Euro 2008 Prediction Competition

[Locutus]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Actually I think Sweden goes through if it's a tie, on goal difference.

I think snoopy was talking about the quarter finals. But in case of the group match you are correct.

[Solver]

Originally posted by Locutus
Hmmm, I thought I had already posted my own predictions but I don't see them now. So:

Greece vs Spain 0-2
Russia vs Sweden 1-2

Contrary to your own prediction that Russia would take second?

[Locutus]

Well, I've seen 2 games by each team now... Not like I was originally anticipating wins for the Netherlands against France or Romania

[LordShiva]

BTW, Domenech is crap. Even Steve McLaren was better.

I'm glad he didn't pick Trezegol

[snoopy369]

BTW, next year we need to do a d20 true random bracket My former boss used to do one for the NCAAs, where they (she and her husband) would use a d20, and use the seed # to determine how much should be added to the random dice roll (so higher seeds are more likely chosen). It usually finishes above about 1/3 of the others making brackets...

[Locutus]

During some of the CL predictions (when we still had those) one of the participants had a bot he'd written participating with some AI in place to make at least somewhat clever predictions. It didn't fare much better than you are now

And there is no next year. As said, this is a once-every-four-years kinda deal. Just like the WC, which is in 2010 if you wanna try it then

Unless of course we want to bring back the CL predictions, which I have been thinking about (got the Excel sheet done now). But we should probably discuss that after this tournament is over...

[snoopy369]

Yay, i'm almost as good as a computer!

(or presumably, almost as good as the programmer of said computer program... )

[EPW]

So professional soccer is only played every two years?

[LordShiva]

[Locutus]

No. For one thing, you need to distinguish between club football and national team football. Club football is very much the heart of the sport, although by its nature that's much more focused on a national level with most clubs having only a local or at best regional fan base, so it doesn't generate the same level of international mass hype and media attention (although believe me, on the local/national level it's even more fanatic -- note how my avatar represents my club and not my country )

The top continental club tournaments (especially the pan-European Champions League) are in fact much more so than the European or World Cup comparable to the major American sports leagues, although in football they are essentially considered bonus events (if very big bonuses) -- the real meat and potatoes are the national leagues, like the English Premier League where the likes of Manchester United play, or the Dutch Ere-divisie which is home to my FC Twente (again, see avatar ) Only the very best teams of the national leagues are eligible for aforementioned continental tournaments.

One of the main of the many differences between club football competitions around the world and the American major leagues is that we don't do any of those sissy 3-6 month seasons With the exception of a 6-8 week break in either mid-summer or mid-winter (depending on the local climate), club football is played all year long with the top teams playing often 2 matches a weekin different, concurrent competitions (usually 1 national league, 1 or 2 national cups and if they qualified 1 continental tournament).

The break between club seasons is used for national team tournaments like the World and European Championships, various youth tournaments (including the Olympic Games), qualifying matches for the continental club tournaments (which are considered off-season matches as they're isolated from the regular weekly pattern even though they're often crucially important), and of course for friendlies ("pre-season games") and various other mini-tournaments (which are essentially friendlies as well). So the absolute top players of the world often really only get 2-3 weeks a year off (best case scenario for most professional players is maybe 5-6 weeks if they're not good enough for the national team and their club doesn't have to play any qualifiers that season).


On the national team side of things, most countries basically compete for qualification in 2 major tournaments: the continental championship (European Championship, Africa Cup of Nations, Copa America, Asian Cup) and the World Championship. The European, Asian and World Championship are each held once every four years in summer, but all in subsequent years (e.g. WC 2006, AC 2007, EC 2008). The Africa Cup of Nations is held every other year in winter, and the Copa America has an irregular schedule AFAIK. (Of these the European Championship is by far the most prestigious as Europe houses most of the best football countries in the world -- as sporting events in general go it ranks second to only the World Cup.)

Participation in most of these major tournaments has to be earned through qualification tournaments, the setup of which varies widely per region and tournament but generally involves playing matches at specially reserved dates spread throughout the 2-3 years leading up the main events. In the week or so surrounding such dates all top-level (professional) club leagues around the world go on hiatus to allow for travel and match preparation. Countries that don't have games planned on any such reserved date (which on average are set about once a month and nobody has to play that many qualifiers) instead play friendlies against other free countries to practice for 'real' matches -- a rare opportunity for national coaches to work with their players without there being a lot at stake. (But even then, in many countries these friendlies are still relatively important events that get plenty of attention from media and fans.)


So no, football is not played only every two years. In fact, if you live in Europe and have a decent TV package you can probably watch some kind of live professional football game (whether on club or national level) just about every single day of the year. And that's not even covering amateur-level football, which one could argue is the REAL mainstay of the sport as well over 99% of all football players in the world are amateurs (for example, the English Football Association has about ~100 full-time professional member clubs compared to tens of thousands of amateur clubs, each of which can field up to two-three dozen individual teams). But of course there's usually little money in these leagues, they rarely get much attention in national media and don't come with all the fame and fortune associated with the pro leagues, but it is what keeps countless millions of people around the world actively involved in the sport every weekend.

[LordShiva]

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by LordShiva

[Serb]

Spain vs. Greece 0:1
Sweden vs. Russia 10:0

Portugal vs. Germany 1:2
Croatia vs. Turkey 3:0
Netherlands vs. Russia 10:0
Spain vs. Italy 2:1

[LordShiva]

[Solver]

Portugal - Germany 2:1
Croatia - Turkey 2:2