EURO 2004 Thread (if anyone's interested) - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

FullBurst41 · 05-28-2004, 10:14 AM

Just thought I'd put it up here. Europe's best soccer teams squaring off every four years sure will bring some spectacle, though I'm not so sure if there's (any) soccer interest on the board here. Not much here yet, but more is coming up soon (squad announcements, friendlies leading up to the tournament, etc).

FullBurst41 · 05-28-2004, 06:01 PM

Group D Preview, Part One

Group D is probably going to be the most competitive group of the tournament, featuring (faltering?) Germany, the Czech Republic, Holland, and surprise entrants Latvia.

Let us today focus on the Czech Republic, who know what it's like to be in this tournament. They were runners-up in 1996, when they were narrowly edged out by Germany by an overtime goal. No such luck in 2000, but the Czechs look set for a powerful return on the big stage.

The Czechs not only have a good recent legacy in championships, but they also cruised through their qualifying stages. Their only loss of points was when they visited Holland and had to be content with a draw. They corrected this though, when the two teams met up for the final game of qualifying, with a3-1 victory of the Dutch.

So, who stars on this team? For one, there is Pavel Nedved, the tireless midfielder who can not only set up his team mates, but can score a good amount of goals himself. He is assisted in this role by veteran Poborskky, who is definitely one of the pillars this team is going to rely on.

These are not the main goalscoreres though. Jan Koller is one. He is a huge striker (both in size and in capability) with a dangerous header and provides real danger in the box. I know the guy best because he had a breakout season in Belgium before going international.

Another great goalscorer is Liverpool player Baros.; I don't know this guy as well, but looking at his qualifying performance, he is what you could call "The Antawn Jamison of the Czech Republic." He's often on the bench when the match gets under way, but when he's on, watch out.

The Czech Republic's great attacking power will definitely be something to watch and love when the tournament finally gets underway. Whether they will reach the quarterfinals is not certain, for Gemrany and Holland are going to be the favorites still. However, the Czechs have proven moe than once that they can outplay the Dutch, and the Germans have been shaky of late, and if they enter the tournament in this state, the Czech should find them easy prey.

In my book, the Czechs are definitely one of the teams that, contrary to old-timers' beliefs, will reach the quarterfinals and do so with emphasis. Where they will go from there, one cannot speculate on.

XERXES · 05-29-2004, 09:11 AM

I'm interested Fullburst. I used to live in England and I still follow soccer as I much as my schedule allows (which isn't much.)

FullBurst41 · 05-29-2004, 10:52 AM

Could you tell me if there will be any TV coverage in the US of EURO 2004? I heard that the Premiership gets some coverage (or rather the F.A. Cup final does). I don't suppoes there's any real reason to show any coverage (just like it's just about impossible to get any NBA coverage here at all). Still would be nice though, it looks to be such a close championship this year.

FullBurst41 · 05-29-2004, 04:56 PM

Today was a day of friendly international matches. Most notable of which was probably The Netherlands vs. Belgium. (yes, I know, I'm biased, but hey)

Now, as Belgium did not make it into the final 16, and was stomped on by Germany (3-0), somehow the Dutch could not come away with a win, let alone a draw. They lost, 1-0, on their own soil. These matches always provoke great rivalry between our two countries, but how significant was this match for Holland's preparations?

I don't think it will have mattered that much. The truth is that Belgium is not the sort of high-quality soccer team that Holland is. This is why the Belgians often try to slow the game down, because in a fast-paced games, the Dutch strikers are going to torch you. The last few matches between the two sides have all been draws, and Holland once again didn't seem like being able to impose itself on Belgium.

The defensive effort by the Belgians was quite decent, though they didn't seem to be able to get the ball up front to their forwards often enough. This seemed too be the one factor that would seal their doom at halftime, but things seemed to losen up somewhat in the second. The Dutch kept on trying to score, though they were considerably less dangerous than in the first half. Buffel and Mpenza were able to break out every now and again, and it was on oen of these occasions that a penalty was called against the Dutch, which was converted by Bart Goor. The Dutch tried but failed to come back.

Now, again, the Dutch aren't likely to face the same kind oball from most teams in the actual championship, except perhaps Latvia. We will go over that country's team and strengths later, but I can tell you nonw that they will want to get the Dutch out of rhythm so as not to fall vicim to their world-class attack. They might want to watch this game with some interest indeed.f foot

FullBurst41 · 05-31-2004, 11:46 PM

Denmark completed a friendly against Estonia on Sunday, and surprisingly, they drew 2-2.

The Danes did have a player sen toff, which I bleieve was in large part the reason why they lost, though one has to credit the Estonians for keeping at it. Jon Dahl Tomasson does seem to be in good shape though, look for Denmark to go to him a lot during EURO 2004 to get that ball in the back of the net.

The Estonians actually scored the equaliser in the 90th minute, I believe. The Danes will have to show they are still a confident team in friendlies to come. They do have the talent to make some noise in the actual tournament though.

twelli · 06-01-2004, 02:03 AM

I doubt there will be a lot of people on this forum interested in soccer (without US participation), but anyway, since nobody is interested in Formula 1 racing either, why not talk about soccer.

For Euro 2004 I expect two teams to reach at least the semi finals, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Portugal has obvious the home field advantage, but some of their Porto players have also shown that they really know how to win big as well.

Holland has all the reasons to be on fire. They are already the team with the best individual players ever not to make it to the Worldcup. That is equivalent to the Lakers not making the playoffs with all the high-caliber players they have.

Germany probably will go down early, like four years ago.

Fidel · 06-01-2004, 08:13 PM

Sing: "Football´s coming home, it´s coming home....." [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

As for this years tourney I haven´t really made up my mind yet. Group A and B seem to be pretty easy to predict. Out of group A Portugal and Spain should advance, and out of group B it should be France and England. But you never know.

In group C it´s all Italy and then a wide open race between Denmark, Sweden and Bulgaria for the second spot IMO.

And finally group D. Most people think that Germany will go home early with the Netherlands and Cechs advancing and this could very well be the case. But IMO Germany isn´t as bad as it seems. With Ballack and Hamann we`ve got two of Europe´s top midfielders and Frings and Schneider are no scrubs either. Most important those four players fit together very well with their different skills. I´d rate our midfield as one of the better in the world right now. Except France I don´t see any other team that´s clearly better at those positions.

Another plus could be the goalie position if Kahn can overcome his recent woes and play up to his potential. If he does that he´s still the best goalie in the world IMO, and goalie is a very important position in big tourneys like the euro (this could be a huge weakness for England, Portugal and France who all don´t have a top notch goalie right now IMO).

The german defense is just slighly above average right now with Wörns, Nowotny, Lahm and Friedrich. We will be missing Metzelder who was injured the whole year and unfortunatly Robert Huth of Chelsea wasn´t nominated (as well as midfielder Hitzelsberger of Aston Villa, seems like Völler doesn´t like the premier league too much). Lahm and Friedrich are both pretty young and unexpierienced and Nowotny isn´t as good as he was before the injury problems. What has allways been a strong point of the German team suddenly allmost turned into a weakness.

Which brings us to our offensive players. Mostly a group of loosers IMO. I would have left Klose, Brdaric and Bobic at home. They suck. At least Völler gave one of the last two nominations to Podolski a promising young (18 yo) striker, but I doubt he´ll get to play much. That leaves us with the other fairly young player in that group: Kevin Kuranyi. He´s talented but inconsistent. So overall this is our weakest position.

If we had a better coach then Völler we could have fielded a better team then the one we have. Unfortunatly he gave alot of the team spots to old pals like Ziege, Jeremies, Bobic... instead of taking more deserving and younger players.

Despite that I think we could make it out of group D, and after that anything is possible. But we could also go home early as said above, it´s really hard to predict this year...

Talent wise France, the Netherlands and Italy seem to be the best teams With Spain, Portugal, Germany, Cech Republic and England coming next. But talent alone doesn´t make a champion as especially the Netherlands but also Spain and Portugal know (and also see the french in Japan/Korea). That´s the funny thing about big soccer tourneys. They are fairly unpredictable, and besides having talent you´ll also have to have a team that can turn it up during the tourney, that is stable and in good physical and mental condition. Which has allways been a strong point of Germany. I´m definitly looking forward to the Euro 2004 and if we lose early then we´ll see everyone again at the Worldchamps 2006, but this time we´ll play at home [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img].

FullBurst41 · 06-02-2004, 02:00 PM

Thanks for the input guys, keep it up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I can agree with most of what both of you sa. I actually have quite a bit of respect for most teams participating, except perhaps Switzerland, I can't see how they will possibly progress.

Groups C and D are the most interesting IMO, as you both seem to agree, and those will be the matches I'll long to see. I have a bit of a hard time judging the Netherlands right now. They have the talent, that's certainly not the problem. They do have some internal problems when it comes to team spirit. That said, the Dutchies are going to get shots in there, and you better have someone to stop those. The Germans do, in the form of Kahn and Lehmann. The Czechs is a bit of a different story, but they have loads of scoring options to turn to themselves. The Latvians are quite a strong dfensive team, and have one of the rising stars in European football today, Verpakovkis.

I say don't rule out the Latvians, I can't help but foresee an upset (though they probably won't reach the quarters).

Did I mention that I'm really getting to like Kevin Kuranyu? He played a good game against the Belgian national team (granted, that's not the hardest thing to do), and I'll be anxious to see him play soon. I do think you are right, Fidel, it seeems that some obvious German talent has been left out. Only time will tell if this squad will stand the test of the tournament.

I'm actually not so sure Portugal will be going to the semis. They're a good team, don't get me wrong on that, it's just that they haven't really impressed me that much. Figo is not the player he used to be, and it's going to be up to others to get things done sometimes. The players the Portuguese teams provided are very good, whether it will be enough, I am not so sure. They should reach the quarters though.

I'm actually scared of the Swedish this year. They have real offensive threats in Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Henrick Larson, which makes sure they can keep up with the best of them. This is not the same Swedish team that was beaten by the Belgians at EURO 2000.

I think Russia will be a fun team to watch, if only for the goaltender making the "Mistake of the Tournament," as well as the save of the tournament (err, surely that will be reserved for someone else, but I expect him to showboat throughout Russia's stay in the championship).

dirk2003 · 06-02-2004, 03:46 PM

Here in the USA you will have to pay $179 to watch the tournament. I think I will get together with some friends and purchase the package. Bars are also set to charge $18 per game if you want to watch at a bar. Damn Sentana sport are bastards like microsoft.

twelli · 06-03-2004, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Fidel

Which brings us to our offensive players.

That leaves us with the other fairly young player in that group: Kevin Kuranyi. He´s talented but inconsistent.

Two goals against Switzerland. I think Kuranyi has potential. Hopefully, he can break through like Klose did two years ago.

FullBurst41 · 06-03-2004, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: dirk2003
Here in the USA you will have to pay $179 to watch the tournament. I think I will get together with some friends and purchase the package. Bars are also set to charge $18 per game if you want to watch at a bar. Damn Sentana sport are bastards like microsoft.

Outrageous. If it does anything to consoleyou, it might actually be worth your money (if you canmanage to see most games).

FullBurst41 · 06-05-2004, 01:13 AM

Weekdn of Freindlies

Whew, this weekend is going to be interesting. We have all sorts of international friendlies before the Euro 2004 tournament. Names of note that will play this weekend are Germany and Sweden, among others.

I was really impresed by the Czechs' display against the Bulgarians, by the way. 3-1, another goal by Baros and two other players contribuitng very well indeed. I can't wait to see this team go to work for real (well, seeing as Bulgaria is a EURO 2004 contender, they seem to be ready to roll).

It'll be interesting to see if Kevin Kuranyi can impress again against Hungary (or whether he'll get some backup). And, of course, are the Swedes ready to flourish in group C? I have a friend who's going to cheer them on (since Belgium's not here), and they seem like a capable side on paper, but I haven't sen them play since the qualifying rounds.

mavsman · 06-06-2004, 07:36 PM

Ok, this weekend sucked for the Netherlands and for Germany. But while the Dutch looked as if they could flick the switch if they wanted to, the German defense got punished today and the Hungarians - other that Switzerland earlier this weak - took advantage of the ridiculous spacing and their awful allocation. Wow, these guys do suck, and it doesn't help that the best of 'em is just recovering from injury. 3 defeats in 3 games if they don't run into a miracle. My Euros are on the Czechs all the way.

Btw. should we bet on the bracket?

twelli · 06-07-2004, 03:25 AM

With both teams looking clueless in preparation, the game between Holland and Germany is as unpredictably as it gets.

But I think the Dutch will get their act together when facing fierce rival Germany. If not together, it takes just one of those heroic solo efforts by van Nistelrooy or a cold-blooded strike by Makaay to finish off the German 'Gurkentruppe'.

FullBurst41 · 06-09-2004, 11:49 PM

Well it could just as easilly go the other way, since the Germans have some pretty talented players that can score also. I think it won't be as much the rivalry, but the drive of the Dutch team because they are now actually playing in the tournament. This wouldn't be the first time that I see the Dutch explode once the rpessure starts mounting.

They will have to play a lot better to keep the Czechs at pay though, I'm rootingi for the Czech myself. I also like group C, I wonder how Italy will do (and how Bulgaria could possibly win a game).

twelli · 06-11-2004, 09:43 PM

How about some predictions just for fun?

First Round

Portugal-Greece 2:0 (late goals)
Spain-Russia 2:2 (good game)

Switzerland-Croatia 1:1 (sleeper, one goal a penalty)
France-England 0:0 (bad game)

Denmark-Italy 1:3 (great game)
Sweden-Bulgaria 4:0 (fun to watch)

Germany-Netherlands 1:1 (highly emotional, two red cards)
Czech Rep.-Latvia 2:0 (entertaining game)

let's start the games!

FullBurst41 · 06-12-2004, 11:30 AM

CARAGUNIS! WOOHOO! 0-1, Greece leads the Portuguese. I don't think it'll last though, but heck, the Greeks have just made this a tournament worth watching!

FullBurst41 · 06-12-2004, 12:31 PM

Greek penalty makes this one 2-0, looks to me like it' sjust about over for the Portuguese.. Christiano Ronaldo isn't making it happen either. We have an upset. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

FullBurst41 · 06-12-2004, 03:36 PM

Don't know about you guys, but except for the final few minutes, I found Spain-Russia rather... boring. all those yellow cards are going to screw over the Russians in the next few games.

Fidel · 06-12-2004, 11:03 PM

I blame the poor effort of Portugugal on Scolari mostly. Not starting Deco and starting Simao over Ronaldo was just stupid. He should have tried to work something out where he can have Rui Costa and Deco on the field together instead of simply changing one for the other. I also thought it was funny that Rehagel shocked the portuguese by simply playing Charisteas instead of Nikolaidis.

Spain - Russia was rather boring yes.

Greece allready beat Spain in the qualifyers. Wouldn´t it be funny if they do it again on wendsday and actually win the group?!

FullBurst41 · 06-13-2004, 04:51 AM

Well I don't think Scolari will make the same mistake against Russia. I can't imagine Russia beating Portugal, even if Scolari messes his squad up again.

As for Greece, I agree. Every tournament needs its upset... I just didn't think it would come in group A. It's fine with me though, the Greeks played pretty much as well as they could have, beating Spain is certainly a possibility, and from there it should be possible to go for the full 9 points.

FullBurst41 · 06-13-2004, 12:54 PM

Croatia 0, Switzerland 0

I actually kind of liked this game. Nothing stellar, no goals, but fun to watch, it sure was better than Spain-Russia yesterday. Batista sort of got beside himself booking so many players, his refereeing wasn't that consistent, but it wasn't bad. Almost the goal at the end for Croatia, so it did have some suspense. Now here come the "giants," France and England.

twelli · 06-14-2004, 04:30 AM

I should make no more predictions I guess...

However, I liked the Greece win. Coach Rehagel is truly a one of kind guy. He is sticking to his old fashioned methods of coaching and always comes up with success. If Greece faces Germany later on, I will root for Greece. I want to see Beckenbauer admitting that it was wrong to fire Rehagel in Munich before the UEFA cup final. Imagine Cuban fires Nelson before the Western Conference Finals. That was a very mean decision based on personal differences not on the coaching ability of Rehakles.

FullBurst41 · 06-14-2004, 06:12 AM

True true. France-England wasn't a bvad game, though probably not as good as many people expecteD. I did like the atmosphere in the stadium, that's what makes these big games so neat to watch.

Tonight's games should both be interesting. I'm wondering whether Tomasson and his pals can make an impression on the Italians, and whether Petrov and his fellow Bulgarians can recover from their preparation match slump to show good form in the tournament.

I'm rooting for Denmark tonight, if only because I do not particularly like the Italian squad. As for Sweden-Bulgaria, I prefer Sweden, I'ed really like to see how Ibrahimovich does in this tournament.

twelli · 06-17-2004, 03:06 AM

The laugh is always on the loser. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

FullBurst41 · 06-18-2004, 04:20 AM

Francesco Totti must burn, and his Italian compatriots with him. Go Sweden! (I'd like Sweden and Denmark to go through, so it's timefor Tomasson to drill a couple against Bulgaria).

Good game yesterday, the Croats almost did it, but Mornar (who plays in Belgium) pulled a milicic on us. Oh well. He will learn.

twelli · 06-28-2004, 03:06 AM

Quarterfinals

Portugal wins against England -- good game, both teams deserved to win, great move by the Portugese coach to bring on the two players who would assure the draw, Beck's hammers the first penalty into the night sky...

Greece wins against France -- solid play by Greece, disappointing game by France, let the fairy tale go on, but the Czechs might have too much fire power in Baros and Koller...

Holland wins against Schweden -- could have gone both ways, best player IMO was Robben who made some spectacular crosses and moves on the left side...

Czech Rep. wins against Denmark -- two good strikers and some brilliant passes is all you need to decide a tight game...

it looks like the Dutch and Czech will make the finals

veruca salt · 07-01-2004, 11:35 PM

Hahaha nice predictions tehre Twelli.

Portugal v Greece it is.

I can't believe it. Normally i love the underdog, but for some reason I wanted to see Greece get thumped every step along the way. How the hell did this happen. Let me tell you, I was no impressed I got up at 4:40 this morning for THAT. Poor little Pavel. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Umm i've missed too much of this thread to go back over everything, so i'll give a short little run-down of the tourney for me.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - RULES! (unless he's in a penalty shoot out against the Dutchies [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img])

Sweden were by far the team i enjoyed watching the most (how does one country get so damn good looking!? Oh and they're pretty good at football too [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img])

England, I've been an England fan since 1996, and this was by far the team I've felt the least for. So for once there was no tears.

I feel really sorry for Michael Ballack. I read a great article the other day, saying he must be wondering "why me, why did i have to be born at this time in German football?"

Nedved has the power of Greyskull.

umm, that will do for now. So not excited in anyway shape or form about the final.
Go Portugal, I guess.....

twelli · 07-02-2004, 12:49 AM

defense wins championships, right... but it is certainly not the most beautiful way of playing the game

Greece has been great in erecting an unsurmountable concrete wall, and when the better opponent get's tired, they find a way to shoot the winner.

the only reason why I like the Greece is their German coach who has been critized for decades for his old fashioned style that supposedly doesn't work in modern football. Look who is laughing now. Some say, of course, that he his only successful in Greece because he doesn't speek Greek and the translator leaves out half of what he says...

The success of the Greek should give any team hope for the future. It only takes the right mind set, team harmony, fitness, a good coach, and passion for the game to be successful.

Portugal-Greece 2:1

veruca salt · 07-02-2004, 01:11 AM

greeks shmeeks!

twelli · 07-05-2004, 03:33 AM

Greece wins the final!

Football (soccer) can be so easy. Defend well and score a header at an opportune time (it worked three games in a row). Unlike Germany two years ago who were just lucky to meet the likes of Saudi-Arabia, Ireland, Kamerun, Paraguay, USA and Korea, Greece beat the host nation Portugal twice, and also beat Spain, France and the Czech Rep., all of which were considered title contenders.

Don't know how good the coach Rehagel is, but after winning the Bundesliga title with newly promoted Kaiserlautern a few years back he has done it again.

He has my vote for German National coach!