Euro 2008

[Andres]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Don't be a party pooper! Heyyyy..ho hop hop! Dans le *** les Ritals! Et un et deux et trois zéro!!


And there can be no excuses! The English have a harrowing football season without a day's rest too, and they haven't lost a single match at this tournament so far. And as for scandals...there's always a scandal in Italy. They're used to it, it's natural. They cope with it the way Russians cope with snow and fish cope with water.
Nope, Orange simply cut through the Italian ranks like a knife through soggy spaghetti.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There is nothing more glorious in football than an Orange machine on the roll. What a game!

No, more than a game. A religious experience. A prayer. An orgasm. The definitive proof of God. This mere mortal, for one, bows to the supremacy of our orange overgods.

+ Louis's new sig...

Louis? Did you secretly become Dutch?

Spreek je al wat Nederlands?

Hup Holland Hup?

Anyway, this hurts if you're belgian*, but, well, here we go:

HUP HOLLAND HUP ! Congratulations guys! Continue like that and bring that Cup to the Netherlands!

*

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

* Must... resist... mentioning... 1986 and Georges Grün... or 1994 and Philippe Albert...

[Moros]

I think some of the dutchpayers were swapped by octosquids. There's no other explaination, is there?

[Fragony]

I think some of the dutchpayers were swapped by octosquids. There's no other explaination, is there?

Lots of credits should go to the referee who just let the game be played.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I still wonder if Domenech is the problem. France always starts lethargic, but this time, they seemed so...clueless as well. No urgency, no determination, no drive forward. Did Domenech even look at the table, at the opposition in this group? Three points are worth a risk.
This performance was as exciting as watching paint dry. Less so. At least with paint you know the end result will look good.

I want him to dump Makélélé and Anelka. (Maybe he should've brought Trezeguet after all...). Oh, and he should've brought Mexès too. And dump the 4-4-2. Back to 4-2-3-1, suits this selection better I think.

And darn the Scots for showing the world that France can't crack open a 7-2-1 formation. The Rumanians are excellent students.

But those are all incidental problems. The real problem is the lack of a playmaker. No Platini, no Zidane = rubbish French. Clueless, lethargic. No vision.

82, 84, 86 were fantastic. Then after Platini quit, it took French football ages to recover. We didn't even qualify for 1990 and 1994.
Similarly, 98 and 2000 were divine. Then in 2002, Zidane didn't recover in time. He missed the first two games. The rest of the team was completely lost because of it. As rubbish as yesterday.
In 2006, the older players took over from Domenech in the tournament after the first dismal matches, when France looked set for another disaster. The place in the final was only the result of Zidane's willpower. Just like his and the other older players return saved the qualification campaign earlier.

But who must do it this time? Normally, a coach should inspire a team to greatness. But Domenech isn't going to do it. He can't energize a team. Ribéry is a winger, not a player who should direct a team. He's still young too. Benzema only just turned twenty as well. Henry, if he isn't past his prime in the first place, will be busy recovering from his injury. Viera and Thuram can maybe do it, but they are 74 and 82 respectively.


On the upside, there'll be more space against the Dutch. And maybe les Bleus will have woken up. There's too much quality in this team for more dismal performances like yesterday's. Plus les Bleus are at their best when it is almost too late.

Predictions:

Sure Bet: France - Netherlands 2-2
Sure Bet: Romania - Italy 3-0

Sure Bet: France - Italy 5-1
Sure Bet: Netherlands - Romania 1-0

Louis's new sig...

58th minute. Materazzi substituted. Priceless look on his face. Beer bottle hurled at television in euphoria.

[Adrian II]

Predictions:

Sure Bet: France - Netherlands 2-2
Sure Bet: Romania - Italy 3-0

Sure Bet: France - Italy 5-1
Sure Bet: Netherlands - Romania 1-0

Hahaha! Tu parles, Charles.

Like your analysis of teh Bleus though. But don't all teams depend on a singular great talent for true, tournament-winning inspiration?

[LeftEyeNine]

But those are all incidental problems. The real problem is the lack of a playmaker. No Platini, no Zidane = rubbish French. Clueless, lethargic. No vision.

And that also sheds a light why Turkey was acting like true cowards who were out of any ideas of how to attack last Saturday.

Emre was playing as deep as the defense line. No Emre, no playmaker, no organization.

[scotchedpommes]

Matchday 4 Partial Prediction

Greece 0-2 Sweden

[Greece are solid, and certainly had an unusually free-scoring qualifying campaign, but Sweden look too
strong in terms of forwards.]

[scotchedpommes]

Finally we see both teams score in a game. It was about time, though for the sake of the
tournament, I think we could do with seeing it when a game is still there to be won.

[InsaneApache]

Spain looked handy.

[Adrian II]

Spain looked handy.

Uh-huh.

I loved the Iniesta-Villa couple, like two spicy red peppers. Man, that David Villa is fast.

Although, just like Louis, I think England is getting better all the time in this tournament. They've managed to stay out of trouble and keep all their options open.

*ducks*