Semifinal predictions.

Again, I was not wholly right in my tips for the quarterfinals, although I only missed the hugely disappointing French. I try again:
Portugal-Netherlands: Portugal has the confidence, the support and the strength to go all the way, and Netherlands, which is filled with internal strife, will go out. In spite of this, I predict an exciting and intense game as only the orange attacking machine can give us! Van Nistelrooi will be good for a couple of goals, but so will Portugal. 2-2, and Portugal will get a victory after extra time. If it goes to penalties... who knows?
Greece-Czechia: This will be a tactical football wonder. It will be a chess-match between two of the greatest football minds of our time: Mr. Brückner and Mr. Reghagel. The offensive, entertaining and technically-fit Czech attacking machine, against the disciplined organised efficient Greek fighters. If the Greeks can keep their head cold, they will be efficient against the mistakes the Czechs surely will make. Everyone, except the Danes, have been ahead against the Czechs. So will the Greeks, and they will prevail. What a challenge for Nedved and Co.! If they can make it, they will surely be champions... Or what...?
Goood luck to the wonderful fans of all these teams!!

Denmark will not be missed...

...only if you are Danish. I am Danish, but also a football fan. As a Dane, I am disappointed, but as a football fan, the team had nothing to offer. They completely fell apart against the Czechs, whom I will have to compliment on such an easy win against a naive adversary. "Let the Danes have the ball. They like to play it around, but are utterly harmless. They will eventually make a mistake, and then we will strike"; This must surely have been the tactics of the Czechs, and it was perfect. But mostly, being here in Denmark, I was appalled at the Danish attitude before the game: "the Czechs are weak except for Koller and Nedved..." What is this!? I am quite happy that Mr. Baros, whom I have admired for many years, and who has lost too much of a season on a broken leg, was the one to crush the Danish arrogance (which I cannot understand where came from. The Danes were not bad, but had no reason whatsoever to be arrogant). Finally, players like Mr. Gravesen and Mr. Groenkjaer will not be missed at all. The sympathy the Danes might have gotten with Mr Totti's stupidity in the first match, disappeared when the Danes started making small revenges and gesticulating at Mr. Nedved. Mr. Groekjaer's provocation when pulling Mr. Nedved's hair is in my view at the same level of Mr. Totti's spit, and should be sanctioned as well. Goodbye Denmark, the rest of the world will not miss you.

Miss Euro 2004

Hey, check out this web-page, where you can vote on the hottest girl of the Euro 2004 (In particular Miss Latvia):
http://www.football365.com/euro_2004/miss_euro_2004/index.shtml
I have voted for Miss France!!! But where is Miss Bulgaria....?

quarterfinal predictions 2

I was not totally right on who would be playing the quarterfinals... I seldomly am... In any case, I will give it another try, now for the semifinals:
ENGLAND-PORTUGAL: I am not going to hide that I am not too fond of the English team, in spite of an amazing Wayne Rooney, whom I look forward to seeing much more in the future. I believe the current English team has forgone earlier English attributes, and is now playing an organised an efficient "cattenaccio"-like style, but incredibly boring... Portugal, on the other hand, is an entertaining and offensive team. Although often unstable, they showed strength after the great pressure in first round defeat to Greece. I believe they will continue doing this, and will defeat the English 2-1.
FRANCE-GREECE: France are overwhelming favourites. Mr. Henry has started scoring, and they will beat the Greeks. But it won't be easy: the Greeks will be well organised in defence, and have some dangerous counter-attacks. I believe France will only win 1-0 after extra time.
SWEDEN-NETHERLANDS: Both teams have shown strengths and weaknesses so far. The Dutch are too happy about themselves, which is a greta weakness. However, Van Nistelrooi has been excellent, and if Mr. Avocaat lets young Robben play, they will defeat Sweden. Sweden's attack, although scary, can be neutralised, and they will. The Dutch will win 1-0.
CZECH REPUBLIC-DENMARK: I want Denmark to win, but I have very little faith in it. Also, the Czechs are a favourite of mine, and I am sad that one of these two teams will have to leave the tournament. But the Czechs have been amazing, even when their reserves beat Germany. With Mr. Nedved back, it will be a difficult challenge for the Danes, who will have to play better than any of their games until now. However, both teams like to attack, so I predict an exciting 3-2 for the Czechs.

Good luck to all!

Bulgaria - goodbye

Goodbye Bulgaria. I will really miss Bulgaria. Firstly because I have been an undercover Bulgarian fan since their great team of 1994. Secondly, because of Miss Bulgaria, who really gave all football fans a truly great look at her beauty during the games of her country. Thank you Bulgaria, and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Denmark-Sweden-Italy

I am a very disappointed Dane. Damn. Not only did all the Swedish girls look better that the Danes, but we couldn't beat them in the first place. I would much rather have prefered Denmark and Italy (in spite of those charming Swedish girls) to go through.
Anyway, seen as a whole, Denmark and Sweden were the best I guess. Italy was a huge disappointment; I have no doubt that the biggest in the tournament. A goal in the end against Bulgaria does not take away the impression of a team without real "cojones". A shame, with such great players as Mr. Vieri, Mr. Del Piero, and in particular, Mr. Cassano, whom I look forward to see in the future.
Now, as a Dane: WE SHOULD HAVE BEATEN THE SWEDES!!! Not because I don't want to see them go through, but more because I fear the Czechs more than spaeking at my own funeral. I have very little confidence in the Danish team against the amazing Czechs, althoguh I will be crying my ass off in support of our guys.
Anyways, I have already bet a crade of Czech beer on Denmark losing... So I guess I can only be a winner on Sunday :-)

Spain out - and so what?

Portugal showed will. Spain showed nothing. Again, as so often before, another flop for Spain. But the team has shown nothing, and when it came to playing with cojones against Portugal, they couldn't. Maybe it is good, that they could not prevail when coming with a 0-0 attitude.
The truth is, this Spanish team does not have at all as many stars as one thinks: Raul has seldomly performed on the national team. Morientes is a star but with little support. There is no "General" on midfield, and defence is plainly bad. Only rising stars are some of the younger players like Joaquín and Vicente. Otherwise, I also thought Mr. Iñaki Saez should have brought Reyes along to Portugal.
Shame Spain is out because of the great Spanish fans. The Spanish team will not be missed.

quarterfinal predictions

Last games of first round coming up. It is interesting that only two teams are out for sure (Bulgaria and Russia),a nd otherwise many have chances of passing. There will be many disappointments, and many happy people. These are my "subjective" predictions:

GROUP A: Greece will keep up the good work, and will defeat Russia. With their organisation and skills, they will be difficult for any team in the quarterfinal. I think Portugal will have to show something. Besides 30 minutes against Russia, they have been a great disappointment. Although better, Spain have also been disappointment. The team does not really have as many stars as most people brag about, and have shown signs of weakness in both their games. I believe the home-team will prevail, and this tournament will be another failure for Spain.
GROUP B: The French have so far been a bit arrogant, but with Switzerland, they must surely show their skills, and defeat a team which, in spite of still having a theoretical chance, should be no match for the mighty "Bleu's". Portugal in quarterfinal! England Croatia will be interesting, and I think that England, with their "ITalian" organisation fromt he first two games will get the necessary point to progress on the second spot. Greece-England will be a match between two of the best organised teams in the tournmament.
GROUP C: Here, I will be subjective. As a Dane, I want Demark to beat the Swedes, and so I believe they will win a narrow 2-1. Poor Swedes, they have been playing well, and it will be sad to see Henke and co. out. But sorry guys, that is football; come to COpenhagen and have a beer instead... Italy will surely beat the already defeated Bulgarians.
GROUP D: Best game fo the tournament was Netherlands-Czech Republic. Both teams should go to the next round. And so they will. Latvia will be no match to the DUtch attacking machine, and the Germans are such a huge disappointment again, that Nedved and Co. will get at least a tie and win the group.

I have been wrong before though, so we will see.. Good luck to all!!!!

Francesco Totti, spitting and Top-10 excuses

I have always admired Italians in general, and respected their football abilities. Now, I still admire Italians, but the respect took a hike with the attitude problem of Mr. Totti. I was positively surprised by the three games he got for doing it, and find it well deserved, as he might as well have spit on the Fair-Play patch they all wear. Mr. Totti is a very good football-player. He will never be a great player, because great players, are examples of their behavior.

With all this said, I do believe I will like to help Mr. Totti find some excuses for his behavior. So here are my suggestion for TOP 10 EXCUSES for Totti's spitting:

10) "All I wanted was to cool him off"
9) "Hey, I missed"
8) "I do not know who did it. Wasn't me!"
7) "The western Portuguese wind carried the spit in Christian Poulsen's direction"
6) "I want to be remembered as the Lama of Rome"
5) "In Italy, spitting is not an insult. It means "here, have some more pesto"
4) "It was a hot day, and I was sweating through my mouth"
3) "I needed three days off to visit the same great heairdressers the Poruguese use"
2) "I was just trying to say his name: Christian Ppprrrooulsen"
1) "Here. Try some of my hair-gel"

Entertainment so far

Before the EURO 2004 started, the legendary Johann Cruyff said it would be a boring tournament with too many overly organized teams, afraid to try something new. Looking at the tournament so far, Mr. Cruyff seems to be right.
After twelve games, we have an average of 2.33 goals per game. Looking at earlier goal averages (http://www.fodbold-fanatic.dk/ec-goals.htm), this seems to be heading towards a very low average, and would be lower, were it not for the notable exception of Sweden's 5-0 victory over Bulgaria, and the referee's helping hand to both teams in the Croatia-France match.
I have been amazed by the fact that Greece has played so well, and is likely to win the group. Now, they are not entertaining. They are overly organized, dangerous, and do no more than they have too. Almost like the Italians, who I don't even find worth mentioning after the horrible first half they played against Denmark, with a 63 percentage ball-possession by the Danes.
The English have been a boring thing to look at as well, and will get far by playing more "catennaccio" than the Italians themselves. Seems Mr. Ericsson did learn a lot while coching in Italy.
The Germans surprised by getting a good result. But don't they always? I did think that the biggest disappointment were the Dutch. Just as with other teams we could expect more "entertainment" from, notably Portugal, France and Spain, we have seen little. It remains to be seen if Mr. Cruyff will continue being right. I have just noticed that so far, he seems to be.

Dette er min første posting

Danmark spillede sgu godt. Men derfor er 0-0 en skuffelse. Hvor fedt er det at få 0-0 mod et hold man burde have slået. Vi tabte to point. Jeg er sgu ked af det. Trist trist.