France has started second half aggressively, but they have trouble getting inside penalty area.

It seems also that Italy is going for the second goal, promising.

Gattuso and Pirlo out from the next (possible) match. Gattuso's yellow card was rather stupid even. :(
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