I suppose I’ll write a bit more now that I’ve slept and sobered up a bit. I thought it was a well played match. I think that Sweden went out with the intention of ‘killing’ the match, hence the slightly less excitment than one would perhaps expect from two attacking sides. I think that it was our best game defensively in the tournament. I was worried about that, our left back has been playing right back up until yesterdays game (and poorly at that seeing as he is an offensive midfielder normally), and we brought in Östlund for his first game of teh tournament at right back. I thought that they stopped Holland using the wings much more effectively than would have been expected with Hollands talent up front.
I agree with several previous posters about wishing that there was a better way of deciding matches instead of penalties. Why Zlatan decided to kick his penalty with his right foot is beyond me. How about a nice hard low penalty like against Bulgaria?
It was a well fought match anyway, and I’ve enjoyed watching Sweden play. I’ve never seen the country get such football fever. It’s all anybody has been talking about here for the past two weeks. Now I guess all thats left is to hope for a good Danish performance tonight and perhaps get the trophy up to Scandinavia at least.
Holland - Portugal should be a good tight game. It sure has been a crazy tournament so far. I’ve stopped even trying to predict match winners any more. So, once again, congratulations Holland and I hope you do well against Portugal and go on to be runners up (after Denmark beats you in the final, of course).
Well, the Danes certainly owned the first half, today. But their attack was skillfully neutralised by the excellent Czech defense and midfield. And when more chances were taken in the second half , the Czechs scored on indidivual class. That Baros is one hell of a striker.
I’d say the best team did go through, but not without noting that Denmark played a far better game than I expected. So, well done to both teams.
The Czechs have somewhat of an easier semi-final than Holland - unless that weird Greek magic still hasn’t worn off.
Sweet lion of zion! That wasn’t a scoreline I expected, especially considering Denmark’s first half. The Czechs have got to be favourite to win now, assuming they weren’t already after the group stages.
Dang it, that secret pact the Swedes made with the Danes for the 2-2 tie did not work out so well…
I kid, I kid. Congrats to the Dutch and the Czechs. I think Zlatan played like an unmotivated slug* yesterday, but I certainly can’t blame the loss on him.
Time to go find out why I hear either gunshots or fireworks outside my window.
A pretty listless first half. Don’t know what Bruckner told the squad at half time. All of a sudden, Koller and the other Liverpool striker scored 3!
He’s a hell of a coach, Bruckner. You guys remember he inserted Baros against Germany when the score was tied 1-1 and they were already assured top of the group?! And Nedved! The guy never stops running even when they were ahead 3-0. He would be my choice for the man of the tournament so far!
I agree wholeheartedly. Van der Meyde has been quite a disappointment so far. I think Overmars and Robben would be really dangerous up front.
One thing I can’t understand is how everyone is saying how cold-blooded Robben was to make that last penalty. In my opinion, the pressure was much higher when Makaay had to make his penalty. If he misses we lose on penalties again. :eek: Luckily Makaay plays in Germany, so he seems to have learned how to take penalties.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Makaay and van Nistelrooy up front against Portugal. They seem to play well together, and Makaay also knows how to play a nice cross, even if he doesn’t have the speed and the moves of Overmars or Robben.
Also, it’s a shame Wesley Snijder hasn’t had a chance to play yet, but Seedorf has been playing really well also, and it would not be fair to take him out. I would hate to be the “bondscoach” right now, faced with all those difficult decisions.
So now we have the semis - Portugal vs Dutch, Czechs vs Greeks.
Looks like a dutch vs Czechs final to me but I have been spectacularly wrong in all my bets so far and have yet to win a bean, so I really have no idea. I thought France or Italy would win it. :smack:
Oh well at least it means that Santini can get on with his proper job now. (trying to revive the bagel munching underachievment monkeys of N17)
So if you could pick one player from the tournament to come to your club who would it be? Apart from that scouse chap I’d have liked to have got Robben. A Robben rather than a robber if you will.
What’s the feeling in Holland? Do you feel you can win it?
Well, the mood certainly hanged after we qualified for the quarter-finals. After the loss to the Czechs, people were very pessimistic. Now everyone is kind of thinking: "Heck, it’s only two more games. Portugal never wins anything and if we’re lucky we’ll play Greece in the finals, so ‘Hup Holland!’ ".
In summary, people seem to be jumoing back onto the bandwagon right now. Dick Advocaat might even still have the job after the tournament (although I hope he quits out of pure spite, after the beating he took after the Czech game). Even if it was a mistake to take Robben out, that is not the reason we lost. No one even wants to talk about the brain fart that Cocu had (not his first in this tournament by the way), or the bad game van Bronckhorst played.
Ahhh, I never said it was a real sports bar did I, just a bar that showed sports
McBrides were charging 10? to get in, as were most large French bars in the centre of town. But this was mostly to ensure that everyone going in bought something to drink (you got 2 drinks for your 10?). There’s a bar called Xtream Bar by Opera that has 10+ screens (all widescreen) but is a tad expensive and in the 20th there’s a wonderful French place, the only one I know in town that shows Canal+ French footy in the evenings. Email me for details !
He is still a pretty good striker actually, but he had quite a rough season for Barcelona this year. At one point early in the season the fans at Barca were very unhappy with him and it looked like the club wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible. During the tournament van Nistelrooy has seemed to be able to score a goal whenever the team really needed it. Makaay had a very good year in München, and Pierre van Hooijdonk is the perfect striker to have come off the bench, so it seems Kluivert is the odd man out for now.
According to this: 46% of the Dutch think they’ll win of Portugal, 18% thinks it will be even [and therefore penalties again] and 36% expects Portugal to win. Favorite players against Portugal: Van der Sar, Robben, Stam and Van Nistelrooij . (more then 80% of the people chose them).
**This photo needs a caption, don’t you think? ** Who’s willing?
I’d take Kluivert or van Hooijdonk over van der Meyde at this point. Continuing to play him can’t be good for him either. He’s young enough to bounce back from this poor showing, but try not to destroy him by sending him out there again.
Snijder did play against Germany. Would’ve made more sense to sub him in for Davids than Heitinga.
I agree about van der Meyde, but I think Makaay would be an even better choice to replace him. Makaay is fast, and can play a nice cross from the right side (something van Hooijdonk and Kluivert aren’t as good at). With Makaay on the right, Robben on the left, and van Nistelrooy (or Kluivert or van Hooijdonk) in the middle, Holland should give the Portuguese fits.
I also think Snijder would have been a better replacement for Davids than Heitinga was. Once again it was the infamous Jan Mulder who asked: “Does Advocaat even want to win any of these games?”
Speaking of Advocaat, I heard on the radio today, that he will probably quit after this tournament, no matter what happens. I can’t really blame him. It must be a real pain in the keister to have to work with 16 million people criticizing every move you make.
Apart from having a silly name what has the entre Dutch nation got against Advocaat? You’re in the semis, with a very decent chance of going through to the finals. What’s wrong with that?
I kid, I kid. Congrats to the Dutch and the Czechs. I think Zlatan played like an unmotivated slug* yesterday, but I certainly can’t blame the loss on him.
