European Football Thread

[Gustaf]

England is going to fail to qualify. Sweden on the other hand is looking very good. I'm rooting for Northern Ireland to come with us! Or maybe Denmark. Just as long as Spain gets knocked out, I'll be happy. Too bad they won their last game against Denmark.

[Gustaf]

Well, tonight is the night. Tough away game against Northern Ireland, BUT with Zlatan Ibrahimovic back on the team again after his conflict with the coach. If we win this it would take a lot to prevent us from qualifying. So I really hope we do.

[Gustaf]

N Ireland 2-1 Sweden

Amazing first goal by Healy.
Amazing result.
NI top of the group with some serious teams in it.
Lawrie Sanchez is a miracle worker.

Terrible, terrible. Still, we have one game less played than Northern Ireland, so there is still hope. But the group is becoming a real rat hole now with Spain and Denmark creeping closer and closer. If we can tie Denmark in the away game and beat Iceland in the home game in June I think we still have a very good chance though.

[Gustaf]

Ireland 1-0 Slovakia

Much better performance than the last few games. Keeps a tiny little bit of hope alive for qualification.

N Ireland 2-1 Sweden

Amazing first goal by Healy.
Amazing result.
NI top of the group with some serious teams in it.
Lawrie Sanchez is a miracle worker.

Amazing second goal by Healy. You forgot to mention that.

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I sort of went through all the groups and predicted who'd come through, based on standings so far, and then noticed with a shock that I had just predicted a Euro without British Isles participation... after two very close calls against British teams (plus two more who still have a decent chance) ... but the really shocking part is, the second most likely scenario is that the British Isles will be represented by Northern Ireland only.

I agree 100%. I right now think it is more likely for Northern Ireland than for England to reach the EC.

[Gustaf]

When does NFL Europe start?

Its actually NFL Germany + Amsterdam ...

PS: It starts next Saturday, April 14.

Seriously though, how popular is it over there?

American football? Let me put it like this. I've never met, seen nor even heard of anyone who plays it anywhere in Europe.

[Gustaf]

When does NFL Europe start?

Its actually NFL Germany + Amsterdam ...

PS: It starts next Saturday, April 14.

Seriously though, how popular is it over there?

American football? Let me put it like this. I've never met, seen nor even heard of anyone who plays it anywhere in Europe.

Have you ever watched it yourself? The main problem that most Americans seem to have with soccer is that it doesn't have enough offense. Americans love high scoring games...maybe soccer should play with no goalie or one of the players drops back to goalie.

I've seen it on American movies...and I've played a little rugby. The problem is that it seems to one-dimensional. It's just people running into each other trying to get a ball a certain distance. Now, soccer is much more tactical and refined.

[Gustaf]

Really?

That's fun, it isn't the same without him.

Less than a week till the next round of qualification games now! I sure hope we can beat Denmark...a tie would be ok, but a loss could be it.

[Gustaf]

Any thoughts on the European qualifiers?

I'm pretty ok with Sweden's point against Denmark and very happy about Spain failing to get one.

[Gustaf]

Any thoughts on the European qualifiers? 

I am, shall we say...less than pleased, with our draw with Slovakia. Shambolic.
And whose fault is it?


No need to check your watch Steve, it's time to go.


Elsewhere, the North were unfortunate against Latvia, they deserved better on the day. Hugely dents their changes at progressing, redeemed somewhat by the Spanish failure against Iceland.

Saw a bit of the England and Scotland games, both did fine against relatively poor opposition. Not sure if anything much can be read into either game.

I've been really rooting for NI, but sadly I doubt they will make it through. They will have to beat Iceland and then get at the very least one tie in the two away games against Spain and Sweden (as well as beating Denmark on their home ground) in order to have any sort of a chance. I still hope Spain will fail to qualify though.

[Gustaf]

Things are heating up for the final rounds coming later on. I'm rooting for France+Scotland, Finland+Serbia, Sweden+Denmark, Norway+Greece and England+Croatia in the still contested groups (I'm counting Romania+Holland and Germany+Czech Rep. as safe). I think Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey are gonna make it though, probably knocking out Finland Denmark, Norway and France/Scotland (can't make up my mind there).

[Gustaf]

Sweden lucked out, but I still have a bad feeling about this...we SHOULD take second place after Portugal, but anything can happen. After qualfying for 5 tournaments in a row it has to end sometime...

[Gustaf]

Euro 2008 Draw:

Group A:

Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey

Group B:

Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland

Group C:

Holland
Italy
Romania
France       

Group D:

Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia

Group C is a group of death if ever I saw one. My heart goes out to Romania who had a pretty good seeding group (being safe from Germany, Spain and Portugal) and yet ended up with ultra-tough competition. Fancy Holland and France ending up in the same group...

As for predictions, I'd predict the following teams to go through, in the order given:

A: Portugal, Switzerland (I really like the Czechs but they disappointed me real bad in the WC and Switzerland is underestimated. Hosts always do better, though less so in the EC than in the WC)

B: Germany, Croatia (looks like the safest prediction...Austria is, no offence to HarryHaller, by far the worse team in the tournament and Poland always suck once they get to the tournament. I don't see Germany and Croatia missing out)

C: France, Italy (have to go with my heart on this one. I'd prefer it to be France, Holland, but I won't go with my heart that much. I'm afraid it could well be Italy, France or Italy, Holland though...tough group to predict obviously)

D: Spain, Sweden (well...I had to predict Sweden don't I? We did get a fairly easy group which could easily have been a lot worse. Spain will probably take the top spot and it's pretty wide open behind them. I do think Greece is on its way down though. Surprise champions seldom do well in defending their title. Russia is simply quality-wise worse than Sweden. I have a bad feeling that we will end up doing badly this tournament but I won't go as far as predicting my home country getting knocked out when we shouldn't!)

That would give the same quarterfinals as Gully Foyle, I just realized! Great minds think alike...I think Portugal beats Croatia though and...we have almost exactly the same line-up as in the WC semi-finals. Hm. Seems very unlikely. Ok, let's go with Croatia. I have to predict France over Italy this time around though since I hate the Italian team and if it's France vs Germany in the final I'm happy with either team winning, really. I would expect Germany though, to be honest.

[Gustaf]

Just from looking over the names though, it seems possible that Ireland might actually end up in the upper half of the draft?

Not really, no. The seeded teams are going to be Russia, France, Greece and Portugal, in that order. It's based on FIFA rankings (which suck). Right now Portugal is ranked 17th. Ireland is 38th. The Ukraine is the highest ranked non-seeded team at 25th.

So the rankings are pretty much set in stone. Now, had Sweden been able to take out Denmark yesterday and knocked off Portugal, while Latvia beat Greece and took that second-place it could have been interesting.

Damn FIFA and their rankings and seedings.

Anyway, I saw Germany's game, Lewis. Great show, I must say. Özil seems like a real rising star. And the goal-keeping was top class.

And in case someone missed it, Sweden got knocked out yesterday. End of a great string of qualifications, matched only by Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy among the European teams. I called it before the first game but I'm still not happy about it.

[Gustaf]

Just from looking over the names though, it seems possible that Ireland might actually end up in the upper half of the draft?

Not really, no. The seeded teams are going to be Russia, France, Greece and Portugal, in that order. It's based on FIFA rankings (which suck). Right now Portugal is ranked 17th. Ireland is 38th. The Ukraine is the highest ranked non-seeded team at 25th.

Yeah, I could only think of Russia and France as obviously higher-ranked teams when I wrote that, forgetting Portugal.

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They needed it to be. Yeah, Özil's really good (despite looking like a startled frog).
I am yet to see a penalty awarded against Germany in the last ten minutes. I'm at over half a dozen possible ones and counting...

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Wait - is that dried and dusted, or just exceedingly likely?

Yeah, the first case was sort of straddling the line, but the second one seemed pretty clear-cut.

And now that I'm reminded, that guy Boateng is someone you need to get rid of. He didn't seem able to hold his part in the defense at all. I could see the eventual sending off a long way off.

And as regards Sweden, see Gully's response. Portugal is simply too good to fail to score against Malta (and Malta has not scored a single goal so far in the qualification). So I guess Sweden's chances are about 0.1% or so.

[Gustaf]

I think Russia will own Slovenia and France will edge it out against Ireland Domenech or no Domenech. Bosnia could surprise against Portugal, but I have a sense Portugal is finally pulling it together.

Greece v Ukraine should be a nail-biter though. My money is on the Ukraine, but not by a lot.

[Gustaf]

France not winning in 2006 was a major disappointment for me (right up there with Germany not winning Euro 2008).

If Brazil wins this World Cup I will really be pissed.

[Gustaf]

If Brazil wins this World Cup I will really be pissed.

There is a very good chance that you pissed off Brazil has a very good team and never before wins a European Team the World Cup outside Europe.

I know that all too well. But as stated elsewhere, I have been predicting Argentina for a long time...