Euro 2008 - UEFA

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

So we might see alot of goals in the group of death! Everyone's defense sucks!

And a sidenote that I watched one of France's recent friendlies and Benzema was awful. He couldn't even do basic things such come back and hold the ball for his midfielders. He's a big guy but his first touch is attrocious.

I'd be interested to see Benzema move to a more competitive league... he's coddled in the Ligue 1, and I think it tends to show in big matches against strong opposition.

[KTown]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

In my pool,

Group A: Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Czech Republic(they really have nothing anymore, no Nedved, no Smicer, Koller is a old fart, Baros was a one tourney wonder, the only great piece to their team is their goalie, but he can't score or generate goals. Czechs won't win a game in this tourney.

Group B: Germany, Poland, Croatia, Austria

Group C: Holland, France, Italy(losing Cannavaro and their age will catch up to them), Romania

Group D: Spain, Sweden, Russia, Greece....Greece will not win a game, may not score a goal

Qtr Final

Portugal over Poland
Turkey over Germany......MY UPSET SPECIAL!!!!!
Spain over France
Holland over Sweden

Semi Finals

Portugal over Turkey
Spain over Holland

Final:

Portugal over Spain

Portugal's Euro Progression

96-Qtr Final
2000-Semi Final
2004-Final
2008-WIN!!!!

LOL czechs won't win a game, apparently you didn't watch much of qualifying even when the Czechs beat Germany 3-0, IN GERMANY!. The future is bright for this team, as they were finalists in the under 20.

I'm predicting a breakout tourney for Michael Fenin, he was awesome in the under 20's

I hope the rest of the world gives this team the respect you did. They can fly under the radar.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by KTown

LOL czechs won't win a game, apparently you didn't watch much of qualifying even when the Czechs beat Germany 3-0, IN GERMANY!. The future is bright for this team, as they were finalists in the under 20.

I'm predicting a breakout tourney for Michael Fenin, he was awesome in the under 20's

I hope the rest of the world gives this team the respect you did. They can fly under the radar.

Hey maybe the future is bright for the Czechs, I don't know much about their youth, but when I look up and down their lineup, I don't see much to convince me they are good as they were in 04 or 06. Their time with this team is over. I honestly see the Swiss beating them on Saturday or getting a draw. I don't think they stand a chance against Portugal and Turkey is gonna give them a go, I say they finish with no more points than 2. But I'll be the first to eat crow if I'm wrong. As a Portugal fan, I'm more worried about Turkey than I am the Czechs. Hold onto to that 3-0 qualifying win in Germany all you want, the real men come to play in June!!

[VANFLAMESFAN]

^^^ Also find it weird that you failed to mention their loss to Germany at home in qualifying and the fact that the rest of the group was pretty dreadful. Come on, Ireland??

Being first place in that group is like being the cool one in a group of Oiler fans, means absolutely nothing.

[troutman]

NED plays ITA on Monday. In qualifying, Holland beat Italy 3-1 at home, and they drew 0-0 in Italy.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by troutman

NED plays ITA on Monday. In qualifying, Holland beat Italy 3-1 at home, and they drew 0-0 in Italy.

Group C is gonna be fun to watch!!

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by troutman

NED plays ITA on Monday. In qualifying, Holland beat Italy 3-1 at home, and they drew 0-0 in Italy.

That was France

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

That was France

Right, France. I'm mixing up what I saw in the preview show.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by KTown

LOL czechs won't win a game, apparently you didn't watch much of qualifying even when the Czechs beat Germany 3-0, IN GERMANY!. The future is bright for this team, as they were finalists in the under 20.

First of all, I'll agree that the Czechs deserve more respect than that, but lets be honest, they should have put Jan Koller out to pasture already and the fact that they havent is due to not having anyone in a striker role to really replace him.

Secondly, I dont look too much into Qualifying games. When the Czechs beat Germany both teams were already well qualified for the tournament, so the motivation really wasnt there. Hell, Germany qualified 10 points ahead of the next nearest team and the Czechs 12, its not like they were fighting for every last point and frankly, winning the group or being in second really doesnt mean anything.

If you want to look at qualifiers, how about when the table was wide open and points were important and the Czechs lost 2-1 to a lazy German team in Czech.

That being said, I expect the Czechs to go through to the next round. It would be nice if Switzerland went through at home, but I dont think they have the quality to do it. Not compared to the Portuguese or the Czechs.

Turkey could well go through, but I sure hope not.

[Locke]

I'm looking at the rosters right now and as far as pure offensive firepower is concerned, advantage Netherlands.

Robin van Persie
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Dirk Kuyt
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Jan Vengoor of Hesselink

I think the next closest teams with that many quality forwards would be Germany and Portugal.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm looking at the rosters right now and as far as pure offensive firepower is concerned, advantage Netherlands.

Robin van Persie
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Dirk Kuyt
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Jan Vengoor of Hesselink

I think the next closest teams with that many quality forwards would be Germany and Portugal.

You can't play all 5 at once. They will probably play Kuyt who is rubbish.
The Dutch defense are awful and their midfield likes to attack all the time. Their fullbacks like to attack too so alot of times you see the dutch defend with TWO guys

And remember the Dutch played Romania twice in qualifying and didn't score a single goal.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They will probably play Kuyt who is rubbish.

I stopped listening to your nonsensical babble right here.

Next.

[Thunderball]

Portugal's is probably the strongest...Ronaldo and Quaresma are attacking wingers. Aside from them, Nuno Gomes and Simao, their forwards are pretty green. Of course, they'll probably field those four anyway, but their young depth is solid. The Dutch are probably #2 with Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie, Huntelaar, Kuyt, V. of Hesselink and essentially Van der Vaart. However, its a slim edge to the rest of the major players. I think the rest after those two are pretty even.

I would not say that Germany has superior offenses to the rest of the field. Germany's strike force is solid, but I don't rate Gomez, Kuranyi, Neuville, Klose and Podolski any higher than Villa, Torres, Garcia and Guiza or Toni, Del Piero, Cassano, Di Natale, Boriello and Quagliarella.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm looking at the rosters right now and as far as pure offensive firepower is concerned, advantage Netherlands.

There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch. -Nigel Powers

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

I stopped listening to your nonsensical babble right here.

Next.

You think he's improved much? In the 2006 WC 2nd round match against Portugal, he had one of the worst games I've seen anyone have.

He undeniably runs around a hell of a lot (normally unusually slowly given all the energy expended) and he seems to have a hole in the top of his head out of which sweat continuously pours. He also jumps up and down alot and sometimes when he does so the ball hits his head and goes in various directions. He chases the ball with admirable eagerness, but then again if you played ten footballers and a very giddy golden retriever on a football team the dog would also chase the ball with eagerness.

[united]

Kuyt gives an admirable effort every time he is on the pitch, no doubt about that. It's really too bad he has dismal finishing or he could be a world class striker. The amount of outstanding chances he somehow manages to fata up is shocking.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Portugal's is probably the strongest...Ronaldo and Quaresma are attacking wingers. Aside from them, Nuno Gomes and Simao, their forwards are pretty green. Of course, they'll probably field those four anyway, but their young depth is solid.

Gomes is a striker, along with Postiga and Almeida

Ronaldo, Simao, Quaresma and Nani are the wingers.....no better depth in the world at that poisiton.

In their friendly on Saturday, Ronaldo and Simao were the wingers with the striker being Gomes. That's probably gonna be who starts on Saturday.

They play a 4-2-3-1 system

Bosingwa Carvalho Pepe Ferreira(ugh)
Petit Moutinho
Ronaldo Deco Simao
Gomes

Quaresma will probably be the first off the bench for Simao, Miguel Veloso will come on for Moutinho, something like that.

If Deco doesn't play well, as he hasn't, it would not shock me to see Simao get put in the middle, and Quaresma or Nani take the other wing.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Gomes is a striker, along with Postiga and Almeida

Ronaldo, Simao, Quaresma and Nani are the wingers.....no better depth in the world at that poisiton.

In their friendly on Saturday, Ronaldo and Simao were the wingers with the striker being Gomes. That's probably gonna be who starts on Saturday.

They play a 4-2-3-1 system

Bosingwa Carvalho Pepe Ferreira(ugh)
Petit Moutinho
Ronaldo Deco Simao
Gomes

Quaresma will probably be the first off the bench for Simao, Miguel Veloso will come on for Moutinho, something like that.

If Deco doesn't play well, as he hasn't, it would not shock me to see Simao get put in the middle, and Quaresma or Nani take the other wing.

But Simao is often used as a striker, no? You don't think he might get employed there with Nuno Gomes?

Either way, Portugal has some sick offense... it will be interesting to see if that defense is up to task though.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

But Simao is often used as a striker, no? You don't think he might get employed there with Nuno Gomes?

Either way, Portugal has some sick offense... it will be interesting to see if that defense is up to task though.

No, Simao is used as a winger, pretty much all the time. Portugal only uses one striker and from the sounds of it, it's gonna be Gomes. For the last little while, it was always Pauleta, who was unreal in qualifying, scoring more goals than the great Eusebio, but never really did anything in the big tourneys. Now, it's Gomes, who was less than stellar in qualifying, as was anyone else who played that role, be it Almeida, Postiga, Makakula.

I would love to see Simao, Quaresma and Ronaldo on the field at the same time, but the only time I can envision that is if they are down and pushing for a goal. I remember at Euro 2004, I wanted Rui Costa, Figo, Simao, Ronaldo and Simao to be their five mid, and it happened, although briefly during the England qtr final when they were pushing for a goal. Figo came out dejectedly for Helder Postiga and sure enough, he scored the goal in the 83rd minute.

I am not a fan of having only one striker, never have been. Too many half chances are wasted, because the ball will be sent up to him and he's all alone, with no help in close proximity. But, I understand, a team has to be defensively reliable and having 4 d-men with 2 holding midfielders provides that. Ronaldo will have a free pass to roam wherever he wants, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him playing a striker-esque role.

[vodafone_b]

Hi all,

Big soccer fan here.. can't wait for the game to start this weekend..
I am a huge spain fan..... must be because my favorite EPL team is liverpool
torres and alonso are my men.. i think they have a great chance this year..
but like every year.. people say that about spain for pretty much every major tournament.. and every year they manage to underachieve.. i really hope they will show their true potential this year..

torres, alonso (please don't go to JUVE!!), villa, xavi, ineista, cesc...... just to name a few.. and their defence is one of the better ones at the back puyol, sergio is having a fine season at madrid, and an outstanding goalie at the back with casillas....

anyways..after all my praise for them.. i have a feeling it will be the usual spain this year at the euros haha.. what do you guys think? (i really hope i am wrong!)

i see a couple of huge portgual fans here.. great team.. young team! CR and Quaresma are awesome.. and with nani on the bench too.. the wing is stack.. but i think the main weakness is the striker position.. there's no natural true striker on the team.. if rely on goals from midfields..... it could be a tough one for portgual..

so who do you guys think the dark horse in the tournament would be?
i say croatia.. they can easily get through their group.... and they have the quality and work ethics.. the other one i pick is russia.. they have a good coach..