Euro 2004

[EmperorJay]

These boards have open for over a month now and altough I've seen many familiar faces there are many I don't know. And isn't it sports that brings people together?

So I thought it would be nice to open a thread about the European (Football) Championships. This sport is known as Football all over the world except in the US and Canada ;) where it's called "soccer".

The competing teams:
Group A
Greece
Portugal
Spain
Russia

Group B
Switzerland
Croatia
France
England

Group C
Denmark
Italy
Bulgaria
Sweden

Group D
The Netherlands
Germany
Czech Republic
Latvia

--

I'm afraid France will win again, but I'll be cheering for The Netherlands! Todays games: Denmark - Italy and Sweden - Bulgaria.

[vovan]

Bah you know Russia will win group A, right? :D

Well, maybe not. Portugal will kick our butt for sure. :( But a man can dream, can't he?

[Keith]

Announcer:
"Andropov, passes to Kurriev! Kurriev, passes it back to Andropov! Andropov, passes it yet again to Kurriev! And, Kurriev passes it back to Andropov again!

"This is so exciting I can't contain myself!"

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz...... ;)

Reminds me of the Simpsons segement on "football" (soccer). The announcer says "...and ties...you bet! We've got 'em!".

Sorry, its a cultural thing. I just can't get into soccer no matter how much the networks try to cram it down our throats. I'm not a big ice hockey fan either but at least it's got some lovely violence! :D
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Keith Heitmann
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[Lannes]

Bah you know Russia will win group A, right? :D

Well, maybe not. Portugal will kick our butt for sure. :( But a man can dream, can't he?

If they play like they did against Greece, Portugal is far from unbeatable. Just give them the ball. They seem to have no clue what to do with it. They'll hang around the penalty area without creating hardly a chance and all the opponent has to do is pick them off with the counterattack.

Lannes

[EmperorJay]

Announcer:
"Andropov, passes to Kurriev! Kurriev, passes it back to Andropov! Andropov, passes it yet again to Kurriev! And, Kurriev passes it back to Andropov again!

"This is so exciting I can't contain myself!"

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz...... ;)

Reminds me of the Simpsons segement on "football" (soccer). The announcer says "...and ties...you bet! We've got 'em!".

Sorry, its a cultural thing. I just can't get into soccer no matter how much the networks try to cram it down our throats. I'm not a big ice hockey fan either but at least it's got some lovely violence! :D
http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/horus2.gif
Keith Heitmann
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dheitm8612@aol.com (http://mailto:dheitm8612@aol.com/)
Pharaoh Music Jukebox (http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/java/pharaoh.htm)
I must say I enjoy watching Ice Hockey as it's known over here ;) and basketball, but I dislike baseball.. now that's boring! I've never seen American Football.

Anyway.. one of the big matches tonight. Netherlands - Germany. Latvia nearly suprised everyone by beating the Czech Republic, but they managed to win, but barely.

[Keith]

I must say I enjoy watching Ice Hockey as it's known over here ;) and basketball, but I dislike baseball.. now that's boring! I've never seen American Football.

Anyway.. one of the big matches tonight. Netherlands - Germany. Latvia nearly suprised everyone by beating the Czech Republic, but they managed to win, but barely.
I can see how baseball might bore someone never exposed to it. Since most of us in the states have played it as kids in one form or another we understand it. It's essentially a duel between pitcher and the batter until someone reaches one of the bases then it gets more complex. In my life I have played right field, third base, first base, pitcher and catcher.....but most of the time I was a pitcher. that's the fun position. Had I not gone to college on a football schollarship, I had a shot at getting into the Baltimore Oriole's AA "farm team" (minor league) system where most players pass through on their way up. My high school coach was a scout for them.

I'm surprised that you have not seen American football by now. There's even NFL Europe with teams based in Europe. Another variation on American football is Canadian football, which is very similar with changes in the size of the field and some rules. Then there is the newer indoor or arena football, smaller teams, smaller "field", and different rules and lots of scoring.

I have seen many professional and olympic soccer games, and sit in bewildered amazement as the crowd is cheering like mad, blowing horns, and waving national and team flags, and all the while very little is going on the field (pitch). Two guys essentially kicking the ball back and forth between each other trying to get past a defender in their own half of the field.

Like I said, it's a cultural thing. ;)

[EmperorJay]

Well, you could also say I never had the interest in watching the Amsterdam Admirals.. if they're on (and that's a big if) I usually zap away.

We do play "softball" at school.. it feels familiar to baseball and I enjoy it a great lot.

But like you said, must be a cultural thing. :p

Anyway.

The first round of the Playoff round is over now. Some pretty interesting results I'd say, with Greece winning over Portugal and Latvia nearly suprising the Czech.

Netherlands against Germany was an interesting match, but the play by Holland in the first half was worse than poor :(.

[Niempie]

Netherlands against Germany was an interesting match, but the play by Holland in the first half was worse than poor :(.

I agree with you, but I think that Advocaat should know by now what to do against the Czech. (based on the last minutes of yesterday's game) :D

[Jaguar]

I didn't get to see the match at all :( Was too busy to get away over lunch.

Ah well, at least the Dutch tied rather than lost. A loss would have been devastating with our next match against the Czechs. And the next game is on Saturday, so perhaps I'll have some time to sneak a peak :) BUt apparently my weekends are even busier than weekdays :rolleyes:

[vovan]

If they play like they did against Greece, Portugal is far from unbeatable. Just give them the ball. They seem to have no clue what to do with it. They'll hang around the penalty area without creating hardly a chance and all the opponent has to do is pick them off with the counterattack.

Well, Portugal may not be unbeatable, but now that the match is over, you can see that doesn't help Russia much. :( Just 6 shots during the whole match, out of which half were wide? Ovchinnikov handling the ball outside the goalie zone? One word: disappointment. :(

Well, at least we'll beat everybody in hockey this winter. :p

[Celebithil Dae]

Errr... go rugby?

Actualy, i love football (american) basketball, and baseball is growing on me again. As a matter of fact, im listening to one on the radio right now Heh, and the Pistons won the NBA Championship, and the Tigers are (almost)respectable. Wow. I dont feel much for soccer though, Rugby does seem interesting though.

[vovan]

Heh, and the Pistons won the NBA Championship

Speaking of which, that old guy who owns the team? He must be one happy man. Seeing how he is also the owner of Tampa Bay Lightning, and they won the Stanley Cup. ;)

[Celebithil Dae]

AND he own the Shock, who won the WNBA Championship. Not bad, Mr. Bill Davidson is 3 for 3.

[Atihotep]

Go Wales!

Oh, damn, they're not in the tournament. Disappointing. Oh well, France will have to do. And they actually have a chance of winning, unlike Wales, most likely. That's hopeful.

[EmperorJay]

So... the group stage has been dealt with. On to the Quarter Finals!

Tonight: Portugal - England
Tomorrow: France - Greece
Saturday: Netherlands - Sweden
Sunday: Czech Republic - Denmark

I must say that Greece has really suprised me in a positive way. But Latvia, on their first big tournament, weren't bad either, just not good enough (yet).

My bet on the Half Finals:

30th of June: England - Netherlands
1st of July: France - Denmark

France will beat Denmark, but I'm not so sure about England - Netherlands yet.

Final round will be on July 4th.

[Jaguar]

Jay, I don't know about Denmark. Those Czechs have done very well so far and I woudn't count them out. I was very happy to see that they did indeed beat the Germans to give our litle "kikkerland" a way into the quarterfinals.

I remember the last time that the Netherlands won the Euro Cup :) I was participating in a track and field competition and we all stayed late to watch the end of the game. Trying to ride your bike through Haarlem while everyone was partying was great fun :D

[EmperorJay]

Haha.. I must say I'm not very sure either, but I do hope that the Danes will win. :)

I can't exactly recall 1988, I was about 4 months old by then :p .

[Jaguar]

4 months old :eek:

You are just a baby then :)

England is out, which means that if we beat Sweden tomorrow, we'll face Portugal in the semi finals. That'll be a tough match. Portugal played really well the whole game and I was surprised they didn't win outright. (I know, this will probably upset some of the England fans, but Portugal controlled the ball 69% of the game!!!)

[Cironir]

Germany didn't even make it past the first round. How absolutely embarrassing! Even though I'm not a soccer fanatic, I was somewhat satisfied that the English team didn't make it past the next round, either. :D We have this German saying, "Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid" ("shared pain is halved pain", or something like that). It really applies here. Now, if only the Dutch dropped out, too! :p I hope Portugal wins the championships!

[EmperorJay]

If we lose against Sweden, I hope Sweden wins or Denmark, I like those countries, but please not France again!

[Cironir]

I actually have plenty of Dutch friends (and my ancestors originate from Holland, too), so I wouldn't be unhappy if they won. :) But prior to the Germany vs. Netherlands, the media really pushed the feelings on both sides of the border. Still, seeing how the "oranges" didn't make it to the world championship, they'd deserve a good result now. Did France win the last European Championships?

[Cironir]

Well, there went France. :) I'm really surprised at the Greek, but then again, their trainer is Otto Rehhagel, who used to be trainer of Werder Bremen (German club). He was often criticised for his "old-fashioned" methods. Ironic that his team does so great now. It probably helps if you have nothing to lose and don't feel like you *have* to win, like the Germans and the English did.

[Lannes]

Well, Holland won the penalty shoot out......never thought I'd see the day lol.
Lots of talk about Van der Sar and Robben, but I think the biggest "hero" was Roy Makaay. He was the only player to have to take a penalty knowing that if he missed it would be all over.

Portugal is up next. That's going to be a really really really tough match. First tonight's encounter though. Could be a cracker. The Danes and Czechs IMHO are the two teams that have played the best in the group stage. Pity one will have to go out in the quarters. I think the Czechs have the better players, but the Danes have a good collective.

Lannes

[Jaguar]

3-0 for the Czechs.

I was very glad to see that rotten penalty kicks streak broken for the Dutch :) :D

[EmperorJay]

I was quite glad about that too :D .

Half Finals:

Wednesday - Portugal - The Netherlands
Thursday - Greece - Czech Republic

My prediction for the finals:
Greece - The Netherlands :D

[Cironir]

Netherlands vs Greece would almost be like Netherlands vs Germany. ;) Well, that would be an interesting match -- I'd love to see it.