Discussion The Football/Soccer Thread

[Mendes]

anyone knows when the euro-champ 2008 groups will be drawn???

December 2nd! Next monday :P Looking forward to it

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Wouldnt it be funny if 4 big team (i.e. Italy, France, Spain, German) ended up in one group? But i don't think that would be possible, just something weird that crossed my mind on the way home from work.

 

[Mendes]

That'd be awesome and it Is possible, I think :P Its unlikely, but every group will be composed of 2 teams that qualified in 2nd and 2 teams that qualified in 1st, so its very easy to witness a death group. Specially considering that France, Sweden, Portugal, Holland and Germany qualified in 2nd

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LOL Ronaldo is soooo evil :P I feel sorry for Sporting (or do I?)

 

[walkie]

according to uefa the seedings are clear for euro-2008

POT 1
Greece
Netherlands
Switzerland
Austria

POT 2
Crotia
Italy
Czech R.
Sweden

POT 3
Romania
Germany
Portugal
Spain

POT 4
Poland
France
Turkey
Russia

since spain and germany are in the same pot, they can not be in the same groups but it could be France, Italy, Germany/Spain and Netherlands..i think that would be the possible lethal group. and who knows it would since it is just random

 

[Mendes]

thanks for clearing up, walkie. I thought it'd be drawn according to the qualifiers position... What's the criteria for the POT's? I mean, like this it seems like it makes no difference if a team qualified in 1st or in 2nd, and it doesnt seem like its according to the uefa reputation either :/

 

[walkie]

well first of all host/s get in the first pot whatever their rankings so austria and switzerland get in first pot directly..

i dont know the exact mathematics but the for the rest:

fifa ranking + points you get in qualification + points you get at the last champ. (in this case euro-2004)

that is how the pots are created. but i dont see so much difference between pots, i mean even being in the first pot doesnt guarrentee that you will get an "easier" gruop, doesnt it??

 

[Mendes]

actually the 2nd and 3rd pots seem to be alot stronger than the others... with all due respect to the 1st and 4th's nations

 

[walkie]

well who knows?? if you look closely to the latest euro and world cups, you see there were big suprises, strongest european teams were critised, in other way "un-strong" eu-teams were more succesful... euro football developed much, almost all teams play good and only a few is better, i think nobody should underestimate its opponent in this tournament.

 

[Mendes]

I agree. Greece was the best example in the last Euro Cup... at our cost :'(
Well, in the champions league there's already many teams qualified to the next stage.
Chelsea, Barça, Inter and M.United assured the 1st spot. Arsenal, Sevilla, Milan and Roma are also qualified, discussing the 1st place only.

The most balanced group is the group A, with only 2 points separating the 1st from the last. Porto's in the lead and has a golden chance to win the group if we win the home match against Besiktas, even tough we had a heavy loss against l'pool this week. A draw could let us trough in 2nd place, but looking at the teams already qualified in 1st... I really want to avoid them in the next stage

 

[walkie]

to be honest as a turkish i dont see besiktas winning against porto at portugal. (i am not a besiktas-fan) but all i can say porto will have a difficult match and if they think besiktas is weak and underestimate them, they may even lose the game. besiktas is not so strong but turkish teams plays less professional more emotional they think they need to prove themselves so they really want to win this game....

 

[Mendes]

I dont think Porto will underestimate Besiktas or any team in CL. I think that's a good virtue that our team possesses. Also, Besiktas has already shown their quality in this group, thus the balance. With every team depending on themselves, both Porto-Besiktas and Marseille-Liverpool will certainly be amazing and emotional.

Porto may have a negative factor onto that game - the schedule. Our whole team played in the international matches last week, and this week we have 3 matches in 7 days, which is very heavy for our league. The game right before Besiktas will be the classic, Benfica-Porto, this saturday. I hope Porto can maintain the regular physical condition for the decisive game on CL

 

[Rahan]

that is how the pots are created. but i dont see so much difference between pots, i mean even being in the first pot doesnt guarrentee that you will get an "easier" gruop, doesnt it??

I think only the last qualifying sessions are taken into consideration for the EC.
WC uses indeed the FIFA ranking and the results from the last World Cups.

And yeah, being in Pot1 usually means you are in easier group since you can't play the other pot1 teams (which are supposed to be the strongest).

However, with a ridiculously weak host (Austria) and not-so scary title holder and host (Greece and Switzerland), most of the Pot1 are not Pot1 material. I have even heard that Holland deliberately lost their last game (one week ago) to Belarus to try to get into Pot2 (because they are not far above the czechs and it's better to avoid the Pot2 teams than the Pot1 one).

Overall, as Mendes said, Pots 2 and 3 are the strongest, but both Pot1 and 4 have a must-absolutely-avoid-team. (and if Holland and France are paired, we might have one of the toughest group ever).

As for the Champions League group A, I see Porto topping the group with Liverpool second. To be honest, Marseille had only one great game in the competition (at Liverpool, but it was more due to Liverpool sucking horribly that day). The home game against Besiktas was poor and they fluked to get one point (and almost two) against Porto. It was amazing they almost managed to tie Porto twice as Porto was head and shoulders better in both games. The Marseille team is finally "clicking" and delivering in the french league (they won their last 2 games while they won only 2 of their first 13 games), but Liverpool is just too strong.

 

[Mendes]

woooho! Porto got the win against Benfica in Lisbon xDDD
Porto ftw! 7 points separates us from the 2nd, and 13 from the 3rd :P
Quaresma decided the match 0-1 with a great goal!

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Euro 2008:

Group A:
-Switzerland
-Cech Republic
-Portugal
-Turkey

Group B:
-Germany
-Austria
-Croatia
-Poland

Group C:
-Holland
-Italy
-France
-Romenia

Group D:
-Greece
-Sweeden
-Spain
-Russia


Well, what many feared came true, as Holland stuck up with France, labeling group C as the death group. With Italy in there as well, we're going to see at least 1 favorite fall at the group stage. Romenia is apparently doomed.
Who would you guys bet to go trough to the next stage in each group?

 

[bax]

Yeah indeed, the Group C is exciting for neutral fans, but it will be a heart breaking for those teams' fans for sure.

My pick would be:
Group A: Portugal, Czech
Group B: Germany, Croatia
Group C: Italy, France
Group D: Spain, Russia

 

[Rahan]

Shit, Italy again ! (and with the dutch as well ...)

The germans and the croats should be happy. They are with the 2 weakest team of the competition.

Group A : Portugal, Switzerland
Group B : Germany, Croatia
Group C : France, Nederlands
Group D : Spain, Sweden

 

[Mendes]

I wouldnt say Poland is one of the 2nd weakest team of the competition, specially since they were in the same group as Portugal and they finished ahead of us... Still, a 'pleasant' group for Germany and Croatia, I agree. I must say I had a bad feeling about this draw when I saw Holland and France were drawn to the same group. Fortunately for us and the other teams from group C, Romenia was drawn. Very bad luck for them. I personally consider Romenia the weakest team after Austria.

My 2 cents:

A: Portugal, Czech Rep.
B: Germany, Croatia
C:Italy, Holland (France should stay out... they always eliminate us in the semi-finals :/)
D:Spain, Sweden

 

[rykarreolacr]

The outcome of Group C is so unpredictable... Anything could happen in such few matches between such amazing teams.
Romania shouldn't be underestimated, especially after their amazing qualification tournament.

 

[Patoz]

I personally consider Romenia the weakest team after Austria.

Mmmh, I don't think so... The Romenia has Chivu and Mutu that play in Serie A and are very strong [especially Mutu, that is the best scorer of Fiorentina].

(I beg) ITALY WILL WIN AGAINST FRANCE, HOLLAND AND ROMENIA!

 

[Lohnt]

Meh, everyone here is counting out the holders, these are my choices.
Group A:
-Cech Republic
-Turkey

Group B:
-Austria
-Croatia

Group C:
-Italy
-Romenia

Group D:
-Greece
-Spain

As for the winner, I'm picking Spain.. I think Greece will make it to the final 4, but Spain is the strongest team in my opinion, and unless they completely screw themselves, can take it easily.

 

[Epul]

Hey the FIFA World Club Championship has started. AC Milan is definitely the favourite to win the trophy... on paper at least....... In the past, big european clubs has failed to win this trophy..(barcelona came to mind here.....) which is a little odd and shows you in football anything can happen