All encompassing EURO 08 thread [R]

[frasermc]

well it starts today so i'll kick off by saying -

Germany or Italy to win it, although i would love to see Spain lift it again.

also, i stuck £10 on Ballack to finish as top goalscorer.


Switzerland and Portugal to win tonight.

[Gordon EF]

Germany or Italy to win it, although i would love to see Spain lift it again.

My thoughts exactly. Germany are my slight favourites, with Italy, in 2nd place, not far behind. I wonder if they can meet in the final?


also, i stuck £10 on Ballack to finish as top goalscorer.

Risky, going for a midfielder. If it's a German, I'd go for Klose. If Spain have a decent tournament (semi's at least), I'd go for Torres.


Switzerland and Portugal to win tonight.

I reckon the Czechs will sneak a narrow win and Portugal will win quite comfortably against the Turks.

[frasermc]

Risky, going for a midfielder. If it's a German, I'd go for Klose. If Spain have a decent tournament (semi's at least), I'd go for Torres.

if Germany play in a diamond then Ballack will be at the head of it. he takes their free kicks, i think he takes pens and he's dangerous in the air at corners. with Ballack i got pretty good odds. Klose is always a threat but he wasn't in great scoring form at the tail end of the season. i suppose Toni is a big favourite as he seems to account for a high percentage of Italy's int'l goals these days. i agree about Torres but i get the feeling they're going to come a cropper in the knockouts when faced with whomever finishes second in Group C. either France or the Dutch, and i have a sneaky feeling it'll be the Dutch.



I reckon the Czechs will sneak a narrow win and Portugal will win quite comfortably against the Turks.

i think the Swiss will be hard to score on. with home advantage i think they can edge out the Czech's, who didn't impress me in our recent friendly. although i admit i did only see 35mins of the match.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

I'd got Gomez to be top scorer. I also put an outside bet on Russia to win the thing because they are a very good unit with three in-form attacking players and they have the easiest route to the final imo. Either way I hope it is a good tournament, although with Frei limping off with a knee injury the Swiss are pretty screwed.


Perhaps add an [R] to this thread mods?

[Gordon EF]

I thought the Swiss were very hard done by but they were awful going forward. Frei looked lively but without him they were very blunt.

The Czechs were quite dissapointing too. I suppose they're missing Rosicky but they didn't trouble Switzerland as much as they should and I doubt they'll do too much in the tournament unless they improve.

[Gordon EF]

I reckon the Czechs will sneak a narrow win and Portugal will win quite comfortably against the Turks.

Looks like I was right.:)

I thought Portugal looked really good tonight. That's the first time I've watched Bosingwa, Pepe and Moutinho and they all look like good additions to their team.

Potential semi-finals of Germany vs. Portugal and Italy vs. France/Spain.

[frasermc]

the Swiss were unlucky. the one chance that the Czechs created in the second half they scored from. wasn't even a well worked goal and the shot was a mis-hit. didn't think a lot of either penalty claim. Ujfalusi's arm was up but was he really trying to get it in the way of the ball?

but both teams were poor. the result obviously gives the czechs a good chance of progressing but it's clear to see the Portuguese are far ahead of the other teams in this group.

Deco looked good in the first half but ran out of steam in the second. Ronaldo came into it more then and it was the first time i've really seen Bosingwa play and on that evidence it looks like Chelski may have found themselves a right back at last.

Turkey should have had Nihat booked at least for diving. i thought there was going to be a clamp down on that at this tournament. :rolleyes:

p.s. put a £10 double on Portugal and the Swiss earlier. :(

[frasermc]

another day another £10 double.

surely i can't lose with Germany and Croatia...?

was considering taking Croatia to keep a clean sheet as well.

if both the afore mentioned teams play close to their potential then by the end of this evening they should both have three points in the bag.

[Gordon EF]

another day another £10 double.

surely i can't lose with Germany and Croatia...?

was considering taking Croatia to keep a clean sheet as well.

if both the afore mentioned teams play close to their potential then by the end of this evening they should both have three points in the bag.

I agree. I think Croatia should crush Austria. I think the Germans might have to work a bit harder to beat the Poles (it being a wee bit of a grudge match) but they should do it.

I'm not in Edinburgh right now so I'm really missing out doing betas on all the days games. I took quite a hefty stack of the bookies money at the last WC.

Bet small and often, that's the key. How much are you going to get off that tenner if it comes through?

You must be fairly pleased with Inler and Simao's performances yesterday?

[frasermc]

Bet small and often, that's the key. How much are you going to get off that tenner if it comes through?

well i'm not a hard core gambler so i don't sweep all the sites looking for the best odds. i have an online account with William Hill and for my £10 double i'd get just over £28 back.


You must be fairly pleased with Inler and Simao's performances yesterday?

i thought Inler was a bit subdued at times. he's been really good for Udinese this season and was voted one of the best imports to Serie A at the end of the season just passed. i think there is more to come from him and i was a bit disappointed by the odd comment directed towards him by Motson and Bright, although i shouldn't be surprised really. Bright is an awful summariser.

it was good to see Simao on a lot of the set pieces and i thought he did well considering the fact that he has Ronaldo on the opposite wing. teammates are always going to look for him first so i was pleased with the amount of times he got on the ball although he did fall away in the second half.

[frasermc]

firstly, the antics of Niko Kovac were disgusting. god knows how they feel about themselves when they see replays later of their diving actions.

Croatia started well and looked set to run away with the game but after 25mins or so they fell out of it and never got back in the game again.

i feel a bit for the Austrians. they come out of their opening match with the same feeling their co-hosts had yesterday. they certainly did more than enough to earn something from the game.

but at least my double is still on the cards. :)

[Gordon EF]

i thought Inler was a bit subdued at times. he's been really good for Udinese this season and was voted one of the best imports to Serie A at the end of the season just passed. i think there is more to come from him and i was a bit disappointed by the odd comment directed towards him by Motson and Bright, although i shouldn't be surprised really. Bright is an awful summariser.

it was good to see Simao on a lot of the set pieces and i thought he did well considering the fact that he has Ronaldo on the opposite wing. teammates are always going to look for him first so i was pleased with the amount of times he got on the ball although he did fall away in the second half.

Aye, I thought both your players started well and faded. Inler, was very quiet in the second half but he did look like a good player at the beginning of the game. Very solid and looked good getting forward. That was the first time I'd heard of him.

[frasermc]

well no goals for Ballack but got my first double up.

hopefully not the last. :o

[frasermc]

got my next £10 double on for the matches later today.

Italy to win and France-Romania for a draw.

will bring in £78 if successful.


i know Italy start slowly but i think Holland will struggle defensively to contain Luca Toni.

France lack a cutting edge just now. Henry has been off form in Spain for a fair chunk of the season and as good as Benzema is, he's still inexperienced at this level.

[Gordon EF]

got my next £10 double on for the matches later today.

Italy to win and France-Romania for a draw.

will bring in £78 if successful.


i know Italy start slowly but i think Holland will struggle defensively to contain Luca Toni.

France lack a cutting edge just now. Henry has been off form in Spain for a fair chunk of the season and as good as Benzema is, he's still inexperienced at this level.

Tomorrow is very tough to call but I tend to agree with you. Romania are a really good team and if they keep things tight against France, they certainly have a chance of getting something from that game. For France's sake, I hope they go attacking and hopefully play with two strikers plus Ribery in support.

I think that Holland will finish bottom of the group and I expect Italy to get the win tomorrow.

I might get up to the bookies and get a wee double on myself. Although I hate betting on draws so I might go for a Romania-Italy double. I bet the bookies would throw money at me for that one.:)

[celtic76]

Ugh Poland's defence is horrific and played terriable in the back, Poland were lucky to only lose by two goals. I really thought they would play a good tournament now they will lucky to finish third. Zurwaski look's like he is done he was not exisitent except for defensive mishap.

Portugal - Looked good the entire match, they moved thorugh Turkey like a hot knife through butter. Didn't think much of Portugal's chances but after the other days performance they could very well be a team that could win it. The fact that the goals didn't even come from Ranaldo makes Portugal look dangerous regardless who has the bal.

Germany was ok, looked like typical Germany if not for Boruc the scoreline would have been better. Really think this tournament is a two horse race between them and the Italians.

Turkey hoenestly if they hadn't played agiast Portugal I would have forgoten they were in the tournament. They looked out of there depth.

Czech - was a really boring match to watch imo, the Swiss looked more up for it and if not for the bad foul Frei I think they could have been upset.

[frasermc]

I might get up to the bookies and get a wee double on myself. Although I hate betting on draws so I might go for a Romania-Italy double. I bet the bookies would throw money at me for that one.:)

did you place your mad-cap double? :p

[Gordon EF]

did you place your mad-cap double? :p

Not yet. I can't decide whether to bet on the draw or not. It's against my betting rules.

[Granted]

Marius Niculae, of Inverness Caley comes on in place of Mutu for Romania against France.

fraser, your France-Romania draw looks like quite a good bet.

[frasermc]

Marius Niculae, of Inverness Caley comes on in place of Mutu for Romania against France.

fraser, your France-Romania draw looks like quite a good bet.

aye.

half way there for my second double of the comp so far.

just need the Italians to win against the Dutch now.

stinker of a game though wasn't it. can't understand why the French persist with Domenech. tactically he must be the worst coach at the finals. why he kept 2 DM's on for the whole game beats me.

i don't even think Henry would have helped alter the result.