Euro 2004 predictions - first round

[Winston]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
Francesco "the Italian Llama" Totti got a three-match ban

Yes, but it's quite a dilemma really. The Danes filed a complaint, as they should, but who will benefit from this ban? Not Denmark, but instead Denmark's rivals, the other two contestants in the group who haven't met Italy yet (plus, unexpectedly, the opposing side of an Italian quarter final, should they make it that far).

There's an inherent incentive NOT to complain after the match, and the more outrageous the behaviour of an opponent player, the bigger the incentive to let it pass.



They ought to play Italy - Denmark over again and give the Danes a 3 goal advantage.

[Monk]

Originally posted by CyberShy
It was an unfair red card.

As you know, when the offender is the last man and disrupts an obvious scoring opportunity, the offense doesn't have to be all that extraordinary before a red card is given. I tend to agree with the decision, but it does bother me somewhat that David James was not dismissed for a significantly more dramatic act... by all means, let's have referees be as consistent as possible.

[Monk]

Oh, and in football-related news, a 85 year old farmer whose car broke down in the Swedish woods had to live for four days on nothing but rain water. He now claims listening to the radio transmission of Sweden v Bulgaria gave him the inner strength to survive until he could be rescued.

I have a vision of the next pep-talk delivered by the Swedish coach... it will go something like 'up there in the far north, there's an old fart in a car that doesn't work and he has spent three days on rain water defending himself against abuse by elks. Let's win this one for him.'

[Winston]

But think of all the old Bulgarians in similar predicaments who must've expired following the defeat.

And it's not like they have Volvo's to begin with.

[Robert]

Monk, I know that red-cards are easily given in these situations, but in this case it was an unfair card, since the keeper didn't touch the ball.

He even tried everything he could to not touch the ball.
He fell upon the ball, and it looked like he was going to touch it, but from another angle you can see that he didn't touch it though.

[Monk]

Shy,

I'll have to see it again to be sure, but I'm confident he touched the ball with his hand or albow.

Sorry if the changing in predictions is causing you trouble, Paul, but I think I better change my estimate with regards to that England v Switzerland game.

ENG-SUI 2-1... surely the English could manage that much?

[TheArsenal]

Originally posted by CyberShy
It was an unfair red card.
The goalkeeper hardly touched the ball, if he touched it at all. He did his very best to not touch the ball.
And even *if* he touched the ball, it didn't alter anything to the direction the ball moved to, neither did it stop the bal.

I think it was a very good goal-keeper action.
It really really was unfair to give him the red card.

From what country did the referee come?
I'll ban whatever product that comes from that country

No question. A very, very harsh red card.

[Footie Mad]

17-06-2004, Group B:
England - Switzerland 2-1
Croatia - France 0-3

[Kitschum]

I'd like to change two predictions. My new predictions are:

17-06-2004, Group B:
England - Switzerland 1-0

18-06-2004, Group C:
Italy - Sweden 0-1

[TheBirdMan]

(you forgot one Gangerolf)

[Gangerolf]

oops

[Gangerolf]

Winston: dilemma, perhaps. But no-one should get away with that kind of behaviour.

[Winston]

Absolutely not. Even a large majority of Italians concur, according to a poll I saw quoted from one of their leading papers. And if I was his coach, he'd have played his last national.

[Al'Kimiya]

Grand slam!

[Paul]

Croatia - France 2-2

 1 Dauphin           26 (+2)
 2 Sloth             24 (+4)
 3 Laertes           22
 4 Al'Kimiya         18 (+8)
 4 paiktis22         18 (+2)
 4 lightblue         18 (+2)
 7 MikeH             16 (+2)
 7 OneFootInTheGrave 16 (+2)
 7 Zopperoni         16 (+2)
 7 Monk              16 (+6)
 7 Jamski            16 (+2)
 7 germanos          16
13 Footie Mad        14 (+2)
13 VJ                14 (+2)
13 TheArsenal        14 (+2)
13 Drogue            14 (+2)
13 Kitschum          14 (+4)
13 Victor Galis      14 (+2)
13 End Is Forever    14 (+2)
20 Ambro2000         12 (+4)
20 CyberShy          12 (+2)
20 Kropotkin         12
20 Locutus           12
20 Paul              12 (+2)
25 mapet             10 (+2)
25 Colon             10 (+2)
25 Solver            10 (+4)
25 Wernazuma III     10 (+2)
29 Park Avenue        8
29 Winston            8 (+2)
31 DeathByTheSword    6 (+2)
32 Gangerolf          2 (+2)
33 Micha              0