Euro 2008

[Greg_Dyke]

he often can.....

[Andy .]

COME ON YOU SPAIN , YOUR GONNA WIN THE EURO . Up the Gate .

[Cookie]

My thoughts.

Spain were AWESOME today. But can they maintain it? Thats the question. Have they peaked too early? I Hope not.

I have been impressed with the Germans too(unfortunately) & the Dutch to a lesser extent.Romania & Poland have looked more than decent amongst the lesser fancied teams.

France disappointing but they will get better as will most teams.Italy I feel are the exception to this, this time round.

Can't see them improving enough to win the thing outright on this occasion.

Portugal,though impressive enough,I am still not sure about,despite my earlier pre-tournament fancy for them

And finally what about those Greeks. How F****** boring were they.Serves them right!

 

After this weeks efforts & at this stage I go :

 

1)Spain

2)Germany

 

 

[Boney Crisp]

I thought Italy were alright yesterday, certainly didn't deserve to lose by 3 goals, but it will be interesting to see where Holland go from here. It could have given them the confidence they needed. Czech Republic looked very ordinary against Switzerland though which dissapointed me

[Cookie]

Thing is Italy always seem to come good later on after slow starts & indeed the second half they did up the pace but I just cant see them getting away with it this time. We'll see. They certainly need to start where they left off in their next game thats for sure.

[Enfield United]

Portugal and Spain have hit form from the word go, which does not bode well for them if we go by the law of averages i.e percentages say they'll slip up once and will exit in the knockout stage. Holland have impressed and the Germans have Ballack in world class form, I agree Italy can always get started at anytime and will be difficult to stop once got going. I think the swiss and Austrians will exit at group stages with Greece, Russia, Czechs, France, Romania, Poland.

 

I see Semi's to be Italy, Germany, Holland and the Portugese. In short I fancy the Germans to lift up the Rrophy.

[Cookie]

Croatia put in a magnificent professional performance against the Germans.Was very impressed with them yesterday. Poland were, on the other hand miles short of what Croatia dished up & when I said earlier that as outsiders they impressed me,yesterday they didn't.I take it back.

And what about their centre half? What a plodder & a plonker.I can see why they took him off second half.

Had a nice double on Croatia & Poland but unbelievably the referee thought he'd give Austria something to cheer about & gave them a 93rd minute penalty.Did I swear,yes I damn well did. Mind you Austria should have been 3 up early on? Was impressed with the Polish keeper.

Okay,technically it WAS a penalty but we've seem so many of these shirt pulling incidents in the box go unpunished.I thought the ref was very generous to Austria despite it being a correct decision.

One good thing nevertheless came out of the draw for me & that was that Croatia won the group.I had a single on them at an incredible 7/2 yesterday too & a 2-1 winning scoreline so not all was bad on the day for me.That gives me hope on my groups accumalator anyway.Portugal & Croatia win theirs. Holland & Spain to give me the bucks now.(Hope I haven't spoken too soon)

A couple of crackers due today I see.Italy have to pull everything out to get a result against a very neat & dangerous Romania outfit. And then theres Holland v France. Whilst I want Holland to win the group I can see France upping their game tonight & I really can't see the Dutch being as impressive again to be honest.However I live in hope. Come on Dutch Mike get behind them for me will you?

A draw will suffice for me,on BOTH games & I think they might well end up that way too. We'll see!

 

[Dutch_Mike]

Sorry Cookie, I'll stick with my original shout and go for the mighty Holland. By supporting them, they're BOUND to lose. So that should suffice for you?

[Cookie]

Holland win the group. Great stuff. 3 down,one to go. The Dutch did well again didn't they,albeit against an average French side it has to be said. Nevertheless they did the job & as a unit they are firing at the moment.

 

 

[Cookie]

Well! I lost out on a double the other night by a last minute equaliser.

 

Luck comes & goes & seems to even itself out as they say. It certainly did so yesterday with Spain.Deservedly so I might add.

How on earth the ref didn't give that blatant penalty appeal earlier is beyond me. Anyway, justice was done in the end.

 

Group winners

 

Croatia 11/5

Holland 5/2 (Thanks Mike)

Portugal 5/4

Spain 10/11

 

BINGO!!!

 

 

Now all I want is for SPAIN to come good in the end.

Drinks all round if they do chaps (& Ladies) as it was chosen by you!

 

Yes even the one who dislikes the Spanish will get one! Okay!

 

There you go. If you didn't have an interest before you will have now.

 

p.s Did everyones computers break down yesterday...apart from mine & & Differentgames that is?.

Would have been a first surely,to have had no posts in one day,had us two not posted one each.And even then only 2 posts in total.(plus the one which was deleted also).

Was it a day of rest,a "shut the **** up" day that no-one told me about?

Just out of interest,has that ever occurred, to anyones recollection??

 

 

[Broadstairs Dave]

you will save your drinks money.

Italy at 20/1 fairly save haven for e/w they must wake up soon its been the usual slack start.

[Dutch_Mike]

Spot on BD. Although my money is still on my mighty namesake, it would be typical Italians if they went on to win it now. Always start sluggishly, crawl through the group stage and end up in the final!

[Broadstairs Dave]

Italy still there, only 11/2 now, hope you got the 20's, with luck like that they can't lose.

[Cookie]

They will Dave. They've gone their distance..i.m.o.

[Coxyhammer]

Just seen the best match in this euro 2008 Croatia V Turkey, a Slow start to the match with turkey being a bit dodgey at times, but what a ending to the match croatia score with 90 seconds to go then 30 seconds later turkey equalised, turkey win on pens, turkey were 66-1 to win the Euro but now they face Germany in the semis

[Boney Crisp]

The Czech Republic v Turkey game was much better then tonights game imo.

[Cookie]

Boring game I thought for 90 minutes though you have to admire the workrate & commitment shown by the Turks. Could they actually go all the way?. Why not! They are a unit working for each other & doing it well. Lovely football but just lacking in the final effort on goal. Brush up on their finishing & they can improve still more I reckon.

There is more than enough determination & will in them for them to get close.

Who's up next..the Germans! They certainly ain't world beaters are they? Could Turkey actually go on to win the thing,who knows but it could happen.

 

Croatia didn't deserve to win on the day even though they were 30 seconds away from doing so.

[RamsgateMICK]

I can remember Greece four years ago,if my memory serves me right they had similar tactics to Turkey and they went on to win euro 2004 . Personally i just hope a team thats a bit more exciting to watch wins it

[Broadstairs Dave]

That would be Italy then

[Andy .]

but not before SPAIN.