The Official Euro 2008 thread

[RickDevlieger]

I don't know if the Italian fans are currently drowning their sorrows, or the Dutch are celebrating, but man that was a great game by the Dutch. Absolutely tore apart Italy even though the first goal was up for debate. Van Der Sar made some amazing saves as well, but Italy just didn't look themselves today. The goal differential might just come back to haunt Italy at the end of the group stage.

Apparently there was an explanation of the ruling on Van Nistleroy's goal by a referee who emailed it into the commentators. I wish I had bothered to liste to them for a change. Apparently, because the Italian player was pushed off the field by his own keeper, he was not barred from the field of play and could have returned at any time to defend the goal. Sounds hokey to me, bu that ruling would prevent players in the corners of the net from stepping out of bounds to trap the opposing team offside.

Other than that, the rest of the Euro teams had better hope that Italy had an "off game" or the Dutchmen are gonna take it all and easily.

 

[evil drunken-fool]

Ibrahimović scores a beauty of a goal. Followed up by a not so beautiful goal by Hansson, but none the less it counts.  Nice to see Sweden up 2 -0.  Just as I type this, Wilhelmsson pulls up with what appears to be hamstring injury. Hope he is ok.

 

[meni0n]

I don't know if the Italian fans are currently drowning their sorrows, or the Dutch are celebrating, but man that was a great game by the Dutch. Absolutely tore apart Italy even though the first goal was up for debate. Van Der Sar made some amazing saves as well, but Italy just didn't look themselves today. The goal differential might just come back to haunt Italy at the end of the group stage.

You mean Italy couldn't dive out of this one?

 

[grmpz1]

hollands gonna take it  8)

whoever said that sure knows what hes talkin about  8)

 

[evil drunken-fool]

Yeah, I think the harder question is who comes out of that group with the Dutch.
Even though France lost 1 - 4, and Italy lost 1 - 3.  I think France looked a lot better, they just were not watching out for the counter-attack.  Van Der Sar was excellent, coupled with missed opportunities.  That game easily could have been a way different score.

My thoughts on it all are Romania loses to the Netherlands.  France beats Italy, therefore France comes out of the group second.

 

[Grando]

Germany was quite impressive today.  Portugal wasn't even in the game.

I'm quite excited to watch the Netherlands though...

 

[evil drunken-fool]

Yeah, Portugal look so out of it and up until this game I thought they were second best in the tournament next to the Netherlands.  Germany certainly makes up for the loss to Croatia though.  It's shaping up to be one the best EUROs ever.

 

[Grando]

My rankings for the group stages went something like:

- Holland
- Spain
- everyone else

 

[deedster]

All I can say right now...

FORZA ITALIA

 

[fire_guy686]

It's a toss up between Germany and the Netherlands for me. Can't make up my mind so I'll go for both.

 

[evil drunken-fool]

My rankings for the group stages went something like:

- Holland
- Spain
- everyone else

Spain has scored a lot but they haven't impressed my this tournament.  To be fair, I watched very little of their games, but I think from what I seen against Sweden, I wasn't impressed at all.  They certainly have a shot at it, but if they play like they did that game, then the other powerhouses are going to beat them.

 

[time expired]

Ah the European diving championships,watched the last time champ
divers go out last night against the Germans.The German defenceman
no.21 had a couple of medal class dives, both got free kicks, one
resulting in the first goal.IMHO the only way to save this sport is to
quit showing instant replays,then you will never know how completely
incompetent the officials are in this sport.
                                  Regards

 

[Grando]

The Netherlands were embarassing, and the Germans are surely the favourite to win it now.

With respect to Spain, they pretty much throttled their pool, but now have to play a good Russian team.

 

[evil drunken-fool]

Well the final is in about 40 minutes.  We have Germany, who have been inconsistent in this tournament and Spain, who have been a lot more consistent, but they have a had a couple spots where they have not looked so great.  As I said earlier in the thread, they did not at all impress me in the Sweden game.

However, my guess for the game is 2 - 1 for Spain with goals from Fabregas and Torres, with Podolski getting the lone marker for Deutschland.

 

[Pikache]

Machine football doesn't work all the time I guess.

Not the best finals but glad that better team won for a change

 

[time expired]

The Germans were a very mediocre team that were  lucky
to get as far as they did,their back four played very poorly
throughout the series.It was good to see the best team win
for a change although the score could have easily been 3 or
4 to 0 due to the abovementioned defence.
                                        Regards