Euro 2008: Official Thread

[ccbrew]

I hesitate to declare this an 'official thread' because I fret the soccer-related backlash, but surely there must be some be some European football fans on here http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Not sure what the coverage is like across the pond, but anybody else following the competition?

 

EDIT: Officialized - b19

[razzzorsharp]

I hesitate to declare this an 'official thread' because I fret the soccer-related backlash, but surely there must be some be some European football fans on here http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Not sure what the coverage is like across the pond, but anybody else following the competition?

I like the Rhein Fire.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I missed the 1st half, but the second half of the Swiss/Czech game was pretty exciting. The Swiss might have gotten screwed out of a chance to tie it with a penalty kick (only the 1st time, the "handball" late in the game wasn't worthy of a call, IMO). But then again, they had quite the advantage going for them after the Czech player handled it, with two chances that were probably at least as good as a penalty kick would be. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't finish. I guess that's just the way it goes.

[ccbrew]

You definitely caught the better half of the Czech/Swiss game. It seemed the two teams were just feeling each other out for 45 mins, with more attacking chances and overall action in the second half. Swiss surely got screwed by the 1st handball call, and I almost wish the ref would have 'made up' for it by awarding a penalty for the second handball, which was an appropriate no-call. I was really pulling for the host nation, and the loss only adds to the heartbreak of having their best player/captain knocked out..

 

Portugal-Turkey is certainly shaping up to be the more interesting game. Plenty of strikes off the posts, tough tackles abound..

[Diskono]

I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's games. I like Croatia quite a bit (and not just for knocking England out!), and I want to keep an eye on Austria's striker Roland Linz, as Fulham are supposedly interested in him. Germany-Poland is always a good one too...would be even better if Klose and Podolski were playing for the country in which they were born.

[SeriesFinale]

Hey guys, I'm a casual fan (which is to say I enjoy it more than 95% of Americans). I watched the SUI/CZE second as well, but what I'm really looking forward to is Group of Death action starting on Monday

 

My best friend in Florida is a big France fan and I'm going to be heading out down there this weekend so we'll be able to catch the big matches with the Dutch and the Azzuri. Allez Les Bleus!

[ccbrew]

Diskono - I've noticed the Fulham avatar. With my recent move to London, I've been searching for a London-area premiership team to support. Since the Brewers, Packers, Badgers, and the Bucks were inherited and infused in my blood at birth, this is the first time I've actually had the chance to select a team. I was inspired by their 'miracle' run this season (I got here in early April), and I'm leaning heavily toward making Fulham my team. Thoughts?

 

I'm not terribly excited about either of the two games today, but I did end up with Germany in our Euro 2008 office pool so I'm hoping they will take care of Poland with ease.

[SeriesFinale]

Fulham's my default these days since they always seemed liked the Milwaukee of the London teams. Add in Clint Dempsey and the fact they actually sort of revere McBride there and I'm there

 

Beautiful park at the Cottage, too

[SeriesFinale]

I suppose the difference between Fulham and the Brewers is Fulham's owner could buy the Brewers 50 times over

 

I'd be even more frustrated as a longtime Fulham fan

[ccbrew]

I noticed some of the similarities as well. In fact, after being a Brewers fan all these years, it would almost seem against my principles to support a club like say, Chelsea. I think part of what makes being a fan of Wisconsin-based teams entertaining is the seemingly perpetual underdog status due to small media market, disadvantageous recruiting base/free agent acquisition, and general lack of respect. Championships are to be earned and not bought, and I think this makes each victory that much more satisfying. While Fulham may never compete at the top of the tables, the way people were celebrating after the last win at Portsmouth, you would have thought they actually won something. Kind of reminded me of the Brewers fight to reach .500 in 2005 in a way, but with much higher stakes.

 

Despite all that, I'll have to admit that Arsenal made a pretty strong run for my allegiance. Sure, they are a 'Big 4' team that acquires a lot of their top players..but they do a fair amount of their own development as well. As I'm sure anybody else in their early-20's can relate, my life has been lacking in championships. Not sure how many years I'm going to be here, so the thought of latching on to a team that has a legitimate chance to win something was tempting.

 

But in the end, Fulham's mascot is Billy the Badger, which earned it the bonus points to push it over the top http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Diskono]

ccbrew, go for it! Despite the recent troubles, Fulham actually have a lot going for them right now. The new manager Roy Hodgson, who took over at the end of December, has tons of experience pretty much everywhere in Europe. He was the Director of Football at Inter Milan before joining Fulham, so he has plenty of contacts and, so far, seems to have a great eye for talent - sort of a poor man's Arsene Wenger. In addition to Dempsey, we also have Eddie Johnson and Kasey Keller, and we've had McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Lewis, and Marcus Hahnemann in the past. McBride (who is returning to MLS this summer) is considered a legend among Fulham fans. Check out http://fulhamusa.com, they have a very active forum with fans from all over the US.

 

I do have a lot of respect for Arsenal, though. They really don't spend very much on transfers, as Wenger is great at finding nuggets in France, West Africa, and other unlikely places. I won't root for them or anything, but I'd compare them to the Atlanta Braves of the 90s.

 

Just don't support QPR!

[utdfan]

I have been reading the forum for a while now and after seeing this thread I finally decided to post.

 

So far I think that the first few games have been played with few surprises. Portugal and Germany should make it through without much of a challange and I also think Spain will make it out of their group easily. It will be interesting to see who gets the second spot in those three groups. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that Italy and the Netherlands will survive and make it out of "the group of death" but with three great teams in there, anything can happen. As a big fan of English soccer I feel like the tournament is missing something without England in it. I didn't expect them to win, but it still would have been fun to watch them play. Right now I think that Portugal will win, the made it to the finals last time and with Ronaldo playing like he is, it will be very hard to stop them.

 

As far as supporting club teams, as my picture shows I am a huge Manchester United fan. I don't think its wrong to support any of the "big four" teams as long has you actually care about the team and pay attention to what is going on.

[Brewtacular]

I would like to see Portugal win it....mostly cause the English cried so much about them in the World Cup. I quite like the fact that England is not in it! Although, it would have been sweet if Scotland could have made it just to rub it in a bit!

On another note, the US starts qualifying with Barbados on Sunday. Gee, I wonder if the US and Mexico will be able to get bids this time?

[M Skjellyfetti]

If you're looking for another team to support other than Fulham, feel free to check out the Blackburn Rovers. I've been a casual fan of them for a while because of Brad Friedel, but when I had Fox Soccer Channel for a year, I became a die-hard. They seem to be another one of those blue-collar teams that's not going to breeze through the tables, but will fight for every point they get. It should be interesting to see what happens now that Mark Hughes left.

 

As for Euro Cup, I'm pulling for Portugal as well despite the fact that I can't stand Ronaldo. Ricardo is probably my favorite non-American keeper, though, and I think they have a very good shot of advancing and doing some serious damage after pool play.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

Two years ago, I would have thought you were crazy if you said I'd be getting up before 7 most weekends to watch soccer. But after the 06 WC and the Simmons article, I was inspired to pick an EPL team, and try to follow it for a season to see how I liked it. I am now crazy about the game, and have become a HUGE Liverpool supporter. Even though they're "big 4," I saw a lot of similarities to the Packers. Historic stadium, steeped in tradition, and the best and most devoted supporters in Europe. I can only hope to see a match at Anfield before they move to a new ground.

 

I gotta pull for the motherland so I'm rooting for Poland, although they looked terrible today against Germany. And of course it had to be Podolski scoring the goals.

 

I'll also be keeping an eye on Spain with Torres, Alonso, and Arbeloa from Liverpool playing for them.

[utdfan]

As for Euro Cup, I'm pulling for Portugal as well despite the fact that I can't stand Ronaldo. Ricardo is probably my favorite non-American keeper, though, and I think they have a very good shot of advancing and doing some serious damage after pool play.

Not to get too far off topic, but why can't you stand Ronaldo? I realize the complaints some people have but I really think he has matured over the past couple of years.

[SeriesFinale]

But after the 06 WC and the Simmons article...

Sounds like you've kept it up much better than Simmons! He never mentions Tottenham any more

 

[tigerbrew]

Diskono - I've noticed the Fulham avatar. With my recent move to London, I've been searching for a London-area premiership team to support. Since the Brewers, Packers, Badgers, and the Bucks were inherited and infused in my blood at birth, this is the first time I've actually had the chance to select a team. I was inspired by their 'miracle' run this season (I got here in early April), and I'm leaning heavily toward making Fulham my team. Thoughts?

ccbrew, what about West Ham? They have a good manager in Alan Curbishley, and the team he assembled is pretty good. Rumors are circulating that Eidur Gudjohnsen might be joining West Ham soon which would be great for them.

 

West Ham has a 22 year old American international defender, Jonathan Spector. But sadly, Spector suffered a torn labrum recently while training with team USA and will miss the Olympics and part of the new EPL season. At 18, Spector was recruited by Man United out of Chicago, and he joined West Ham in 2006. I've watched Spector play for Man United and he was impressive just a little inexperience, I was surprised that they sold him.

 

As for this Euro, think I will root for the underdog Holland in the toughest group C to win. But my head says that the winner will probably be one of the usual suspects, Italy or Germany. It'd be really nice to have a surpise / shocking winner like in 1992 (Denmark) or 2004 (Greece).

[SeriesFinale]

France looks like garbage so far

[TooLiveBrew]

Also a very casual fan; caught some of France-Columbia (iirc) this weekend. Very fast-paced at points, & enjoyable. I'll have to do a better job tracking which games are when, so I don't just end up watching by channel-surfing.

[M Skjellyfetti]

Not to get too far off topic, but why can't you stand Ronaldo?

 

I don't know, he's just one of those guys that irks me sometimes. Probably has something to do with how he used to fall down dramatically whenever he got breathed on or looked at funny. I also have never really liked Manch. U. very much, either, so I don't like him by default. He may very well have matured over the past few years, but I guess I don't give him the benefit of the doubt. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing player to watch, he just rubs me the wrong way I guess.

 

Sidenote: I loved watching him screw up the penalty kick twice in the Champions League final by taking it illegally and still missing.

[NastyTwig]

The Dutch sure are fun to watch. No defense whatsoever, but man can they score. Whooping Italy at the moment 3-nil.

[SeriesFinale]

Yeah, I totally predicted today's results.

 

Wow, what a crazy day. Friday should be really interesting: it's almost certain that one of France and Italy won't go through.

[tristarscoop]

I feel like the better question is, what's not to hate about C.Ron? He's a pretty boy flopper who is entirely too aware of his own worth. You have to admit that he's a good player, but his ego far outweighs that, as far as I'm concerned. I am flabbergasted to know how he and Rooney exist on the same team. I can't imagine what it would be like to play with C.Ron. I think everyone on the team must respect that he helps them on the field, but are all secretly hoping he just goes down or gets traded.

[bacon06]

I was very disappointed by the Italy/Netherlands result, mainly because of my disdain for the Dutch. I had a Dutch soccer coach in high school and he always brought in soccer camps with instructors from Holland and had us doing Dutch drills. Nothing like doing a drill with 7 different passes before a shot and no defensive pressure.

 

I did enjoy how wide open the field was, however. It was so nice to not watch a game where everyone is bunched up and all the passes are in tight areas. Van Nistelrooy's goal still bothers me though because of how blatantly offside he was.