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Footie footie footie, footie footie footie, footie footie footie, England, England

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ONLY NICE THINGS

08:28 / 16.06.04

yawn: Fair enough.

I think we can certainly agree that Larsson is a very good striker. Indeed, a *prodigiously* good striker. But at 32, is he the best goalscorer in the tournament? Tricky. Possibly yes, in the same way that John Aldridge was the best goalscorer at USA '94 -in a kind of sculptural fashion. However, in a tournament featuring Henry, Trezeguet, Raul, Fernando Torres, Fernando Morientes, Francesco Totti, Patrick Kluivert (arguably) and Ruud van Nistelroy, I don't think he can be called the best *forward*, and I'd put van Nistelroy and Henry (and probably Raul, although not on the evidence of this season) ahead in the goalscorer stakes.

Torres, Raul, Morientes - crikey. Remember the good old days when Spain relied totally on Julio Salinas? And France on Christophe Dugarry? Those were the days...

Goodness Gracious Meme

08:53 / 16.06.04

Yawn: he's bloody good. But this time round, he's not the best. He's a wonderful player... but to say he's indisputably the best in the tournament is tosh.

what Haus says here, basically:

Henry, Trezeguet, Raul, Fernando Torres, Fernando Morientes, Francesco Totti, Patrick Kluivert (arguably) and Ruud van Nistelroy, I don't think he can be called the best *forward*, and I'd put van Nistelroy and Henry (and probably Raul, although not on the evidence of this season) ahead in the goalscorer stakes.

Personally, I'd pick Henri. As a football fan.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:08 / 16.06.04

Let's wait and see if they score.

Tryphena Absent

13:14 / 16.06.04

Eight quid? They're 500-1 at the bookies, so get down to William Hill's with a shiny tanner, ADL.

Ha! I don't have ten poond. I have 70p.

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:26 / 16.06.04

Tanner, you wonderfully metric young thing. A shiny sixpence.

14:24 / 16.06.04

Great match. It was a good thing to see Germany play so well and Netherlands deserved that beautifull goal. Let's just hope Portugal wins todays. I don't want to imagine my country would do something this big for nothing.

14:46 / 17.06.04

Portugal won! Astonishing match. Deco is definitely one of the best players in the competition and Ricardo Carvalho is an amazing player too. I'm happy they played the whole match.

14:54 / 17.06.04

Ha! I don't have ten poond. I have 70p

70p. With that kind of a stake, use your magickal scrying skills and go for an accumulator. I reckon. They’re more fun, anyway. Two weeks from now you could be rich! rich beyond your wildest dreams.

14:59 / 17.06.04

So who's watching the game now, it's just about to start - I've got the TV in the offic as I'm covering so the others can go to the pub...

Tryphena Absent

15:04 / 17.06.04

Well I was going to go to the pub but I feel a bit rough so I'm about to put it on here. (Flyboy stole my 70p. Isn't that rude! Now I have nothing, nothing, no-o-thing.)

15:07 / 17.06.04

Thursday, 5pm. There's no-one left at work. I'm gonna head down the M3 in a moment and I'm sure the traffic is going to be fine. Then I will do my weekly shopping at a probably very empty supermarket... Ah, bliss! There should be an England game every day! Or alternatively a nuclear war that wipes out most of the population. Hm.

15:11 / 17.06.04

Er, even my internet connection is much faster than usual. That's insane.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

17:10 / 17.06.04

3 - 0! 3-0! 3-0! THREEEEEEEE - NILLLL!

etc.

17:13 / 17.06.04

Yeah! Good to see Rooney got two (kind of) aswell! He's the youngest scorer ever in the European Championships now isn't he?

At least we can chill a bit after sunday anyway.......

Goodness Gracious Meme

17:45 / 17.06.04

Thank fuck for that. *huge sigh of relief*

Weird game tho'. We really weren't comfortable or in control for pretty much all of the first half. And yet, a goal.

Even after the goal we didn't seem to be able to control the game for more than bursts.

Sending off=turning point, till then not entirely convinced that we'd hang on to the lead.

Rooney though, fucking hell.

Want to wave flag for Vassell, who was pacey, attacking, and brought some much-needed spark.

Now ... allez les bleus

Tryphena Absent

19:11 / 17.06.04

Slightly disturbed by the slow pace of the second half. The camera actually stayed on one part of the pitch for a count of 8 (whether I was managing to keep to seconds or not is debatable).

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:30 / 17.06.04

Yeah - it was a pretty patchy performance, and Switzerland, given the jingoistic "would you rather have a Swiss player in any position or an English player" schtick, were doing a *lot* of attacking. I'm not sure about Vassell - he was lively and at times penetrative, but he did utterly muff a gilt-edged opportunity to cross in favour of a difficult shot.

I'm also feeling terribly sorry for the Swiss keeper - officially the oldest, shortest and most myopic keper at the tournament.

So, Croatia are on 4, France are on 4, England are on 3... that's not ideal. A win against Croatia is now the only safe option, isn't it? If England draw and are level on points w/France (if they lose to Switzerland, which is not massively likely), England will go forward on on goal difference, yes? Even though France beat England...Where's the wallchart when you need it?

Ah well. I think I'm more interested in the Spain/Portugal showdown - especially as if England *do* qualify, it looks like they'll be up against Greece, most likely... a team England have struggled against in the past, and who have shown good form in qualifying and the matches so far...

23:06 / 17.06.04

Only Croatia are actually on 2, and have to beat England. Mind, if England play as they did in the first half today and Croatia as they did in the second it won't be much of a competition. And y's'll be oot. And, only then, will I be able to relax from my parochial detestation.

I've got £3 on Spain and a pound on Morientes, m'self. I always bet on Spain, and they always do shit all. But I won the National for the first time ever this year, so...

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:48 / 18.06.04

I'm also feeling terribly sorry for the Swiss keeper - officially the oldest, shortest and most myopic keper at the tournament.

He looks like Tom O'Bedlam. No match for a mump-faced 12 year-old boy wonder like Mickey Rooney.

ONLY NICE THINGS

08:56 / 18.06.04

Ah yes - never try to do post-pub maths.

I feel sorry that Switzerland, barring an unlikely victory over France, are off home. With the homeless goalkeeper and Huggel, they were without a doubt the most darling team, except arguably for Latvia. Still, c'est la vie.

I'm pretty amped about Spain/Portugal. For Portugal to go out so early at home, and in the last of the GG's last chances, would be a bit harsh.

Incidentally, was it just me or do I recall somebody on TV describing Zlatan Ibrahimovich as "not really Swedish"? Fuckaaaarghs...

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:18 / 18.06.04

no, it wasn't just you. grrrrrgh.

And Huggel wasn't really very huggle-ish, some rather meaty tackling...

Tryphena Absent

11:28 / 18.06.04

Latvia

Woo! Go Latvia!!

ONLY NICE THINGS

11:54 / 18.06.04

He's cocking *fifth-generation* Swedish. Describing Deco as "not really Portugese" I would be a bit happier with, although only if it sparked off a massive argument about national identity and acculturation, but Jeeee-zus.

nedrichards is confused

18:19 / 18.06.04

Or Owen Hargreves for that matter.

Regrettable Juvenilia

20:04 / 19.06.04

Are the Czech Republic anyone else's favourite team now? I'm not just saying that because they're one of the teams I drew in a sweepstake...

They can't defend for toffee, but don't seem to bother trying, instead they concede goals early and then just score one more than the opposition. Fantastic to watch, because they actually play together very nicely. This is in marked contrast to Holland, whose ego-tastic forwards always seem to want the glory, and rarely pass. In fact generally it was good to see this Holland side get this kind of kicking: they are also rather nasty players, and have in the form of Ruud van Nistelrooy one of the least appealing characters in the tournament (he said he intended to make the Germans suffer "as revenge for what they did in World War II").

Czech captain and Aragorn-lookalikey Pavel Nedved is my new hero. Apparently his favourite movie is Braveheart.

20:22 / 19.06.04

Are the Czech Republic anyone else's favourite team now?

ahem.

That was a great footy match, that was. And that final goal was a corker. It really pissed me off with Hansen wankering on about how he wished it had been a draw and "both teams deserved something". No! The Czechs deserved to win! They played some great football! They scored more than Holland!

Goodness Gracious Meme

20:38 / 19.06.04

Rah for Latvia's point.

And Raaaah the Czech Republic's win, was on train for last 20mins, agog as I left it when Holland were down to ten men.

Much deserved indeed, and match of the tournament thus far, fantastic end-to-end stuff...

nedrichards is confused

20:45 / 19.06.04

Plus the Czechs have Milan Baros, the Liverpool forward who actually scores goals. Unlike Owen and Heskey (although he's a blue now) y'see. He was sorely missed when he broke his leg early last season. Also, when he runs he hunches over like he's running up and down bellropes and it's not altogether clear whether he knows about this unconcious hunching as he acceletrates which is sorta sweet.

ps I know it's OT for this thread but has Djibrill Cisse got the worst dyed beard since Abel Xavier and why do Liverpool keep buying players with dubious facial furniture? Even Kewell tried to get into the act with a half hearted goatee. A bit many of his performances last season sadly.

Goodness Gracious Meme

21:42 / 19.06.04

oh, and re. Van N's goal - how crap is FIFA's new version of the offside rule? All that passive/active bollocks. Basically builds goalhanging back into football. Nice one, FIFA.

21:47 / 19.06.04

You know, I'm curious as to exactly how the name of this thread is meant to be sung. I've been trying to work it out but nothing seems to fit. Maybe I've spent too long in the colonies.

Perhaps, Haus, you could sing it for me and record the results?

Goodness Gracious Meme

22:16 / 19.06.04

Though I've just realised that All that passive/active bollocks does have the effect of making BBC commentators sound like a bad SMporn film...

14:51 / 20.06.04

Hello? Is no-one talking of Zlatan(as he prefers to be known)'s goal?

I have watched an awful lot of football and never, ever, ever seen anything like that. Great.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:42 / 20.06.04

Fluke. Deffo.

(he said he intended to make the Germans suffer "as revenge for what they did in World War II").

Hmm... this is kind of a running theme in Holland-Germany encounters. It's not pleasant, but it is certainly not unprecedented. A popular chant in Netherlands-Germany matches used to be "My dad wants his bicycle back", which references the confiscation of bicycles by occupying German forces. "Brilliant Orange" by David Winner has some interesting stuff about this rivalry - Dutch ill-feeling about German occupation is in some ways more profound than French, especially in footballing terms, partly because of the 1974 World Cup.

Holland-Czech Republic - fantastic match, and how much do I love the Czech Republic, who must be everyone's second team by now? That chest-down from Koller was both beautifully done in and of itself and also so unselfish - I see Koller as the gangling, awkward, unattractive best friend of twinkle-toed but naive Milan Baros, trying to help him on the pitch and protect him from mean boys off it...

17:47 / 20.06.04

You know, I'm curious as to exactly how the name of this thread is meant to be sung.

Me too. I though it had to be to the tune of "Badger, badger, badger" but I counted and there weren't enough badgers. Still, maybe Haus was abbreviating them.

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:51 / 20.06.04

I think I may actually have put one too many in... see here.

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