An England fan got killed last night while being robbed by some East European thief :(
I heard they arrested the asshole. Send him back to his own country and put him in jail there..

Yep - great game last night - looks like the boys are finding form just at the right time - bring on Portugal!!

Come on Roonaldo!!! :D

Well on paper it is :)

I fear that it will either be a booooring booooring 0-0 draw in which case Denmark is out.
Out we will be run over by Sweden - freighttrain style - in which case we are also out.

So far I think Denmark has played dull, slow and without a vision... so unless they are doped up or something tonight... |lightsabe

And we have a 2-2 draw sweden - denmark and Italy is out , hehehe |shake|

Hahaha |shake| |bananna|
What a game. It was like watching blind people having a snow fight :D

Italy actually won 2-1 over Bulgaria. So now watch the media tomorrow as they scream about conspiracies and what not :D

Yeah Italy is out! :)
Now everyone in Italy is causing Sweden and Denmark - and I say they should have won when they had a chance - if they played better they wouldn’t have to worry about other results

Heh... Danish consulate in Italy has gotten eggs thrown at it. Angry Italians are calling them threatening them with more eggs and flat tires on their cars :D

But yeah. They should stop whining. If you can't play ball good enough to qualify on your own... then |waves|

England vs Portugal

Tonight in Lisbon.

Look out for Wayne Rooney!!!

Come on England!!!

Germany sent home like in 1945 :D |couch|

EURO 2004: Winning spirit drives Portugal
 

Success has come thick and fast for Portugal's flying left-back Nuno Valente ever since he made his international debut against England less than two years ago, at the ripe old age of 27. Back-to-back league titles with FC Porto, not to mention UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League winner's medals, have helped to transform the once journeyman footballer into a confident, classy international player.

National expectations
But the 29-year-old star is now experiencing the weight of an entire nation's expectations for the very first time in his career, as he and his team-mates prepare for Portugal's moment of destiny in Thursday's UEFA EURO 2004™ quarter-final with England at the Estádio da Luz.

Rooney threat
And Nuno Valente is more than aware that the precocious talent of England teenager Wayne Rooney is the next, and biggest so far, obstacle standing in the way of a sensational European Championship triumph on home soil for Luiz Felipe Scolari's talented side.

'Man of the moment'
"Wayne Rooney is the man of the moment, there is no doubt about that," Nuno Valente told euro2004.com. "He has shown himself to be a fabulous striker - he's been absolutely sensational. All of Portugal's defenders will have to work together and be at their very best to keep him quiet on Thursday night."

Extra stars
But the Portuguese defender believes it would be wrong to assume that stopping the tournament's leading goalscorer will be enough to see Portugal through. "The thing about England that makes them special is that they are a team full of stars, so even if you keep Wayne Rooney quiet, they have [Michael] Owen, [Steven] Gerrard, [David] Beckham and [Frank] Lampard who can also hurt you," he said.

Confidence rising
Since their crushing late collapse at the hands of France in their opening game, Sven-Göran Eriksson's England side have impressed. With eight goals to their name already, they are the competition's highest scorers and are now beginning to emerge as genuine contenders to win the tournament.

Good form
And their form has not gone unnoticed in the Portuguese camp, according to Nuno Valente, who said: "England's confidence has obviously increased since their excellent performance against Croatia, so we must be aware throughout that England pose a great threat to us. They are a very talented team."

Spanish boost
But after suffering a scare or two of their own on the way to the knockout stages, Nuno Valente senses his side are hungry for success too. "Our 1-0 win against Spain has given the team great belief and I know that the players and fans all believe that we can now go even further in the competition," he said.

Scent of success
Certainly, the Porto players who form the core of the Portugal first team have the smell of victory in their nostrils after their success in this season's Champions League. And Nuno Valente believes that the Porto factor has seen other sides tread more carefully against Portugal.

Renewed respect
"We have a lot of Porto players within this team and people who play against us know that Porto are European champions," Nuno Valente said. "We have noticed a different mood from the opposition when they face Portugal now. And this change in attitudes helps us as well. It gives us confidence."

Important half
Whether England walk in fear of Portugal remains to be seen. All that Nuno Valente will say is that he expects a massive first half, predicting: "Against England it should be a great game, but I believe it will be decided in the first 45 minutes."

doing the beer run in about 20 minute..come on England!

Well... I don't really know what to say.

On one hand I am happy that England didn't get to weasel a 1-0 lead home by playing ultra-defensive.

On the other hand I am NOT happy that Portugal won... because they didn't really play that well at all.

England can play A LOT better than they did today. In a perfect world England should and would have won 4-1 or something like that. They have a great team.
Weird game indeed.

But seriously... what exactly is it that Beckham brings to the field?? 2 penalties misses now?? |couch|

One thing is for sure – this was the most exciting game in Euro 2004 !!

I got this SMS after he game from a mate of mine in the UK - pretty much sums it really 'Do you think we'll have to go through shit refs, shit managers, shit tactics, shit pens and Sol Cambell goals forever'.

We were robbed really... that ref was fucking useless!! Erikson must go though - his tactics are shit - England sat back and and tried to defend their lead after Owen scored, which was a big mistake!

Totally robbed. :(

But it's only a game. :)

NFL Preseason starts August 9th..... |couch|

|escape|

"Football is not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that" — Bill Shankly

Couldn't resist the Shankley quote Urb :-)

Here's a few more classics from Motty and Moore.

http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/...ooromotty.html

If Beckham had any balls at all (but we all know that he has no balls...) he should have said:

No, I will not shoot that penelty because right now I suck!
Let someone else take it!

GO SWEDEN TONIGHT!

/Thomas

Well... now its all up to Denmark... |bananna|

|viking|

Sweden *and* Denmark both join England and France... on the plane home. :(

Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece and Holland go through.

http://www.euro2004.com/tournament/index.html

Yeah. Well when you play soccer with the same speed and skills like little-league... you won't win at this level. It was embarrasing to watch |angry|

now it's up to Holland to save it |violin|

The UEFA referee who's decision knocked England out of Euro 2004, has only just managed to get his web site back online.

|touchdown Allegedly, it seems as if it's been under attack for the last few days.

it's still offline for me |knockout|

You bloody pommies are like the terrorists of the sporting world you know!?! Half the English sport "fans" seem to "celibrate" losing more then they do winning too! (with a riot)

Lucky Henman beat the Poo.. wouldn't want your lot angry at us colonials too :p

It must be a common outlet Englishmen use for all that supressed passion bundled up behind always having "good manners" I reckon :)

The English and "good manners" parted company several years ago.

hehe I dunno Urb.. without wanting to pigeon hole every Englishman, I personally find it noticeable how much more polite you lot seem to be than average.

Is this still going on? Same thing as the matches I've seen advertised on TV that are being played here in the States?

Or am I really confused? :D

No it's finished... and Greece won.

I don't think you're confused.

My, this thread has loads of replies doesn't it?

What? Euro 2004? Oh yeah... we had a tournament this year. I already forgot that dreadful tournament... Greece as champions. What has the world come to |jester|

I am already preparing for the Olympics... |bananna|

This is what I'm talking aobut - or at least the matches featuring the UK teams playing here in the States.

Urb - :D

Hehehe... hey I remember seing commercials and billboards similar to this last year when I visited New York. I believe it was Manchester United vs. Inter Milan or something.

Man... it looks like they desperately are trying to make you Americans like soccer.
Personally I would much rather see NY Giants vs. Seahawks at MY local stadium |bananna|

Go England!|knockout|

a small note: i won over $7k in the euro |roses|

The post mark on my Pussycash check gives me a clue to who you backed to win. ;)