Will adept reach 10,000 before gazzak reaches 2000? Whats the odds.
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Will adept reach 10,000 before gazzak reaches 2000? Whats the odds.
or will I reach 500 before tekboy and mobilepcphysician? :)
This by Gary Neville...
"We're not dead yet," said Neville. "This is probably the least bothered I've been after a defeat.
"Obviously, losing is a disappointment but we played against the best team in the competition and did well.
"It's not as if we've been ravaged 4-0 or 5-0 and they opened us up left, right and centre," he said. "We did a lot of very good things out there."
I like what I hear.
Aye. And now Butt is out, too. But I like Hargraeves better anyway. The Swiss don't stand a chance, as England take out their frustrations in style. (My prediction forthcoming, btw)
Well first up 2day in the heat of portugals afternoon was Czech Republic v Latvia, now on paper it looked a nice easy match fer the mighty czech team as this was the first tournement apart from eurovison song contest that the latvians had ever qualifed for, so like most ppl feared fer the latvians that they would leek more goals than bulgaria did when thy played sweeden the night before, well that was the scriped i guess no one showed it to the latvian team though, one of the things to take in2 consideration is at the time of kick off in the stadium the temp was around 33c (england next match kicks off the same time 5:00 GMT) so u could see the czechs game plan from the first whisstle was pummle the latvians for the first 25 mins or so get a 1 or more goal lead then the rest of the game sit back pass the ball and conserve there energy levels, if poss catch the latvians on the break and increase the lead for a more healthy goal diffrence in the table, now this plan was doing ok the czechs were passing the ball well and keeping the latvians deep in there half and peppering there goal with shots, to give the latvian keeper and his defence some credit though he/they never buckled and covered the goal area well, just after one such czech attack that had broken down most of the czech team were upfield with play and the latvian winger made a break, from the looks on replays the 2 covering czech defenders that were down fiald seemed to be disscussing dinner plans or such fer l8tr and paying little or no attention to the game and were hoplessly out off possition, by the time they realsied what was going on they both went 2 cover the latvian player that was screamming down the wing, they failed 2 spot the latvian attacker moving in on center of goal completly unmarked it was a simple matter fer the player on the wing 2 cross the ball to the feet of the latvian attacker in front of the czech goal fer a simple tap in witch he did, the czech keeper was caught in 2 minds did he cover the guy on the wing as he assumed that his 2 defenders would never get back 2 cover or did he stay near center and cover the gut that was unmarked, in the end he split his attention between the 2 and had no hope with the shot even though the latvian attacker did his best 2 fluff the shot it still hit the back off the net, on a side note chelsea have signed the czeck keeper for around 9 million the deals been signed fer quiet awile and he joins em fer next season, from what i saw of him in the game he looks a good prospect, anyway back 2 the match and a most incredable shock was on the cards little latvia at half time fer leading the mighty czechs 1-0, once the second half got under way it was obvious that the czehs were gonna throw everything at the latvians inc the kitchen sink to first get an equalizer then to win, as the half wore on the latvian defence sat further and further back trying fer all they were worth to efend there slender lead and to there credit they did so and on occations they managed to relive the pressure with an attack of there own but each time it ended up back in there half and them under pressure once again, sadly as england found at to there cost earlier in the week u can only defend fer so long before summit gives although it did take a some gr8 skill from the czech player Poborsky who managed to keep the ball in play even though the latvians were convinced it had crossed the line behind there goal but on replays it clearly shows not all the ball was over the line, he then neatly spun past 2 defenders and delivered a pin point cross in2 the box for Baros's to smash home the equalizer in the 70 min, now the czech players could sence blood and now poured forward at every oppertunity and with only around 9 mins remining and again baros was involved a bad clearance by a latcian defender in ther penalty box dropped to a czech player who had time 2 steady himself and rifle in an unstoppable shot that sealed the match 2-1 in the czechs favour, on this performace though the latvians should in no way be down hearted and if they can again raise them selves when they play holland and germany they could well pull of that shock victory they was so nearly theres today.
The last match of the first round was between Holland and Germany prolly the most Eaglely awaited match after the france england one, as theses 2 teams have a long association fer warm fuzzy fluffy matches NOT!!!!, all the build up was of lots of goals fer holland and fer germany 2 struggle the std soak up the dutch pressure and catch em on the break, as it turned out this was further than the truth as u could get, apart from a half chance for ruud van nistolry around 3 mins into the match it was all germany in the first half, the dutch were not able to control the ball the few times they had it, the servie to ruud who was the lone stricker up front was none exsistant and it was no surprize in the 30 min that from a free kick that germany took the lead, from an acute angle the ball was fired in by Frings managed 2 miss all the player in the dutch penalty area and the ball ended up in the back of the net, it was a very soft goal for them to conseed again some very poor defending of a set peace and most dutch player were chasing shadows and in no-mans land when the ball was struck, the same story continued fer the reminder of the first half and germany could have added a second just before the end from the same player as they managed 2 get themselves a free kick in pretty much the same area that lead to the fist goal, this time though vander sar in the dutch goal after a lil flapping took control and gathered the ball safely, the dutch coach made 2 changes at half time 2 try and improve the fortunes of his team but for the first 60 or so mins the tide of the match was till in germany favour and again they had sevral chances to extend there lead and put the match out of hollands reach once and fer all but with poor finishing an at times some exelant defending by the dutch the score stayed 1-0 to germany, it wasnt untill the dutch coach threw on his final sub in the form of Pierre van Hooijdonk that there fortunes began to change, pierre gave the dutch a more physical presants upfront along side van Nistelrooy and the long passes that was meeting no one for long periods in the match earlier now had a target, it was the introduction of van hooijdonk that allowed van Nistelrooy to score an equalizing goal in the 81 min of the match, from a header won by hooijdonk passed out wide 2 a dutch player then a well timed cross fer the goal poacher van Nistelrooy from an acute angle and him managed to shhot pretty much behind him despite having a german defender it seems trying to mount him he found away past khan in the german goal, a frantic final 10 mins with both teams now trying for the win and with golden oppertunites at both ends in the end at the final whisstle it ended 1-1, on th whole Germany deserved the win and was unlucky to conseed the l8 equalizer but fair play to the dutch dispite playing very very poorly for around 70% of the match they never stopped trying and it still leaves that group wide open and asi its been call the "group of death" on the whole as it stands at the end of round 1 i would still go along with it being called that.
On a sour note around 400 fans mainly english caused trouble on monday night and 12 will be appearing in court on wednesday, were on a yellow card with the ppl who run football it wont take much more of this behavior to get us thrown out of euro 04, they did say before euro 04 started that if any trouble happens with the england fans the england team will be kicked out, thankfully at the mo it seems an isolated incidednt and has been played down by the police and the football mafia.
Excellent Garfield! _thumbs up_
Yeah, it seems like a group of death: just the kind England almost always ends up in. (as if being with France is not tough enough)
So: the Dutch didn't look too good, and Germany did?
That surprises me to tell the truth.
So, many surprises so far, and, most likely, many more to come. Don't ya just love it!!!
I finally got a score exactly correct.
So the first match up 2day in the heat of the portuges afternoon was Greece v Spain and as we saw in the first round match when the greeks played the hoasts u under estimate the under dog at your perrel, it was also worth remembering that spain and greece were in the same qualifyeing group fer this competion and that greece beat spain both home and away toped there group and spain only get here by getting though a play off, so spain could ill afford to take victory fer granted as we've seen in other matches teams now days do not roll over easyly well unless ya bulgaria then u do but others have had fire in there belly and put on a good show, once the match got started spain tryed 2 stamp there aurthority on the game with good link up play from the defence/midfield to the front players and in the early stages it was only por finishing that kept the score at 0-0, it was only a slight mistake from a greek defender that was punished l8 on in the first half when Michalis Kapsis gave the ball away cheaply Raul was the beneficiary but with two defenders close to him looked to have his work cut out to provide anything until his fantastic back-heel played in Morientes, The Monaco loan star slotted home a gr8 goal, and in doing so suddenly the greek team found another gear and gave there all at leveling the match in what remind in the first half, In the second half spain made a BIG mistake they started playing like it was an experbiton match all very nice fer the ppl watching the game but when they should have been driving home there advantage they were way 2 busy show boating and in the 68 min it came back and bit them in the *** tthe spanish lost the ball and some clever passing between the midfield and front players for greece left the spanish back line and keeper exposted despite a last min diving tack 2 stop the ball it bounced under the spanish keepers legs and gave the greeks a well deserved equalizer, suddenly the spanish looked worried and time and again the greeks broke though sencing another victory sadly it wasnt to be and with the spanish again pressing towards the end on the whole greece were luckyish to gain the draw, maybe now the so called favoured teams will sit up and take notice of the lower ranked teams and they should remeber everyone got to theses finals on merrit unlike the world cup all the teams desrve to be here.
Russia v Portugal
Now this was a real crunch match as both teams know who ever lost would be going home early from euro 04 and even a draw may not be good enough fer both teams to continue in the competiton, the portuges coach made 4 changes from the team that played so disapointly in the opening match and now had 6 players from porto he hoped that this would give them the edge over adepleted injury hit russian side, as the host team in euro 04 they didnt want to repeat what belguim in the last euro championships managed and go out at the group stage, that they need was figo to lead from the front and recapture his club form of last season, in the first half of the match unfolded it was clear that the russians had very little fire power up front and they were struggling to keep a rejuvinated portugees team in check, also for once figo showed some of his brilliance that he's known for in his club football but has been struggling to reproduce for his counrty the past few matches, time and again he ran at the russians and all they could do was tackle thin air, so it was no surprise that just after 10 mins following a free kick by figo that was not cleared by the russian defence that portugal took a 1-0 lead over russia it was Nuno Maniche's first gaol fer portugal and the crown went nutz and it certainly helped settle the portugees nerves some what, for the rst of the half asin the portugees batterd the russian defence but could not find another way through to make the victory certain, give credit were credit is due the russians stuck to the task of defending and on a couple of occations even managed an attack or to but the portugess team unlike in the first round match this time kept a soild defence, just before the half time whisstle the russain keeper was adjudged to have handled the ball outside the box and was given a straite red, upon some close up replays it was shown that the ball probably didint catch his arm but the ref does not have the aid of technolgy and had to make a split seond desicion and there only human after all, in the second half with the russians chasing the game down 2 tem men with a sub keeper on (an out field play was sacrifced so they could bring a replacment keeper on) them scoring had become unlikly but portugale racking up a cricket score was highly likely, but the russan replacment keeper had other ideas and though the whole second half pulled off save after save 2 try and give his team a chance, but as the russans pushed more men further forwad in a vain attempt at an equalizer it left there rear more and more exposed, until finally c ronaldo the villan from the first round match screamed down the wing and fer once placed a great cross into the russian box that was met by his team m8 Rui Costa who slotted the ball home to make the fianl score 2-0, so now its bye bye russia and portugal will need to beat there bitter rivals on sunday to progress further, greece are though unless some odd results in the fianl match occour, this affect england IF they get though the group stage, as the will face depending on were they finish the team who finish's 1st or second from spains group.
Paul scoales has been declared fit to face the swiss thursday and John terry will replace L King in defence as he's now recoverd from a thigh injury that kept him out the france clash.
Not wanting to read the rules again, gazzak,
question: even if we get the score totally wrong, but predict the right team that wins, dont we get anything?
Cant miss a chance to post.
Sure do! There are 4 ways of scoring.Quote:
Originally Posted by TechZ
1. Get the result exactly right, IE portugal beat Russia 2-0 and you predicted 2-0 then you get 4 points and a mention on the league table website.
2. Get the actual result correct, (which I think is what you just asked)! IE portugal beat russia 2-0 but you predicted portugal to win 6-4. Even though the score you predicted was way out you still predicted portugal to win - 1 point
3. Get the home team goal count correct. IE portugal beat russia 2-0 and you predicted portugal 2 russia 1 or portugal 2 russia 3 etc. Portugal got 2 goals no matter what russia got - 1 point
4. Same as 3 but for the away team
I have all the predictions and scores in a word document to keep track of all guesses and to backtrack in-case of a disagreement. I will post a link to download this onto the website so you can see how everyone has scored so far.
If you think I might have made a mistake on any of your predictions and points please let me know and I'll gladly look into it.
happy for now, but i'll let u know,
I dont think anybody bother re checking your work, we trust you, after all its u who has shown us the way to grow our inner WOTPP power. MAy the WOTPP force be with u. :)
Here's the best joke I've heard in the pub tonight whilst watching the England Switzerland match...
Why are English lovers better than French lovers?
Because we can stay on top for 90 minutes and still come 2nd!
:thumbs2:
Thanks 2 a customer bring his computer in for fixing i miss all the 5 live commentry on the first half of the england swiss match :mad:, thankfully i was home 2 see pretty much all the second half :), hmmmm so how well did we really play taking in2 account the conditions the match was played in again it was around 35c in the staduim and also the strength of the swiss team, welp compared to how we played for 90mins aganced france we were damn awfull in my humble opinion, the main problem was how we gave the ball away way to easyly with some very wayward passing from the whole team, also they way we defended set plays James never really looked well possitoned he needs to be more dominating when possitioning the wall so he has an idea were the ball maybe comming from at the mo he's unsighted on most of the set plays that would be heading his way, one more thing there no doughting rooneys football ability but he has one failing at the mo and thats his temper we seen flashes of it in the last 2 games, as euro 04 progress's more of the teams england play are going 2 learn how to push the right buttons on Rooney to get a reaction, the last thing we need is a world cup 98 situation when beckham was sent off during the argentine match again he was young and over time he has curbed his temper, hopfully sven and there others will guide him through and were as beckam lost it at the wrong time rooney will be more grown up in his reactions or failing that when he does retaliate he makes sure the ref aint looking, on a more posative note i thought sol cambell again had a strong game and controled the defence very well and also i know he was a l8 sub but also again vassell played very soild chased what was a hoofed and hope ball from hargreaves when it was cleared from deep in englands half and that determination by vassell setup rooneys second goal, the buildup play fer the 3rd goal is prolly the best i've seen in euro 04 it was awell taken goal by gerrard but the play that led him 2 having the chance was fantastic.
I think like most ppl inc the french team it/we considered the croations a walk over, from how they played in the first match and pretty much in the first half aganced the french the french could have scored 6 or 7, what ever the croation coach told his team at half time certainly had the desired affect, it was a completly diffrent team that emerged to play the second half ya the same 11 players but with acompletly diffrent mind set on how they were going to approach the last 45 mins, as one of the pundits for the bbc said after the match the french played last part of the first half like a practice match and were going to try the same in the second half, when u get in2 that mind set its very difficult to change when things start going slightly wrong as the french almsot found to there cost tonight, for the second match running sylvester gave away a penalty and it was clear cut the ref got it spot on, but unlike when they played england earlier in the week the french keeper could not save this one although he did make a bloddy good attempt at saving it and managed to get his finger tips to the ball, from that monent on the french were rattled and with in a few mins the second goal went in fer croatia another unstoppable rasping drive the frech keeper had no chance, what shows the french were well and truelly worred how the game was going during the croation celerbration zedane got all the frech players together and that had a team meeting in there half, it did seem to have the desired effect as things did clam down slighly and the frech were lucky with there second goal oddly enough it was an assed up back pass that put the french player through on goal but unlike last time the keeper didnt bring him down for a penalty the french forward calmly slotted the ball home from quite an acute angle fer the equalizer, as the clock ticked around too the 90 mins both teams had good chances to add a third goal but either the luck was not with them or the finishing was poor, a case in point was with the croations with pretty much the last attack of the game one of there forwards missed an open goal from about 3 yrds out.
Garfield, you didn't miss much of the commentary - I forgot how truly awful Alan Green is :rolleyes:
Mind you, as I'm thick as two short planks and didn't realise what time the game was on, I only have myself to blame :sad:
I miss Garfield's reporting and commentary. What happened Garfield? I truly enjoyed it and read every bit.
So: what's everyone's thought's so far on the tournament?
Here's mine: Damn it, I wish I could see all the games!!!! The Czech/Holland match up sounded like a barn burner. And, I would love to see the Portugal/Spain matchup
PS
Off for some golf today, so my predictions were entered early.