Roll Up, Roll up For Germany/Czech Rep and Holland/Latvia!

mike65

So another crunch evening approaches - with one of the big teams (allegedly!) going out tonight. Will it be Germany who are a shadow of thier old selves or the Dutch who could be brilliant but these days are'nt.

The Czechs are fielding a weakened side but still have quality.

From beeb-

Germany (probable): Kahn, Friedrich, Woerns, Nowotny, Lahm, Hamann, Baumann, Schweinsteiger, Ballack, Frings, Kuranyi.

Czech Republic (probable): Blazek, Hubschman, Ujfalusi, Bolf, Jiranek, Plasil, Tyce, Smicer, Vachousek, Heinz, Baros.

The Latvians have a once in a lifetime oppotunity, can they win and go through on the back of a German loss/draw?

Holland (probable): Van der Sar, Stam, F de Boer, Van Bronkhorst, Reiziger, Cocu, Davids, Seedorf, Robben, Van der Meyde, Van Nistelrooy

Latvia (probable): Kolinko, Stepanovs, Zemlinskis, Isakovs, Blagonadezdins, Rubins, Lobanovs, Astafjevs, Bledielis, Prohorenkovs, Verpakovskis

I'll go for a Czech win and a Dutch win.

Mike.

KdjaCL

I give up predicting.


kdjac

BaZmO*

Originally posted by KdjaC
I give up predicting.


kdjac

LOL.

I know how you feel mate!!!

eirebhoy

I'm definitely going for Germany to qualify. All they have to do is beat a weakened Czech side who have absolutely nothing to play for.

PHB

I hope thats not true, I really don't want Germany to get through
I think the dutch deserve to go through for their attacking football

Harry2001

I also think Germany will do it tonight

Germany 2 Czech Rep 1

Holland 3 Latvia 1

eyerer

argueably some of the lesser czech players will want to impress to get picked for the quarter final match, so will have something to play for

i also want holland to make it because they are more interesting to watch, and despite some of their performances they can still play well if they feel like it

what are the odds on latvia?
i don't give them a chance, but look at bulgaria last night, very nearly took points of an italy side that had to win, the same side that got beat 5-0 and looked awful against denmark

naitkris

Latvia to win and Germany to draw...

Raskolnikov

Like some of the others have said, it's impossible to perdict what'll happen. Latvia certainly won't be a push over for the Dutch and the Germans are going to find it very difficult to penetrate Czech defences.

Here's my perdiction (hopelessly wrong probably too!)

Holland 1 - Latvia 1 with Latvia taking an early lead, then conceding a goal in the last ten minutes of the game.

Czech Rep 1 - Germany 1, the Czechs to catch Germany on the break, scoring just before half time. Germany then under huge pressure to score in the final half when they eventually nick one.

A general comment on the tournament too for shíts and giggles. I agreed with the RTE panel last night, the top teams have not been preforming. France and Italy have been lacklustre, Spain and Holland awful. Because of this, they are playing closer to the level of the likes of Sweden, Denmark and England. I think that English spirit and drive could be a critical factor for them in the tournament, after initially backing Spain to win I'm going to go with England.

muffen

Alright, I have two predictions.

This is the one I hope for (just because then Sweden play Latvia in the 1/4 final):
Czech 2 Germany 0
Latvia 1 Holland 0

This is the one I think will happen though:
Czech 1 Germany 3
Holland 1 Latvia 1

In any case, I belive Germany will go through with Czech rep.

Dewey

I cant see Holland beating Latvia by 4 or 5 goals because they know it they win they might have a chance of getting into the quaters-finals.

So i will go for Holland to win 2-1.

Czechs players want to impress and will be up for the Germany game. They were poor agaisnt latvia but never right off the Germans.

So i will go for a 1-1.

( oh a side note, i would love to see Ruudy score 4 or 5, i have down as top scorer and it could be his last game:( )

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Dewey
oh a side note, i would love to see Ruudy score 4 or 5, i have down as top scorer and it could be his last game

I wouldn't get your hopes up.:p

mike65

Czechs are fielding Z team! Germany to win then.

Mike.

Harry2001

Yep 9 changes, I think even Germany can beat Czech Republic second XI

eirebhoy

The Czech's peformance with a reserve team just shows how strong and underrated they are. 1-1 in that match, Ballack and Heinz with the goals, and 2-0 to Holland, van Nistlerooy with both. The goals in th Germany match were superb.

eirebhoy

Baros >>> Owen!

He's just scored again to bring his record to 19 goals in 29 international matches at the age of 22. I have to say, Houllier wasn't bad for spotting talent, it's just a pity he couldn't get them to play well.

mike65

Ha! Germany to win my arse...as soon as Baros got up I knew they'd loose. I hope he takes this form into the Premiership.

Mike.

thejollyrodger

Great to see Holland going through with the czechis (as the czechs call themselves). I think Germany have been on decline since before the last world cup and its only right that they dont go through.

Its been a strange Euro finals, it looks like football is on decline in some of the big countries like Italy and Germany

KdjaCL

Not on a decline just think so called smaller teams aint respecting them as they used to.
The smaller teams have top notch coaches now and are seriously putting it up the bigger teams.
Not a bad thing but in last 10 years its getting more and more commonplace, even the Euro and Wc groups are tightly fought groups of death with noone actually remembering the team that came 3rd was a point behind a so called super nation.

kdjac

KdjaCL

Originally posted by mike65
Ha! Germany to win my arse...as soon as Baros got up I knew they'd loose. I hope he takes this form into the Premiership.

Mike.

if he i s still in it next year ,playing very well now and not at liverpool ,wouldnt be surprised if he went.

kdjac

pickarooney

Damn and blast it, the Dutch are through Another few days at least of lairy orange-clad **** acting the smug tit at work/in the pub/on the street...
Latvia were shamefully bad, at one stage they had just gone 2-0 down and had managed to win a corner. Two men went up for it and the ball sailed a mile wide. That was their best attack in the first half.
Holland starting to click at last, and with Sweden looking less than impressive against the Danes, a semi-final place is likely. Czech Rep should take Denmark with ease, as should France against a Greek side who've already had their finest moment in this competition. England-Portugal should be the pick of the quarters, and I reckon Sven's lot will nick it, with Owen scoring at last.

Ronan|Raven

Gah! Damn you schneider. An empty goal and he hits it wide. Over the 3 games germany didnt deserve to progress but wouldnt have cared how they played had they done so! No real cutting edge at all up front. I think back to the German team of the '96 final. Such great players gone and not the calibre to replace them from that era (88-96).

Ho hum. I think rudi will leave although he still has massive support from the public. perhaps the german league no more than the spanish and italian has to many foriegeners in it.. but that is a debate for another day.

Offtopic
No doubht after these great performances by Baros Liverpool will sell him

George Hamilton asked why he doesnt do this for Liverpool? Well he doesnt get the chance for fear of upsetting St Michael.

Dont be at yourself

Baros deserves to be in the team ahead of Owen, and hopefully Benitez will recognise this.

On a side note, if Stevie G were to go (and that's looking fairly certain at this stage), I'd love to see Ballack replace him. Not too unrealistic either, with him being unhappy at Bayern. Weren't there stories he was going to Barce for a paltry €10million?

mr_angry

Originally posted by KdjaC
if he i s still in it next year ,playing very well now and not at liverpool ,wouldnt be surprised if he went.

kdjac

I'm pretty sure Benitez will be looking to keep him. After all, he seems to like playing the same 4-5-1 formation that the Czechs played tonight, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Baros as his striker. At the same time, he could be up against Owen and Cisse for that position. Although the way Owen is playing...

KdjaCL

Benitez wants Aimar so he be the player behind the striker and his last striker was Mistal a small finsiher type player ,but he hadnt many options at Valencia i reckon he keep everyone he can and add one or 2 players now . And maybe at Xmas sell or buy players.


Pool would prefer that ii imagine for the whole continuity thing they like so much.


kdjac

Dewey

I'm delighted Holland are in the quarter finals. they deserve to be there plus i have Ruudy to be top scorer and he already has 4. I cant belive Germany didnt beat a second string Czech Republic side. I know Germany came close but they really slipped up with the 0-0 with Latvia.
Full credit to the Czechs for being the only side in Euro 2004 to played 3 win 3. I would expect them to beat Denmark by the odd goal to get into the semi's. and then who knows?

redspider

DE 1 - 2 CZ

Well, the Germans are out. I think they played ok in their game and had
chances to score. They could have easily won it. But football, being the
sport that it is meant that they hit posts, missed scoreable chances and
the Czech's finished their opportunities well, notably Baros. So, German football
stays in its dip and the Czech's, notable rivals of them, will be more than pleased
with this scalp. CZ v DK next and I expect CZ to win that.

NL 3 - 0 LA

The Latvians didn't put much effort into this game. The Dutch created
the most chances and deserved their win. Two of the goals were a bit
dubious. The first was a foul well outside the box, nothing was committed
inside so it was not a penalty. The second was scored by van Nistelrooy
but he was in an offside position as the ball was passed in, so once again
the linesmen and ref missed it. Thats the second goal he has illegally scored.
The third was a good goal and well finished by Makaay.
NL v SE next and I expect NL to win it, just.

The winner is likely to be one of FR, CZ or EN(yikes!).

Devious

Aaarrrggh im absolutely disgusted with Germany (because i had money riding on them, obviously!). Failing to beat Latvia was really a new low for them, and last nights shambles was further proof that they're on the decline big time.

To be honest, though, I blame Voeller more than the players. I loved him as a player, but he is incapable as a manager. Two examples: his persistance in playing Schweinsteiger on the left when he clearly performed better on the right against the Dutch and secondly, playing Kuranyi as a lone striker (Klose should have come on earlier for Schneider - what an awful, awful player). Oh well, back to the drawing board Rudi.

thejollyrodger

I was quite disapointed with the German display. Numerous comments throughout Europe were saying that football is in decline there and I totally agree. I dont belive that the smaller countries have raised their game to the same standard, its defintely the other way around.

I was watching RTE (throughout the tournament as anyone would get sick of the commentators on BBC/UTV) and noticed John Giles and Liam Brady getting quite depressed and sarcastic with some of their comments. I couldnt agree more. Some of the displays by Italy,Germany,Spain and even France to a lesser extent have been dismal and shockingly bad.

The czechis have shown great spirit and professionalism to go out and win a match that they didnt even have to , from a goal behind as well !! This was something sadly missing in many of the bigger teams.

Holland looked like they have "gelled" a bit. I thought Davids was playing great like he used to and there is some great players in that team. COME ON HOLLAND

Dont be at yourself

That's three matches they've came from behind to win as well, they really do have a fighting spirit!

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Devious
Oh well, back to the drawing board Rudi.

Back to the dole Rudi. He's resigned.:D

pickarooney

Lesson to Denmark - don't score first!

bucks73

Just a couple of points that RTE and BBC both highlighted last night:

1. Germany have not won a Europen Championship Finals match since Euro96.

2. Germany have not beaten a European team in the World Cup or Euro Championship finals since 1996.

IMO they are the worst German team I have ever seen. Not a whole lot worse than 2 years ago but in Korea they had a handy draw the whole way through.

Its nothing to do with other countries catching up with them its because they are not producing the players like they used to. Ballack and Khan are the only two world class players on the present team. Back in 1990 they had Klinsmann, Voller, Matthaus, Kohler, Buchwald, Brehme, Littbarski and Haessler. Riedle, Reuter and Moeller were all on the bench for the final. Some side.

Last night Nowotny and Worns played at the back. Both these muppets played in the 5-1 defeat to England. Neither should have played for their country again but it shows how desperate they are. At least they dont have to worry about qualifying for 2006.

Same as Italy, they havent got the players either. Spain on the other hand have the players but never seem to gel or make too many mistakes.