On Sunday, Lisbon will host the official draw for the Euro2004 groupings...Let's pray that Portugal, who are seeded along with France, Czechs and suprisingly Swedin, get a good draw. Then again, we all thought they had a favourable draw in the World Cup and look what happened!! There will be a group of death, especially with the Netherlands in Pot C...
The way I see it, there's no way that Portugal will get an easy group. Not even Latvia are pushovers. So might as well have England/Germany/France and Holland in the group. Let's guarantee that there will be sellout crowds everywhere.
Here are the groups as drawn today: Group A Portugal Greece Spain Russia Group B France England Switzerland Croatia Group C Sweden Bulgaria Denmark Italy Group D Czech Republic Latvia Germany Netherlands
this draw was awesome! i mean really, look at the rivalaries England v France Portugal v Spain Holland v Germany its grrrrrrrreat!
Portugal 04 two venues where change for security reasons Venues switched for two opening-round games for security reasons November 30, 2003 LISBON (AP) - Euro 2004 organizers switched the venues of two first-phase group games after Sunday's draw for security reasons and to increase the number of tickets available. The Group D match on June 14 between Germany and the Netherlands was moved from Aveiro's 30,000-seat stadium to FC Porto's new Stadium of the Dragon, which holds more than 50,000 fans. Also, the June 20 encounter in Group B between England and Croatia will be held at Benfica's 62,000-capacity Stadium of Light instead of Coimbra's stadium which holds half that number. "We can't risk having more fans outside the stadium than inside," Portuguese Soccer Federation president Gilberto Madail said, adding that the two games were deemed "high-risk" by UEFA. - ITALY'S ODDS SHORTEN: Italy's odds to win the European Championship were cut from 1½ to 4/1 after Sunday's favourable draw while France remained the rock solid 100/30 favourite. Bookmakers William Hill made the move after the draw put Italy in with Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria in Group C while some of its rivals got tougher opponents. Three-time champion Germany was put in the same group as the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The Germans odds went out from 14/1 to 18/1 although the odds on the Dutch winning the title were trimmed from 8/1 to 13/2. The Czechs, unbeaten in their qualifying games with seven wins and a tie, went out from 9/1 to 12/1. The other odds are 13/2 Portugal, 7/1 Spain, 15/2 England, 22/1 Sweden, 25/1 Denmark, 50/1 Bulgaria, 66/1 Greece, 80/1 Croatia and Russia, 100/1 Switzerland, 500/1 Latvia. - WHO'S WORST-OFF?: Jacques Santini doesn't want to hear Sven-Goran Eriksson's complaints about the English season being too long, tiring players and giving little preparation time for tournaments such as Euro 2004. Eriksson's England and Santini's France meet in their first Group B game on June 13, the second day of the championship. "Eriksson is actually luckier than I am," Santini said after the draw. "The French domestic competition will go on until May 23. I'll have one week less to prepare for the championship (than Eriksson), and we also have to play Brazil on May 20 for the UEFA jubilee."
Portugal will either play France or England...unless Croatia or the Swiss can upset them... Overall I like Portugal's grouping and feel they can finish second or possibly first since Spain always choke...! Portugal has faired well when facing the English so I would rather face them then France in the qtrs. Forca Portugal!!!
the spanish choke? no doubt. but i think the kettle is calling the pot black must be an iberian curse