Euro2004 game

[Dragon Phoenix]

With the European Championship football (soccer) to start soon, how about a little game?

You can give a percentage score to each of the 16 participants, adding to 100%, before the kick-off of game 1.

Each country will score according to the following rules:
First round, 3 points for win, 1 for draw.
Qualification for quarter finals: 10 points
Qualification for semi-finals: 10 points (on top of previous)
Qualification for finals: 10 points (on top of previous)
European champion: 10 points (on top of previous)

The score of each country will be multiplied by your percentage, and added to form your grand total.

My entry:

code:

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Italy              20


France             20


England            15


Czech republic     15


Portugal           10


Spain               5


Germany             5


Holland             5


Denmark             5


Bulgaria            0


Croatia             0


Greece              0


Latvia              0


Russia              0


Sweden              0


Switzerland         0

---

[Cordelia]

I don't follow soccer much (anymore), so I'm going to participate with just a randomly daring value.

I'm giving 100% backing to France. I like France. I think they're swell. Go France!

I'd add some cheers in French, but I'm not sure what they are!

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Leave space beneath this line blank for office use.

[kevinatilusa]

Italy: 60
Germany: 20
England: 20

[Duphrates]

FRANCE : 40
ITALY : 30
ENGLAND : 20
PORTUGAL : 10

[Agamemnon]

code:

---

            


France           18 


Italy            15              


Spain            13           


Portugal         13      


Germany          9   


Holland          8


England          7  


Denmark          6


Russia           4 


Czech republic   4                            


Croatia          1   


Sweden           1  


Bulgaria         1     


Switzerland      0


Latvia           0


Greece           0

---

[Duphrates]

Oh Aga, ye of little faith.

[casinopete]

France: 39%
Italy: 61%

[Agamemnon]

Originally posted by Duph Goran Erikson:

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Oh Aga, ye of little faith.

---

Being half Irish and having more contact with my Irish family than my English family, it makes me an Ireland supporter more than an English one. Being this way, my brain takes over my heart and I can see that the current English team set up is not good enough to win, quarter finals at a push, but no final for Blighty I'm afraid. England has an inexperienced understrength attack, no natural ball winners or defensive players in midfield, except that scouse bloke with the French name, and our defense is shakey when other players attack down the wings.

Take the forwards. Heskey is always falling over and he has no football skill whatsoever, Owen is all right footed and has no height or bulk, Vassel is much the same but on a lesser scale and Rooney is 3 years away from being real good, so as yet he's inexperienced for this job ahead.

The midfield is slightly better but One will probably see all of them attacking and leaving poor old scouser a sitting duck. Having Scholes in midfield is crazy IMHO, he works better just behind the front two. Putting him in midfield will probably get him sent off.
Lampard is a similar player to scholes in that he likes to attack rather than defend, and Beckham is so over-rated imo as a player (He cant attack run at players, can't tackle, can't head) he's only there for spirit and free kicks. Personaly I'd start Butt in place of Scholes against France so as to pressure Viera and Makakakakakakalalalalaley, otherwise I believe those two will run riot over the Blighty midfield if left unchallanged.

The Blighty back 4 are so so. Weakness in the chuckle brothers, who should never ever play again for England, and the left side. But if Sol and that Chelski bloke can kee them together then I see not real problems, except that is, from the like of Henry and Trezugeut(sp) running at them.

Goalkeeper wise, Blighty is stuffed!

[Duphrates]

When you put it like that....

Though I don't think the semis are unrealistic, depending on how the draw goes.

BTW I knew the Calamity James dig was coming it made me smile on a hot day stuck in a stuffy office. Thanks.

[Jaguar]

code:

---

France           20


Italy            20


Czech Republic   15


The Netherlands  10


Germany          10


England          10


Portugal          5


Spain             5


Croatia           5


Greece            0


Russia            0


Switzerland       0


Sweden            0


Bulgaria          0


Denmark           0


Latvia            0

---

I have a soft spot for my old stomping grounds, so I had to give the Netherlands at least a 10

[jesternl]

code:

---

The Netherlands  16


Portugal         15


France           13


Czech Republic   13


Spain            12


Italy            11


Germany          10


England          10


Croatia           0


Greece            0


Russia            0


Switzerland       0


Sweden            0


Bulgaria          0


Denmark           0


Latvia            0

---

France is not going to be that good, Portugal and The netherlands are both underrarted at the moment.
Jaguar, did you use to live in The Netherlands?

[Dragon Phoenix]

*wipes coffee from monitor*

Did you read anything about the recent Holland games?

[Jaguar]

Yes, I moved to Canada in 1989. So all my impressionable years were spent in Heemstede (NH)

[mathgrant]

I will give Cordelia some competition, and say 100% Italy. I hate sports, but it would be fun to tell the world that I won a sports prediction contest.

Now casinopete can't win unless he ties with Cordelia and I. Please don't be mad at me, pete!

[This message has been edited by mathgrant (edited 06-08-2004 05:16 PM).]

[Agamemnon]

Originally posted by Jesternl with his head in the clouds:

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France is not going to be that good, Portugal and The netherlands are both underrarted at the moment.

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If Portugal and the Dutch are underrated, why are they ranked 3rd and 6th in the betting? In Blighty bookies, the top seven teams are close in betting odds meaning that the odds setters, who are supposed to have knowledge in these types of betting fields, rank them highly.
If you look at the betting odds here:
BettingZone
You will see that the top 6 favourite teams are split by as little as 3 to 7.5, giving a difference of 3.5, very minor in betting terms, especially when there is a gap of between 3 - 7 from 6th to 7th place.

So don't crap us about the Sardines or the Cloggers being classed as underrated, we know you have a sinister motive.

[This message has been edited by Agamemnon (edited 06-08-2004 07:23 PM).]

[Cordelia]

Italy! Pah! What do those Italians know about kicking!

...dang, that's right, they live on the boot. Coises, foiled again.

[jesternl]

yes, I've been keeping up with Dutch soccer. They went undefeated for 24 games, including games against France, Argentina and Brazil. And now they messed up two games, so everyone thinks they are not going to perform well. Hence my comment that they are onder rated at the moment.
Oh, en welkom Jaguar

[This message has been edited by jesternl (edited 06-09-2004 03:23 PM).]

[Dragon Phoenix]

Advocaat has announced that he will fall back on the 4-3-3, as the 4-4-2 was a disaster in the 3 recent friendlies. There's just a slight problem. We do not have the players for a 4-3-3. The only reasonable winger we have right now is the relatively inexperienced and injury prone talent Arjen Robben. Probably Andy van der Meijde, who has spent most of the season on the bench with Inter, will need to play on the right side, for want of a better alternative. Overmars is past it, and has been rejected by Barcelona for the coming season because of insufficient performance.

[Jaguar]

bedankt, jesternl

[dethwing]

100% on Spain.

Don't let me down Ref.

[Agamemnon]

UEFA.com have a nice little interactive Europe map showing all the competing teams and their team lists here. Worth a look if you have no idea whats going on.

[Legend of Tenshi]

100% on England. At least I am patriotic for my country. I am so gonna loose

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I'm looking for a good sig, wanna help?

[Dragon Phoenix]

code:

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                  DPX COR KEV DUP AGA CAS JAG JES MAT DET TEN


Italy              20      60  30  15  61  20  11 100


France             20 100      40  18  39  20  13


England            15      20  20   7      10  10         100


Czech republic     15               4      15  13


Portugal           10          10  13       5  15


Spain               5              13       5  12     100


Germany             5      20       9      10  10


Holland             5               8      10  16


Denmark             5               6


Bulgaria                            1


Croatia                             1       5


Greece               


Latvia              


Russia                              4


Sweden                              1


Switzerland        

---

[tffff]

Not easy to know the best way of going about doing this, so I'll think about it for a while and post later.

Agamemnon: while your posts reveal that you have more than a little knowledge of the teams involved (and I agree with you, unfortunately, about England - quarter finals at best), don't you think you're putting all your eggs in one basket by giving 3 of your highest 4 ratings to France, Spain and Portugal, only 2 of whom can qualify for the semi-finals, while giving much lower ratings to Holland, Germany and Czech Rep, two of whom will almost certainly reach the quarter-finals?

[Agamemnon]

tfff,

It did cross my mind at one stage that what I was doing seemed a bit like shooting Oneself in the foot, but I believe that France, Spain and Portugal have more chance at progressing through to a final spot than Holland, Germany or the Czechs.
It also worried me that you can never discount the Krauts, even when they play bad, they still seem to squeeze through most times.

I'm looking at a final of Portugal/Italy v France/Holland/Denmark, with a small percentage score for Germany as a back up.
Portugal have a very good chance with home advantage this year, even though I believe their team is overrated, having the home support counts for an extra man on the pitch.
France have the best team on paper, but look what happened in the last world cup. If the pressure gets to them then England has a great chance of winning the group.
Italy have a strong team but they are getting on a bit in years. Much is expected of them and maybe the pressure might spoil their game.
Holland are looking good with their attack and they have been virtualy discounted from winning. This will be in their favour putting pressure on their opponents.
Denmark are imho the dark horses. If they play well as a team they are very hard to beat. They are not a high scoring team but work well in attack and defensively as a complete unit. The Sweden game is the crunch game for both teams and if Denmark get the result then there is no reason why they cannot go on to win the group and progress further.
Then again, I support Gillingham so what do I know

[DP]

No more entrants - it has begun!

[Agamemnon]

I eat my words........well done Greece.

[Agamemnon]

Originally posted by Age the wanker:

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Portugal have a very good chance with home advantage this year, even though I believe their team is overrated, having the home support counts for an extra man on the pitch.

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See, I said it!

[DP]

And after the first day, Dethwing leads by a mile.

[Taflinel]

Originally posted by Aga:

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I eat my words........well done Greece.

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Thank you...

Ta ta

[jesternl]

I'm the one eating my words Aga.
My comment came after having a discussion with a few Americans (and what do they know ) who thought Portugal wasn't that great. I guess they were right as well.
I wish I could see England-France...

[DP]

I can.

[Agamemnon]

I've got 10 people coming around our house in about half an hour, all ready to watch the match. The beer is chilled, the snacks are snacked, the cheese is unwrapped and the surround sound on the TV is cranked up.
Should be a good night.

btw, so far the Swiss/Croat match is damn boring.

[Taflinel]

Quite a game it was...
I think it should have been a draw...
(Although I'd rather have England than France in the next stage, if we manage to get a positive result from Spain this Wed...)

Ta ta

[Agamemnon]

WTF was that scouser doing?
Twat! He cost England a deserved draw.
Pah!

[Vinny]

can any of you euro dwellers tape each game on VHS and send them to me? It cost money here in yankie land, and only two bars in the entire nation (well, around my area) show the euro games, and they're usually jam packed and stop letting people in an hour before the game start.

[Vinny]

For those who watched the England and France game today, can you help one of my friend out. He's really passionate about England, and was really desperate to see the game. But alas, we didn't make it to any of the bar, and he doesn't have cable so that he can order the pay-per-view at home.

A good summary would be great. What are the highlights? Did Michael Owen do anything at all?We know Beckhame missed the penalty kick that would have tied the game.

[Dragon Phoenix]

England-France

[Cordelia]

So, does that mean France won? (go team!)

[Duphrates]

I thought we played really well. If you spoke to anyone before the game we would've all taken a draw, but we weren't expecting much, we were playing France remember. If you look at France's team sheets, there aren't many club teams that can boast such a talented side - Zidane arguably the greatest European footballer ever, Henry, arguably the greatest all round forward of the last couple of years, Viera, probably the beat defensive midfielder in the Premiership, Trezuguet, Lizarazu, Pires and Makelele. The way we lost however is what was so bad, but rather now than in the knockout stages, besides we can now get our revenge in the France vs England final.

I must say Rooney was outstanding, he basically bullied France for the time he was on, and I think the 'blame' must lie entirely with Eriksson, his tactical decisions for the final 15 minutes were diabolical. I think we lost it when Rooney came off. Congratulations to Campbell and King, who also had a fantastic game, and to Beckham who's work rate to help his bumchum Neville was exemplory as was his passing. Don't know what happened to Owen though. Bad mistake by Gerrard, but I'm glad he did it now rather than later. Even worse mistake by Heskey, but again he shouldn't have been on the pitch.

So all was not lost, with Croatia-Switzerland (yawn) drawing we're still in a good position to qualify and we've learn't some valuable lessons early on. (In fact during the Croat/Swiss game I was even switching channels to the test match, well done Graham Thorpe).

....can't imagine what the Bayern Munich fans must've been feeling in 1999(?).

[This message has been edited by Duphrates (edited 06-14-2004 05:29 AM).]