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Don't worry, I do that too!

Pacific wrote:England dribbled through the game as well. TBH I think if we didnt have Gerard we would be in deep trouble, but it is going to take a much improved performance (and a bad day from the Italians) for us to reach the semi-final. Although I didn't think that the Ukraine were that bad a team - they couldn't finish off the attack with a decent strike, but to be brutally honest they looked like the stronger team for the most part.

Agreed.

The disallowed goal was a joke - does anyone know why UEFA still won't implement a 3rd umpire, considering some of the other sports which have always been so resistant to change (such as tennis and cricket) have had it for at least 5 years? Are they trying to make the fans riot or something?

You mean 4th official? (the 3rd would be one of the linesmen ). They are worried that having an umpire for replays would 'slow down play'....which is rubbish as it takes no time at all to work out whether the ball went over the line or not. Its different in rugby (for example), as they have to decide whther or not a player was in control of the ball when it touches down, but for football? should be easy as anything to make the decision. They did trial goal line technology in our first game against France as well just FYI....

and the Ukrainian player was offside, so it wouldnt have mattered anyway....


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Albatross wrote:Don't worry, I do that too!

im sure we arent the only ones!

I think our next stars may eclipse our last generation. A future team of

Hart
Walker, Jones, Smalling, Gibbs
Chamberlain, Wilshere, Henderson, Sturridge
Welbeck, Carroll

That to me looks a pretty good team (apart from maybe henderson, but I couldn't think of anyone else).

Lee Cattermole!

Albatross wrote:Lee Cattermole!

He's a beast, but he'd probably break all our wingers legs in training.

I remember when he first came through the Boro youth team - he was an absolute animal! If anything, he's worse now...

Albatross wrote: not the Portuguese fancy-dan.

You aren't still mad that he made Rooney get a red card in the 2006 world cup, are you?

PhantomViper wrote:

Albatross wrote: not the Portuguese fancy-dan.

You aren't still made that he made Rooney get a red card in the 2006 world cup, are you?

The winker!

PhantomViper wrote:

Albatross wrote: not the Portuguese fancy-dan.

You aren't still mad that he made Rooney get a red card in the 2006 world cup, are you?

Nah, that was Rooney's fault. I don't hate the Portuguese Ronaldo, he's just the sort of foppish European player that we in this country traditionally don't like...

Good player, though.

My guess for the semi-finals:

Spain vs. Portugal,
Germany vs. Italy (history shows that this is a bad matchup for Germany).

wuestenfux wrote:My guess for the semi-finals:

Spain vs. Portugal
Germany vs. Italy

I would say the same, and then you will have a Spain vs Germany final...

PhantomViper wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:My guess for the semi-finals:

Spain vs. Portugal
Germany vs. Italy

I would say the same, and then you will have a Spain vs Germany final...

Germany always has a hard time beating Italy. From history, the chances will be minimal.

I have a good feeling for England though, Italy are not that great really, I would say same level as France, I mean, look at Italy from the world cup 2 years ago, yes yes they are a different team now, but I reckon England do have a good chance

Predictions for Czech Republic vs. Portugal tonight then?

I think a lot depends if we get the Portugal that played against the Netherlands (and could have won 3-1 or 4-1), or the timid defensive team that limped its way to a loss against Germany.
Also, whether Ronaldo can keep focus on the game or his hair proves too much of a distraction!

I see portugal completely outclassing the Czechs tonight, possibly 3-0 or 4-0

Pacific wrote:Predictions for Czech Republic vs. Portugal tonight then?

I think a lot depends if we get the Portugal that played against the Netherlands (and could have won 3-1 or 4-1), or the timid defensive team that limped its way to a loss against Germany.
Also, whether Ronaldo can keep focus on the game or his hair proves too much of a distraction!

Really want the Czech fans to have planned ahead now and each brought a big mirror with them. When they all hold them up....theres no way Ronaldo can resist checking himself out.....

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:I see portugal completely outclassing the Czechs tonight, possibly 3-0 or 4-0

Nah, the Czechs will score at least one goal on us.

Bruno Alves is playing like a slow and the fact that Ronaldo doesn't help Coentrão defend the left side means that we are really vulnerable there...

PhantomViper wrote:

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:I see portugal completely outclassing the Czechs tonight, possibly 3-0 or 4-0

Nah, the Czechs will score at least one goal on us.

Bruno Alves is playing like a slow and the fact that Ronaldo doesn't help Coentrão defend the left side means that we are really vulnerable there...

The thing is though, the Czechs have have appeared to have very little venom on the offense this tournament, generally shutting down rosicky will cause havoc with their plans, and the Portuguese midfield imo is easily capable of such a feat

If Portugal win, I will bare my backside in front of....er I can't think of any landmark in Lisbon

Anyway, I want the Czechs to win so that my local paper can use the Czech mate headline for the sports page

And I want to see Ronaldo cry! It's payback time for all his years of diving and rubbish fashion sense!!

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:If Portugal win, I will bare my backside in front of....er I can't think of any landmark in Lisbon

Anyway, I want the Czechs to win so that my local paper can use the Czech mate headline for the sports page

And I want to see Ronaldo cry! It's payback time for all his years of diving and rubbish fashion sense!!

Good luck with that, the only reason that you guys aren't loosing to us this time, is because you'll be eliminated by Italy instead!

15th rule of thermodynamics: Football is played with a round ball, 11 guys on each side and in the end Portugal beats England.

See, this is why we don't trash-talk. You're going to look so stupid if you get absolutely spanked by the Czechs, or better still, us. Portugal are not the team they were, by any stretch of the imagination...

Albatross wrote:See, this is why we don't trash-talk. You're going to look so stupid if you get absolutely spanked by the Czechs, or better still, us. Portugal are not the team they were, by any stretch of the imagination...

Then what would be the point in watching it? Trash talking is almost half the fun in these types of things...

And yes, Portugal isn't the same team that it was in 2004-2006, but I swear I will never speak anything bad about England's squad ever again if we don't manage to beat the Czechs... But if we do win... expect some mighty razing when England-Italy comes around.

in the last 5 minutes the Portuguese seemed to settle in and look confident, if they manage to continue hat momentum into the second half I can't see the Czechs holding out for a positive result, might take extra time or penalties

Well the Portuguese team have dived their way into the Semi-finals. Seriously, I know its been 'part of the game' since god-knows when, but all of this flying through the air like you've just been shoulder charged by a 400-pound rugby prop, and then grabbing at a mortal wound just starts to sicken me when I'm exposed to an entire game of it.

Anyway I'm glad the ref didn't get too card-happy and let play move on most of the time, otherwise the acting performance of the Portugese in the last 5 minutes alone could have got half the team sent off

Pacific wrote:Well the Portuguese team have dived their way into the Semi-finals. Seriously, I know its been 'part of the game' since god-knows when, but all of this flying through the air like you've just been shoulder charged by a 400-pound rugby prop, and then grabbing at a mortal wound just starts to sicken me when I'm exposed to an entire game of it.

Anyway I'm glad the ref didn't get too card-happy and let play move on most of the time, otherwise the acting performance of the Portugese in the last 5 minutes alone could have got half the team sent off

Yeah, it's sad to see players do that, especially when they're kicked, pushed, or otherwise hit for a whole game.

Pacific wrote:Well the Portuguese team have dived their way into the Semi-finals. Seriously, I know its been 'part of the game' since god-knows when, but all of this flying through the air like you've just been shoulder charged by a 400-pound rugby prop, and then grabbing at a mortal wound just starts to sicken me when I'm exposed to an entire game of it.

yeah, me and my friend had a conversation were basically we had the idea that we make a team froeach of the major European teams and enter them for one season in the NFL and see how dive after that

I just want to see someone like Ronaldo stand up to a safety who's ahd 10 or 20 yards to gain speed

Well, Portugal absolutely smashed the Czechs didn't they?



By one goal. Titans of the game, for sure.

Albatross wrote:Well, Portugal absolutely smashed the Czechs didn't they?



By one goal. Titans of the game, for sure.

Not easy to score when the other teams plays in the counter-attack. The Czechs dominated their own field the whole match

And Portugal seems to play better against "bigger" teams... England comes to mind

Destrado wrote:

Albatross wrote:Well, Portugal absolutely smashed the Czechs didn't they?



By one goal. Titans of the game, for sure.

Not easy to score when the other teams plays in the counter-attack. The Czechs dominated their own field the whole match

And Portugal seems to play better against "bigger" teams... England comes to mind

Curse you! *shakes fist*

Albatross wrote:Well, Portugal absolutely smashed the Czechs didn't they?



By one goal. Titans of the game, for sure.

I don't know what game you watched, but it looked like yes, Portugal absolutely smashed the Czechs:

Czech Republic Portugal
0 SHOTS ON TARGET 5
2 SHOTS OFF TARGET 15
6 CORNER KICKS 11
13 FOULS CONCEDED 7
11 CROSSES 36
1 OFFSIDES 3
1 YELLOW CARDS 2
0 RED CARDS 0
39 BALL POSSESSION 61

They didn't make a single shot on target the whole game and apart from the goal we sent two shots at the goal post and had another goal invalidated (with good cause, Almeida was offside) and I won't even talk about Petr Cech that single handedly prevented at least 2 more goals with some amazing saves!

Just because the goal difference wasn't larger, doesn't mean that we didn't absolutely dominate that game...


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Destrado wrote:
And Portugal seems to play better against "bigger" teams... England comes to mind

England is a "bigger" team? Since when?