A sad day for football

talk about sour grapes...what a bad loser!!

anyway, its good for the underdog to win...

I'm glad Greece won - it was good for the footballers...I mean, they beat you twice, and they also beat the french!!

tho, it would have been good for the portugal fans if they had of won tho...

 

It looks to me like the Greeks had a definite game plan, and on the evidence of last night they defended superbly. Let's face it a team that beats Portugal twice, France, and the Czech republic, must have something going for it. You can have one fluke but not that many

 

I agree with Robbo. At the end of the day, it's all about goals, goals and more goals. On the day, the Greeks were the better side. Defensive stategy or not, they played the better football and luck had nothing to do with it. Btw, what exactly is luck and where does it come from as I don't believe it exists?

I expected more of the Portuguese but was disappointed at the way they played. Ronaldo displayed one too many tricks and if only he could focus less on the tricks and start aiming for the goal, Portugal don't stand a chance in a major competitions especially against a team with a good defensive strategy. The best thing about the Portugues team was their manager. Perhaps England might want to consider him as a replacement for Sven Erikson as I think he could do a better job for less money?

Ah yes, Holland - what a disappointment and why exactly is Clarence Seedorf still playing at international level where his weaknesses are all too evident for everyone to see? Perhaps it's time for a new Manager for the Holland team - one who is not afraid to take risks.



Enjoy the music,

Lawrie.

 

If Portugal had beaten Greece 1-0, in the same manner, would anyone be complaining ?

Oh, it's gone very quiet.

 

I imagine the Greeks would be complaining However, Portugal would never stoop to such a cynical way of playing. Roll on Germany 2006, where Portugal will likely reach the quarters at least and the Greeks will have returned to their rightful position in international football, ie nowhere :MILD:

To turn your question around, I'm sure that the people knocking Portugal here would be singing a rather different tune had England lost to the Greeks in the same manner

Michael.

 

I'm sure you're right but being a Scotsman I couldn't care less - pass the bagpipes .

Eh, cynical ? I'd rather see Greece win in the manner they did than watch Deco attempt to con the ref. at every possible occassion. The only medal he is likely to win is for diving at the Olympics.....in Greece.

 

Another Deco hater - there can't be much room left on that bandwagon

Since you mention the Olympics, Portugal will have an earlier chance to win retribution. To win the Olympic football gold medal on Greek soil

Michael.

 

Michael, I'm a Chelsea supporter and he was supposedly top of Jose Mourinho's 'wish list'. I'm glad we've avoided him. I remember all the hype surrounding him before the Champions League final and he was poor then.

My g/f is a Portugal supporter [she has a thing for Nuno Gomes ] and she demanded that we watch all the Portugal games. Even she was shouting at Deco !

In the first Greece game, there was a point were one of his passes was so bad that Figo actually 'applauded' him - no love lost there.

And those two free kicks he took in the 2nd half, last night; everybody in the box and what does he do ?
Tries to shoot from 35/40 yards .

Sorry - but he's crap.

 

maybe not,but they have their fair share of divers,Deco and Ronaldo deserve several Oscars for their performances

 

And remember those two "shots" would have been included in Michael's stats showing how dangerous and unlucky the Portuguese were

 

Yeah – like that would make up for it – you might as well hold a Subbuteo competition for all the Olympic football competition is worth.

If England had lost to Greece in that manor we’d be moaning about our team’s lack of finishing skills – which is all Portugal can moan about really – you had the potential in bucket loads – endless attacking moves but you couldn’t stick the ball in the net which is what matters at the end of the day.

There was nothing cynical about the way Greece played – it wasn’t exciting but they don’t have the players for this – they played to their strengths and played fairly.

As I’ve said already – the main aim of the game is to score more goals than your opponents – if you can play with style and flair too then great but this shouldn’t be at the expense of the main aim of winning the game.

The English amongst us know how much it hurts to go out and it must be even worse to fall at the final hurdle in your own back yard but there comes a point where the Portuguese need to say to themselves: “It was a pretty clean game, there were no contentious decisions and no penalty shoot out – we lost fair and square in normal time”.

Matt.

 

Diving is a fact of football unfortunately. England has it's own Oscar winners for that such as Owen and, to a lesser extent, Gerrard. Owen has gained at least a couple of penalties for England in the past where the opposing player didn't even touch him, much less trip him up. Portugal's players don't dive any more than those of other teams.

I actually thought the refs in this tournament were pretty good at ignoring dives and yellow carding players for bogus penalty claims.

Matt - I only mentioned the Olympics because they're happening in Greece (assuming they finish the stadiums on time of course ). The next test will of course be Germany '06 where Portugal will build on their success at Euro2004, and I'd be surprised if Greece even qualify.

Michael.

 

Heres a present Michael

 

as in playing defensively when you haven't got a world class striker

 

It's OK Paul, I was wearing my Portugal shirt today with pride, knowing we have the best team in Europe, even if the result didn't reflect that fact

Michael.

 

As a BBC Radio 5 Live sports presenter said this morning: "Portugal should look at it this way - they're nearly as good as Greece"

Matt.

 

Portugal Euro 2004

Played 6

Won 3

Drew 1

Lost 2

Goals for 8

Goals against 6

Hardly a great home record I think you will agree and not likely to have the rest of the footballing world quaking in their boots just yet.

And don't forget most of your star players have just about reached the end of their career (Rui Costa, Figo) which is not the case with many other outfits.

Nationalistic fervour should not be allowed to distort the facts IMO.

 

German manager,says it all really,comes from the most consistant european footballing team since time began.

 

Well!

Quite heated debate really.

I thought Greece were solid at the back (rock solid) and determined and pretty good at the front.

Portugal were sometimes inspired at the front, with a defence that seemed easy to penetrate.

I dont think Greece had cynical play, I think Portugal were just more likely to concede a goal.

I hope Portugal improve their defence for the world cup, and I hope England improve their midfield!

Well done to Greece, I hope they enjoy every minute

 

merlin, Portugal won the game against England or perhaps you don't remember? Doesn't matter that it was on penalties, they won. So they won 4 out of 6, no draws and lost 2.

Whatever the result, I don't think anyone can honestly say that Greece were the best team in the tournament. I would say that at least Portugal, England, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic were better teams and would have been happy to have seen any of them win it. If we'd lost to the Czechs in the final I would be a lot less gutted than I am now.

The funny thing is, if we'd gone out in the Qtrs or Semis I wouldn't have been half as p*ssed off as I am for losing in the final which is odd, since it's the best result ever for Portugal in a major footie tournament. Qtrs at Euro 96, Semis at Euro 2000, Final at Euro 2004 is not a bad record at all

Michael.