Euro 2008

[Sureal]

Is anyone watching the Euro? I'm at work and would like to know how Croatia is looking against Germany.


Although Germany is the team to beat in the tournament I think Portugal might give them a run.

 

[SoCalDomer]

I watched Portugal vs Czech last night. It was a really good match. i didn't catch the end but it was 1-1 through much of the match.

 

[Sureal]

C. Ronaldo was the man. It was magic between him and Deco. Portugal have a lot of fire power up front...

I just noticed those decals underneath your bar. You're a soccer fan!!! Good man but Blackburn? Alan Shearer fan eh? They were nasty back then.

I'm a Christiano Ronaldo fan but I've always liked Man U from the Cantona days. (I know) I've appreciated Barcelona for a while as well. Real Madrid are one of my despised teams in all of sports. Them and Bayern Munich...

Anyway I'm glad we can have some civil discussion about 'football'.

Signed

Former Starting Sweeper for Griswold High School Varsity Soccer '95

 

[SoCalDomer]

I'm only a Blackburn fan because I met Brad Friedel a few years ago (actually 7 now, man i'm old).

Unfortunately the only free soccer I get to watch is MLS, which doesn't interest me that much, even with Mr. Bend-it playing for LA.

I find national team matches much more fascinating. Or i will watch Premeire league matches if I can find one.

I played soccer in HS. I probably could have played in college (probably only D-2 or NAIA though) but I decicded to focus on baseball... which i stopped playing after 1 year in college... woops.

 

[Sureal]

I'm starting to watch more MLS because of the talent being groomed there. It will be interesting to see how the US perform in WC '10. A lot of good young guys coming up. They performed well against Argentina.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

I dont know if you are still at work, croatia pulled the upset over germany. great matches though im looking for holland or portugal to win it with sweden the darkhorse chance.

 

[Sureal]

Croatia stuns Germany 2-1, almost sure to advance - Euro 2008 - SI.com

Wow!!!

 

[brownkj002]

Croatia stuns Germany 2-1, almost sure to advance - Euro 2008 - SI.com

Wow!!!

Germany played like sh!t and Croatia made them pay. Right now Austria dominated the first part of the first half. They had three unbelievable chances to score but they could not find the back of the net. Poland however has taken a 1-0 lead going into the second half.

 

[brownkj002]

I played soccer in HS. I probably could have played in college (probably only D-2 or NAIA though) but I decicded to focus on baseball... which i stopped playing after 1 year in college... woops.

I did the exact same thing. I probably should have stuck with soccer.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Tomorrow is the big day for Euro Cup... the group of death always brings out amazing matches. I would love to see the netherlands and romania make it out haha.

 

[SoCalDomer]

I did the exact same thing. I probably should have stuck with soccer.

baseball was my better sport, but i just lost interest. had other priorities i was focused on.

 

[sportallyr]

I'm starting to watch more MLS because of the talent being groomed there. It will be interesting to see how the US perform in WC '10. A lot of good young guys coming up. They performed well against Argentina.

I just wish that we could keep the best US players in the states. It's tough to swallow Villareal stealing Altidore this past week from New York. I guess it's good in the long run because our best young players like Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, etc are all getting better experience playing overseas than they would playing here...it's just that I'd like to be able to watch them play every once in a while.

Oh yeah, and to answer the question from before...I picked Germany to win it all before today's loss and I'm sticking with them to win it all. I think they'll bounce back against Austria and then catch fire in the elimination games.

 

[Sureal]

Yeah that loss won't hurt them if they beat Austria.

It will be interesting to see how Italy do against Romania. Netherlands and France should be a good game. The last game that France played against Romania was terrible. Absolutely no imagination what so ever from the midfielders until the end of the game. They had better step it up some. They are going to need Viera and Henry back asap. That number 9 on France's team was really underwhelming as well..

 

[Clausen2Kamara]

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only futbol fan here...lol. I usually just watch the Premier League and I have to pay 15 bux more a month to get FSC and Setanta Sports but it is well worth it. They show a lot of premiership and Serie A games. Those guys are just amazing! Anyways, my sleeper in this tourney was Croatia... my fav player plays for them (Niko Kranjar). The kid is sick but I see Portugal winning it in the end. They have world class players at EVERY position. They are a pleasure to watch.

 

[Sureal]

I just wish that we could keep the best US players in the states. It's tough to swallow Villareal stealing Altidore this past week from New York. I guess it's good in the long run because our best young players like Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, etc are all getting better experience playing overseas than they would playing here...it's just that I'd like to be able to watch them play every once in a while.

Oh yeah, and to answer the question from before...I picked Germany to win it all before today's loss and I'm sticking with them to win it all. I think they'll bounce back against Austria and then catch fire in the elimination games.

I see what you are saying as far as the young players are concerned. You can also look at it this way. The more they play in better leagues the better off our national team will be.

 

[Sureal]

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only futbol fan here...lol. I usually just watch the Premier League and I have to pay 15 bux more a month to get FSC and Setanta Sports but it is well worth it. They show a lot of premiership and Serie A games. Those guys are just amazing! Anyways, my sleeper in this tourney was Croatia... my fav player plays for them (Niko Kranjar). The kid is sick but I see Portugal winning it in the end. They have world class players at EVERY position. They are a pleasure to watch.

So you're a Portsmouth guy eh?

Portugal is nice. Besides C. Ronaldo (who is a beast!!!) Nani is one of my favorite players as well. The kid is nasty. I think he is going to be the next great one...

 

[Clausen2Kamara]

So you're a Portsmouth guy eh?

Portugal is nice. Besides C. Ronaldo (who is a beast!!!) Nani is one of my favorite players as well. The kid is nasty. I think he is going to be the next great one...

Yea big Portsmouth fan. I agree with you about Nani...kid has some serious skill and he reminds me of a young Ronaldo...though I don't think he'll be THAT good but you never know! The first game starts in 2 hours..yay something to do at work!

 

[IHateMarkMay]

i cant wait, two great games today. Color me excited!

 

[Clausen2Kamara]

For sure...I'm rooting for Romania to upset Italy and France to knock off Netherlands although the Netherlands looked insanely good last game!

 

[Sureal]

I'm with you on the Romania over Italy. I think the Netherlands beat France. Obviously I can't watch them so if someone can update IE that would be great...

 

[IHateMarkMay]

For sure...I'm rooting for Romania to upset Italy and France to knock off Netherlands although the Netherlands looked insanely good last game!

yeah i see france continue to skid and netherlands continue to play amazing, im thinking 3-1 netherlands. I also think the same for the other game, i think italy scores 1 but romania has 2 with one of them by adrian mutu... that kids a beast. I think Van nistelrooy has a good game today as well.

 

[Clausen2Kamara]

still nil nil in the 36th minute, there has been plenty of chances on both sides...a very entertaining match!

 

[IHateMarkMay]

both goalies are playing out of their minds at half. It really should be about 5-4 romania, but yeah, still nil nil.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Adrian Mutu missed a penalty with 10 minutes left. Okay he didnt miss it, buffon got to it. Questionable call by the refs but upon closer review, the defender had his arm wrapped around the neck/chest of the romanian guy in the box. I think it was correctly called. Final score is 1-1. I dont know how anybody else felt watching hte game, but in the last twenty minutes or so, it seemed like romania gave up going for the 3 points and started playing for the tie instead. Which is understandable because of the Netherlands win, they will undoubtedly sit some players against Romania and France will give Italy everything they have, even if they are out of the competition. i still look to romania and the netherlands moving on from this group.

 

[Sureal]

Wow. The Group of Death is going down to the final matches as expected...

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Netherlands outplayed france... 4 - 1no questions who i think is the best team of the tourney so far.. 1. Netherlands, 2. Portugal or Spain, and the dark horse Sweden.

 

[Sureal]

France will lose to Italy making the Netherlands and Italy the teams to advance...

 

[Sureal]

I'm glad attractive and aggresive type of ball play is winning out in the tournament...

 

[IHateMarkMay]

See i think Romania wins too, Netherlands wont start all of their regular starters, i think Romania has a better shot advancing than Italy does. France and Italy hate each other, a good passionate hate in soccer. Rarely do those games come easy to either side. I can see Romania winning by one or tying 1-1 and Italy tying france 0-0 to put romania through.

 

[domer1961]

Croatia have always been a big threat. Look at what they did to England in the Euro qualifiers, winning their group and knocking England off 3-2 at Wembley.

I think Croatia will make it to the semi finals. If you look at their path, they just have to play Poland (who have not been great obviously) and tie or win there, they've won Group B.

With Portugal winning (I think they have as of now) Group A, it shouldn't be that hard for the Croatian side to beat Turkey/Czech's (whoever comes in second in group A).

Portugal will play Germany, which will be an interesting game - both teams made it to the Semis of the World Cup, but obviously they're different teams now. Portugal will win not because of just Cristiano Ronaldo, but because Deco can and will control midfield over Ballack. It's pretty simple in soccer. If you can control midfield and keep the ball up, you're going to have an awful lot of opportunities and eventually score.

I think Ballack's too old to keep his side going - Podulski is nursing an ankle injury but should play against Austria, via foxsoccer.com. So I don't expect Germany to be that hard to put away for Portugal.

I'll post about Groups C and D in a sec.