EURO 2008

Anybody interested in the European Soccer Championship here?

The tournament is hosted by Switzerland and Austria (the championship is held only every four years). Huge huge party till now!

The quarterfinals are over:
Portugal - Germany (Germans win 3-2)
Croatia - Turkey (Turks win 1-1 (a.e.t.) ; 3-1 on penalties)
Netherlands - Russia (Russians win 3-1 (a.e.t.))
Spain - Italy (Spaniards win 0-0 (a.e.t.) ; 4-2 on penalties)


The semifinals are over:
Germany - Turkey (Germans win 3-2)
Russia - Spain (Spaniards win 3-0)

The final is over:
Germany - Spain (Spain wins 1-0)



Switzerland is already out of the tournament....

Hmm.....who are the other teams still alive?

Nevermind - I found the info.

GO SPAIN!

Oh yeah, the other quartefinals are Spain-Italy (GO SPAIN) and Netherlands-Sweden/Russia (Go Sweden?)

Ireland didn't even make the tourney Hey, wait a second - neither did England. Aren't they like super good? Why didn't they make it?

Oh yeah, GO SPAIN!

catbox_9 wrote:

Hmm.....who are the other teams still alive?

Nevermind - I found the info.

GO SPAIN!

Oh yeah, the other quartefinals are Spain-Italy (GO SPAIN) and Netherlands-Sweden/Russia (Go Sweden?)

Ireland didn't even make the tourney Hey, wait a second - neither did England. Aren't they like super good? Why didn't they make it?

Oh yeah, GO SPAIN!

It's Netherlands - Russia. Russia won against Sweden yesterday 2-0. They were absolutley awesome and played a couple of classes better than Sweden. They have the youngest of all teams.

catbox_9 wrote:

Ireland didn't even make the tourney Hey, wait a second - neither did England. Aren't they like super good? Why didn't they make it?

It was a huge surprise that England could not qualify for Euro2008. Every european team has to go through a qualification with other teams. Only the best two of each group are qualified.
England was only third behind Croatia and Russia.
Ireland was only third too in their group (behind Germany and Czech Republic).

First quarterfinal today: Germany - Portugal.
I have to root for Germany 'cause my mother is from there. So i'm half swiss and half german.
Portugal is very strong though... will be a tough match for Germany.

swiss_tiger wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

Ireland didn't even make the tourney Hey, wait a second - neither did England. Aren't they like super good? Why didn't they make it?

It was a huge surprise that England could not qualify for Euro2008. Every european team has to go through a qualification with other teams. Only the best two of each group are qualified.
England was only third behind Croatia and Russia.
Ireland was only third too in their group (behind Germany and Czech Republic).

I just researched all the qualification info and what not. Ireland has only qualified once. England is supposed to qualify always.

swiss_tiger wrote:

First quarterfinal today: Germany - Portugal.
I have to root for Germany 'cause my mother is from there. So i'm half swiss and half german.
Portugal is very strong though... will be a tough match for Germany.

Go Portugal

Go Germany!

This will be a great matchup i think! I will go to the brewery with my friends and watch it there.

I've been to Portugal, I haven't been to Germany. Go Portugal! I'd say something in Portuguese to cheer them on but none of my Portuguese will help them out. Ola, bom dia is about all I know :haha:

catbox_9 wrote:

I've been to Portugal, I haven't been to Germany. Go Portugal! I'd say something in Portuguese to cheer them on but none of my Portuguese will help them out. Ola, bom dia is about all I know :haha:

:lol: I have no clue there. Never learned Portuguese either.
It's a beautiful country i heard. My parents were there a couple of years ago.

Yeah, it is nice. It is incredibly hot and humid there (at least in Lisbon). It's like Michigan I guess. At the time it was the first time I'd ever been in heat like that. I about died. I was in Madrid right before that and it was HOT, but not humid (like 38 Celsius hot!). We got to Lisbon and were like "it's in the low 30s here!". Too bad it was worse!

Sintra is really neat especially the palace there. Too bad we were idiots and didn't take a bus and walked up that giant hill...

Palácio Nacional da Pena:

Be hot and humid all next week here;



Why can't the Tigers be home this week!


Last I checked it was 65 degrees under mostly cloudy skies!


Perfect for a Thursday Afternoon Game


92 and humid next Thursday against the Cardinals!


I might not even go!


I been using my personal, sick days and vacation time to attend those weekday day games.



Gonna need a few for all those weekday day playoff games that idiot Selig will schedule us

Sorry that has nothing to do with Euro 2008.


Then again; not like we get a lot coverage of it here in Trashy Park

Germany-Portugal starts at 11:45 PT.

I just realized something - I can name a player on Portugal! Christiano Ronaldo is on the team, right? Is there a Luis Figo or did I make that up?

Soccer is cool though!


They have tie games?

Don't They?


I miss Tie Games in the NHL and College Football; and there hasn't been a Tie in the NFL since 02

No ties now - it's the knockout stage. They have to have winners.

At least they have them.



Shootouts suck in the NHL; Rather see a tie game.



Gordie Howe never played in a NHL regular season shootout

German wins 3-2

They scored 2 goals and still lost! That's pretty rare for soccer....err....football :haha:

catbox_9 wrote:

German wins 3-2

They scored 2 goals and still lost! That's pretty rare for soccer....err....football :haha:

You are fast! Wow! I just got home now. What a game. The Germans really deserved this win. I never ever thought they can beat Portugal! Great game, awesome win!
And you're right, 3-2 is not a score you see that often.

Tomorrow: Turkey vs. Croatia. Hmmmm.... difficult to predict. I'll go with Croatia i think. Much more experienced players. I'll watch it again of course. Hey, this tournament is only every four years!

catbox_9 wrote:

I can name a player on Portugal! Christiano Ronaldo is on the team, right? Is there a Luis Figo or did I make that up?

You are absolutley correct! There is just one problem: Ronaldo can not do this alone. He is an awesome player. But the rest is just not this good.
Luis Figo was one of the best soccer players ever for me. He resigned last year i think.

catbox_9 wrote:

No ties now - it's the knockout stage. They have to have winners.

No ties now. One of the teams have to win now in the quarterfinals. But normally there is a tie in soccer.
There is a overtime of 2x15minutes. After that the showdown starts with the penalty kicks.

Turkey is part of Europe? I thought they were part of Sub Asia and the Middle East?


They are all Muslims?

Aren't They?

swiss_tiger wrote:

Tomorrow: Turkey vs. Croatia. Hmmmm.... difficult to predict. I'll go with Croatia i think. Much more experienced players. I'll watch it again of course. Hey, this tournament is only every four years!

Tough for me to care about this one. I've never been to either country and have little opinion of either country

Current FIFA rankings:
Croatia - 15
Turkey - 20

Hmm....I'll pick Croatia, but go Turkey! Winner plays Germany.


As for the other games...
Netherlands vs. Russia. The Dutch are probably favored, but go Russia. Russia has had little international success whereas Holland has more. On a completely unrelated note, how do Holland, the Netherlands, and the Dutch all refer to similar things? Those 3 words aren't alike at all

Italy-Spain. This should be a good one between two superpowers. GO SPAIN!

gs78 wrote:

Turkey is part of Europe?

They're part of UEFA, that's all that counts. Australia is in the AFC (Asian Football Conference) despite the fact Australia isn't generally considered a part of Asia and they have the OFC (Oceanic Football Conference?). Israel is part of UEFA, too as opposed to the Asian one where the rest of the Middle East is. That's probably for safety concerns though.

Also, I think Turkey is part of Europe anyways and will be using the Euro soon but I'm not really sure about that.

swiss_tiger wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

I can name a player on Portugal! Christiano Ronaldo is on the team, right? Is there a Luis Figo or did I make that up?

You are absolutley correct! There is just one problem: Ronaldo can not do this alone. He is an awesome player. But the rest is just not this good.
Luis Figo was one of the best soccer players ever for me. He resigned last year i think.

I knew I knew something! I watch the World Cup very closely every time. I had to wake up at like 6 AM for all the matches last time but I watched anyways. It's funny, other than these major tournaments soccer interests me about as much as watching darts but for the major international competitions soccer becomes like my favorite sport. I always buy a soccer videogame around the World Cup so I can play. I play as Spain because that's my international team for some reason. I also cheer for England, N. Ireland, Portugal, regular Ireland, Italy, and the US () but Spain is #1.

Soccer Number 1 sport in the World;


Except the United States!



More people watch NASCAR than Soccer here

Well the US is pretty bad at soccer. Americans only back winners - we win at just about everything else. Why cheer for a team in one of the few sports where we're terrible?

The U.S. Womens Team has won tournaments

gs78 wrote:

The U.S. Womens Team has won tournaments

Women's sports? I'd rather watch paint dry

catbox_9 wrote:

swiss_tiger wrote:

Tomorrow: Turkey vs. Croatia. Hmmmm.... difficult to predict. I'll go with Croatia i think. Much more experienced players. I'll watch it again of course. Hey, this tournament is only every four years!

Tough for me to care about this one. I've never been to either country and have little opinion of either country

Current FIFA rankings:
Croatia - 15
Turkey - 20

Hmm....I'll pick Croatia, but go Turkey! Winner plays Germany.


As for the other games...
Netherlands vs. Russia. The Dutch are probably favored, but go Russia. Russia has had little international success whereas Holland has more. On a completely unrelated note, how do Holland, the Netherlands, and the Dutch all refer to similar things? Those 3 words aren't alike at all

Italy-Spain. This should be a good one between two superpowers. GO SPAIN!

I don't care about Turkey or Croatia either (i like turkish food though... :lol: so... Go Turkey!). Let's see who will be Germanys opponent in the semi-finals. The Germans are getting better and better. It's a tournament-team. The higher the pressure, the better they play.

Which unfortunately for you cat is not the case with Spain.
They are always awesome in the preliminary round, but as soon as the quarter- or semi-finals start, they begin to struggle. Don't know why. But definitely GO SPAIN! (kick out the pizza connection :lol: )

Netherlands are (that's what everybody tells you here) the best team till now and the favorite to win the championship. Suddenly everybody here buys Netherland jerseys and t-shirt and caps and everything. Welcome to the bandwagon...
I really like the russian because they are so young and already play this good. They are not that consistent (yet). Maybe this tournament is 1 or 2 year too early for them. But we will see them in South Africa for the World Cup for sure! Go Russia!