The official EURO 08 thread

I'd say he's the French equivalent of McLaren, TBH. He confined Ribéry to right side and told him to stay there. Ribéry didn't enjoy any of the freedom he normally has at Bayern Munich. Thus his performance paled in comparison to the genius passes he normally delivers at his club.

Agreed, also after Nasri came on the other day he started roaming and trying to link midfield with attack, did pretty well for the short time he was on. I don't think Domenech would be keen to start with someone like him though, and I think he might have to if he wants to get the results against Holland and Italy.
 
No one watching Euro 08?

Well let's recap a few notable things:

* Currently the Netherlands are definitely the favourite to win the tournament. They've played two great matches against Italy (albeit Italy really had a bad day during that match) and France. Even when the match against France came to a crucial turning point (2:1), they immediately fought back.

* Portugal is not invincible as the match vs. Czech Republic has shown. In fact, after the equalizing goal Portugal didn't look too good at all. They seemed to have lost all confidence. Plus, Ricardo made some really big mistakes, though none of them resulted in a goal.

* Germany lost deservedly against Croatia. That was probably the worst matches the German team played in quite a while. It will be interesting to see how they can recover in the matches to come (assuming they won't lose to Austria :p).

* France and / or Italy are out of the tournament, depending on how the Romanians will fare against the Netherlands (already the winner of the group).
 
* France and / or Italy are out of the tournament, depending on how the Romanians will fare against the Netherlands (already the winner of the group).

I've been a bit puzzled by the pundits here who seem to be insisting that Romania need to win to stand a chance to go through - which is nonsense as far as I can see. France - Italy could quite easily be a draw, and Romania could lose 2-0 and still go through under those circumstances. My gut feeling before the competition started was that two of the "big three" from this group would go out, and I think that the odds are still leaning in that direction.

I'm not convinced the Netherlands will win the tournament, the score-line against France was flattering I think. I still fancy Croatia to win.
 
I am so happy Greece are out. Their provocative anti-football didn't work this time around and that is very good.

I want to see the Netherlands vs. Spain or Portugal
 
I'm impressed with the quality of the slow motion footage in this tournament. Did they invest heavily in 1000 fps cameras or what? It feels Matrix-y. :D
 
Well yes. But do we really want to see slo-mo replays of footballers gurning while making challenges or heading the ball?

Austria out now too. They really looked like a team lacking in any great amount of skill but then I can't say the Germans have been impressive either.

An entertaining game last night as the Czechs imploded to allow Turkey to win from a seemingly impossible position!
 
Germany-Portugal was a great game! After the poor performance of Germany in the Croatia game I thought Portugal would win for sure, but I was proven wrong. Holland and Russia should be a fun match also.
 
Germany-Portugal was a great game! After the poor performance of Germany in the Croatia game I thought Portugal would win for sure, but I was proven wrong. Holland and Russia should be a fun match also.

It was a good game wasn't it!

Conversely I thought Germany would win more easily, in my opinion Portugal are too small, have no options up front (Nuno Gomes? Postiga?!), refuse to play their most creative player (Quaresma), and have a leaky defence (with the exception of Carvalho, but one decent defender out of 4 isn't good enough). They were hyped on the back of Ronaldo into eventual winners, but I'm not surprised they went out the first time they met a good team.

I can't wait for Italy v Spain :D
 
Four years ago, Greece proved that you can win a tournament without an attack.

Last night, Portugal proved you can't win a tournament if you don't have a defence. Letting the opposition have two free headers for goals (despite Ballack's nudge on Ferreira) is suicidal at this level.

Personally, I think the Germans and Croats have the best defences in the tournament so they've got a chance, even if their attacking options aren't the most potent.

The teams with the better attacks may have defences just about strong enough to take them through but I'm quite encouraged that we'll see some more good games before the tournament is out.
 
I'm positive there will be more good games.

Sad to see Portugal out, Deco was amazing yesterday.
 
Did you guys see that?? Croatia got 1-nil in the 119th minute and then Turkey amazingly managed to equalize in the 121st minute. It was literally seconds before the ref would have sounded the whistle since the extra time period was only extended 1 minute. Damn what drama!

Penalty shoot-out: Croatia misses first!
 
Turkey eliminates Croatia :p :LOL: people have started the fireworks here...

EDIT: BTW, great semifinal: Germany vs Turkey!
 
Holy fuck, that was intense.

Turkey's squad is decimated, they have many players who can't play the semi due to yellow cards.

... Or wait? Didn't they change the rule where the yellow cards are cleared after the quarter finals and not the group stage?
 
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