[Archived] Group C

[American]

Also, remember that the seeds are based on recent results in international tournaments. There is a reason Sweden was seeded higher than Italy. They are a better TEAM and have proved it. Italy might have better skilled players, but then again, Real has the best group of individual players, yet won squat because football is a TEAM sport.

[tchocky]

Yeah Eddie, I see you point and I agree. It was pretty much the same opinion I hold and I stand by it. They went out fair and square, but were capable of a lot more. Nothing more to it. I rest my case.

FORZA AZZURRI!

[SouthAussieRover]

Good riddance to the pasta eating,hot headed,dirty cheating so and so's.

The pathetic pasta eating mamma boys are going home

Hopefully the Germans next.

This week just gets better and better.

Bye bye Rudi

[vindaloobob]

I want players who can make it happen, and Italy has got a lot of them.

tho obviously, not enough of them.

this has been a fantastic week, we have seen 3 of the "big name" teams who played with the attitude that turning up on the pitch 3 times would be enough to see them go through get knocked out by teams who have played with a real spirit and sense of purpose. why is that a shame? why should anyone shed a tear? why should we feel any sympathy for teams that only decide to play in the final 45mins of their 3 games?

and yeh it would be gutting if england went out in the way that spain, italy and germany have, but it wouldn't be gutting in an "oh how unlucky were we, the lads played well and didn't get what they deserved" sort of a way, it would be gutting in an "it's embarassing that one of footballs supposed great nations can play in such a dull, insipid and negative way, and lacking in any sort of spirit." we would be gutted that the boys put in such a poor show, and let the nation down. it''s one thing to play with heart and get beat (why we all love the scots? ) it's another to go out on the pitch and mince around for 90 minutes in the hope that the other team will recognize that you have the "better" players and let you win.

[philipl]

After all the "big" countries getting through the qualifiers for Euro 2004 unscathed and only Latvia beting Turkey ranking as the only surprise in the final eliminators, I had expected the "big" countries to have made the last eight with the possible exception of England.

Its going to get really interesting now with size and reputation counting for nothing.

Czech Republic v Sweden final?

[78]

Fantastic post Lathund.

Just wanted to add that all this "big footballing nation hype" comes from the ignorant lazy fans or pundits. They have such a small knowledge of the game that they rank teams based on how many world cups they won in 50s or average attendance in their league. Pure rubbish. These days the gap between any team is tiny. Futhermore having the pressure of the English, French, German, Dutch, Italians etc to thrash every other nation on their way to the title makes it easier for these "small" nations to step up and it's much easier to be the underdogs (Swe, Den, Greece etc) because you've got everything to win and almost nothing to lose.

[Eddie]

If you are claiming that my knowledge of the game of football are on the whole ignorant simply because I enjoy watching the "big" teams play against each other than I think you are making a rather sweeping statement. I'm sorry that the prospect of playing Sweden doesn't do the same things for me as possibly playing Italy or Spain.

[FourLaneBlue]

Haven't we already had this 'big teams' argument for the Champions League? When Porto and Monaco weren't deemed 'big enough' by some, who only want to see the likes of Real Madrid and AC Milan in the final?

Seemed like a daft argument then and seems like one now. Personally I only wish to see 'star' names and big-name teams in the laster stages if they deserve to be there on merit. All this star struck stuff and big team guff seems a bit adolescent if you ask me (which nobody did so feel free to ignore me). The footballing equivalent of screaming at Take That. Or Blue or whichever rubbishy manufactured boyband they scream at these days...

Edited June 24, 2004 by FourLaneBlue

[Eddie]

My point is, in a tournament like this, i would love to see the best players playing the best football. Italy have deservedly gone out, though I do feel that they were a bit unfortunate, however it would have been nice had they played the way that they can and gone through, I would have liked this more than seeing a good Sweden or Danish side.

[Nayef]

Sweden notched up 8 goals in 3 games. Larsson's goals against Bulgaria were pure class. A fantastic header from a super cross and a sliding/stretching touch to lift the ball in. Exciting and deserving of a place in the quarter-finals. To say that one would rather watch an italian team (who apart from the desperate all-attack approach in the bulgaria game played rather defensively in this tournament) due to their past histroy making them a "big" team with "big" players does smack of ignorance and nothing more. Personally, I can't wait to see the boys in yellow take on the dutch.

Denmark? Possibly the goal of the tournament so far and were the better team against Italy. Denmark-Czech looks like a match not to be missed!

[Eddie]

Well I think anyone who says that Italy stuck to very defensive play other than in the second half against Bulgaria is ignorant and spends too much time listening to football pundits and throwing out the old clichés.

They were aggressive against Sweden for an hour, were silly to become defensive after that, but they certainly aren't the only team to have made that mistake. The Denmark game they had their chances, great saves by Sorensen and poor finishing meant that they didn't score, and against Bulgaria they were careful and then threw everything they had at the Bulgarians.

Italy were far from wonderful, but I think those of you who say "oh defensive Italy", "boring football", "good to see that style of play gone" are just regurgitating the sort of crap you hear on ITV and other such channels. They haven't scored many goals, that doesn't mean that they are only interested in playing defensive football.

[Gareth]

Good riddance to the pasta eating,hot headed,dirty cheating so and so's.

The pathetic pasta eating mamma boys are going home

Hopefully the Germans next.

This week just gets better and better.

Bye bye Rudi

Yay!

One less crap hair-do to look at!

[Lathund]

My point is, in a tournament like this, i would love to see the best players playing the best football. Italy have deservedly gone out, though I do feel that they were a bit unfortunate, however it would have been nice had they played the way that they can and gone through, I would have liked this more than seeing a good Sweden or Danish side.

Yeah but now they didn't play the way they can, and the teams that went through played more entertaining football. So quit moaning about what might have been and try to enjoy Denmark and Sweden play instead.

Denmark, the Czechs, Sweden and Holland are all teams who in this tournament have played attacking football, so these quarter finals should contain lots of goals and exciting football.

[Nayef]

It's a shame Italy are out, not because I enjoy watching them so much, but because they are Italy.

Have you been spending too much time watching Italy's Greatest Hits video or something?

Denmark -

Denmark were 2-1 up against Sweden. That's all they needed to go through. Did they become a defensive side? Did they hell! They went at it and tried to kill Sweden off. What a match that was - thoroughly entertaining and in particular the very lively (and animated) Gronkjaer.

Sweden -

Lathund's post on page 4 is an excellent summary of what this team is about. A team full of hunger always on the attack. A victory over this team would be quite an achievement for Holland or any other country.

With Czech, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Italy to choose from I think we all know which one of those teams is the more defensively minded and least entertaining one

[andy82]

@ lathund

i backed your boys to win this tournament, i couldn't really explain why but now i've read your post it sums it up perfectly.

@english people

i am half english half german. i follow germany in terms of sporting teams and events, and my reason for this is the ridiculous attitude taken towards sport, especially football, in this country. most of the english people i have spoken to about these championships told me they thought that germany seriously had a chance. now i can tell you i have been VERY surprised by germanys performances over this tournament, but not in the same way as the critics - im stunned that we managed to produce football of the sheer quality that we have (first half vs holland, second vs czech). if you've seen some of the crap games wave endured for the last two years that was a serious step forward. i will admit i thought the only team to go through we could have beaten was the danes, so i was hoping sweden would beat them..

what im trying to say in a strange sort of way is get over it, England did not invent football, your team is not, and has no right to be (as do NO other teams) permanently in the top ten rankings, and not only are some of the things the football related media say extremely inaccurate, a lot of them are quite xenophobic as well. i hope you beat Portugal, and Sweden get to stuff you.

[Eddie]

That was a bit out of the blue!

I think you'll find that the English did invent football however, and that we won't be stuffed by Sweden. Not saying we'll go through tonight, but if we don't, I don't think it will be the Swedes who knock us out.

[Morph]

@ Andy82 (just to continue your theme)

Oh get over yourself. Is the german wine still as sickly sweet even when the grapes are so sour?

p.s. As Eddie says, we did invent football (at least the codified version which we recognise as the modern game, through the unification of the "Sheffield" rules and those of the Football Association, formalised in 1882) so if you are going to have a pop, at least check your facts first.

Edited June 24, 2004 by Morph

[krislu]

Hope to see England vs Sweden and France vs Denmark in the two semi finals...

Anyone fancy Sweden vs Denmark in the final?!

[greggyk]

Hope to see England vs Sweden and France vs Denmark in the two semi finals...

Anyone fancy Sweden vs Denmark in the final?!

Nope. Denmark maybe, but I would expect them to lose to Portugal in the final.

Anyway, I am English and want them to win but I just cant see it. I feel we have the better team but , WE'RE ENGLAND!!! Im now used to failure with England and with rovers doing so badly last season, makes defeat a lot easier to accept.

[Eddie]

This site is such a positive place

[wandel77]

I cant understand all this hype about Italy.

All before the championship had begun, the italians where talking about who they gonna meet in the final. Trapetoni told the world 3 weeks before the match against Denmark which starting line he wanted to use. Denmark had all the information they needed to brake the italians tactics.

They can only blame them self for not going further in the championships, instead they are moaning about a " FIX " result, well every one who saw the match could see that it was a fair game.

Yes im from Denmark and we gonna go all the way again, but im still in love with Blackburn :-)

[Modi]

... are a match for any team in the world, I don't think they same can be said for Greece

And for your next trick?

Edited July 4, 2004 by Modi

[FourLaneBlue]

... are a match for any team in the world, I don't think they same can be said for Greece

And for your next trick?

Even the most optimistic Greek did not think they would win the title.

Arsene Wenger was astute enough to say in print that they would be dark horses and maybe suprise some people but even he had no idea that they would close to winning it.

If anyone tells you they thought that Greece had a chance of winning the thing before tournament (or even before the semi finals for that matter) they are a damn liar.

The greatest upset in the history of major international tournaments, other teams have pulled off shock wins but to do it for a tournament and beat the holders, the dark horses (Czechs) and the hosts twice...well, you can't say they didn't desereve it far more than any other team in the competition.

On a sadder note- the likes of Czechoslavakia, Denmark, Netherlands and Greece have all won the tournament. Add all their populations together and they are still nowhere near that of England. It's a sad statistic that we are the only large country in Europe not to have won the European Championship. Even serial underachievers such as Spain and the Soviet Union have had their moments. It's about time we had our turn in the limelight...

[Dr Rich]

On the plus side FLB, none of those teams you mention have ever won the World Cup, which is an immeasurably greater honour.

[FourLaneBlue]

On the plus side FLB, none of those teams you mention have ever won the World Cup, which is an immeasurably greater honour.

If I was being envious of the Greeks I'd suggest that a solitary World Cup win on home soil is a poor return for one of the great footballing nations on earth. Although a wonderful achievement it's going to be forty years since by the next World Cup. Besides...i'm only in my twenties so wasn't even alive when we won it.

The point is...regarding the players we have had and the financial resources at our command (the FA remains the richest national association on earth)...to not even have reached the final is a poor return.

Well done to the Greeks...but you know...it's a poor do that England has not even come close to that in the European Championships.

Edited July 4, 2004 by FourLaneBlue