Portugal - Euro 2004 (European Football Championship)

[Diebrock]

Congrats to Greece for the first victory of this championship!

I love it when these events start with surprises.

_________________

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

I've kissed her best friend. I've reached into her best friend's pocket and fished around for keys. And I gave her best friend my number. I must be doing something totally, totally wrong... - TBSOL by Dreams

[3peanuts]

I'm looking forward to seeing Italy...

"I like Amber Benson 'cause she's a proletarian" Sarabiga

Keynes was right

[wolfwynd]

Well done Greece and well done Spain although we all knew they were going to win lol! (sorry all russian kittens if we have any!) Can't wait for England/France tomorrow - its going to be a good one!!



Wolfy

[urnofosiris]

Well England/France certainly was the most exciting match so far. The French have once again proven the saying that it isn´t over until ze fat lady zings.

[wolfwynd]

mna - how did England lose?! We were doing so well and we deserved to win! Ah well, another time maybe *sigh* Go England!!

[veiled isis moon]

I can't believe we lost to France, we were doing so friggin well too. It's just like us, do all the hard work, keep it together until the end of the match, then just give it away! What a joke! They do it all the time................and don't even get me started on the penalty. How the hell could we miss, that's twice Beckham's done that at a crucial moment. Man, i'm gutted. I was so happy, we were beating the best team in the world on our opening game, and we wern't even playing as well as we could(what was Owen doing??), then it all fell to pieces.



We soooooo should have won!

[AmbeRocks]

yeah i just saw that game, 5 minutes left, 1-0 england. i took my gf to her brother's, come back home and saw the final score... man how did they lose?!

beckham's penalty wasn't the best thing he did neither...!

anyway, it's fun to have good games on tv!!



jen

There is such a variety of well-invented things that the earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing - Nietzsche

[mollyig]

My gf and I have been really looking forward to this. Of course I would have enjoyed it more had Ireland been competing, but you can't have everything.



Fair play to Greece for beating Portugal, that was a great result. The England -v- France match has definitely been the most entertaining so far. I was really disappointed England gave away that free kick at the very end. It was needless. Heskey should have just left it alone. If France hadn't scored that free, then England wouldn't have been so nervous and wouldn't have given the penalty.



I'll miss some of the Denmark -v- Italy match, which is a pity, as I would have liked to watch all that. I really like the way the Italians play, and Denmark have two players from Aston Villa, so that's my personal interest in cheering the Dani

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[Willowtara19]

everyone!!



WOO and HOO Spain won!!



guess where I am from, already?



I actually didn't see the match, coz I was studying for exams ( ) but my dad's shouts told me Spain won and that he thought we didn't do so greatly *giggles* oh oh and my bf was watching the match too, and she told me when Valerón scored a goal







Vero (aka Willowtara19)

"The heart rules the mind" Alison Krauss, That kind of love

"Baby, I'm too lost in you, caught in you, lost in everything about you, so deep...." Too lost in you (Sugababes) Mine and my baby's song....I love you so much, baby

Edited by: Willowtara19 at: 6/14/04 3:41 am

[mollyig]

Vero Spain did seem to struggle initially, but when they made the substitution to put Valeron on, things just seemed to go right for them. I wonder if anyone in the tournament will score a quicker goal than that. Can't see it happening really.

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[Spighy]

Yay, Italy's first match is later today .....i can't wait

Can i just ask whoever the gods of football are no penalty kicks this year? we seem to be cursed when it comes to them

Hello *crash*

That's way, working the other me 'round - My best friend, being her usual nutty self

[Willowtara19]

Thanks, mollyig



Let's hope Spain keeps playing well and 'Saint Casillas' does as good as the last time And good luck for all teams



Vero (aka Willowtara19)

"The heart rules the mind" Alison Krauss, That kind of love

"Baby, I'm too lost in you, caught in you, lost in everything about you, so deep...." Too lost in you (Sugababes) Mine and my baby's song....I love you so much, baby

[AmbersSecretAdmirer]

I watched the England - France match and I honestly don't know why England are complaining. Okay it was a cruel blow but it was coming really.



Also, if you had asked most fans if they would have accepted a good performance by England but being beaten by France 2-1, a superior team and current Champions, they would have said yes.



I guess England's fans know how Bayern Munich's fans felt after the 1999 European Cup Final.



From a neutral's point of view, the game was cracking and the Free Kick for Zidane could be goal of the tournament.

TARA AND WILLOW 2GETHER 4EVER!!! BLESSED BE ETERNALLY!!!

[veiled isis moon]

Yeah, i know the score wasn't that bad for England considering they were playing the best time in world at the moment, it was just the fact that we had played pretty well and our defence manged to keep Henry and Zidane out and not give them a decent shot at goal for most of the game, then we bugger it up at the end and in extra time no less. There was no need for Heskey to give away that free kick, it was just reckless. Then they scored, England got spooked then Gerald kcked it back to James, whose only option was to come out, then GAME OVER! It was a great game and hopefully England can take alot away from it and win on Thursday.

[urnofosiris]

Spighy, I thought you were Italian or are you Dutch? If anyone sucks at penalties it´s the Dutch.

Right now Beckham must be feeling a wee bit like shit as well. Had he cashed in on that penalty England most likely would have won. The events leading up to that French free kick would not have happened. Not saying the French would not have gotten another free kick or shot at the goal, but the mental blow to the English would have been far less if the score would have become 2-1 instead of a 1-1. I doubt that mistake leading up the French penalty would have happened. At the very least they would not have lost.

[Spighy]

DrG, i'm definitely italian, and as such i can assure you that we have very bad luck where penalty kicks are concerned: let me just say Italy 1990, USA 1994 and France 1998 And for today's match....the first half was very dull, the second one was better, but not that exciting anyway. It's been the goalkeepers' match, cos they both saved the day at least twice (thanks Buffon!!). Tho I must say, Sweden impressed the heck out of me 5-0 ..and we're next against them, next friday

Hello *crash*

That's way, working the other me 'round - My best friend, being her usual nutty self

[ohtrustysodamachine]

My dad was really hyped up for the England V France game, when England scored the first goal he got out his huge flag and started waving it around, at that point i left the room with embaressment.......the problem with our English team is that if they score first then they get big headed and dont really concentrate on the rest of the game (hence the loss).....plus the fact that with the Beckham pentalty it was gonna be easy for Barthez coz he played with Beckham in Man U so he obviously knows how he takes his pentalties....Plus we didnt really stand a chance when France had atleast 9 players in their team that plays in our premiership over here.......fair much? I think not......

Lets hope thursdays match gives me something good to post about

COME ON ENGLAND!!

[mollyig]

I thought Denmark were really solid against Italy. Of course I may be biased as the Danish goalie is Aston Villa's number one 'Keeper, and our newest player is their centre back Laursen!



Sweden's goals were brilliant, but I thought Bulgaria were unlucky not to score - they went so close at times.



Big grudge match tonight - Germany and Netherlands. I'm looking forward to that one.

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[kukalaka]

Oh yes, it's really starting today Germany's first match.



As always, everyone here expects us to loose, but I've heard the Dutch are that way, too.



Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it



And congrats to Sweden and Greece: great games!

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IDIC

[Diebrock]

mollyig said

Quote:

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Big grudge match tonight - Germany and Netherlands.

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Whatever gave you that idea?



Holland



Nicht weit von uns im Westen, da liegt ein kleines Land,

das ich immer, wenn ich da war, ziemlich überzeugend fand.

Ein Land mit alten Windmühlen und netten kleinen Städten,

mit Bami, Vla, Frikandeln und fritierten Fleischkroketten.



In Edam gibts den Käse und in Amsterdam die Grachten,

ich steh auf Frauen in Holzschuhen und blauweißroten Trachten,

ich komme gern zum Baden und ich bleib auch gern zum Zelten,

ja sie sind tolle Nachbarn, und doch trennen uns Welten.



Ich liebe Superskunk und ich liebe Sauce special.

Aber eine Sache gibts, da bin ich meganational.

Es kam über die Jahre und jetzt sitzt es ziemlich fest.

Solangs um Fußball geht, hasse ich Holland wie die Pest.



Grad bei wichtigen Turniern sollt man sich nicht dafür geniern.

Was kann schlimmeres passiern, als daß wir gegen die verliern?

Beide ham wir unsern Rudi, wir ham ihren nie bespuckt,

ein guter Deutscher denkt europäisch, außer, wenn er kicken kuckt.



Ich liebe Superskunk...



Ich weiß, du bist da schlauer, du bist nicht so ein Prolet,

immer locker, selbst wenns eins null für die Niederlande steht.

Wer sich aufregt wegen Fußball, ist ein armer Idiot.

Fick dich selbst, wenn ich Oranje sehe, seh ich nun mal rot.



Ich liebe Superskunk...





Just a quick (read: the best I could do without long deliberations) translation for those who don't understand German:





Not far from us to the west, there's a small country,

that I always, whenever I was there, found rather appealing.

A country with old windmills and with nice little towns,

with Bami, Vla, Frikandeln and deep-fried meat croquettes.



In Edam there's the cheese and in Amsterdam the Grachten,

I like women in clogs and blue-white-red liveries,

I like to come for swimming and I like to stay for camping,

yes they are great neighbours, and yet we're worlds apart.



I love superskunk and I love sauce special.

But there is one thing where I am mega-nationalistic.

It happened over the years and now it's pretty much set in stone

As far as football is concerned, I hate Holland like the plague.



Especially at important tournaments you shouldn't be embarrased about it.

What can be worse than to lose against those?

We both have our Rudi, we never spitted on theirs,

a good German thinks European except when he watches football.



I love superskunk...



I know that you are smarter, you aren't such a prole,

always cool, even if the score is 1:0 for the Netherlands.

-Someone who get's worked up over football is a poor idiot-

Fuck yourself, when I see Oranje, I just happen to see red.



I love superskunk...

_________________

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

I've kissed her best friend. I've reached into her best friend's pocket and fished around for keys. And I gave her best friend my number. I must be doing something totally, totally wrong... - TBSOL by Dreams

Edited by: Warduke at: 6/15/04 8:06 am

[urnofosiris]

Hee, I think that poem could just as easily have been written the other way around. All in good fun. I saw a German commercial about an eldery Dutch couple and an old German lady crashing their cars into each other. Funny shit. There are all sorts of commercials using the German/Dutch rivalry on Dutch TV as well.



The game sucked ass, especially from our side. Given that we were behind 1-0 for a long time, the final score 1-1 is more of a victory for us and a defeat for Germany. Still, I think both teams would have settled for this beforehand. I have no faith in the Dutch ability to amount to much this championship. I can´t say I really care, I had fun anyway, but that is because I watched it with a large group of folks at my brother´s house.

Edited by: DrG at: 6/15/04 3:59 pm

[mollyig]

It definitely wasn't the liveliest of matches, but Frings goal was brilliant if he meant to do it.

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[kukalaka]

Well, could have been worse.



No really, I thought it was OK, even though Garfield is right, it's more like Germany lost the game. Oh well, can't have everything...

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IDIC

[mollyig]

Portugal have a lot to do tonight if they want to remain in the latter stages of the competition. I'm sure they never envisaged losing to Greece. I suppose it didn't help that, as the home nation, they didn't have to compete to enter. At least the other competitors had some time to tinker with formations/players to get it right.



The Greeks are going to be a bit more confident going into their match against Spain - will that be an advantage or a disadvantage? One never can tell with football!

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[veiled isis moon]

I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited about the England match tomorow!! Me and my mates are planning on making it an all day session on Broad Street, with lots and lots of alcohol and lots and lots of screaming at the screen. Then later on, the good old tradition of hiding from the big drunk scary men who like to pick fights with buses and think they can fly!! It's always a barrel of laughs when England play, it's almost as good as watching the footie!! Why can't they just watch the football then go home, eh??



COME ON ENGLAND!!!

[amberbensontotallyrules4e]

Well, at least England can try and dust the cobwebs of that nasty defeat from their minds tomorrow by getting a good result from the Switzerland game. The thing with THAT match is that it wouldn't have hurt so much to lose to France if it hadn't happened the way that it did. On balance I really think that we deserved to win it, and we spurned a few chances to really kill the game off at 1-0, not just the penalty (why didn't anyone follow up Vassell's shot when it hit Barthez in the face, huh????) and we paid the price. The Heskey thing was freaking ridiculous, why make that challenge when there are 2 England players going towards the attacker, and you're behind him. You have to know you're gonna get punished for that! And what the Hell was the big donkey doing on the pitch anyway? If you're gonna play a defending game (as Sven had so clearly told them to go out and defend 2nd half) and you bring off both strikers, surely you replace at least one of them with a midfielder or a defender? And if he took Rooney off because he was tired--- at 18 you do not get tired in the first game of a big tournament playing for your country! It was so looking like I was going to have to forgive him for being a fat, irritating Evertonian! And Gerrard, well, even a football G_d can't be perfect all the time (guess which team I support!) and the shock from the equaliser was well in place amongst all the players. Just, trust Stevie to make his first mistake of the season in an important game! But my G_d when he plays well tomorrow, all the people that have been slagging him off about his penalty miss are going to have to eat their words!

Anyway, having gone on about that longer than I had planned to, I've worked it all out... Football's still coming home even though we lost to France on Sunday night! (imagine trying to fit all that into the song and then a whole household singing it badly for 4 days and you can imagine what its been like in my family!) Portugal are gonna beat Spain on Sunday, and Greece are gonna beat Russia, leaving the quarter finalists as 1: GREECE 2: PORTUGAL the qualifiers from Group B are FRANCE, ENGLAND. Group C are SWEDEN (well done my other country btw, made my gf happy, which took the sting off the France defeat a little), ITALY and D are GERMANY, HOLLAND. Quarter finals are then GREECE v ENGLAND, PORTUGAL v FRANCE, SWEDEN v HOLLAND and GERMANY v ITALY. England, France, Sweden and Italy win those, and semi-finals are SWEDEN v ENGLAND and FRANCE v ITALY, leaving the final as ENGLAND v FRANCE (sorry baby, but you know we're gonna get revenge for March when we've got our full squad out!) And then the story of the final is something like this: Michael Owen scores a hat-trick, all 3 goals assisted by Stevie G, and Beckham injuries Zidane (just a little bit so he can't finish the game and all the French players heads go down, like they were on Sunday except for Zizou) and then in the last minute, James kicks Henry in the... well I'm sure you know... and then Robinson saves the penalty (replacing Calamity James in goal in the process, the keeper whose sometimes brilliant, sometimes shite... never consistent) and England are victorious!!! and there are many dancing elephants in the streets of London... or perhaps not!

Hey, it could happen, and if it does, you'll all know I'm psychic! woohoo! It will happen... I saw it in a dream... well, I thought about it a lot in English Lit... or made it up about 6pm to entertain my lil bro before he went to bed. But now, I'm sure something like that will happen.

I've gone on long enough, rambling like a good one, and if anyone managed to stay with me the whole way through, go reward yourself, cookies or something!

Just a quick word about tomorrow! We're gonna thrash that sorry excuse for a football team! And if we don't I may actually die! So, COME ON ENGLAND, COME ON ENGLAND!!! (no, I'm not drunk! lol.) Looking forward to it!

RAchel

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Please go buy Hanson's new album, "Underneath" from http://www.amazon.com NOW! You'll be glad you did- go to http://www.hanson.net to sample 3 tracks... love hugs and Hanson!!!!!

[mollyig]

veiled isis moon, I figured your were a Brummie when I saw the reference to Broad Street. I visit Birmingham quite a bit as my girlfriend's family live about half an hour away, and we're all Aston Villa fans. Enjoy yourself! Me and my girl are going to be watching it here in Ireland, but that won't stop us cheering loudly.

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[robotguru]

Spain were a tad unlucky yesterday, but meh they still have Portugal and they can make do with a draw.



The England match should be good and everyone will expect a win, thing is, after squandering one chance, all it takes is an upset from either of the last two games and we're going home.



Y'know? That wouldn't kill me, it's a game, what would be a shame is if we do advance but the fans ruin it for us. Lets hope that the minority don't ruin it for the loyal fans that just want to see Englad do well.

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"And the glorified bricklayer picks up a spare!" (Xander, The Gift)

[3peanuts]

All that mess about Totti's behaviour is making me sick.



He humiliated Italy, and being Italian, well, I'm finding it hard to swallow recent events.



I think he shouldn't complain and just accept court's decisions. Btw, it was a strange match. It would be a problem if our team had to face the rest of the competition without him.

"I like Amber Benson 'cause she's a proletarian" Sarabiga

Keynes was right

[robotguru]

Yeah that was bad with Totti.



One major gripe about Greece, at least twice (i didn't watch the whole match), when Spain were making some headway with the ball, one of the Greeks would go down "injured" but as soon as the ball was out of play he made a miraculous recovery. That kind of disrupted the flow of the game. Surely that should be treated as a dive and the player should conceed a freekick and be booked. That's my thoughts on the issue anyway, in some sports i play, trying to disrupt the game in any way is seen as very unsportsmanlike behaviour and that's how i saw it on the pitch.

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"And the glorified bricklayer picks up a spare!" (Xander, The Gift)