4th July FINAL Portugal 0 Greece 1 How AMAZING!! The Greeks played the better game though, so deserved to win. Portugal, I thought, let themselves down a bit and only have themselves to blame. It seemed like they went onto the pitch expecting to win. I mean, I wish they had - but the Greeks did - so well done to them! AMAZING! 1st July Semi Final (2) Czech Republic 0 Greece 1 (silver stupid goal) Oh no! Did the Czechs believe in themselves so much that they became complacent? They were by far the best team in the championship - added to which, they were the team with by far the best attitude. How much can we put this down to the Nedved injury? Nope. They should've won - they had enough chances. Maybe they should've put Heinz on earlier? The real tragedy is that the winning goal came just before the end of first half extra time, due to a corner given away by Ooopalucy - who has had a fantastic tournament and hardly put a foot wrong. Oh well. So, the last game of Euro 2004, will be a repeat of the first game of Euro 2004! Pay Back Time!!! (Hopefully, the Portugueezers will play Nuno instead of the hopeless Pauleta). Beware of Greeks! Goodness me! 01/07/04 22:06:05 30th June Semi Final (1) Portugal 2 Holland 1 Hooray, the (horrid) Dutch are out!! They should've lost by millions more, actually - the Portuguese were great! Figo played a blinder - especially in the first half; but Pauleta missed umpteen chances. The (horrid) Dutch only scored courtesy of an own goal, which gave everybody (not going for them) the eebie-jeebies, because they hadn't deserved it (they really are horrid) - but you feared they might capitalise on it and go on to win even! Not to be - and the Portuguese go into their first ever major tournament final. Well, good for them! 30/06/04 21:53:30 27th June Day 16 Quarter-final (4) Czech Republic 3 Denmark 0 It was a pretty lousy first half - but then the Czechs came out in the 2nd half and scored 3 quick goals! They're on their way! :) 27/06/04 21:45:31 26th June Day 15 Quarter-final (3) Holland 0 Sweden 0 (5-4 on penalties) D'uh. I only saw the penalties, but, by all accounts, both teams were poor. Surely Portugal will beat these? 26/06/04 22:44:50 25th June Day 14 Quarter-final (2) France 0 Greece 1 hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Prenez garde les Grecs! 25/06/04 21:42:13 24th June Day 13 Quarter-final (1) England 2 Portugal 2 (5-6 on penalties) Owen (OWEN!) scored early. After that there was only one team on the pitch and it wasn't the team in the lead. Rooney went off injured (catastrophe - that's money lost for Everton). The Portuguese squandered chance after chance. FINALLY, somebody called Postiga(?) scored. England (Campbell) 'scored' just before full-time. But there had been a push in the box BEFORE the ball got to Campbell (though none of the 'experts' have figured that one out yet) - so England thought they had been robbed. Extra-time. No Silver Goal. Rui Costa scored in 2nd half of ET. But then, Lampard scored to equalise. Penalties. Beckham missed; Rui Costa missed; Vassell missed. Game to Portugal. Penalties are cruel - but the best team (by miles) won. (Somebody's out in the street, letting off fireworks?!?) 24/06/04 22:36:06 23rd June Day 12 Holland 3 Latvia 0 Pity. Germany 1 Czech Republic 2 The Czechs played with a reserve team! This was some pay-back for their Euro '96 defeat! However, pleased for the Czechs of course - but I wanted Germany to win (as the Dutch are even less palatable). They were shocking though, really. Except for Ballack and a young kid on the wings. The German tabloids had the players' head superimposed on sausages after the Latvia draw, apparently. Well, tomorrow I expect them to have Schneider's head superimposed on a jumbo sausage. He missed two absolute sitters. 23/06/04 22:02:14 22nd June Day 11 Italy 2 Bulgaria 1 Didn't actually watch this game - but they kept clicking backwards and forwards. Bulgaria scored first - whoops! But then Italy came back to equalise and, on 94 minutes (!), they actually managed to score another and win the game! However, if Sweden and Denmark were to finish 2-2, then Italy would go out, regardless of whether they won 77-0, drew or lost. Erm Sweden 2 Denmark 2 Well, this is going to get the conspiracy theorists going! And Sorensen better not go to Italy for his hols for a good while, as it was his fumble which gave Sweden the chance for that 2-2, which everybody had been talking about (for instance, here). It was no fix though - Denmark should've won, actually, as they were the better team. However, both Sweden and Denmark go marching on, while Italy, quite literally, weep. What they needed, was Pips! 22/06/04 21:48:03 21st June Day 10 Croatia 2 England 4 OK, Bill Kenwright said £50m (of course, tongue-in-cheek). Now £100m. Or £150m to Mr Ibranovic!! A bargain!! (Lineker, "the finest goal ever scored in a European championships ...."). This was agony to watch. Not that I didn't expect England to win (or Croatia to have a poor game), but because of the commentating. Motson must write for the "Girls' Own Dream World" or something. Sheesh. Switzerland 1 France 3 France finish top of the group. I was half-hoping (no, big-hoping - but it was less than a half-possibility really), that Switzerland would beat them and knock them out. Not to be. Beware of Greeks ... 21/06/04 21:37:19 20th June Day 9: Spain 0 Portugal 1 Deja-vu!! Morientes was on the BENCH! If he was fit enough to be on the bench, why didn't he start? It is not Spain's 'style' to play for a draw - they just can't do it! Miserable, miserable tactics, once more! Don't have anything else to say. Except it was Nuno Gomez who scored the Portuguese goal! Had to be, didn't it?! Russia 2 Greece 1 Watched the other game, of course - and didn't bother with the highlights, because Russia let us down! :) They got off to a flyer; scoring the quickest goal ever in a European tournament. Then they scored another! If only they'd scored one more, then Portugal AND Spain would've gone through. Beware of Greeks ... COME ON YOU CZECHS! 20/06/04 22:18:33 19th June Day 8: Latvia 0 Germany 0 Oh-er! 19/06/04 18:56:13 Holland 2 Czech Republic 3 This was more like it! Fabulous match! The Dutch *were* 2-0 up (thanks to an offside goal from the great Unpinged) - but the Czechs' character can never been underestimated and back they came! Wonderful stuff! Well done to them - they are the first team to reach the Quarter Finals! They have still to play Germany in their last group game - and I think they could be up for some revenge there (to do with the '96 final!). Hooray, the tournament has come alive, at last! 19/06/04 21:45:52 18th June Day 7: Bulgaria 0 Denmark 2 I thought the first half was OK (though spent some time trying to identify the rock-type in the quarry they appeared to be playing in!) and the Danes went in deservedly 1 up at half-time. The 2nd half was miserable though - as were the Bulgars as they lost 2-0, after not really having tried all that hard. Cheerio! The commentator said "Good riddance to the Bulgarians". Are they allowed to say that?? 18/06/04 18:59:40 Sweden 1 Italy 1 Nice match - and Italy played much better than in their first game and went in half-time, 1-0 up, thanks to a goal from their new wonder boy, Cassanno. First half, Italy. Second half, Sweden. Delighted that Sweden managed the equaliser, as they most definitely deserved it! And what an amazing goal it was - off the backward swinging, up in air, ankle of Ibrahimovic. Vieri (or Mavis as the hub calls him) should probably have won the game for Italy a few times - but his finishing was exceedingly shoddy. And Sweden might have won the game themselves, had it not been for another excellent goalkeeping display from Buffon. 18/06/04 21:41:21 17th June Day 6: England 3 Switzerland 0 I have never seen such a load of drivel. Apart from near the end, when England had the game in the bag and the fans came to life (when they really would've been more appreciated when they were needed?) - the stadium was like a morgue. England also had the run of the referee - an offside goal, a Swiss man dismissed, a goal from the back of the head of the goalie. Oh and one from Gerrard, which was the culmination of a bright 5 second spark of good play by England (their only one). I am not being harsh for the sake of it - they truly were awful. (And I'm typing this up 2 minutes before full-time, as I couldn't stand it any longer!) Rooney got the other two goals. 17/06/04 18:47:51 Croatia 2 France 2 The first half of this was worse than the last game - and I spent most of it, reading a magazine - while the French went ahead 1-0, courtesy of an own-goal. The Croats came out flying in the 2nd half though. Oops, Silvestre! Penalty. 1-1. Shortly followed by 2-1 (to the Croatians!). Unfortunately, they (the Croats) had an unlucky break, when the ball came off the goalie and straight at Trezeguet. 2-2. Croatia had a wondrous chance to win the game, right at the end - but the darned dopey bloke missed! "All England have to do is to draw with Croatia" (Gary Lineker). But all the Croats have to do is beat England - and that shouldn't be too difficult, surely?! 17/06/04 21:43:44 16th June Day 5: Greece 1 Spain 1 D'ooooooooooooooooooh. :( Spain was GREAT - and absolutely deserved, beyond doubt, to win this game. But did they?!? The sweetest of goals by Morientes and they were way on top. But the Greeks sneaked it. Now I have to go for Russia in the next game. 16/06/04 19:12:43 Russia 0 Portugal 2 Portugal squeezed past the Ruskies, even though they (R) had their goalie sent off for nothing (he never touched the ball!). I nearly fell asleep, to be honest. Now that Russia are out, Greece will probably walk their game on Sunday and go through. Then it'll between Spain and Portugal for the other place. A win or draw will do Spain. (I have every confidence ----- eek!) 16/06/04 21:46:44 15th June Day 4: Czech Republic 2 Latvia 1 Latvia have a population of less than Greater Manchester's, apparently - but there was nearly an upset here, when they scored the first goal of the game, just before half-time. Finally though, the Czechs equalised with 20 minutes to go and scored the winner, sometime between then and full-time (don't have the times at hand!). I love the Czechs, of course, and hope they do wonderfully - but it's patently clear that they're missing Patrik. 15/06/04 18:52:12 Germany 1 Holland 1 I so dislike the Dutch that I really wanted Germany to win this game. And they should have; they played rather nice football, while the Dutch didn't do much of anything. Frings scored for the Germans and it wasn't until Holland threw on Freddie Mercury near the end of the second half, that the Dutch remember that they were playing football. Then the great Unpinged scored; natch. But not to worry, the Czechs'll sort that lot out. Look out for Bastion Schweinschteiger. 15/06/04 22:09:48 14th June Day 3: Denmark 0 Italy 0 The only thing glittery and sparkly about this Italian showing was the gold lettering on their white shirts (only the Italians ...) - and perhaps Buffon. The Danes deserved to have won the game; no doubts - some excellent play from them, and I've put them on my list. Pleat had Rubber Doll to get excited over, once more - and Fabio has absolutely no hair and looks like Magwich. I have no great expectations of the Italians, on this showing, though. 14/06/04 19:10:16 Sweden 5 Bulgaria 0 The Bulgars tried their little hearts out - but they were always in the wrong place at the wrong time (and were, generally, not really all that good - although they were very industrious). This (apparently, as I don't remember it) is one better than Sweden did against Bulgaria in '94 in the Rose Bowl. Could they be in for another great tournament? Larsson's two goals were delicious. 14/06/04 21:36:22 13th June Day 2: Switzerland 0 Croatia 0 Saw about an hour of this. What utter rubbish. Switzerland (who were pretty clueless) had a man sent off early in the 2nd half - but Croatia didn't appear to want to capitalise on that. Shocking. I hear that Zvoni Bobin is going to coach the Croats, leading up to the next WC - I think he should play too. Him and Sukur. And Bilic. They couldn't do any worse. A very disappointing performance. What's up next? 13/06/04 19:08:27 France 2 England 1 I've never shed tears when France have lost matches - but they didn't deserve to lose tonight - certainly they didn't deserve to lose by two goals. And they didn't, did they? Wonderful goal; Zidane. Wonderful cool penalty; Zidane. I said I would go for whichever team played the better football tonight - and that team won. But I'm worried about Bobby. 13/06/04 21:46:18 12th June Day 1: Portugal 0 Greece 2 There's a shock! I didn't watch most of this game - just caught the end - but Portugal were there all a fiddly again. They ARE nice to watch, but there is no muscle in them. They have to have some muscle. Beware of Greeks! Spain 1 Russia 0 They are beautiful, of course. Those shirts. Or, actually, more the shorts this time, as they appear to have dispensed with the blue stripes on the shirts, which is a mistake, imho. Russia were appalling, to be fair to them. And they all look the same. And they have a very poor shirt. Raul was looking wild for some reason - is he going to be in a film or something? And Morientes! How nice to see Morientes actually present for Spain! He was subbed by Valeron though, and he scored on 60, with his first (nice) touch. They should've had heaps more goals and I was worried that the Ruskies would sneak one near the end there but, instead, they had a man sent off! :) So, tres puntas (?) Espana. The cup's nearly theirs! I don't know about that kid they threw on at the end, maybe he'll come good - but every time he touched the ball tonight, he looked embarrassed. Not as embarrassed as Portugal though. 12/06/04 22:17:56 Home

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