Euro 08 Qualifiers: Other Teams [R]

A few really big surprises ... but the biggest one was Ireland's inability to learn from former mistakes made in certain games. How can you throw away nearly all chances in injury time once again?

 

Well, it's not entirely over ... but it's gonna be very tough to get something in Prague.

Nice to see the Scots play such a great quali! To be honest, who expected it in this tough group?


Btw: Here are all results and group tables

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/em/qualifikation/runde/liga/106/

 

Yes first is head to head, then the goal difference

 

That victory against Israel will probably boost English confidence but they've still got a lot to worry about. They are far from putting a team together than can threaten in Europe. Soon as Lampard is fit he'll be back to clogging up their midfield.

And why the hell are Spain and Portugal always so lucky in qualification? Everything seems to always go their way, even when they stumble. They always get breaks and are never punished when they stumble against teams that they should have no problem beating. To me, they are the two luckiest teams in football.

I was happy that Holland beat Bulgaria because it'll be very tight at the end between them and Romania for second. And speaking of second, goooo Scottland!!! How great would a EUROCUP without Italy be????

 

How great would a Euro 08 without England be?

They still have to play with Russia(both home and away) and Croatia (home). Considering that Hiddink is a great tactician and great form of Croatia, they will have a tough time to qualify.

 

Portugal, Spain and England have truly dissapointed, but they should all qualify. N Ireland slip against Latvia allows Spain's poor result against Iceland (ICELAND FOR FUKCS SAKE!!!) to no matter too much. Denmark, Turkey and Ukraine are kinda surprising me as well. I expected them to do a tad bit better.

 

Why do you love Italy so much, Cris?

Me too. The same with Serbia.

One of the biggest surprises is Poland in my eyes (together with Finland, Scotland and Northern Ireland). Beenhakker seems to do a good job again (like he did with Trinidad/Tobago).

 

Armenia is ********ing everyone up

France vs. Italy was the worst show of football I've seen from 2 great teams since the Erick Ribbeck days....simply awful football from both teams.

 

Israel for whatever reason did not press and kept possession very badly. This is their first bad game in 2 years almost though, so maybe england had something to do with that.

As for england, they played like they did against germany. Lots of wing play and long balls that led to wing play or a layoff from heskey.

Not much possession at all and not good on the ball when pressed (not that much pressing happened), or in the final third.

Difference between the germany game and this game is that germany kept possession and were incisive, and also pressed england which led to carrick and lampard always losing the ball near the back four. Isreal didn't/couldn't so england weren't forced to turn the ball over or chase after the ball.

So england played to the strengths of the players they had.

Gerrard looked lost in attack most of the time. Not good on the ball and always rushing things with failed hollywood passes. Poor vision. But good in defence.

Barry played well with good technique and vision, and england now need guys like bentley playing more. Whenever england did actually try to pass through the middle, it was always barry.

Hargreaves and barry would be my midfield. Hargreaves is technically better than gerrard. Both are good defensively but hargreaves has better technique.

Bentley also has to be introduced into the midfield. Carrick can stay for a bit but lampard and beckham must go. Gerrard is dicey for me as well.

He may score spectacular goals and make spectacular long passes in the EPL, but that is more of a playground scene. Simplifying it I know, but it's like the kind of game where you played as kids and the strongest, fastest kid with the best shot and burst out of nowhere through a crowd of kids and score a spectacular goal. In international football his "ability to turn the game in a flash" isn't there because he hasn't got good vision or technique generally on the ball, which is needed to cope internationally to a good level.

but as expected, without lampard and beckham england played better than normal.

Na, we need them there. Why wouldn't you want one of the best teams in the world there.

 

Hey, it would be for their own good. If they qualify, Donadoni stays and he has to go if Italy are going to want to win something again.

 

What's wrong with donadoni?

PS. To add to what I said before, yesterday gerrard was named where people all want gerrard to be named and in the end it was barry who did the attacking prompting. Gerrard was invisible in possession.

 

And this is a problem?

I have no problem if Italy takes a long time to win anything again.

Lets not forget the last time they won the WC (1982) they failed to qualify for EC1984.

 

I soooo don't want England to be there just so the f*cking media will shut the ******** up about England this and England that like they're the only team worth talking about in every f*cking tournament.

 

Yea I don't want Italy at the Euros because they always give us trouble and I think they are the ONE team that can beat us.

Plus, from a neutral perspective and even if you talk to Italy fans, they'll tell you what they think of Donadoni. He's not exactly a favorite. While he's no McClaren he isn't doing much to prepare Italy for the future.

 

Well, I want Italy there because we have very bad record against them in the last 35 years. I would really like to see us win against them and afterwards winning against Holland. Or the other way around. But it seems the Dutch are about to getting better again so that will be difficult.

As far as England is concerned I don't really understand why some people started to care so much about them and their media in the last time. I know they see us as their big rivals and don't like us. Their media writes always the same. So what. That was always the case. Since 1966 anyway. Ok, it is fun to win at Wembley but we have done it before.

I know many people are very optimistic about our chances in 2008 and 2010. But tournaments devlop their own dynamics. I don't believe Italy will play as bad in 2008 as they do right now. Look at their WC2006 performance. They played very good when it was required - against us. And btw. the last time we have won against Italy was in 1995 and against Holland in 1996.

 

A ha, that's the true reason...

C'mon, don't shit a brick, Chris! If we wanna become champion, we have to beat the best teams!

 

Thats true but I'm very skeptical of the Italians and their "antics". I mean, when it comes to teams like Spain and Portugal, we can depend on them to beat themselves but Italy will go to whatever lengths even if they are outplayed.

No more complaining from me though.

 

Euro without England would be boring....no show..and no pleasure to watch how they make their penalties....and without their sexy stars...I think England is schocked by Germans...they will be so nervous only seeing us on the pitch...so let Englishmen play...

 

www.channelsurfing.net is showing some euro 2008 matches

 

Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames McFaaaaaddddddennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wow Scotland beat France in Paris...
And Italy won 2-1 in Ukraine,
As of now looks like France will watch the Euro from the comfort of their home!

 

Maybe this will convince them to finally rebuild the team. Many of their stars are aging and they were lucky to make it to the WC final last year. Missing out on the EC could be a good thing for France.