OFFICIAL EURO 2008 THREAD

[BuddenzNasir]

the rule USED TO ALWAYS BE the cards are wiped out after group stage. this year they are not wiped out till after quarterfinals stage, so better not fuck up =X cuz going to the next round without key players cuz of a yellow card would blow

[Elevz]

I called you a soccer noob before, right?

well I knew that was never the case before but I heard that is the case this year, i really hope it is

I think smegma is right here... besides that it wouldn't make any sense if you get your card deleted after 3 games

it would make a lot of sense 2 me; i always found it stupid that the cards go onto the next rounds when ref's give out yellow cards so easily now in days.

I find it pretty dumb if they delete cards after 3 games, besides - yellow cards are often deserved and imo the refs could give a card quicker

I thought they changed the rules for this tournament: cards are removed after the quarter finals, to prevent players from missing the final. That's what I heard.

[Elevz]

Besides, does anyone know why the final standings in the groups are not based on respectively points, goal balance, number of goals scored, etc...? I mean, Switzerland is equal in points with Czech Rep and they have a better goal balance, yet they're still considered 4th in the group. The same can be said about the premature conclusion that Spain will be the #1 in group D (what if Spain loses 1-0 to Greece, and Sweden manage to win 3-0 from Russia? That would mean Sweden would be the team with a better goal balance whilst being equal in points)... That stuff is odd. Switzerland deserve to be #3 in their group, yet the UEFA ranks them 4th!

[Elevz]

Oh, nevermind. I already found out: for some strange reason, UEFA considers head-to-head results more important than overall results. The UEFA fucked up there.

Czech Republic and Switzerland are ranked by their head-to-head records:

    * Czech Republic – 3 pts (1:0 vs Switzerland)
    * Switzerland - 0 pts (0:1 vs Czech Republic)
(wiki.com)

And that also explains why Spain is already the winner of group D: they beat both the contestants for the second spot.

[Lunatic]

^there u have it

[smegma]

the rule USED TO ALWAYS BE the cards are wiped out after group stage. this year they are not wiped out till after quarterfinals stage, so better not fuck up =X cuz going to the next round without key players cuz of a yellow card would blow

They were only wiped out if the players didn't get a card in the 3rd match though.

[Kill]

What an evening, quite a few things to comment on here.

SWITZERLAND - PORTUGAL: Being Swiss and a fan of the Portuguese, I watched that one, although constantly ticked off about missing the game that really mattered. Flattering as a 2-0 for Switzerland is, it's embarassing for the Portuguese. Has to be said, the Swiss are not as totally abysmal as some people tried to make them look after that 2nd-round knockout, but this B-selecao just demonstrated 3 things: 1. They might be good players, but not a bunch of Decos, let alone Ronaldos, 2. they looked so aware of that they didn't even try to impress Scolari and go for a spot in the A-team and 3. they never played together as a team, and that was visible throughout the game. And the 1-0 was a beautiful goal, period.

Still, of course, no one deserved to get past group stages less than the referee. Lichtsteiner brutally takes down Nani in the penalty area...goal kick, yeah right. Then his assistants try to live up to him and make an offside decision that was so obviously wrong I was sure about it myself before seeing the replay...and then Barnetta gets his way for pretty much diving, although there might have been sooome contact there, but still....

It just sucks all the undeserved luck was distributed to Switzerland's opponents when it mattered, now that it's finally vice versa, no one has to give a shit. It's still cool to see them win and it's good to see Köbi Kuhn (the manager, who will be replaced by Ottmar Hitzfeld now) doesn't have to leave a total loser, because he's done some good work.

...and I don't think this will really stop Portugal. The Germans better watch videos of the first two games, not of the B-team being lame.



CZECH REPUBLIC - TURKEY

Maybe I should have watched this, but I only caught the last two minutes of extra time. What a fucking game...having seen only the highlights, I'm no one to comment on deserved or undeserved, but it looks like Turkey really came back strong and Cech is not the only one who fucked up, they analyzed the goals on ZDF (German TV) after the game. I saw the Voolkan thing live, it was a bit of a Materazzi-Zidane thing: Koller was a jerk to run into Voolkan like that and afterwards go and start bitching about it to him, but if you can't keep it verbal in that moment, that's just unprofessional and you deserve no better.

Turkey - Croatia should be fun.

[Nima - Dubcnn.com]

Wooow that Turkey game was crazy!! Germany is going nuts right now (well the turks in germany are), I ain't never seen the streets so crowded lol I just got back home and it's a huge party outside

[Kill]

And I agree with Mauzip: The bunch of assholes widely known as UEFA fucked up on this one, too: 3 of the 4 teams that were already definite winners of their groups this mornings got there due to this head-to-head shit. Turkey, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden and Russia could all theoretically still be No. 1 if it weren't for that. This rule just makes it so much more predictable: Ok, so teams get the opportunity of testing some players usually sitting on that bench, but you see what it got us today...

[Lunatic]

SWITZERLAND - PORTUGAL:
Being Swiss and a fan of the Portuguese, I watched that one, although constantly ticked off about missing the game that really mattered. Flattering as a 2-0 for Switzerland is, it's embarassing for the Portuguese. Has to be said, the Swiss are not as totally abysmal as some people tried to make them look after that 2nd-round knockout, but this B-selecao just demonstrated 3 things: 1. They might be good players, but not a bunch of Decos, let alone Ronaldos, 2. they looked so aware of that they didn't even try to impress Scolari and go for a spot in the A-team and 3. they never played together as a team, and that was visible throughout the game. And the 1-0 was a beautiful goal, period.

Still, of course, no one deserved to get past group stages less than the referee. Lichtsteiner brutally takes down Nani in the penalty area...goal kick, yeah right. Then his assistants try to live up to him and make an offside decision that was so obviously wrong I was sure about it myself before seeing the replay...and then Barnetta gets his way for pretty much diving, although there might have been sooome contact there, but still....

It just sucks all the undeserved luck was distributed to Switzerland's opponents when it mattered, now that it's finally vice versa, no one has to give a shit. It's still cool to see them win and it's good to see Köbi Kuhn (the manager, who will be replaced by Ottmar Hitzfeld now) doesn't have to leave a total loser, because he's done some good work.

...and I don't think this will really stop Portugal. The Germans better watch videos of the first two games, not of the B-team being lame.

Yup, was really embarrassing for us. I was very disappointed with our play; i expected much more from Quaresma, Veloso and Nani at the very least those 3..ya the first goal was nice, no doubt.

Yeah I thought Nani deserved a penalty on that play as well, ohh well..U talkin bout the disallowed Postiga goal? I thought that was onside as well..yea WOW that penalty shot was such a hardcore dive, i can't believe he got that call..

As long as this does not fuck with the Portuguese confidence, i'm cool..

[Elevz]

And I agree with Mauzip

[Kill]

^^ lol, sorry, my bad, you guys all look the same these days

I apologize by propping you.

SWITZERLAND - PORTUGAL:
Being Swiss and a fan of the Portuguese, I watched that one, although constantly ticked off about missing the game that really mattered. Flattering as a 2-0 for Switzerland is, it's embarassing for the Portuguese. Has to be said, the Swiss are not as totally abysmal as some people tried to make them look after that 2nd-round knockout, but this B-selecao just demonstrated 3 things: 1. They might be good players, but not a bunch of Decos, let alone Ronaldos, 2. they looked so aware of that they didn't even try to impress Scolari and go for a spot in the A-team and 3. they never played together as a team, and that was visible throughout the game. And the 1-0 was a beautiful goal, period.

Still, of course, no one deserved to get past group stages less than the referee. Lichtsteiner brutally takes down Nani in the penalty area...goal kick, yeah right. Then his assistants try to live up to him and make an offside decision that was so obviously wrong I was sure about it myself before seeing the replay...and then Barnetta gets his way for pretty much diving, although there might have been sooome contact there, but still....

It just sucks all the undeserved luck was distributed to Switzerland's opponents when it mattered, now that it's finally vice versa, no one has to give a shit. It's still cool to see them win and it's good to see Köbi Kuhn (the manager, who will be replaced by Ottmar Hitzfeld now) doesn't have to leave a total loser, because he's done some good work.

...and I don't think this will really stop Portugal. The Germans better watch videos of the first two games, not of the B-team being lame.

Yup, was really embarrassing for us. I was very disappointed with our play; i expected much more from Quaresma, Veloso and Nani at the very least those 3..ya the first goal was nice, no doubt.

Yeah I thought Nani deserved a penalty on that play as well, ohh well..U talkin bout the disallowed Postiga goal? I thought that was onside as well..yea WOW that penalty shot was such a hardcore dive, i can't believe he got that call..

As long as this does not fuck with the Portuguese confidence, i'm cool..

Both Nani's penalty and Postiga's goal were obvious, I watched replays and even the Swiss commentators wouldn't have dreamed of lying about the facts. Barnetta's penalty was 90% dive, maybe it was 10% foul though, still of course, Nani not getting one and him yes

It wasn't that bad a dive though, I would have just kept the game going as a referee, no yellow to Barnetta, since there was some contact. It wasn't like this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8W00d3yJKl4&amp;hl=en" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8W00d3yJKl4&amp;hl=en</a>

I do think there was some Austrian sympathy from the referee in that game, but like you said, as long as it doesn't stop the Portuguese from playing great football when all their main players are on the pitch, it's no big deal. Plus, again, the Swiss really weren't too bad in the second half and the victory wasn't that undeserved since the Portuguese got really lame.

[Lunatic]

^nah the swizz victory was deserved for sure, i was just pointing out some referee faults

aw well, the best way i can put it if is that if there needed to be a game for portugal in this tournament where we'd:

a) play awful
b) have a disallowed goal that should of counted
c) not have a penalty awarded when it was warranted
d) have the other team get a non-deserving penalty

let it be the game we just lost.

[Lunatic]

bring on the Germans

[Furor Teutonicus]

reallly weak game. OMG I feel embarassed to be German tonight