Italy 2, Belgium 2.
At least one Belgian goal by Bart Goor. Since the game is in Brussels, Nilis is indeed likely to be a bit too eager again. I hope he won’t get sent off though - he’s a great player.
Also, Toldo will make another poor performance, forcing Dino Zoff to reconsider his goalie.
Italy 2 - 0 Belgium
No sendings off, one goal from Conte, one from Del Piero.
And Jonathon Pearce pulled something similar after England’s defeat of Spain, on penalties, in Euro 96.
What was it ???
Franco! Franco! Can you hear me!! Your boys got narrowly defeated!! Spanish Armada!! Picasso!!! Manuel from Faulty Towers!!
My team of the tournament after the first round:
Thierry Henry (France)
Jan Koller (Czech Republic)
subs:
Zlatko Zahovic (Slovenia)
Dan Petrescu (Romania)
Thomas Hassler (Germany)
Bart Goor (Belgium)
Salvador Dali! Pedro Almodovar! Pilar from “Eldorado”!
DON QUOXITE’S (sp) DONKEY CAN YOU HEAR ME
Thinking on….
Seems like we could organise our own league table of match predictions.
What I had in mind was this:
Exactly the correct result predicted = 3 points
Almost correct* = 1 point
Wrong result = 0 points
*(Almost correct =. (1) the right winning team but different scoreline, or (2) a draw but a different scoreline than predicted)
And if it looks like someone is only predicting the ‘easier’ games I suppose we’ve got to issue a Yellow Card.
Champions and Chumps – who’s it going to be ?
Okay, I’m in.
Remaining first round matches:
Belgium v Italy 0 - 2
Sweden v Turkey 1 - 1
Czech Republic v France 0 - 2
Denmark v Holland 0 - 3
Romania v Portugal 1 - 2
England v Germany 1 - 1
Slovenia v Spain 0 - 3
Norway v Yugoslavia ** 0 - 2**
Belgium v Turkey 1 - 0
Sweden v Italy 1 - 1
Germany v Portugal 1 - 0
Romania v England** 1 - 2**
Yugoslavia v Spain** 2 - 2**
Slovenia v Norway** 1 - 0**
Holland v France 1 - 2
Demark v Czech Republic 0 - 1
My predictions in bold.
Belgium v Italy 2-3
Sweden v Turkey 2-1
Czech Republic v France 2-2
Denmark v Holland 1 - 3
Romania v Portugal 0-1
England v Germany 1 - 1
Slovenia v Spain 2 - 4
Norway v Yugoslavia 1 - 3
Belgium v Turkey 2 - 0
Sweden v Italy 2 - 2
Germany v Portugal 1 - 1
Romania v England 2 - 2
Yugoslavia v Spain 1 - 1
Slovenia v Norway 1 - 1
Holland v France 1 - 2
Demark v Czech Republic 1 - 2
You want to pick them all now !!!
Belgium v Italy 1-1
Sweden v Turkey 0- 1
Czech Republic v France 2- 2
Denmark v Holland 0 - 2
Romania v Portugal 1 - 3
England v Germany 3 - 0
Slovenia v Spain 1 - 1
Norway v Yugoslavia 1 - 2
Belgium v Turkey 1 - 1
Sweden v Italy 1 - 1
Germany v Portugal 1 - 3
Romania v England 1 - 2
Yugoslavia v Spain 2 - 1
Slovenia v Norway 0 - 1
Holland v France 1 - 3
Demark v Czech Republic 0 – 2
And I’m thinking of popping down to the bookies for a quick £50 on England 3 Germany 0. Just can’t make my mind up 3 – 0, 4 – 0….
Sometimes it’s great being a bloke
Belgium v Italy 2 - 2
Sweden v Turkey 1 - 2
Czech Republic v France 1 - 3
Denmark v Holland 1 - 3
Romania v Portugal 1 - 2
England v Germany 2 - 1 (90th minute winning goal by Owen would be nice ;))
Slovenia v Spain 1 - 2
Norway v Yugoslavia 1 - 1
Belgium v Turkey 2 - 0
Sweden v Italy 0 - 4
Germany v Portugal 1 - 2
Romania v England 1 - 2
Yugoslavia v Spain 2 - 2
Slovenia v Norway 1 - 0
Holland v France 1 - 1
Demark v Czech Republic 0 - 2
And YES. It is great being a bloke 
I suppose we’ll do the following rounds per round? This is fun! What will the winner get, besides eternal fame and glory?
They get to put “Euro Football Champ” in their sig, an a ridicule of the person with the least points.
Yes, the person with the fewest points gets to put “Denmark” in their sig.
Fair enough. Imagine the joy if both a persons country wins, and the person wins this competition as well!
Oh. Sorry, John 
Well, some of us haven’t got balls at all 
Anyway I already posted the url of a sweepstakes site I registered at before the tourney even started!
That’ll be three points to me, then!
Italy deserved the win, just. Belgium looked dangerous on the break but frightened in defence. De Wilde made one great save, but couldn’t do much about the goals from Totti and Fiore. Marc Wilmots was very good for Belgium. Despite both teams having pretty much the same attacking pressure, Italy should have won by more - clear penalty (for handball) turned down.
Nah he’s shite. All he does is pout and get caught offside.
(not necessarily in that order)
ruadh: he CERTAINLY did tonight!
Both teams played rather poorly in defense, but it was a nice match to watch. Good goals by Italy. Italy deserved to win? Hmmm… I’d say a draw was in order. Then again, if you don’t capitalise on a 65% ball possesion, you really don’t deserve to win.
Wilmots and Goor played very well.
OK, this is a little ambiitious for me but here goes…
Plyd Correct Almost Wrong Pts
mattk 1 1 0 0 3
John L 1 0 1 0 1
Coldie 1 0 0 1 0
London C* 1 0 0 1 0
(Committed the ultimate sin of changing his mind from the lunchtime prediction)
If that table works, I’ll eat my England shorts.
------------Plyd----Correct----Almost----Wrong----Pts
mattk---------1--------1-----------0--------0------ 3
John L--------1--------0-----------1--------0------ 1
Coldie--------1--------0-----------0--------1-------0
London C------1--------0-----------0--------1-------0
If there’s a better way to do this, please pipe up.