Euro 2004 (football) - Page 2

Players get up to all sorts when they're off the ball. If there was a camera on each for the whole game, and they were penalised based on that evidence on or off the pitch, the game might well clean itself up a good bit.

Yes, but the implication was that it was done with some sort of malicious intent, which is the bullshit part. TV stations often keep a camera on the most interesting player in a game. Doesn't that happen anywhere else?
And I don't think anyone who loves football (Italian or not) will condone that type of thing. I saw the quote more as an attempt to shift blame to the Danes, and the fault for it falls only on the person who said it.

They were also claiming that Totti had been provoked throughout the game-this is more likely to be true, but that's part of playing. If he can't put up with that without spitting in somebody's face he needs to get off the fucking field.

Arrggghhh!!! I missed seeing Sweden come back and tie Italy because I had to take my wife to a friend's house. All day long all I wanted to do was sit down and watch that match and I fricking miss the tie.

By the way, the Fox Sports World website has had some interesting look at behind the scenes stuff going on during the tournament. If you're in to that kind of thing yall might want to check it out.

Been catching up on today's action through websites since of course no American sports station is actually showing highlights of the Cup (if it wasn't for FSW I don't think I would see view one of the Cup).

Shit, that was probably the best game so far. My comiserations. I suggest you move to Italy. They have football on all the time, football-related shows the rest of the time and FIVE newspapers dedicated just to football. It's country with it's priorities right.

I love Sweden. Amazing goal.

God-DAMN, Italy was good! Fuck me, they owned first half. If they keep this up they'll win the whole thing.

And neither Sweden nor Denmark will play for a 2-2 tie just to get rid of Italy. That's not gonna happen.

Ibrahimovic should have his heel dipped in gold after that game. Italy was a completely different side from that which disappointed against Denmark, even without Totti.

Saw the Denmark-Bulgaria game myself in the middle of Tivoli Gardens with some 2000 other people. When Gronkjaer scored that beauty in the 90th minute that place went absolutely apeshit

Getting ready for Spain-Portugal tonight. Must start drinking soon.

Oh, and if you Americans haven't seen the Holland-Czech Republic game yet... record it. Game of the fucking tournament so far.

yeah that holland/czech game was amazing. lots of terrific goals and saves and shots of the post and shit. i can't see how there could possibly be a better game then that for the remaining tournament.

One of the greatest games ever. My home was like a madhouse. Everybody shouting and having great fun. Holland´s coach made a big mistake taking Robben out of the team.

Denmark can't play for a draw, they need to attack, since they have to score at least twice to advance. It's better for them to win. Söderberg (Swedish coach) got pissed when a possible deal between the teams was mentioned at a press conference (BTW, Vieri was pissed too, what was up with that?).

Anyway, if Italy beat Bulgaria, a 2-2 draw between Sweden and Denmark is the only way they can be out of the tornament, I think it's the press getting ready for a worst-case scenario. Then, if Italy are out of the tournament it will be because of other factors, not that they didn't win tho matches that they should have been able to win.

Okay, I haven't been at work since saturday afternoon, so I haven't been able to post my (probably annoying by now) thoughts on the three great games that we've had over the weekend.

Slowpulse - your boys played like a tournament winning side on Friday. Absoloutley beautiful. Fuck Totti, you're better off without him. It's just a shame that Italy seemed to let it all go in the second, and full credit to Sweden - they took every opportunity that presented itself and earned a point. I thought that this was easily the best game so far, until...

Holland vs. Czech Republic. I wasn't expecting shit from this game, but after that I honestly cannot remember such an isane game of football. There were 35 shots on goal during the game! It was by no means a defensive game and both teams played as you'd expect of people represeneting their nation in a tournament like this - never giving up, never slowing down and never giving an inch. You could see that the Dutch players were absoloutley gutted for losing the match but IMO, they should be fucking proud for their part in that game. I think that they'll definately go through if they can even play half as well as they did there. As for the Czechs - they keep playing like that and they'll go home champions (yes- I can see a team potentially beating England) .

Which brings me to yesterday's derby - Spain-Portugal. Was a dull fucking let down of a game for the first hour until Nuno Gomes scored a cracker through the legs of two defenders. Then Spain woke up and went for it and we had great game,almost as exciting as Holland-Czech for the last half an hour. Spain are a better team on paper, but they went to play for a draw and deserved to go home for that mentality. Go portugal.

England-Croatia tonight, and I predict a win for the three lions.
The anticipation is making my day very, very long...

Anybody else get itchy because there is no game at 6 now (I'm not a patient man)? Wonder what I'll do between the quarters and the semis.

Makes me think of:
"What is this "day of rest" shit? What is this bullshit, man? I don't fucking care! It don't matter to Jesus! But you're not fooling me! You might fool the fucks in the league office, but you don't fool Jesus! It's bush league psych-out stuff! Laughable, man! I would've fucked you in the ass Saturday, I'll fuck you in the ass next Wednesday instead!"
This is a film site, after all.

Thanks. Swedish press don't seem to have touched that story. I only saw the outburst, never the cause of it.
It figures.
Anyway, they're probably cool to have on your side when the team is doing well.

Engand - Croatia just finshed 4-2 to England. It's the best that I can remember seeing them play. It's also the first time ever that England have reached the European championship quarter-finals on mainland soil. The way that they played - if they can repeat that in any way, well, we can win the tournament(touches wood). That's just my own shamelessley biased view of course.
Full credit to the Croats, who never thought that the game was over- but they played a shit-hot team today.

I'd like to hear some of your thoughts if possible. Cheers

The French seemed to dominate the Swiss, as they should, but they have not played to their potential. Lots of scoring chances in the first half especially and they just could not capitalize.

France is not playing well enough to win this thing, though they do have all the talent in the world to do it.

Yup, if we keep on playing like that, Greece is gonna make a kebab out of us.

Henry scored two goals in the last 20 minutes, but he was completely out of it for the first 70 minutes. He could not control the ball or create space for himself. Without Zidane, the French team would have been lost.

I am not sold that Henry has broken out, or that the French forwards are capable of taking over a game like they are capable of doing.

Their defense played pretty well, though. Even with the Swiss not showing up on offense at all, they kept the ball away from the keeper (minus that one string of beautiful passes that led to that 18-year old's goal).

Better than the 4-1 win over the Dutch in Euro '96?

Last night wasn't perfect. Defence was a bit shaky, Becks and Owen still haven't done much. It has been helpful that some (most notably Rooney and Lampard) have been superb.

Would have enjoyed last night's game, even if I wasn't English. There have been some cracking games recently, the tournament is really starting to heat up.

I may have over-exageratted the geatness of our performance, and you are right about Beckham - he hasn't been on any kind of form. Owen's a different case however, he's been greatly improving recently and he's been more than happy to set up three of the 7 goals we've scored in the last two games. I expect him to score very soon, just Scholes did yesterday.

You have to also remember that on their day they are both world-beaters. They're virtually undroppable, both able to turn a game in an instant.

If Owen gets one it might open the floodgates.

I was listening to some of the post-game analysis on Five Live, and they speculated about Beckham looking "tired". They wondered if he had anything to do with the turbulent year he has had. Might explain things I suppose.

I haven't thought much of Portugal thus far. Wouldn't it just be typical for them to turn it on in the Quarter Final! Looking forward to the next "Adventures of Cristiano Ronaldo" though.

I thought Beckham looked really tired in the last 15 minutes or so last night. Didn't think much of it.
He seems to do a lot of "groundwork", not the high profile stuff you'd normally associate with his kind of stardom.

Regarding the best game: There was the time when England beat Germany 5-1 (summer of 2001, I think that Sven-Göran Eriksson had just started his work as coach at that time).

I'd nearly forgotten about that game. That was a good evening in front of the telly!

I remember, we were doing an expo in Munich at the time, a joint venture with an English company. Their representative used to do what he could to piss Germans off, and when they were about to tell him to fuck off, he would show them this big cardboard sign that he made, that just said "5-1".

Tonight is Sweden-Denmark/Italy-Bulgaria. If I wasn't so invested in the former, I'd probably watch the latter. It'll be interesting to see if Italy can keep up the game they had against Sweden. And Bulgaria may feel they have something to prove. But they are both going to be great matches.

The thing about the 5-1 in Munich was that it was a good performance against a crap German side. Euro 96 against Holland was an awe-inspiring performance against a high-quality Dutch side. That match, above any Argentina or Germany jingoistic wankfests, is easily the best England have played in the last ten years. Sheringham and Shearer were unstoppable that night.


I'd take the Czechs to win it all, but I'm starting to think that France are actually going to win it without having to play well at any point. Zidane will carry them there himself.

I'm American, so I can pretty much only call myself a casual soccer fan.

I knew Zidane was great, but watching him against the Swiss and the Croatians showed me so much. He CREATES for his entire team. He is the only person I have seen in the Euro 2004 that makes every single player on the field better. He reminds me of Michael Jordan. Zidane sees things on the field that nobody sees, or if they did see it are not capable of making the perfect pass either over a defender or through a defense. Plus, he opens up space because it seems not one person on the field can mark him, which brings defensive help, and open men.

I know that some offensive players can have the same effect on a defense, but when you are in the midfield and you can do things that Zidane can do, it is a weapon that is nearly impossible to defend. Just imagine if the French forwards did not have their foot up their ass in the first round.

I still feel the French will be beaten, but not by Greece.

I feel your pain slowpulse and all Italians. I´m although happy my Nordic countries Denmark and Sweden are going to the finals. It was a great game.

I would have loved to see the Italians go through, but at the end of the day they underachieved. They clearly had the talent, as you could see from their match against Sweden, but they (I hate saying cliches) they seemed happy to go a goal up and then bring the game to a halt. I'm dissapointed, but they didn't deserve to go through.

I must admit, I felt a bit embarrassed when the 2-2 goal was scored and both teams completely stopped playing. I would have liked the Italians to go through, too, but we played too bad yesterday. Jon Dahl Tommassen is a real asshole, though, it pisses me off that he got to score twice.

Nothing to be embarrased about - neither team at that point felt like risking anything when they're both through, so what if they spend a moment at the end of the game messing around ? They played a brilliant game and deserved to go through.



I half agree, we are a really weak against set-pieces (all the goals that we've conceded have been so) and I shit anytime it looks like James might need to make a save. Aside from that, we've got Campbell, Terry and King - they always clean up. Also, the Croats in particular are very good on the counter.

So does the rest of England!!!

Its worrying that the 3 keepers England have out in Portugal played in clubs that finished in the bottom 5 of the premiership (two of them were relegated).

Also I think Rooney has scored more goals in his last four England appearances (six goals) then he did the whole of last season for Everton!!

Fox Sports World is not showing the England-Portugal game tomorrow. It is only on Pay-Per-View.

It pisses me off, but I am cheap as hell.

I guess Portugal is going to be tough at home, we will see.

woohoo owen!!!!!!!! brutal defense there by portugal. i got money on england. nice start to the game.

Those of you are getting to watch the game, please keep the rest of us lowly ones updated on the score, please.

The ESPN gamecast shows it to be 1-0 England. (82nd Minute)

From what I have seen, it seems like Portugal has been dominating the game on the England side of the field. They just cannot score.

(but, I am looking at a gamecast, not the game)


EDIT

Portugal just tied it 1-1 at 82:25 or so.

EDIT

Looks like England gets screwed, putting in a late goal and having it disallowed by a disputed "foul" call. Pretty pathetic, i'll say. You can pretty much gang rape someone inside the box and they wont call anything. I guess I'll wait for the video.

1st Extra Time. Portugal had three shots on goal. All blocked. Beckham had one off-target header.
Still 1-1.

Start of the 2nd period of extra time. Rui Costa just scored one off the bar in the 110th minute to give Portugal a 2-1 lead.

9 minutes left for England to try to tie it up. Beckham takes a shot on goal that is saved.

Portugal with another shot in the 114th minute. Simoa misses wide right.

Lampard scores in the 115th minute for England.

TIED 2-2.

Cole with a shot on goal from way out. Caught by the Portugese keeper.

GOAL ENGLAND

2-2

115th minute.

Lampard from 7ish Yards out.

SCREW YOU FOX SPORTS WORLD FOR NOT PLAYING THIS GAME LIVE!

Penalties:

Agreed.

End of Extra time

This is one of the premier games in the entire Euro 2004. They could give us SOMETHING other then FRANCE-CROATIA. They have put all the best games on PAY-PER-VIEW. It pisses me off more then it makes me want to pay for the damn game.

England-Portugal tied 2-2 after 3 penalties.

Beckem and Rui Costa miss

3-3 after 4 PKs

4-3 England up with Portugal's last kick coming up (to tie)... he makes it

4-4 going into sudden death.

England makes it to go up 5-4... Postiga makes it 5-5.

Ricardo saves Vassell's PK... its on Portugal now...

Ricardo taking the kick (yeah, the keeper), and he...

MAKES IT! Portugal finishes off England 2-2 (6-5) and the riots start in London...... NOW.

Hits it. Portugal moves on.

I did not see the disputed goal, but it seems like this stuff always happens to England.

As if they needed an excuse to riot...

True, but it does not help. A mob of angry Brits, pissed that the ref's screwed them out of Euro 2004, is not something that Portugal or London want to deal with right now.

I guess I will click on FSW at some point today to see if the Brits have a reason to be pissed.

One of my co-workers just got back to the office from watching the game on ppv. The way he described it, the Portugese keeper was way out of position and crashed into an English player to bait the ref. The ref went for it and disallowed the goal. My co-worker is of the strong opinion that England got screwed. There could be rioting in his office as we speak.

I was really pulling for the English. They have a history of really blowing games, and I thought that they could pull it out today. It happens, the English get screwed, some people get beaten in the streets of London... just another day in soccer houlliganism.

Are there any stories of houlliganism out there today after that crushing loss? I know there were some after that painful one against the French.