The Last Homely House

General => Council of Cobra => Topic started by: Gil-Estel on June 04, 2008, 11:50:38 AM

Title: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 04, 2008, 11:50:38 AM
Ah, just 3 days away and it is going to start! The European Championship! 16 countries from all over Europe have qualified and are going to decide who is the best. I know this is a bit painful for our friends from England, for they are not present at the tournement. A shame, for they have a great amount of great players. Terry, Beckham, Ferdinand, Rooney.....They were eliminated by Russia and Croatia, and the last is to be considered a outsider for the title. Russia, being coached by Guus Hiddink -another Dutchman- is some kinda dark horse. They have a lot of players from the squad that has won the Uefa Cup, Zenit St Petersburg.
As for the chances of Holland, we are optimistic every tourny. We always have top players and this year it is nothing different with players like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie, Van der Sar, Van der Vaart, Schneijder, Huntelaar, Robben. We are nonetheless part of the so called Poule of Death, with France, Italy and Rumania.
We start vs Italy next monday, and man, am I excited! Friday we're facing France, and then the week after we play Rumania. Idealy we are qualified for the next round, but it will be tough, for Italy is the current WorldChampion and France is the runner-up. Well, we'll see and if there are questions about this great game, which is definatly not a WOMANS sport -because the only good womans football I have seen was in Brasil- feel free to ask, I'm passionate!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 05, 2008, 01:29:00 AM
Im supporting the Dutch too GE. Lets hope for once your team can play as a unit not as a bunch of individuals, and live up to the talent they have, cos surely then there will be no stopping them!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: turin08 on June 05, 2008, 07:19:22 AM
I've decided to cheer for Spain. It's about time they won something and I really like their players, Fabregas, Torres, Villa, Pyol. Some great names there.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 05, 2008, 08:53:01 AM
yeah, but they seem to have the same problem as we have....great names, but in the end some-one else is heading home with the trophy. But a great team nonetheless....1 thing: WHERE IS RAÚL?!!!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 05, 2008, 09:20:42 AM
I think the answer lies in a rearrangement of your question GE: How OLD is Raul?!

Villa and Torres are awesome and young, Raul WAS great but is now getting on...
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 05, 2008, 09:25:49 AM
He's like 30, and had an awesome season with Real. He is a natural leader, a great scorer and a addition to every team! Ofcourse, Villa and Torres are great, but they haven't reached yet what Raul has reached. And his experience is worth a lot, but his quality even more
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 05, 2008, 11:33:20 AM
I've been kind of slacking off in keeping up with football news, is Portugal in? If they're in, I'm all for them, after all, Felipão is their coach! If not, then I'm in for Italy, neck deep!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: TheJord on June 05, 2008, 01:10:19 PM
Randomly, I'm supporting the Czech Republic
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 06, 2008, 01:45:00 AM
Yes FM Portugal are in it and one of the faves to win, with Italy being the most fave to win. But i cant believe youd support hat bunch of diving poncy prima donnas! Theyre sooooo freakin dull. lets defend for 89 mins and nick a quick rubbish goal and go through by virtue of being boring.  :roll:
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: TheJord on June 06, 2008, 04:06:37 AM
Lol lem0n is right, Fillipo Inzaghi has to be one of the worst strikers in the world. Stand *just* offside, and if the linesman doesnt call it I get an easy goal. HE IS SO ANNOYING!

And as long as Germany dont win, I'll be happy!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 06, 2008, 04:24:56 AM
I predict a germany italy final sadly cos i dont want either to win, id rather spain or holland win.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 06, 2008, 04:41:47 AM
Well, my ancestors were Italian, so that's my reason, but I DO think they're REALLY boring, they almost play in 4-6-0 formation! As I said, I'm all for Portugal, then!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 06, 2008, 04:58:09 AM
Well, with Donadoni as coach they seem to have abandonned the true catanagio, the real defensive style of play. They have a good squad, with a lot of good players, but for our game they miss Canavaro and Materazzi..I think, with the quality we have they will be in for a hard time...Luckily for us, the most annoying player, Inzaghi isn't member of the Italien team...
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: SomeRandomDude on June 09, 2008, 08:58:29 AM
I'm actually, believe it or not, somewhat interested in this and am pulling for Croatia (hey, anytimg a former Yugoslav country or any Balkan country does anything I'm interested). Anyone know where I can keep up on how its going?

(BTW, with Romania vs France, anyone know when this is happening? Romania is another country of interest to me, being in the Balkans and all).
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 09, 2008, 11:59:28 AM
You might find something at the FIFA website, www.fifa.com? They must have their own website for the tournament, but since I can't search it at work, this is as good as it gets from me, for now. ;)
Oh, yes, and YAY PORTUGAL! 2 x 0!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 09, 2008, 02:30:37 PM
WE KICKED ITALIEN #$&*@!!!!!! 3-0, 3-0, 3-0...WHO'S TALKING ABOUT PORTUGAL? THEY PLAYED TURKYE, WE PLAYED THE WORLDCHAMPION!!.................sorry....... ........
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: SomeRandomDude on June 09, 2008, 04:12:49 PM
Wait till Croatia gets there...anyways...

Congrats man!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 09, 2008, 08:51:33 PM
thanks..It was an awesome match. Everything was right. For the first time, the mentality was right, the way they played seemed right and everything seemed to go like planned. For the Dutch, it was a great night, especially since the moral was bit low. No-one (except for me) believed we had a chance is this group. At the end of the first day, we're the leaders with quite a royal lead...Man...does this feel good or what?!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 10, 2008, 12:44:52 AM
Haha i suspected last night after i finished watching the match that GE would probably post before i got chance!

Yeah you kicked italian #$&*@! GE, hooray for the netherlands! That was sweet to behold. I like my new "adopted england"! Its about time they played up to their teams potential. It was an awesome display and a truly great game to watch with some excellent football.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: turin08 on June 11, 2008, 03:01:37 AM
Ok looks like Spain just rocketed up the odds. What a performance. I think Villa just added about 10m to his valuation as well.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 11, 2008, 03:09:37 AM
Probably more in the current crazy price market. If a player gets to superstar status clubs start bandying around values of over £50m just because theyre a good player its ridiculous. Ronaldo gets 42 goals a season and suddenly united "wont let him go for less than a £100m"!

Was a great performance though. Nice to see a team with good players actually performing to capabilites *cough*ENGLAND*cough*
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Shieldmaiden on June 13, 2008, 11:54:51 AM
The France - Netherlands game has begun.  With the fine form that the Netherlands team has been in, I'm expecting to see France get their butts whipped!  They think that because they have added Thierry Henry, that he will drag their team out of the doldrums.  Well, according to my calculations, that means that they have a grand total of 2 players in their prime playing for them (the others were all great once, but are past their best, if their last seasons are anything to go by).  This against the Netherlands' fantastic 11?  I don't think so.

But anything can happen in the next hour or so.  Let's see what happens...
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: NappyKorn on June 13, 2008, 12:00:50 PM
Lets go France :D. Then again the french love to whine so maybe this will just be another opportunity for them to show everyone what they do best. Oops apologies to any french members we have  :'(
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: turin08 on June 13, 2008, 02:05:43 PM
Holland look like real contenders now. In their first two games they've played the two finalists from the last world cup and scored 7 goals. Thats a real achievement.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: TheJord on June 13, 2008, 03:20:09 PM
Holland just massacred France. And Romania almost knocked out the World Champions. Going to be good. And at least I dont have to watch England go out on penalties...
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 14, 2008, 01:59:19 AM
YES!! I was away this week, but we got back just in time to see the match.....what an achievement, allthough it wasn't as 'easy' as Italy.....wow....I'm impressed ánd very proud! Nappy, I hate you for cheering for france ;\0
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Olorin on June 14, 2008, 02:07:14 AM
I liked it very much that Holland masscared France!  :D
Holland plays great offensive football!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: NappyKorn on June 14, 2008, 03:29:53 AM
YES!! I was away this week, but we got back just in time to see the match.....what an achievement, allthough it wasn't as 'easy' as Italy.....wow....I'm impressed ánd very proud! Nappy, I hate you for cheering for france ;\0

It was all a joke. I will admit I no zero about this form of football and want lie I made my post just to get a response out of you Gil. Now the I have your attention PM me your address so I can get a shipping price for your cards. Apparently I need an address to get a exact quote for your cards to be shipped :up:.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 14, 2008, 04:35:07 AM
It is very strange to be a dutch fan. It was a hard to play game, because France had a lot of pressure. They still have first class players. But if you can start without Robben and Van Persie, you know you've got great striking capacity. The only thing that worried me at the start of the tournement was the defence. Boulahrouz hadn't played since october 2007, so what he was capable of wasn't sure, but man, he did a great job. Suddenly we seem to be masters in counter striking. Quite balanced defence and before you know it, we're off...great goals yesterday.
Nice moment when Henry made a great goal, Robben just sprinted away and hammered the ball behind Coupet, that really closed the deal.....Sneijder again man of the match...Real must be thrilled about their players being important!
I hope we can keep up the good work, ánd the good spirit! We'll see....
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: turin08 on June 14, 2008, 05:06:57 AM
I think Holland know that there defence isn't the best but have the attacking ability to simply outscore the opposition.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 14, 2008, 10:34:39 AM
like Johan Cruyff said: if you score more then your opponent, you'll win :D
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: SomeRandomDude on June 14, 2008, 10:57:23 AM
Does nobody care that Croatia is absolutely slaughtering Group B? :cry:

I hate to say it, GE, I like the Netherlands but I gotta root for Romania next game...they're from the Balkans.

At least Croatia gets it easy in the quarterfinals, all the teams but Portugal in Group A look pretty bad.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 18, 2008, 02:11:39 AM
Woot, and the dutch rampage on! Come on pseudo-my-england-for-the-tournament!

Shame the blasted italians made it through. Never mind you cant have everything.

Ballacks free kick was an immense goal, and the turkey - czech match was crazy!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 18, 2008, 04:44:29 AM
true, with relative ease we made it through the game, even with all the subs in the pitch. Germany was weak, stupid match but Ballack's freekick was awesome. But they will not win from Portugal. Italy will face Spain and I guess that Spain is going to win. I hope/think we will win the quarterfinal vs Sweden/Russia.
I think the semifinals will look like this: Portugal vs Croatia and Holland vs Spain. The final will be -hopefully- Holland vs Portugal and then we will have our revenge......it would be awesome!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 18, 2008, 08:33:39 AM
Spain over Italy? Wouldn't bet on it, Spain has the TERRIBLE habit of being a good team, but chickening when it comes to decisive matches.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 18, 2008, 10:24:17 AM
well, then we just beat Italy again ;)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 19, 2008, 09:55:15 AM
Let's hope so. It'll be harder rooting against Italy in the Finals, should Portugal make it there. ;)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Olorin on June 19, 2008, 10:00:36 AM
If Holland is able to hold their run, I think, they may win!
Portugal and Spain are very strong - but Russia, Croatia and Italy mustn't be forgotten (if Italy once takes the lead they never lose it - there is no other team which learned to hold their result as Italy). AND: never forget Germany - they are quite weak at the moment, but if there are strong opponents and decisive matches they seem to gain power... unbelievable (I am sure, Portugal gives the best! ;-))

PS: unfortunately Austria is out of the tournament - even if they have been fighting well...  :'(
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 19, 2008, 11:41:49 AM
but face it, this will probably be the last tournement Austria will be in for a long time. They have little quality, at least to be challengers at the highest level. And the level at an European Championship is high, higher then a worldcup in general. Add Argentina and Brasil -roughly- and there you have your worldcup contenders.....
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 19, 2008, 12:12:00 PM
hmmm, Germany leads 2-0. Will have my final Holland-Germany then :D
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on June 20, 2008, 01:16:16 AM
What a fantastic match germany portugal was, with 5 good goals. I have to say i felt the best team won. Now as a brit i shouldnt like germany but theyre a good team and i actually found myself pleased they won :S Weird.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 20, 2008, 08:46:49 AM
Well, too bad, now it's LET'S GO ITALY!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: TheJord on June 20, 2008, 02:44:42 PM
WHAT A GAME! Well at least the last 3 minutes. So sad for all the Croats on the site... but you did knock us out  ;)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 20, 2008, 02:59:41 PM
Ok, so it's a freebie for Germany... Might end up having a Germany VS. Italy finals.
/me  is looking forward to it.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 21, 2008, 12:13:53 AM
Felipe, I'm realy trying to like you Brasilian brother, but now you're crossing the line! Why on earth do you think Italy will reach the final? They have to win their match vs Spain, not an easy task and then they will probably play against the Netherlands -assuming we win tonight. We have seen where that leads to, don't we?....Hahahaha, no I can only hope for the best, and I'm getting a bit nervous.....
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Olorin on June 21, 2008, 03:11:09 AM
I await a final Germany vs. Holland - due to I am from Austria, I hope that Holland will win!
(PS: it's right, that Austria now has not got a high quality team - but you should also consider the matches against Croatia, Poland and Germany - Austria was the better team against Croatia and Poland and as good as Germany - but we didn't make the goals :-( #$&*@!!)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 21, 2008, 05:44:39 AM
but in general you have to admit that Austria isn't Euro material, and from what I heared is your coach not the best man for the job. Even the goalkeeper wasn;t decided at the start of the tournement
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 21, 2008, 03:56:21 PM
Annnnnd, Holland is out! Ok, looking good for Italy! Go, Squadra Azurra!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 22, 2008, 02:58:53 AM
Well, that's it. We lost due to a very impressive performance of the russian squad. For the neutral spectator it must have been a great match, in which we didn't create anything. The russians were so sharp in the duels, we never stood a chance. The best team has won, sadly. Well, I hope Russia now win the tournement, they have the quality to do so.....but hey, so did we.....
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 22, 2008, 06:48:56 PM
And Italy is now also history! #$&*@!. Well, they were kept in check by Spain, they did a great job. Now it's GOOOO Russia!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 23, 2008, 07:35:27 AM
finally Felipe...we can agree on something ;)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: FM on June 23, 2008, 07:58:02 AM
If it helps in any way, aside from Italy (and Portugal because they had Felipão, but now they don't anymore, so I'm back to not caring for them even one bit), I'd root for Holland any day!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on June 23, 2008, 09:15:36 AM
yeah, but next tournement will be in South Africa....so I know for who you'll be rooting then ;)
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on July 07, 2008, 03:17:30 AM
Well sorry for the bump but i watched all the games while i was on holiday and wasnt able to post. Argh! Stupid holland under achieving again! And after such a promising start! WTF?

Anyway glad italy went out and i felt spain thoroughly deserved the win. Germany have an awful defense.
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on July 07, 2008, 04:07:46 AM
sorry, lemon, for making you sad and all.....
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: lem0nhead on July 07, 2008, 04:11:45 AM
So you should be! Youre country let me down! You were my adopted England. Although in a way it was EXACTLY like supporting England in a major competition. We always lose at the quarters when our team is good enough to win. So i guess it fitted right in!
Title: Re: European Championship
Post by: Gil-Estel on July 07, 2008, 04:48:40 AM
yeah, but most times we win because of bad luck, or a bad performance. This time we could see that Russia was the better team. They were keen on not giving us any space, so they played an awesome match. But they spoiled all their strenghts, which was shown vs Spain....