The Official Euro 2004 Thread

Sounds like your colleagues are the South American equivalent of the Scotch. They wre probably invaded by the Argies at some point and never got over it

Matthew

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Originally posted by steved:
Is it me, or was Joe Royle watching a different game last night. During the first half particularly, I got fed up of his whingeing; I thought England's performance was good throughout the team (until the last 15 minutes, when you could see they were tired).

Steve D

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He was. This was apparent when he mentioned Jamie Redknapp. They must have given him an old tape to watch.

Like many people I have been involved in a number of discussions about which teams and players at Euro 2004 are better than which. Luckily this afternoon I recieved a comprehensive statistical package from Dr Vuksanovic explaining everything.

I won't bore you all with the Science and detailed rationale but here are the highlights:

Ratings are out of 100.

Best Teams

95 Italy
87 Czech Republic
85 Netherlands
77 Sweden
69 Russia
65 Denmark
63 Portugal
62 Spain
60 Germany
59 Greece
52 Bulgaria
49 France
46 Switzerland
45 England*
40 Croatia
39 Latvia

Without Ashley Cole England's rating would be approx. 63

Best Players

99 nedved
98 nesta
90 zidane
89 van nistelrooy
88 ronaldo (the portuguese one)
87 ballack
85 nuno gomes
83 del piero
80 sol campbell
79 ibrahimovic
77 heinz
75 rooney
70 overmars

Overrated Players

most over-rated players (in no particular order):

beckham
trezeguet
larsson

I trust that clears it all up.

Matthew

Italy out. In the most agonising manner possible.

Excellent. Quite made my day.

Omer,

I think he has recanted now though. In 1982 a young Vuk admired the stylish hair, nicely cut jerseys and pretty boy looks over Socrates' mad tramp look however good his football was.

These days however, in what we can only regard as an appalling act of revisionism, he views Brazil '82 as The Greatest Team Evah and the benchmark by which all other teams must be measured.

This presumably means he didn't see the West Ham side of 94.

Matthew

Matthew,

Thanks for ruining a good thread.

Well I don't know about that.

I've learned a lot.

P

Omer,

I think you and your brothers were probably outgunned as the Vatican mobilised the entire Catholic Nation. Plus no doubt a youthful Vuk in Belgrade was leading his Orthodox Russian Bible Group through a rousing rendition of some Psalms in support of The Azzuri.

I watched that game on my bed on a portable TV as my Dad was away and my Mum and Sister out voted me on what was to be watched on hte main TV in the living room.

Matthew

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
PPS The best player in the world isn't Zidane or Henry. It's Ronaldhino and watching the second half of this years La Liga would make this very obvious.

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Spot on. I watched a Barcelona match towards the end of the season and Ronaldhino was mesmerising. What really impressed me was the way he tried more often to bring his team mates into the game with a repertoire of sublime passes/flicks/shimmies/etc etc. This included pin point cross field passes not to the feet but a yard or so in front of the running recipient so they could pick the ball up in their stride. Great stuff.

Mike

As a dutchman I certainly hope so. But in the light of history the Germans will defeat the Chzech b-team and make it to the final with that lousy, negative play.

Rob.

I love it when teams get knocked out without actually losing. Ah, they're a-weeping in Rome this morning I reckon.

Apparently the Italians are going to lodge a complaint with UEFA after the Scandinavians had that wicked 2-2 draw....

Sour grapes anybody?

Steve

What a pity Sorensen had to spill that ball late on.

I'll go with Andy Townsend re Italy - Denmark and Sweden played better football and deserved to go thru.
All Italy had to do last night was thrash Bulgaria - Both Sweden and Denmark had managed comfortable wins. They were rubbish despite how much they are rated / fancied.

I'll never accuse England of playing poorly. At least Michael Owen sets up the goals if he doesn't score, fatboy Vieri has had a terrible championship.

Too much negativity from Italy cost them - they were brilliant for 45 mins against Sweden and then went into negative defensive mode, withdrawing attackers and putting on extra defensive players.

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Originally posted by adamk:
All Italy had to do last night was thrash Bulgaria

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Italy could have beaten Bulgaria 50-0 last night and they'd still have gone out.

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These days however, in what we can only regard as an appalling act of revisionism, he views Brazil '82 as The Greatest Team Evah and the benchmark by which all other teams must be measured.

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I agree with Vuk here. This '82 side was the best I've ever seen, it was sorely lacking a world class striker but elswhere was truely stunning. Unfortunately (in this case)the Best team does not always win.

However on almost all other Football related matters (West Ham excepted) I find myself agreeing with Matthew, which is amazing as I think he talks bobbins on almost every other subject

"Apparently the Italians are going to lodge a complaint with UEFA after the Scandinavians had that wicked 2-2 draw....

Sour grapes anybody?"

This is classic Italian football paranoia and is a common occurence in Serie A. Seems quite prevalent in La Liga too. I'm sad to see Italy go out as I really like their defence but David Pleat rightly pointed out that Del Piero is fat and off the pace. I think many of their forwards and midfielders are overated anyway. Losing Totti (for all his unpleasantness) badly hampered them.

John

Alex, wasn't is you who said he was going support the Czech team with some voodoo shit? Please don't let go, if the Germans win I'll go mad!!!

IRT the Italians, I think they have showed some of the best football of this tournament the first half against Sweden. I think it's a shame they are not through.
Did the Danes and the Swedish cheat? If you ask me, they did. All those shots from the Danes on goal with 2-1 were deliberately high over. And the blooper from the goalie at the end was rather pathetic. I understand, and I think it was an enjoyable match nonetheless, but still...

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Alex, wasn't is you who said he was going support the Czech team with some voodoo shit? Please don't let go, if the Germans win I'll go mad!!!

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Czech's to make 9 changes for tonights match including all 6 midfielders/forwards so unfortunately the Germans may scrape through.

IMHO the 1970 Brazilian team was the best team ever.

Sadly, I also think that the Germans will get through

Omer, that wasn't real disappointment. It was all a play, but I must admit, a very good one. But face it, why was the right back of Sweden continually attacking and leaving Gronkjaer free? Right, to make a goal AND because he knew Gronkjaer wouldn't score. Come on, Gronkjaer had some great opportunities but he missed the goal all the time. And when a Dane missed, you saw a little disappointment on his face. If it was for real, they would probably be screaming whatever these Scandinivians say what is here known as 'fuck' or 'damned'. But hey, it's just my opinion, I guess we'll never know for sure...

Greeny, here we just hope that the Czech substitutes want to show that THEY should be playing from the start. Besides, a number of players who played in the qualification matches (that we didn't win either) will play tonight. We'll see tonight, let's hope for the best and some great matches.

BTW I think the Netherlands will crush the Lets with 6-1!

If the German's get through they will be in England's half of the draw. Should we be fortunate enough to squeeze past the Portuguese, I'd much rather play them than the Dutch who have as good a squad of players as anyone.

Matthew

Its traditional that we meet Germany in the semi isn't it?

Third time lucky?

Do you lot actually watch football matches or do you read OK magazine and look up to the TV when someone scores?

Italy have played some of the best football in this championships and yesterday was a great performance. Just like the Swedish match, they fail to finish the ball off (usually due to Vieri not getting his headers). They had over 25 shots at the goal yesterday, the majority of them beautifully set up from midfield moves. The whole team shouldn't get criticised just because the ball doesn't end up in the net.

Italy had the best defence and midfield in this championships.

Count.d you are channelling Vuk.

Matthew