A Sea Of Red

Anybody watching at all?

The first match has already brought some intrigue and one fantastic moment from an unlikely source. Poland, as one of the host countries (along with Ukraine), was expected to pull the win against Greece in the tournament's opener. At 17 minutes they went up on a goal by Borussia Dortmund star striker Robert Lewendowski. In the 44th minute, Greece went down to 10 men as Werder Bremen defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off on a 2nd yellow (an awful call on replay). In the 51st minute, halftime sub Dimitrios Salpingidis (apparently without a current club team) scored for the 10 man side to even the score at 1-1. Minutes 68-71 provided some real theater as Greece got behind the Poland back line and Arsenal goalie Wojciech Szczęsny took a player down in the area for a straight red as the last defender and a penalty shot awarded. Backup national team and backup PSV Eindhoven keeper Przemyslaw Tyton was allowed to stretch and warm up before saving the penalty shot from former Panathinaikos midfielder Giorgos Karagounis.

Extraordinary theater with the host nation crowd living and dying with each moment and a Greece squad that came in with serious injury worries, including starting a goalie who had only made 3 international appearances in the last 2 years, was able to squeak out a 1-1 draw giving them an unexpected point in the group round.

Was that copy/pasted from ap or something? Felt like I was reading the official recap.

I wish I was watching, but I didn't realize I could get SprintTV on my new iPhone until just now. Had it on my old phone, but didn't think it was available when I switched. I'm such stupid.

That was my own recap, but the years of watching GolTV and FoxSoccer, reading online recaps, and playing Football Manager have probably forced that approach into my subconscious.

NotAJerry wrote:Anybody watching at all?

Very exciting first game. The first half belonged to Poland and the second half was dominated by Greece. The 2 yellows given to Sokratis were both very harsh, and Greece was really lucky to be only down 1-nil at half. Salpingidis' equalizer was awesome though, and the rest of the match was fun to watch. A great way to start off the tournament. Also I really didn't expect Russia to dominate the Czech Republic like it did. That was very impressive.

The group of death plays tomorrow. Should be some of the best games to watch in this round.

Yes. Absolutely loved both games, but Greece/Poland was the most intriguing. Greece sort of got screwed on the two yellow cards/red cards.

Now to watch USA and Mexico in qualification tonight. And yes I'm rooting for Guyana even though they don't have a prayer.

The ORANGE were upset today but glad Deutchland was victorious.
Who doesn't love upsets?!

I'm getting to the point that I like Euro better than the World Cup. The finishing for Holland today was just awful. You can't have that in a "group of death."

I don't think people are giving Denmark as much credit as they should. They may not have the depth of Holland or Germany, but they're pretty loaded in the starting 11.

ESPN really needs to shake up the studio team. Bob Lee is okay, but Ballack takes about 30 seconds to put into English what he's thinking, and even then there's no depth to his comments. Alexi Lalas makes it interesting, but I don't trust anything he says. I've always enjoyed Tommy Smyth, though, and thought Kasey Keller was pretty good. The Italian traitor was pretty awful.

France or England?

My pick is England 2 - 1. I just wish I could watch it...

France really hasnt had a world star level player since Zidane. England I think has too many weapons and pulls away late. England 4-1

BJWilliams wrote:France really hasnt had a world star level player since Zidane. England I think has too many weapons and pulls away late. England 4-1

Without Rooney, England is going to have a hard time scoring today. I'm going to go with a 1-1 tie.

You guys are crazy. France is very good, England is not.

I'll go with England. Other then their fries bread and kissing, I have little use for things French

ALUmnus wrote:I don't think people are giving Denmark as much credit as they should. They may not have the depth of Holland or Germany, but they're pretty loaded in the starting 11.

ESPN really needs to shake up the studio team. Bob Lee is okay, but Ballack takes about 30 seconds to put into English what he's thinking, and even then there's no depth to his comments. Alexi Lalas makes it interesting, but I don't trust anything he says. I've always enjoyed Tommy Smyth, though, and thought Kasey Keller was pretty good. The Italian traitor was pretty awful.

Denmark is good, but Holland dominated the run of play and had the advantage in number and quality of chances. With that said, it's a rough group with 4 of the World top 10 in it.

ESPN is in a tough spot as I'm not sure how many quality people are available right now since I'm guessing NBC has snapped some up for Olympic coverage and Fox had their folks for the Champions League. It may just be that Ballack isn't comfortable enough with the language and isn't sure of what an American audience can follow. He does seem to bog things down though.

France 3-1. England just isn't very good and they've got a new coach trying to figure out how to implement what he wants/has to use with a very short lead up to the Euro. England winning this match would be a pretty big upset under the circumstances.

Purple Haize wrote:I'll go with England. Other then their fries bread and kissing, I have little use for things French

Don't undervalue those things. Without them, I'm pretty sure you'd get back in your pod and return to your home planet. I know I would.

TDDance234 wrote:

BJWilliams wrote:France really hasnt had a world star level player since Zidane. England I think has too many weapons and pulls away late. England 4-1

Without Rooney, England is going to have a hard time scoring today. I'm going to go with a 1-1 tie.

Good job, son.

NotAJerry wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:I'll go with England. Other then their fries bread and kissing, I have little use for things French

Don't undervalue those things. Without them, I'm pretty sure you'd get back in your pod and return to your home planet. I know I would.

Oh I don't. Trust me. But other then those 3 things.....

Ukraine just showed Poland how to take advantage of the home nation factor. Very exciting match with Schevchenko, who is old enough that he likely helped Noah load the ark, putting in 2 goals to win the match.

The Czech Republic is on pace to score approximately 25 goals against Greece today. Obviously won't happen, but they've got 2 in 6 minutes and are already pressing again.

Anyone going to watch Russia and Poland? Should be an interesting match... Russia looked strong against the Czech's.

Portugal-Denmark is just ridiculous. This 2nd half, and the last 5 minutes of the 1st half, has been extraordinary at almost every turn.

NotAJerry wrote:Portugal-Denmark is just ridiculous. This 2nd half, and the last 5 minutes of the 1st half, has been extraordinary at almost every turn.

Wish I could

NotAJerry wrote:Portugal-Denmark is just ridiculous. This 2nd half, and the last 5 minutes of the 1st half, has been extraordinary at almost every turn.

That match was defiantly intense and a great watch for a neutral. I'm starting to think Ronaldo has a little bit of the Lebron choking gene especially with that last chance he missed 1v 1 with the keeper. Fortunately for him his team bailed him out in the 87th. Here's hoping Germany secures 3 points against the Netherlands.

GOMEZ!!!!

And Again!!! Yesh Yesh!!!