Heading into Euro2004 there are few teams heavily favoured to raise the championship with some darkhorses but who in your view is most overrated or set up for failure and disappointment and why? FRANCE ITALY SPAIN ENGLAND NETHERLANDS GERMANY CZECH REPUBLIC PORTUGAL SWEDEN CROATIA DENMARK BULGARIA GREECE RUSSIA SWITZERLAND LATVIA
Germany just seems a team devoid of any chance of lifting the European championship in 2004. In goal, though Oliver Kahn will start Timo Hildebrand has been unquestionably miles ahead of Kahn in terms of quality play this year. The German backline which was so powerful at WC2002 is non existent and inexperienced. Christophe Metzelder who was perhaps one of the 5 best defenders of WC 2002 is injured out and Thomas Linke hs retired from international football along with Carsten Ramelow. The midfield of Thorsten Frings, Michael Ballack, Bernd Schneider and Dietmar Hamann is without question their stongpoint. Up front is where Germay looks hopelessly lost. Fredi Bobic (an aged forward), Miroslav Klose (coming off injury), Thomas Brdaric (very inexperienced) and Kevin Kuranyi (expected to be key striker, hasn't been in his best form this year). Germany would do well to even advance out their group with the Czech Republic and Netherlands strong faves to advance with me. It would take a herculean performance to suggest any other outcome especially considering their nothing short of embarassing 5-1 defeat at Romania.
I do not think anyone has any expectation of Germany after poor showing during qualiofiers and friendlies. It is not an overrated team. It can't be. -- The Czech Republic was one of the favorite teams six months ago, but seemed to slow down. Their key players had been out of form. So I suspected that it peaked too soon. They should still beat Germany and Latvia. -- France.... the backline looked too old. -- England..... Owen and Beckham are out of form. They have James in goal and Gary Neville on the backline. Who will partner Owen up front? Rooney is too young and out of form this season. I also do not think anyone has any realistic expectation for them to lift the cup. It is not an overated team.
The Brits are the most overly optimistic of their chances right now. James is average at best in goal. Azzurri fans are concerned that Carlo Cudicini will decide to play for the Brits because of the number of solid Italian keepers ahead of him. Owen always rises to the occassion on the big stage. He's not the problem. Beck always has been, and always will be, the Bane of the Brits. Add the personal problems to his current poor form and you have an English Euro 04 meltdown. Defense, what defense?
please feel free to provide us with some proof of this "over the top" optimism. Seems pretty clear that you dont have the slightest clue what you;re talking about. links?? articles??? nah its just in your head. well he aint a british citizen so there is zero chance of cudicini playing for us. Becks has been inspirational many times in big games..... You;re so clueless I almost feel sorry for you ,pal... Bane??? dear oh dear. How about the defence that kept 3 clean sheets in the world cup against argentina ,nigeria and denmark. and the same defence that twice shut down the turks in qualifying. you;re a football illiterate ,mate... stick to baseball or wrestling.
Not questioning what happend in the past -- just predicting what will happen in Portugal. Nothing personal mate, just a clueless, illiterate yank opinion. p.s. baseball is boring and wrestling is fake -- football is worth discussing even if we don't agree.
I think you can start with the hosts, Portugal. I don't care how well Porto does, it doesn't make Vitor Baia or Jorge Costa any better on the national team. Cap on Couto back there, and you have a slow defense with a small keeper prone to errors on crosses. Portugal will have to attack to please their home fans--and any counterattacking side will destroy them.
I don't see how any of those teams are 'overrated'. Most of the Germans probably don't even believe they'll do good. I've only seen the Chzechs being tipped as winners on this board. Some English players have said that they 'can' win the Euro Cup, which is true, and which is the case for more teams.
oh right I see ,so you've got no evidence other than people who told you themselves eh .....and where are you from??? somewhere near kansas?? so these kansas based "brits" are enough to propel us to the top of the most "over-rated" team category .hoho funny. I thought you was gonna pull out a load of articles which have pronounced us as winners ,but you got nothing.. hey I never said anthing about us winning or not ,just dont think that we qualify as over-rated . In the previous post you said "he always has been and always will be our biggest problem".....I just said that was a crap statement . plain rubbish . Having afew disappointing results at club level wont have the slightest effect on how he plays this summer .In 2002 he played at 70% fitness after breaking his foot and still was productive . oooh right ,so our recent form counts for nothing eh.. Even though we displayed good defence in qualifying and the last WC were instantly gonna forget how to defend in the space of afew weeks? hahahahhaha priceless logic...... Yeah you are clueless ,no doubt about it.
This intellectual discussion has been stimulating. Your points are well taken and well stated. I look forward to chatting with you later next month. Even though I follow the Wizards, I, and my mates, are from Chicago. Thank you my friend, for the education. I stand corrected.
Britain, u act like its a team of England, Wales , Scotland and such. No Giggs for you. England are a squad who have lost their way. They looked very promising in their WC2002 campaign but the right tweaks have not been made. Seaman had to go but you still have no able replacement, i personally think Paul Robinson is ur best choice but Sven loves James don't ask me why. The youth brigade should have been in the squad at full force. Gareth Barry, Alan Smith, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alan Thompson have been in scintillating form this season yet Emile Heskey, Kieron Dyer and co. make the trip to Portugal instead??? England always seem to me to have gotten over the hump and then jump up and do something to blow it. _________________________________________________________________ The Czechs in my mind do have a very reasonable chance of winning it with a claim to Europe's best midfield and a formidable back line with potent striers as well as one of Europe's best keepers. Petr Cech will be excellent. Nedved, Poborsky, Smicer, Rosicky, Jankulovski all great middies. Koller, Baros up top could be the perfect compliment. _________________________________________________________________
Holland...they have a lot of good players but they are relatively inexperienced in the international stage and have been choking in big games in the past few years. IMO Stam and Davids are the two with the big matches under their belts, the rest are relatively new to big tournments and might not live to the pre-tourny hope of the media and fans. Italy's defense subs doesnt look too good neither, if something happens to one or more of the starting back 4, they may have a lot of trouble in the Quarterfinals against someone from the group of death.
That someone here would be anti-Becks is not surprising. It's an easy posture to take. Except that he's always played well for England, save for that little episode against Argentina in '96. Being back "home" will be good for him. He certainly knows his role with the England squad, which is something he's still working on for Real. Yeah, I'd like to have seen Wright-Phillips on the team and certainly hope that Rooney, if he's well, gets more time than Heskey. But a team with Beckham, Scholes and Gerrard at midfield has to be taken seriously.
Uh huh, I'm making that very point. bobarino, by using the word 'Brits' is talking about Britain and not England. It's a ********ing major mistake to make. So finishing top of our Euro2004 qualifying group with Turkey is not enough? True we've not replaced the Seaman of 6 years ago but James is a very good keeper who gets an almost constant slating because of mistakes made yeeeeeeeears ago. I can agree on Smith and Barry. Wright-Phillips has had 6 good months and has not played for England before, no country in Europe would risk playing a new cap in the Euro 2004. Alan Thompson is nearly 31, he's hardly young. I'm a Bolton fan and he is a God here but his performance V Sweden was dire. Heskey has plus points and Owne likes playing with him, I agree about Dyer though. I agree.
it has got to be spain. they have no good players. there best playes is torrss and he plays for Alectco Mardrid. DO U C MY POINT NOW
WTF are you on? yeah, i suppose van der sar, cocu, overmars, reiziger, kluivert, etc. could be considered green
Latvia will win it all! Mark my words! I love how everyone dogs on England, when the fact of the matter is, Sven has only lost one competetive match since he's been coach (2000), and that was against Brazil in 2002, a game England should have won. If they play like they did both times against Turkey (2 big games) there is no team in Europe they can't beat. Most overrated: Portugal and Germany. I'll be gunning for England and Holland though
England has too be the #1 overrated team this tournament. England fans (Myself included) demand results. We have the most physical league out there with some of the most dedicated fans of the game in the world. We have an enourmous pool of players to pick from and YET EVERY TIME we go to a tournament we can all pick the line up that SGE will pick. He is predictable and lacks any imagination. Rooney, Heskey, Vassell and Owen.... Shevchenko scored 24 goals this campaign. The total for all 4 of our strikers is in the low 40s!!! James Beattie scored 14 goals! Almost double Rooney and Heskey... Yet he isnt going. Kevin Phillips scored 12 goals. Owen has no chance going it alone up front. ENG's Midfield looks OK. Not stellar but OK. A confused role for Beckham. Scholes who was injured and didnt perform well this year. Lampard not on the list 100%. The Neville brothers who I feel are about the most useless lumps on the team. No Rio Ferdinand. and you might as well sum it up and so no defence at all. Our goalie is lacking any skills this year. But none of this really matter anyways. We already know we will sit back and absorb pressure for 90 mins and prey we get lucky and score a goal. England has no flare for the game anymore. No more blistering runs down the wings, no more 1 on 1s... Its all pass the ball around, get it intercepted and then fall back and defend. Until SGE is gone and the reigns are returned to a vibrant and imaginitive English men... We are doomed for eternity in tournaments.
Wisdom my friend, pure wisdom. I see we have the usual influx of knackers with their "England is overrated" bollox - yet when asked for proof...............
what the bloody hell is wrong with you, sure the offense doesn't look great on paper but let me repeat myself. SGE has lost ONE competetive game in almost 4 years of running the team. What other coach can say that. With Beckham, Gerrard, and Owen healthy this team has every chance of doing damage. Especially Gerrard, he was missing big time in Japan. He is the only one at Liverpool who has produced consistently (and by produce I mean busts his ass every game and creates lots of chances for the offense) all season.