Official Football Thread

I think the heat took the heat out of the game the last 25 minutes or so :cool: As you say, both teams seemed happy with a draw, England more than France.
 
Expected. First match between group favourites. No risks taken on any side. Kinda lame, though.
 
What a boring game was that. (France-England)

Ukraine-Sweden is no different so far.

Edit : I'm glad that I said the latter one, two goals in five minutes :D
 
Shevshenko was awesome in front of a home crowd. A truly epic performance for his age and his team's quality.
 
Poland was strong. Loved that equalizer! They even had some chances to beat the Russians. Now that it ended up with a draw, they absolutely have to beat the Czech Republic, or else it's all over.
 
Man, what a day... the match is only tonight, but the whole country is already busy with it (apart from the football haters naturally ;-). Will Van Marwijk change radically and bring new energy, or will he stick to his guns (which is very probable). The tension will be hard to bear. If we'll go out playing bad I can live with it, but if we'll go out playing well that would be pretty unbearable. We'll see.

A few entertaining stats, which naturally say more about history than about a prediction:

Since 1980, the Netherlands were never kicked out in the group stage of a European Football Championship, or World Cup. 1980 group stage results:
Netherlands - Greece: 1-0 (Naples, Italy)
West Germany - Netherlands: 3-2 (Naples, Italy)
Netherlands - Czechoslovakia: 1-1 (Milan, Italy)
22px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png
West Germany 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 5
22px-Flag_of_Czechoslovakia.svg.png
Czechoslovakia 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 3
22px-Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg.png
Netherlands 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 3
22px-Flag_of_Greece.svg.png
Greece 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1

Since their Euro 96 victory, Germany won their second match on a big tournament (Euro & World Cup) only once: World Cup 2006, in Dortmund, Germany: 1-0 vs Poland.
 
I just saw the highlights of Denmark - Portugal (the first match I've missed): another cracker. This tournament must be the best in recent memory, let's hope tonight's match is just as good.

Forostar said:
Will Van Marwijk change radically and bring new energy, or will he stick to his guns (which is very probable).
Click to expand...
You called it: still no Huntelaar, and still De Jong.
 
national acrobat said:
There's no way the manager can't start with Huntelaar (or both) in the next match....
Click to expand...

Yes he can. I thought this would happen and I am not very happy with it.
I can only hope he will change things in the match, soon enough, when needed.

edit: sorry didn' t see your post when I posted. Two minds, one thought, one timing. ;)
 
Well deserved German victory. Not a long analysis from my part. Only disappointment.

Apparently we're not out yet. There's a minor chance:
IF Germany wins their last match and IF we beat Portugal with at least two goals difference, then it's still possible.

But I am not expecting anything anymore. :grumble:
 
Good game from a neutral POV, and now the Dutch have to beat Portugal by two and hope that the Germans aren't happy with a draw against Denmark ...

PS: I see that Foro postet basically the same just as I was typing.
 
Yeah, Germany v Holland was a good game. Got a bit boring and stale-matey in the second half, had the feeling both teams weren't going on 100% anymore, German more so than Holland. I'm actually surprised that Holland basically let Germany pass the ball around for the final 10 minutes of the game, especially with the huge difficulty that beating Portugal seems at the moment.
 
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