Euro Portugal

Having lived in Germany for one and a half year, I will support the German team for sure. But they really need some good luck to get into semi-final .

But since world cup in 86, I have been a fan of Denmark!

Uwe,

I was thinking of starting a thread but wondered if it was too soon. You realise it will be *very* England centric (which annoys the Scotch so is a good thing).

The obvious topic at this stage is picking the England squad. I suppose you could pick a France or Germany squad but I doubt you'll get much discussion about who to take as the 4th German centre half.

Still a thread about football is always a good idea.

Latest odds:

France 3/1
Italy 4/1
Portugal 13/2
Holland 13/2
Spain 7/1
England 7/1
Czech Rep 12/1
Germany 18/1
Sweden 28/1
Denmark 33/1
Russia 66/1
Bulgaria 66/1
Greece 80/1
Croatia 80/1
Switzerland 100/1
Latvia 500/1

Best value there is the Czech Republic at 12/1 and Germany at 18/1 (Never bet against the Germans).

My second team will be the plucky Latvians.

Matthew

"As for the English, no doubt Gerrard, Owen and Beckham will be injured, so they won't win"

Every time I watch Lampard these days (as I am now) I think he is in that class as well.

Count me in the drop Scholes for Lampard camp.

Matthew

Didier Deschamps looks like the sort of bloke an undercover cop played by Alain Delon would meet down at the docks in a 1970s French police thriller.

Matthew

quote:

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Originally posted by Nick Lees: Mind you, the Germans seem to fail to recognise they have an absolutely crap team, so would bet on them doing well.

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On the contrary. If you read the German newspapers these days, it's a miracle we made it to Portugal at all.

There are not that many good German players at the moment, and some of them are injured or otherwise out of action (Sebastian Deisler, for example, is reovering from a bout of depression, which he probably caught when he thought about his chances of winning anything with the German national team. The current generation of players is indeed crap.).

With luck we may be able to send 11 players to Portugal, but there is a real possibility of being out after the premilinary round. Oh, and our coach is hoping that Miroslav Klose, one of the most overrated players ever, will score a few goals. He prefers Klose to Martin Max, who has scored about twice as many goals in the Bundesliga but for reasons that completely escape me has no lobby in the DFB. Max, for those not familiar with German football, being the attacker with the highest average of goals per season for the last five or six years, but who has only a couple of games in the national team.

Who bets on the Germans? Not the Germans. Probably some English halfwits.

Andy Cap innit!

The Football Gods watched Makelele's display and said "Lo, Chelsea, thou shalt lose".

Hurrah!

Matthew

------------------Robinson

---Neville----Brown----Woodgate----Bridge

--------------------Lampard

--------Gerrard-------------Beckham
----------------------Scholes
---------------------------Rooney
-----------------Owen

quote:

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
Didier Deschamps looks like the sort of bloke an undercover cop played by Alain Delon would meet down at the docks in a 1970s French police thriller.

Matthew

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Yes, but Monaco won yedsterday and that's it. What do you think of Makelele's behaviour ?

Klva

Not interested in football at all, but you could all look out for my girlfriend on the Canon Euro 2004 posters on busses and billboards!



Stephen

Why not adopt the German approach and put out a really crap team who then over achieve

Walker

G.Neville Brown Campbell P.Neville

McManaman Murphy Scholes Dyer

Fowler Heskey


Slow ponderous mistake ridden defence. Over-rated and over the hill or just plain continually injured midfield and strikers that cannot score goals.

It has worried me for a long time that the left side of the England team has been considered to be the weakness when you think just how many caps that G. Neville has won and for a long time the only viable alternative was his brother!

I am sure that Sven has come up with worse combinations for the second half of friendlies but I cannot be bothered to remember all the one cap 'wonders'...

My XI

James

G.Neville Terry Woodgate Bridge

Beckham Gerrard Lampard A.Cole

Rooney Owen


Worryingly I don't think this one is much better (see what I mean about the right back slot!) And anyway, like Alex G, given the team that I support, what would I know?

"Yes, but Monaco won yedsterday and that's it"

Yes I know -- great isn't it!

"What do you think of Makelele's behaviour"

I thought it was appalling and he got his team eaxactly what they deserved. (Which is what I said earlier).

Matthew

Ingerland Starting XI

............Robinson

Neville, Campbell, Terry, Bridge

..............Butt

.....Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard

..........Owen Rooney

Squad:

GK: James, Martyn

CH: Woodgate and Brown

FB: Cole, Neville P. (on the basis of versatility as he can replace Neville G. and Butt)

MF: Scholes, Dyer, Wright-Phillips, Hargreaves

ST: Defoe, Smith and Heskey

(I think that might be one too many)

Matthew

quote:

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Originally posted by Nick Lees:
My point was badly made - the German team has been pants for some while, but that doesn't seem to stop them doing well in tournaments! Bastards

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Ok Nick, I think I see now what you were saying. Don't make much difference - the German team will still be crap and no amount of denial will make them win this tournament.

So who will be the German keeper, Markus? "Mad" Jens Lehmann or the Lederhosen wearing, wife deserting for woman 10 years younger, nightclub going Oliver Kahn?

Matthew

Kahn, of course. Lehmann is probably a better goalie than Kahn, but Kahn is more valuable for a team, IYSWIM. He inspires awe in both the opposing team and his own defense. If you are a defense player and are guilty of a goal against Kahn, you're in trouble.

The rising star among goal keepers over here is Stuttgart's keeper, Timo Hildebrandt. It'll be interesting to see if he will replace Kahn before the world championship in 2006, as Kahn seems to be a bit past his peak.

Markus,
I am with you on this one, I believe that Kahn's career is coming to an end (wasn't there a rumour that he might replace Hoeness as General Manager or something like this?). From what I saw in the last Arsenal matches, Lehmann can be counted in for at least one major mistake per match. Perhaps they should use Hildebrand right away. In any case I fear that with boring but efficient football Germany will make it to the semi-finals.
Cheers
Uwe

"In any case I fear that with boring but efficient football Germany will make it to the semi-finals"

I fear that is shared by the whole of Europe Uwe

Matthew

quote:

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
You realise it will be *very* England centric (which annoys the Scotch so is a good thing).

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We Scotch are too busy sulking about being even worse than England to get annoyed.

I'm also concerned about the prospect of France being the France of 2002, and failing to give Inguhland (that's "uh" not "er" - you can't pronounce your "r"s) a well-deserved thrashing.

Deep sigh.

Davie

Don't worry Davie, Englishmen faced with the sight of Terry Henry and Cheating Bobby Pires are like deer in headlights and will succumb forthwith.

My prediction: England will be 1-0 up against France but lose 2-1 to a Henry ubergoal and dodgy pen after Pires trips over his hair. This will be followed by a dour 0-0 draw against an unlucky Switzerland leaving England having to beat Croatia to progress. After our media has pumped up the abilities of the Croatians until the country believes they are Gods that Walk Amongst Men we will duly beat them 3-1 and be prounounced Euro 2004 Favourites.

We will then scrape past some plucky outsider team (say, Latvia) that we will be (over) confidently expected to dispatch with ease after our Coratian triumph and so set up a Semi-Final with a heavyweight like Italy or The Netherlands. 1966 will be mentioned. A lot. (Although frankly who ever tires of listening to the tales of England's triumph?).

England will lose in a moderately unlucky manner leading to "We Woz Robbed" headlines. Wayne Rooney will be a national hero and world superstar and will begin a long slow decsent into overweight, chain-smoking alcoholism. Sven will be lionised for 36 hours before the story about him and Jordan breaks and he leaves the country for good.

Matthew

Go on Matthew, spoil the fun for the rest of us by giving away the plot. I was looking forward to the new series of Euro, I won't bother to watch now I know what's going to happen.

Right. Germany 0, Romania 5. What was it you lot were saying about the German team playing badly but somehow still getting through to the semi-finals or even finals? Load of cr*p.

Markus,

Everyone promised us that Germany would be humiliated in the Japorea WC and looked what happened there.

You are, I am sure you will agree, due a good drubbing after 30 years of unbroken success.

Matthew

quote:

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
You are, I am sure you will agree, due a good drubbing after 30 years of unbroken success.

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Dear Matthew,

thanks for your kind feelings, but I believe we already got our due in the last European Championships. You (gleefully) remember, don't you?

Dear Markus,

It had slipped my mind. But I am grateful for you reminding me.

Matthew