Euro 2008 thread

[europop2005]

how come theres no Euro 2008 thread...its really heating up now!!!

here are the latest qualification scores

Grp D Czech Republic 1-0 Cyprus
28/03 Grp G Bulgaria 0-0 Albania
28/03 Grp C Hungary 2-0 Moldova
28/03 Grp B Ukraine 1-0 Lithuania
28/03 Grp G Romania 3-0 Luxembourg
28/03 Grp E Israel 4-0 Estonia
28/03 Grp D Republic of Ireland 1-0 Slovakia
28/03 Grp F Liechtenstein 1-0 Latvia
28/03 Grp C Malta 0-1 Greece
28/03 Grp F Northern Ireland 2-1 Sweden
28/03 Grp D Wales 3-0 San Marino
28/03 Grp B Georgia 3-1 Faroe Islands
28/03 Grp C Turkey 2-2 Norway
28/03 Grp A Azerbaijan 1-0 Finland
28/03 Grp A Poland 1-0 Armenia
28/03 Grp A Serbia 1-1 Portugal
28/03 Grp G Slovenia 0-1 Netherlands
28/03 Grp B Italy 2-0 Scotland
28/03 Grp E Andorra 0-3 England
28/03 Grp F Spain 1-0 Iceland


Current Group Rankings:

Group A Pld Pts
POL 7 16
POR 6 11
SRB 6 11
FIN 6 11
BEL 6 7
KAZ 6 5
AZE 6 4
ARM 5 1
Group C Pld Pts
TUR 5 13
GRE 5 12
BIH 5 7
NOR 5 7
HUN 5 6
MLT 5 4
MDA 6 2
Group E Pld Pts
CRO 5 13
ISR 6 11
RUS 5 11
ENG 6 11
MKD 6 7
EST 5 0
AND 5 0
Group G Pld Pts
NED 6 14
ROU 5 11
BUL 5 9
BLR 5 7
SVN 5 4
ALB 5 3
LUX 5 0
Group B Pld Pts
UKR 5 12
SCO 6 12
FRA 5 12
ITA 5 10
GEO 6 6
LTU 5 4
FRO 6 0
Group D Pld Pts
GER 5 13
CZE 6 13
IRL 6 10
SVK 6 9
WAL 5 6
CYP 6 4
SMR 4 0
Group F Pld Pts
NIR 6 13
SWE 5 12
ESP 5 9
DEN 4 7
LVA 4 3
LIE 5 3
ISL 5 3


FORZA AZZURRI!!!!!!!!!!

 

[intedomine]

Good to see this thread start.

What another riveting week of qualifying.

It's a shame that Andorra fell apart in the second half against England. Andorra played dirty, but I'd love to see England miss out on Euro 2008. What national team would end the international career of David Beckham so prematurely, particularly when the national side is so starved of depth or talent.

Sad to see Andorra playing a home game in Barcelona. Who cares if their stadium only has a capacity of 800 or whatever. There's nothing cooler in world sport than when a minno hosts a more developed footballing nation at some wee little suburban-like ground.

Azerbaijan upsetting Finland was a major blow for the Finns who were looking mighty impressive.

Northern Ireland certainly appear a force to be reckoned with in qualifying for Euro 2008. Defeating Sweden was another mighty fine effort.

The Turks were lucky, with the Norweigan keeper's two howlers gifting the Turks a valuable, if a little lucky, point.

Liechtenstein's defeat of Latvia continues the Lickers' rich vein of form in recent years.

Greece only scraped past Malta. I'd love to see the Greeks qualify for Euro 2008. The tournament would be all the poorer if the reigning champs were missing.

Here's hoping for some more thrills and spills in the months to come.

Ghana 2008 qualifying was also intriguing last weekend as well, with a few of the traditional African superpowers on the verge of securingqualification for the African Nations Cup.

 

[1stepcloser]

It's a shame that Andorra fell apart in the second half against England. Andorra played dirty, but I'd love to see England miss out on Euro 2008.

And i hope Australia fail to make the semi's of the Cricket World Cup

What national team would end the international career of David Beckham so prematurely, particularly when the national side is so starved of depth or talent.

I'd hardly describe Englands national side as deprived of depth and talent. In terms of individual players we have some of the best in the world. Gerrard, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Hargreaves and Lampard would probably walk into a lot of countries first 11. It's a shame we have a such an inept manager who has doesn't have any significant knowledge of tactics, firing up his players, picking an effective first 11 or making game-changing substitutions.

As for Beckham, i'm quite glad he was dropped. I'd still have him in the squad but i wouldn't start him. He plays on the wing but apart from crossing has little to no other attributes needed to play the position. He doesn't have skill to go past players nor does he have any pace. Lennon has both of these and that's why i think he's more effective than Beckham and should start ahead of him. And he's 10 years younger.

Well done Northern Ireland too. They've a real chance of qualifying now.

 

[bayernfc]

I hope England do qualify..... It'll be a shame if they miss our penalty shootouts!

 

[jimmmm]

Good to see this thread start.

There's nothing cooler in world sport than when a minno hosts a more developed footballing nation at some wee little suburban-like ground.

As an aussie you'd know more about that than us

 

[intedomine]

As an aussie you'd know more about that than us

Cheeky bugger...

We play many of our big matches at the MCG, a state-of-the-art stadium with a reputation and a history that Wembley can only dream of having. When we host the World Cup, the MCg will almost vertainly host the final. Hardly a suburban ground.

And who was that side that lost to us minnows 3-1 at Upton Park a few years ago. To add insult to that team's injury, they fielded a disgraceful 11 fresh players after half time!!!...after their best XI got outplayed 2-nil in the first half. Oh that's right it was ENGLAND!

 

[jimmmm]

^ OUCH!!!

 

[1stepcloser]

Upton Park

I refuse to acknowledge that ground and the scumbags who play there. Therefore i refuse to acknowledge the result of that match a few years ago

 

[jimmmm]

^ Yeah, me too!!!

 

[intedomine]

^ me not

 

[DaveC]

Eire

 

[LJT]

Oh god, McClaren is getting the praise for selecting Beckham now...it was an average game, Brazil had the better chances from the bits I caught, but seemed a bit ineffectual in finishing.....Gilberto's goal was onside though.

 

[intedomine]

Shouldn't have dropped Beckham in the first place. Utterly insane.

Some big qualifiers tonight. C'mon Cymru vs Czex...

 

[LJT]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A23358305?s_fromedit=1

I think that sums up last night and the current management pretty well.

 

[1stepcloser]

Lampard - Gerrard does not work. Lampard was again anonymous last night and as someone who is supposed to be playing in the creative attacking role, he showed nothing to suggest he should carry on playing there. Never tested the keeper and didn't make any incisive passes. Beckham was good but isn't a long term fix.

Even typing alan smiths name makes me angry, he's just an awful player and the only reason he played tonight is because of who he plays for. Nothing else. 45 goals in 250 games. ZERO league goals this year. Been out for most of the season and he just waltzes straight into the england first XI. This guy must have some serious psychological powers over mclaren. Especially as darren bent and jermaine defoe have both scored highly once again this season.

England were awful again. Mclaren out.

 

[Dalton]

Lampard - Gerrard does not work.

Water is wet.

Snow is cold.

What goes up must come down.

 

[Slipstream]

Beckham sets up vital England win

David Beckham makes two goals as England ease to a comfortable 3-0 Euro 2008 qualifier win in Estonia.

Joe Cole broke the deadlock after 36 minutes, turning sweetly to volley home Peter Crouch's flick. Crouch doubled England's lead eight minutes after the break when he headed home a superb Beckham cross. Beckham then provided a far post cross for Michael Owen to add England's third after 61 minutes.

England's last two games since Beckham's been back has seen him completely responsible for 3 of their 4 goals. Two of which he did while having an injured ankle today in Estonia. We will most likely see him now for the Germany friendly in August at Wembley and the five other EC qualifiers this Autumn.

England Coach, McClaren, "I think [Beckham] answered everybody with his performance in the last two games," he continued of the Real star.

"Will he be in the next squad? We'll see."

^^^God this guy has got to go.

God Save The Queen and Beckham wearing football's nicest jersey.

 

[bayernfc]

Funny how every England fan I know hates his guts. If Beckham's the saviour, this team has more trouble than I thought!

 

[Slipstream]

Funny, cause the England fans I know appreciate the fact he's back in the team. The fan support at Wembley, Estonia today, and on the internet is proof of that.

The fans that hate him have a personal issue with what Beckham does with his life off the pitch which is unfortunate they mix it up. Not real fans if you ask me.

For me, he leads by example, and gives it his all. England have been shite the 9 matches before he came back and if him coming back helps them win even in the slightest, then we've got nothing to lose. Something is obviously working.

 

[intedomine]

The Poms needed a scapegoat for how crap they were in last year's World Championship, and they targeted Beckham, even though the over-hyped Lampard was abysmal and Rooney (although injured for the first couple of games), was useless. Beckham was arguably one of the better players.

The Poms and the Ukraine were two of the least deserving World Cup Quarter Finalists in the history of the tournament. Switzerland, Spain, Australia, Holland, Ghana and Ecuador all would have made more worthy Quarter-Finalists last year, but unfortunately these exciting teams fell short.

The reality no one seems willing to accept is that England's World Cup squad was not very good at all. Quite simply, there were at least 10 better World Cup sides out there.

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Oh my goodness, I was so busy following the hockey finals that I forgot about this game. Good on England, woohoo

They're still 4th so a ways to go yet...

 

[LJT]

They were always going to beat Estonia, with or without Beckham...hadn't won a match in the group so really no big surprise there.

We'll see what happens when they come up against some of the bigger teams, there seems to be a real lack of guile in breaking down teams with England.

 

[Zoomerang96]

Oh my goodness, I was so busy following the hockey finals that I forgot about this game. Good on England, woohoo

They're still 4th so a ways to go yet...

yup, but two big games against russia will be the deciding factor. plus four of their remaining five games are at wembley, so there IS hope.

 

[Slipstream]

On BBC a writer has his predictions set up and from what it looks like, England needs to win 4 and they can get away with 1 draw.

This is totally possible just look at Beckham's last 11 games before he was kicked off the team, they had 9 wins and 2 draws. I'm not saying he is the total catalyst for success, it's a team effort, but they were doing something right when he was in the team. Leadership, confidence?

Sure they aren't winning the crucial match in a quarter of semi final but who else is? There can only be one winner. And touching on some numbers, Beckham in an England shirt since 1996 has him with a competitive 39 wins and only 9 losses. Quite impressive for ten years of service.

 

[Zoomerang96]

where are you from slipstream, if you don't mind me asking...

not from canada by chance?

 

[Slipstream]

Ex-UK, now Canada.

 

[bayernfc]

There's just something about Canada isn't it? I'm also Ex- Germany now Canada.

 

[Slipstream]

It's a great place to live and it's certainly more laid-back I feel, well out on the Pacific side of the country anyway. And it seems alot cheaper than the UK.

Now if Canada can just get their football team together!

 

[bayernfc]

I know, the potential for a decent Canadian team is there, so it'll probably happen in a few years. I was surprised Toronto FC has so much support. The fan support is definitely there if the team delivers. It'll be nice to see a few friendlies with some European teams here.

 

[Zoomerang96]

toronto fc has fantastic support, it's great to see.

i doubt i'd ever cheer for canada over england though.