Euro 2004 Football discussion

[johnsemlak]

Kickoff is now just 10 days away, I think someone's got to start this...

So what are you country's chances in Portugual? Which players will you be counting on to drive the team to success?

Who do you think will win? Who will be the star players in the competition?

 

[AGGEMAM]

I think my country, Denmark, has a pretty good chance if not winning it, which I doubt, then getting very far in the competition.

Denmarks lineup is a winger system which basically is a 4-2-2-1-1 system. A very offensive, and very entertaining system which guarentees some good matches.

Starting lineup is probably, (position) name (club): (GK) Thomas Sørensen (Aston Villa), (RB) Thomas Helveg (Inter), (CD) Martin Laursen (Milan), (CD) René Henriksen (Panathinaikos), (LB) Niclas Jensen (Dortmund), (DF) Thomas Graversen (Everton), (DF) Christian Poulsen (Schalke 04), (RW) Jesper Grønkjær (Chelsea), (LW) Martin Jørgensen (Udinese), (CF) Jon Dahl Tomasson (Milan), and (ST) Ebbe Sand (Schalke 04).

The key players are Jesper Grønkjær, Thomas Graversen, and Jon Dahl Tommason. The big IFs are whether René Henriksen and Thomas Sørensen gets their game going, if they don't, our offense will have to score a lot of goals to win.

Denmark is in group with Italy, Sweden, and Bulgaria. I expect Denmark and Sweden to advance from that group, since I my eyes they are the strongest teams in that group.

Denmark is currently ranked 13th in the world, and 8th among european countries on the current FIFA ranking.

 

[johnsemlak]

Well, my country of residence, Russia, will probably battle it out for 3rd place in their group and I would predict that they will finish last, though i'm honestly not as familiar with the squad as i once was.

The star players right now seem ot be Dmitry Alenichev, who scored a goal in the Champions League Final for Porto, as well as Alexander Mostovoi, Alexei Smertin, and maybe Dmitry Bulykin. Their captain Victor Onopko is getting old but his experience is vital.

In a group with Spain, Portugal, and Greece, I'd say that finishing in the top two would be a near-miracle for Russia.

Overall, I'm a bit undecided as to who I think will win. Portugal and France were both among my favorites in the last World Cup and both crashed out in the first round. On the other hand, I didn't think Germany would fare well at all and they made the final. I'm naming France and Portugal as among my favorites this time but with reservations. A lot of the key players on the France squad are really showing their age. Portugal seems to be a bit of a wildcard team that doesn't always play to their potential, but they should do well in their home country.

AGGEMAN, you don't think that Italy will advance from their group?

 

[AGGEMAM]

AGGEMAM, you don't think that Italy will advance from their group?

No. Italy has a lot of good players but no team IMO.

And too much depends on a single player, Totti, take him out and nothing will happen. Actually if Italy were to start without Totti at all, I believe they will fare much better.

I think they'll end 3rd in the group, and with it's history of uninspired football, Italy doesn't deserve more than that.

All in IMO, of course.

 

[Kid Congo Powers]

A lot of studying made forget all about Euro 2004, thanks for reminding me, a light in the otherwise dark world

I really have no idea of the strength of any of the countries but I'm always hoping Spain finally will get their act together and kick some...balls in the net so that they'll win the cup.

But after being called "fjellaber" by the danish press I still bear a grudge against the danish team

 

[AGGEMAM]

But after being called "fjellaber" by the danish press I still bear a grudge against the danish team

Actually that is the normal nickname for norwegians here, so it's not really anything unusual. Note though that one of my flatmates is norwegian and so are about 10 of my Roskilde Festival buddies, so it's not like we dislike you or anything it's just what we normally say.

EDIT: And oh, welcome to the boards.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'll put in a word for the English, although I know AGGEMAM doesn't agree with me.

We've got some extremely good players - Owen, Beckham, Gerrard, Campbell - running through the centre of the team. We've also got other good players throughout the first team - Rooney, Scholes, Cole, Lampard etc - but the real problem we've got is that the team is hard to balance.

No matter what formation we play (and it's extremely likely to be the diamond), we don't have a player to play on the left hand side. Gerrard is going to end up playing there, but it's not ideal for him. And hopefully we'll play Nicky Butt in the holding role rather than Lampard, who is more of an attacking player.

I reckon we can get out of the group stage, but after that I've got no idea. It all depends on whether Rooney sparks into life at his first big tournament, if Scholes can start scoring again, and if the fitness of the team holds up over the 90 minutes.

My preferred line-up: (position, name, club)
GK - David James - Manchester City
DL - Ashley Cole - Arsenal
DC - John Terry - Chelsea
DC - Sol Campbell - Arsenal
DR - Gary Neville - Manchester United
ML - Steven Gerrard - Liverpool
MC - Nicky Butt - Manchester United
MC - Frank Lampard - Chelsea
MR - David Beckham - Real Mardrid
FC - Wayne Rooney - Everton
FC - Michael Owen - Liverpool

However, I think Eriksson will go for Scholes over Lampard, playing Lampard in the defensive midfield role. And I think France will beat us comfortably if he does.

 

[johnsemlak]

No. Italy has a lot of good players but no team IMO.

And too much depends on a single player, Totti, take him out and nothing will happen. Actually if Italy were to start without Totti at all, I believe they will fare much better.

I think they'll end 3rd in the group, and with it's history of uninspired football, Italy doesn't deserve more than that.

All in IMO, of course.

Hmm, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

That will definitely be a competitive group and anything could happen. Still, I can't remember the last time Italy failed to advance out of the group phase of a tournament (OK, a couple of clicks revealed Italy failed to advance in Euro 96). I'd have to pick them as a team to advance this year as well.

Will definitely be interesting. I'll be watching the matches in that group with interest.

 

[AGGEMAM]

I'll put in a word for the English, although I know AGGEMAM doesn't agree with me.

Oh, I think England will go through from it's group too, no doubt about that.

I still can't understand why Eriksson didn't call in Shearer though, he said he was willing. And he's the most scoring english player in the premier league for the last two years in a row.

 

[AGGEMAM]

That will definitely be a competitive group and anything could happen. Still, I can't remember the last time Italy failed to advance out of the group phase of a tournament (OK, a couple of clicks revealed Italy failed to advance in Euro 96). I'd have to pick them as a team to advance this year as well.

Also remember that they haven't always qualified too. Whereas Denmark has the record for qualifing to the european championships with qualifing every time since 1984, winning it in 1992.