June 10, 2004

Euro 2004

Posted by Chris

Endless playing with the BBC score predictor has me anticipating an England—France final with England beating Italy in the semis and France having knocked out the Dutch. But, of course, whatever happens in the real world, it won’t be that. The Dutch are the big mystery, of course, they always screw up in the end (and with Clarence Seedorf threatening to quit if he’s not played in his favourite position, it looks like business as usual). Group C looks the hardest to call: neck and neck between the Swedes and the Danes to avoid relegation [I meant non-qualification, of course]. And I expect the Germans to get just one point, a miserable goalless draw with Latvia. And the final victors? Like everyone else I can’t see beyond France.

[Update: my hot betting tip is Fernando Morientes for top scorer at 20/1]

Posted on June 10, 2004 12:35 PM UTC
Comments

Portugal is once again the pivot on which European rivalries will be settled, much port will be drunk and many romances started between local wenches and foreign soldiers. The 1809 Peninsular War will be replayed again: Faltering French will flee in front of the Energised English on Sunday driven by Frank “Wellington” Lampard.

However, a Spanish Armada will rewrite history and get revenge on the English in two weeks time as this time the weather will not favour David “Drake” Beckham. Then the Spaniards will ask for Gibraltar.

The Spaniards will beat the Italians for the crown on Sunday 4 July, and much will be made of the Madrid Train bombing in 2004 and United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the pivotal role of Spain as a bridge between Islam and the West.

Posted by wars without blood · June 10, 2004 01:16 PM

In a hurry I made every group stage game finish 0-0.

This has the effect of giving you Portugal v England, Sweden v Germany, France v Spain and Czech Rep. v Italy on the basis of how well they qualifed for Euro 2000 and the world cup in Japan.

Posted by Matthew · June 10, 2004 01:47 PM

Group C is definitely a nasty one…

I gave it a try and went wild… Here’s my quarter finals:

Spain vs. England
Italy vs. Germany
France vs. Portugal
Holland vs. Denmark

now I don’t dare go on from there… I just hope there’s no England vs. Germany. Not until there’s a EU directive capping the quantity of German-bashing crap that British tabloids can physically produce.

All other combinations would be great.

But I too am hoping the Spanish armada conquers all!

Posted by pepi · June 10, 2004 01:54 PM

Ok I went on, eliminated England (sorry) - possibly, after penalties with Spain where Beckham scores in the first half, then misses the penalty kick (a cruel but highly dramatic moment) - and ended up with Spain vs. Italy, France vs. Holland… final: Spain vs Holland, 3-1.

Way too optimistic.

Posted by pepi · June 10, 2004 02:08 PM

Sweden wins against Bulgaria and draws against the others. Denmark on the other hand wins against Bulgaria but lose against Italy so Sweden joins Italy in the quarter finals. Spain wins the whole thing.

Football is easy sometimes (you don’t have to remember I wrote that).

Posted by Dennis · June 10, 2004 02:09 PM

Easy predictions:
Spain looks good, loses somehow
Dutch self-destruct
Germans bully their way in
Italy advances, but no one can explain how
England loses in hard fought close match
Denmark inexplicably scores a lot of goals
France wins

Posted by matt · June 10, 2004 03:13 PM

If you’re predicting a France-England final, buy a copy of today’s Telegraph and get a free case of wine. Well, buy one case and if France or England win, they’ll give you the same value (£85, I think) in vouchers to buy another case with.

Posted by Rich · June 10, 2004 03:51 PM

What a fun toy. I have both Germany and England going out in the group stage, with Portugal over Sweden and France over Italy as the semis. France to win it all, quel surprise.

Posted by dmm · June 10, 2004 05:26 PM

Yep. Morientes will rock.

Posted by JR · June 10, 2004 09:53 PM

I’ve got Holland beating Spain in a squeeker 3 to 2.
Yes, yes, I know.

Posted by WillieStyle · June 11, 2004 12:27 AM

I have the Czechs winning it all with Rosicky, Nedved and Koller all scoring against a pair of Wiltord goals for France. England crash in penalties against Portugal after a brilliant 2-2 in regulation during the quarters. In the other quarters France tops Spain, the Italians beat the Germans in a snoozer, and the Czechs beat Denmark with a penalty after Gravesen bits someone’s ear off in the box.

Here’s to a couple of weeks to take our minds off of work.

Posted by jason · June 11, 2004 05:48 AM

I have the Czechs winning it all with Rosicky, Nedved and Koller all scoring against a pair of Wiltord goals for France. England crash in penalties against Portugal after a brilliant 2-2 in regulation during the quarters. In the other quarters France tops Spain, the Italians beat the Germans in a snoozer, and the Czechs beat Denmark with a penalty after Gravesen bits someone’s ear off in the box.

Here’s to a couple of weeks to take our minds off of work.

Posted by jason · June 11, 2004 05:48 AM

[Update: my hot betting tip is Fernando Morientes for top scorer at 20/1]

If it is going to be a France-England final, then this means Spain and Portugal get knocked out at the QuarterF stage. So Morientes has 4 games, including the loss, in which to score more goals that any of the French or English can manage in 6 games - seems a tall order - might be better off with a bet on one the French strikers.

Posted by wars without blood · June 11, 2004 06:03 AM

Yes, if …

I don’t think it would be a very wise gambling strategy to make all my bets conditional on one another in that way!

Posted by Chris Bertram · June 11, 2004 02:11 PM

Germany’s chances have suddenly improved following
this bit of news.

As I remember the French press blamed a good part of their recent World Cup disaster to the fact that the wives had been allowed to stay with their husbands at the hotel.

Posted by john m · June 11, 2004 09:26 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.