Official Football Thread

to the totality of the match -including the extra time- Chelsea was dominating MU

And how is Drogba a legend?
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well he is not in the way that Zidane was -but he was a key-player to that match and here is the similarity
...and he is -in his country  :D
 
You're not the best team if you can't find a way to score.  Chelsea couldn't find a way to seal the deal - something was lacking.  Man U hung on and pulled it out in penalty kicks.  Maybe I don't know anything about football but I do know that if you have the majority of ball possession and fail to get the majority of goals, you aren't doing it right.
 
national acrobat said:
This is pretty much the first time in my memory that England haven't qualified for a tournament....so it's a very strange feeling.
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Even in my years, it has been a bit of a rarity. I don't recall the two absences from the '74 and '78 World Cups and the Euros were not such a big event until France hosted it in '84 (Platini's tournament) - and England were not there. But USA '94 was the first really big blow. Until now.

And I have to take issue with the supposed dominance that some think that Chelsea had (not just here, but so many people seem to be saying it). I can't see how a team can dominate the game with only 42% of the possession and only 3 shots on goal compared to Man U's 5. Man U's dominance of the first half was such that if they went in 3-1 up at half time, it would not have flattered Man U. Granted, Chelsea did dominate the second half and may well have shaded the extra time, but in the whole game, they never really troubled van de Sar - Ferdinand caused him more problems with one header than the whole of Chelsea did. Yes, they hit the woodwork twice and perhaps van de Sar was beaten, but it's not enough. AQnd so it proved.

But the sacking of Avram Grant is possibly an error as he really didn't do too badly - aside from killing of games Chelsea should have won. However, with the expected exodus of the main stars at Chelsea (it depends on where Mourinho goes, by all accounts), Grant may be found out just how bad he could be as he inherited a very good team. Can he do it with his own side rather than someone else's? We may never know.
 
national acrobat said:
This is pretty much the first time in my memory that England haven't qualified for a tournament....so it's a very strange feeling. Rest assured Foro that I'll still be interested in it.

As for the 2nd division talk, you'll hear no more from me about QPR for quite a while...I'm extremely pissed off with how the owners are pricing fans out of tickets (50% increase in my season ticket price! which I'm not renewing) and generally how they couldn't give a flying fuck for the fans who've supported the club for 5, 25 or 55 years; all they want is rich twats from Kensington and Fulham to have fun with at their new play thing. I'll be going to away games only next season.
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This one kinda drowned between the European Championships and Champions League talk. 50% increase, that's outrageous. That's even worse than the Glazers. I really feel for you lot - and I understand your decision to not renew. If I was in the same situation I would really have needed time to think it over before renewing and I could very well ended up with the same conclusion as you have.

For myself and Fredrikstad FK, we have in a few years gone from being a division 2 club with loads of league titles from the 50's and 60's and nothing ever since, to a stable top flight team - this has also seen ticket prices rise from some 100 NOK (approx £10) for adult tickets to the main stand, to some of the most expensive tickets in the fecking league. Our season tickets are among the top 3 most expensive in the country - about £350 for 13 home games plus guaranteed cup final ticket if we get there. For myself it's not an issue as I live 600 km away and can only get to a few matches every year (last year was a record after starting my studies, I was to 9 games home and away). I certainly hope they do not rise the prices by 50% the day I decide to move southwards ...
 
national acrobat said:
I'll be supporting Poland and Austria, as they're my grandparents' countries. I don't hold out much hope for either though: that group is pretty tough. Germany, I think will win the tournament outright, and Poland will struggle to beat Croatia for second place.
Holland have a good chance of getting through the group stage: France are a fallen power, with aging stars and a lack of quality throughout the team let alone squad; with Italy, it all depends on their tactics, especially with which striker (if any) they play with Luca Toni. My choice for them would be Del Piero, who had a great season for Juve finishing top scorer in Serie A - not bad for an old fogie.
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Austria has a week team.  From what I've read in Canadian papers even their own countrymen don't expect much.  Croatia has lost their top scorer and I'm not sure that they'll have what it takes to defeat Poland, who has been improving over the years.  Germany looks to be a clear winner here, that I agree.

I expect the Dutch to finish first in their group.  I think they have great, skillful talent.  The only difficulty is that the "wild card" in Romania has defeated them in qualifying.  In recent tournaments, the Czech Rep. had done the same and met Holland again to defeat them.  Still, this did not deter Holland.  Only Portugal managed to oust them.  I expect Italy to make it regardless how they play; they always sneak in even if they're not deserving.  French have the least of a chance, I fancy, as their team is old.
 
"Strawberry blond? You're having a laugh!"
Crystal Palace's ginger-haired midfielder Ben Watson gets a ribbing from QPR.
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That chant is sung at EVERY ginger player in every league. We've got some much better ones.

I witnessed a much better one at Villa vs Reading. Aston Villa have a song for one of their heroes, Paul McGrath, to the tune of Kum-Ba-Yah, which they changed to target Dave Kitson. To hear the whole Holte End singing "Ginger twat, m'lord, ginger twat" was hilarious. :D
 
national acrobat said:
That chant is sung at EVERY ginger player in every league. We've got some much better ones.

I witnessed a much better one at Villa vs Reading. Aston Villa have a song for one of their heroes, Paul McGrath, to the tune of Kum-Ba-Yah, which they changed to target Dave Kitson. To hear the whole Holte End singing "Ginger twat, m'lord, ginger twat" was hilarious. :D
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Fantastic, simply fantastic. However, the best chant has to be the Sun'lun supporters' reply to the Toon Army a few years ago. The Geordies were singing "Going down, going down" to Sunderland. The black cats replied "So are we, so are we, so are we"  :D
 
Euro 2008 - I'm tipping the Czech Republic. No real reason, other than to be just a little different. ;)
 
Albie said:
Euro 2008 - I'm tipping the Czech Republic. No real reason, other than to be just a little different. ;)
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If I haven't mentioned it before, my tip is Germany. Portugal might also go close; they've gone far in most of the recent tournaments, and if Ronaldo keeps his form then they'll be dangerous. Spain will be failures again (but at least they got to the finals <_<).
 
Portugal will be a good side, I've no doubt. What is slightly interesting is this "group of death" that has Netherlands, Italy and France (along with Romania) - but the group that Portugal is in has the Czechs, Turkey and the better of the two host nations, the Swizz. You really can look at Group A and pick any two to qualify - it definitely is the most balanced group.

And watch Spain go out at the group stages as Greece and Sweden progress. ;)


HOWEVER, the closer it gets, the more I just want it to be over.
 
The group of death is interesting (not slightly!) but also fearful. I see these first three matches against Italy, France and Romania as three separate finals, and if we'll get through, I expect the rest must be easier.

I'm tipping my own country for the title. I know, it's wishful thinking (we saÿ "the wish is the father of thoughts") and I'm certainly not very objective, but I think that we have the strongest midfielders and attackers of all the countries. The defense is much more instable, but the team-spirit has grown to a high level.

Here my "prediction": The following countries will go through to the quarter finals, the semi's and the final.  :)

To the quarter-finals:
Portugal
Switzerland
Poland
Germany
Netherlands
Italy
Russia
Sweden

To the semi-finals:
Poland
Germany
Netherlands
Russia

Final:
Poland - Netherlands

European Champion 2008: Netherlands


Since I'm gone for the upcoming weekend and most of the following Monday, I'd like to post my expectations for the matches of the first three days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) right now.

Saturday, 7 June:
Switzerland - Czech Republic: 1-1
Portugal - Turkey: 1-0

Sunday, 8 June:
Austria - Croatia: 0-2
Germany - Poland: 1-2

Monday, 9 June:
Romania - France: 1-2
Netherlands - Italy: 1-0
 
Forostar said:
Final:
Poland - Netherlands
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Wishful thinking indeed! :D

My predictions are:

Quarters:
Portugal bt Poland
Germany bt Czech Republic
Italy bt Russia
Netherlands bt Spain

Semis:
Germany bt Portugal
Italy bt Netherlands

Final:
Germany bt Italy
 
For the quarters I predict:

Italy
France
Czech Republic
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Croatia
Germany

Semifinals:

Germany
Portugal
France
Italy

Finals:

Germany
Portugal

Of course, I'd love to see Sweden advance past the quarterfinals but in all honesty what are the chances when the only really bad teams this year are Switzerland and Austria?

For the upcoming matches I predict that the Czech Republic will beat Switzerland, Portugal will beat Turkey, Croatia will beat Austria, Germany will beat Poland, France will beat Romania and Italy will beat the Netherlands.
 
My predictions for the first round of matches:

The Swizz and the Czechs draw.
Portugal and Turkey draw

Croatia to beat Austria
Germany to beat Poland

France to beat Romania
Italy to beat The Netherlands

Spain to beat Russia
Greece and Sweden draw.

I will leave the quarters predictions 'til later.
 
Yesterday I read a remarkable statistic:

The last time that Germany has won a singular match within regular playing time at the European Championships was in 1996(!)

Just checked:
The last two Championships, Germany only played 3 matches per tournament:
2000: 1 draw, 2 losses
2004: 2 draws, 1 loss

This time I think they'll get further, together with Poland.
 
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