Here Today... Gone To Hell!

It deserves its own thread.

 : ok:




/jarmo

Is there a game  ???

It starts on Saturday....




/jarmo

Euro 2008 - Who won't be there
Eurosport - Thu, 05 Jun 14:02:00 2008


This year's European Championship may well boast a veritable galaxy of international superstars, but there are plenty of names whose absence from the tournament is just as noticeable.


While the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry will be strutting their stuff on pitches across Austria and Switzerland, a world-beating XI can be easily compiled from those who have missed out for one reason or another.

Here we bring you the best of the rest and the reasons why they will be topping up their tans on a beach this summer instead of toiling on a pitch in front of thousands of fans.

(Formation: a rather experimental 3-3-4)

1. Oliver Kahn (Germany) - The outspoken keeper retired from international football after the World Cup in 2006. His entertaining spats with Jens Lehmann will be sorely missed.

2. Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) - The Azzurri captain was crocked in pre-tournament training by fellow centre-half Giorgio Chiellini, who now stands to benefit from the Real Madrid stopper's absence. Go figure.

3. Paul Scharner (Austria) - Undoubtedly the co-host nation's best player, but the Wigan utility man's bitter falling out with coach Josef Hickersberger has seen him miss the cut for Euro 2008.

4. Alessandro Nesta (Italy) - Retired from international football last year having won the World Cup - there has been a surprising lack of clamour for him to reassess his position since.

5. Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic) - His nation's captain, the Arsenal midfielder misses out with a knee injury, off the back of a season that has been plagued by fitness problems.

6. Clarence Seedorf (Holland) - The Dutch are past masters of in-house squabbling, with the Milan midfielder the latest to storm off in a sulk. For the record, Mark van Bommel is suffering from a similar affliction to his bottom lip.

7. Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic) - Despite their best efforts, the Czech camp could not persuade the still scampering veteran into ending his international retirement (for a third time) for the tournament.

8. David Trezeguet (France) - The Juventus ace netted 20 times last season - which in Serie A is no mean feat - but Les Bleus coach Raymond Domenech still inexplicably preferred Nicolas Anelka and Bafetimbi Gomis.

9. Eduardo da Silva (Croatia) - His horrific leg break remains one of the most vivid memories of last season, for all the wrong reasons. The Brazilian-born striker will not play again until next season.

10. Raul (Spain) - The 30-year-old Real Madrid captain used to be considered untouchable, but not even a high profile public campaign was powerful enough to see him included.

11. Francesco Totti (Italy) - Another who believes it doesn't get much better than winning a World Cup, Totti retired after 2006 and, unlike so many, has refused to change his mind.

Subs from: Bacary Sagna (France, crocked), Ryan Babel (Holland, crocked), Pippo Inzaghi (Italy, overlooked), Luis Figo (Portugal, too old) and the entire England squad (not good enough).

I mean a HTGTH game  :D
Let's see if D is as good at soccer as he is in chess...

i had a fantasy league set up, the details were in the football thread, but no one joined so i deleted the league

not hard to set up again tho

Ooooh, tomorrow! Can't wait for the opening game and all that comes with it. Summer without football is just too sad to handle.

Btw. is anyone playing here: http://en.fantasy.euro2008.uefa.com/

yeah im in

Give instructions!

go to http://en.fantasy.euro2008.uefa.com/ and register

then pick your team, submit it, then click on leagues and hit create league to make one

i mad one and no one joined so im not doing it again

The HTGTH-league is up, code is 210676-40655 :peace:

What is the direct link to the leagues?

I know I am an idiot but shouldn't such fantasy league sites be made so that even idiots can figure them out  ???

Switzerland - 0
Czech Republic - 1


Portugal - 2
Turkey - 0

 ... and I thought this was a thread about trading currency.

Yeah, you would...

While, I must admit my ignorance, I am always looking for a deal on coinage. Got anything in your closets? Perhaps, something Grandpa left you? PM me.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/treasure-hunters-face-spanish-armada/?scp=2&sq=odissey&st=cse

Spain's claim will never stand.

 ... especially considering that they stole the metal from indigenous Americans.

If Portugal stops playing after scoring a goal against better teams, they'll lose the games.....

To be fair, it could've been 2-0 pr maybe 3-0 at that point though.





/jarmo

Portugal probably won't even score once against the better teams. Not sure if there are better teams in their group though.

France vs Romania was pretty boring......




/jarmo

im enjoying the italy holland game, cant beat a bit of contraversary

Great game by the Dutch!  8)




/jarmo

  Our only chance (I'm Romanian) in the Group of Death is to annihilate the opponents' attack and to hope for a lucky break...so far so good

Always nice to see Italy lose  : ok:

An amazing victory! As a Dutchman, I'm just soooo f'in' happy right now! And 'we' deserved this 3-0, never thought I'd write this!! :)

Pretty clinical from the Dutch tonight, the most impressive team so far imo. Just the Spanish left to see of the favoured sides now.

The French have a lot to do, two defensive midfielders against perhaps the most defence minded side in the tournament, an odd way to set up if they were after the win.

Watching Greece play was as exciting as watching paint dry.....





/jarmo

U really watched that game?
May I recommend a book or something else?  :P

Good goal from Ibrahimovich though, nearly made the game worth watching  :hihi:

Greece-Sweden was a total mess, can't understand the strategy of Rehhagel. But Sweden really deserved to win, they were more active and they were there to win. They just had a boring and passive opponent which sometimes force the better team to change their style and strategy (= the whole game becomes boring).

Czech Republic - Portugal is the big game tonight, the winner takes a great step closer for winning the whole group.

Hope Switzerland wins Turkey so the locals can have something to celebrate ::)

Everyone supporting Portugal this afternoon!!   ;D  :beer:

Anyone know who goes through if Turkey and Czechs draw? As far as I can tell that would put them into tiebreaker f.

http://www.livescore.com/euro.dll?page=rules

f. Coefficient of points from the last two qualifying competitions for the final rounds of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 (points gained and divided by the number of matches played).

And that favours the Czechs

Well according to one of the commentators of todays match they would have to play extra time and if it's still undecided after that it would come down to penalties...

ok, I guess I should have scrolled down that page more....it doesn't mention extra time, though that would make more sense.

Criteria (a) to (h) above are not applicable under these circumstances :
If two teams meeting in one of the last group matches have the same number of points, the same goal difference and the same number of goals, and if this match stands at a draw at the end of normal time, then the ranking of these two teams will be determined by kicks from the penalty spot, provided no other teams within the group have the same number of points on completion of all group matches.

Nop thats wrong, there wil be no extra time directly to penalties. : ok:

Sad game for Switzerland, they had it in their own hands but they had no luck. Finally we saw some real rain though :yes:

Tonight it's Croatia-Germany and Austria-Poland. I really hope that Austria wins this one. But anyway, Germany's going to take this group with no losses. It's gonna be 3-1 this time as Klose scores 2 and Ballack 1 : ok:

Yep you're right, Just looked it up(UEFA, article 7.08) it is indeed direct to penalties  :-\

That would be REALLY weird to watch....

Hell yeah. It's been 12 long years.

Can't wait to see Ballack finally lifting a proper trophy.

Deutschland's gonna own this championship.

Thinking about it that makes some kind of sense. Extra time would obviously change the result if someone won, and that might change the table positions (if Portugal lost) which would change the quarter final draw after the fact. Of course they could discount the actual result and just count it as winner take all, but it would make the official results look odd. Penalties really are tiebreakers.

yeah that didnt exactly go to plan did it

Well hell no! Altough it's good to see how vulnerable Germany is, as they're in the same group with Finland in the FIFA 2010 qualifications.
But hey, it was only one game and nothing's sure yet. I'd like to see Austria winning Poland, they have every chance to do so even though it's 1-0 for Poland at the moment.

Germany only needs to tie with Austria to go through. So it pretty much looks like it's going to be Germany vs. Portugal in the quarter-finals... An interesting match for sure :)

Slight bumps in the road, slight bumps. :smoking:

I think Germany will struggle to win this comp, Holland, Spain and Portugal all look stronger than the Germans do and on that evidence so do Croatia. The major plus for the Germans being they're on the easier side of the draw when it comes to the quarters and the semis, just for a change....

God I was happy when Austria was awarded with the penalty kick at the end of the game, makes things more interesting now. Today we'll see if France can get their game rolling or not, but I assume Holland will have no problems winning the match ;) If Romania wins Italy then it's all over for Italy and France would have to win Italy in their last game.

Gotta love this game.

its not really easier if you believe that portugal and croatia are stronger as theyr on the same side

Amazing game by Holland.

Beautiful goals!





/jarmo

Oh yes, especially the last one. France and Italy are in a pretty tight spot at the moment... Holland is for certain #1, and they have nothing to gain in the match against Romania. If Romania wins, France and Italy are both out of the tournament :D

i absolutley love watching the frogs get spanked

Ah fuck !!!!!  Romania was soooo close (with the help of the referee), but Buffon is a genius !

  Oh well, now we have to beat Holland...we did it a few months ago, we can do it again

You'll be playing a b-team so you probably will  ;)

   We're a weird people, us Romanians...we don't usually capitalise on clear chances like this one, we like it rough, when the odds are agains us :)    So I'm pretty concerned that things might go wrong....

truely amazing!! What a match, 4-1! and compliments to the Romanian team, they played well against Italy!
But damn, Holland's playing with so much joy... The defence is just simply great!

And that would be sweet! Altough I don't want Holland to loose, it would be great if France and especially Italy would be out. That just shows how much this game changes during just couple of years. Italy is the current world champion, France won Euro 2000 and Italy was second. So..

But the game was amazing last night, just beautiful. Robben showed why he is in this team. Anyway, 3 goals against Italy and 4 against France really shows how dangerous Holland is at the moment. If you give them like 3 spots for scoring, they will use at least one of them. And like last night they don't need a good spot for it, they can score in odd situations too.

Greece lost again. Not surprising....

Sweden lost and the "poor" Swedes don't understand why.

Apparently they didn't deserve to lose even though their idea of a great game was to just wait and defend..... ;)



/jarmo

Wow, Turkey vs Czechs - best second half ever  :o

what a comeback by the turks, bit unfair having their keeper sent off

i think petr chechs gonna be suicidal tonight

nice game but penalties would've really topped it

Unfair? I don't think so. There are rules in this game.

But yeah, it was a great comeback and a cool game to watch. Shame Czechs didn't get any shots at Tuncay, would have been fun to see how he'd have act as a goalie. Portugal was in the same situation some years ago, altough then there was more time until the game was over so the poor guy who had to be the keeper really had to make some saves :hihi: But he got them all!

Tonight we'll see if Germany will fall. I don't trust them at all this time and I think that Austria is going to be a good and hard-fighting opponent. Poland is in a good situation when it comes to winning as Croatia has already confirmed their place in the next round, but Poland needs some good fucking luck to get there too, even if they'll win.

yeah, imagine the chechs doing a third goal :drool:

all he did was push him, yet koller went down holding his face, bit like germany the other day, the 2 players that pretended they were hurt should also be fined or something

at the end of the day it was a push, how much pushing goes on during the game and yet nothing happens??

Well, the game wasn't on. He pushed him after the whistle. He was just acting fucking stupid. And he had to know he wouldn't get out of it, so why the hell did he even do it. Same goes with Schweinsteiger. Simply stupid.

Really? To be honest, I don't think Austria has a prayer against Germany.

(Sadly enough I won't see the game, as I'm going to a Dillinger Escape Plan gig tonight :))

Well yeah, I think they have a chance. Germany is vulnerable at the moment and so on.. like I said: I don't trust them at all. And everything's possible in this game :peace:

But anyway, have a nice time at the gig!

WOW, i am really getting into this.

I watched the second half of Turkey/czech and  I couldnt believe the meltdown by Czech in the last bit of the game. 2 horrible mistakes they made that allowed goals.

Very exciting though and I think I am becoming hooked.

Let me ask a question:

What determines how much extra time is added onto the game?

It's also known as "stoppage time" and "injury time". It's the time that's added to make up the possible injuries, lost balls, subtitutions etc. that wastes the real time. So basically, if there are long breaks during the game then there'll be more extra time.. Usually it's 1-4mins and it's added by the 1st referee.

Nice goal by Ballack.....




/jarmo

Yeah, it was.
Although the game was prettey weak, and a striker like Gomez missing the big chance right at the start of the game was a once in a lifetime miss. If he had scored, the game would have been much more interesting.

Now we are playing against Portugal and if we don't improve we will be out.

Tonight Italy vs France, somehow I hope Romania should win against The Netherlands and make it, but I doubt the dutch are going to allow it.

I fancy France to win, wouldn't be surprised to see Romania get a draw out of Holland though which would be enough for them if Italy and France draw.

   I knew it, I fucking knew it !!!! Lack of balls, lack of character, the idiots fucked up against a Holland side that really didn't bother that much.

Yeah, it's Italy then. We'll see if Sweden can beat Russia tonight, "winner takes it all".. At least the second place in group D before facing Holland.

Croatia and Russia both through to the QFs.....maybe England isn't so bad? Or maybe they are  ;D

Interesting QF matchups :

Netherlands vs Russia - Hiddink
Spain vs Italy - Perennial underachievers vs Perennial overachievers
Germany vs Portugal - Chelsea subtext 
Turkey vs Croatia - 'cos I'm supporting Turkey  : ok:

Sweden sucked so bad last night. Just fucking lame.

Italy Vs Spain

Oh well, this is the end for Spain then.

The quaterfinals is as fas as we are getting in this Eurocup. The quaterfinals is as far as we've accomplished in any Euro CUP or World Cup for the past 25 years!

Italy, as usual, will go through all the way to the finals playing like crap, but winning (which in the end, is the only thing that counts)

dont be so negative, with pirlo and gatusso out for italy i think theyl struggle, once puyol gets a spet ladder to mark toni yous will be fine

Yeah, but Russia were fucking amazing too, i almost thought i was watching the netherlands play against us

The Swedish press is amazing. They're the ones hyping the team for weeks now. Especially after the game against Greece.

Now the same team that were supposed to win the gold just suck?

Maybe they sucked all along! Greece just happened to suck more....




/jarmo

yeah i know, yesterday we could already read about how we we're supposed to play to beat the netherlands and shit..
but i think all countries press is like that.. sweden's team aint that great, but they aren't that bad either

How's the Portugal press?

Think you can say bye bye to Scolari for that matter...

that's pretty obvious since he's the new chelsea coach

Germany - Portugal 3-2

A good and very fair game.

A very nice game indeed! :) It also feels good to see C. Ronaldo GTFO...

That's why I was wondering about their press before the game. But maybe they were too busy crowning them champions.  :peace:

One overrated team out. Spain's turn next!

Everybody likes to think of their own national team as the best and hype the team.

But some countries have a reason, they are great. They've won championships.

And they got players in the top clubs in Europe.


Sweden had one guy who some Swedish experts claim to be the world's greatest player....




/jarmo

Yeah we're talking about the portguese press and what they would say.

So bye bye as in glad to see he's gone....

Thought for the day: Never write off Turkey  ;D

Turkey have lead for 2 minutes total across all 4 games they played. Last minute goals in the last three games.

I want the Netherlands to win it all.

We're in SEMIH-FINALS!!!!  ;D

If we can find 11 players in our squad,we will play against Germany.  :confused:

Hey jarmo, are you telling me that you don't think petter hansson is the worlds greatest player? :P

you're out of your mind ;)

OMG you fucking ref that was a red!  :rant:

Typical Holland.

They played their worst game when it mattered the most.

 :(



/jarmo

I't's always like that we're not cup fighters like germany sadly....

but usually we atleast make it to the semi finals but this match was bleh  :no:

It seems like  Germany and Italia will make de final mach.

Its a shame....Vam Baster din't used Robben it was a mistake... imagine Robben fresh on the extra time !? wtf : ok:

I think Robben was injured....



/jarmo

Yeah he was injured as usual, but you're right he could have turned this game around...

fuck yeah, pavlyuchenko backed at 8-1 for the first goal scorer  : ok:

Germany's practically in the final already. Italy will smash 'the quarterfinalists' Spain as they usually do.

Ah, sweet revenge.

I guess now when the netherlands also lost it's safe to say that sweden wasn't that bad after all

man im so happy italy are out, they are so boring to watch, defend defend defend play a high ball in to toni, thats all they fucking do

spain and russia should be a good open game now

Definitely. Justice was done  : ok:

Glad to see my tip Spain still going strong, Spain vs Russia should be a good game.

Considering all the flak the England squad took for not qualifying for this tournament, it's interesting to see that of the two teams who qualified ahead them one of them has reached the semis, defeating the mid tournament favourites on the way, and the others were seconds away from the semis and then only went out on penalties.

True, but England still suck.  ;D I would have been caught up in the hype of they were there, but honestly the tournament has been better without them. In fact, it may be the most entertaining international tournament I've ever watched (going back as far as WC78), even the poor quality matches have had moments of high drama. Glad the Italians went out, they would have soured it playing like that to the final.

Spain has reached the semis!!!

I'm so happy we beat ITALI in penalties.

I have to say though, at least 80% of the people here in Spain thought we were going to lose prior the game, more so, I'm sure that percentage increased (me included) the moment the penalties where about to start. Spain has blown it when it matter the most (specially in penalties) so many times, that this win was unexpected.

Now Russia, we beat the 4-1 in the first stages of the competition but in all fairness, they were missing their best man. It will be a nice game to watch for sure as both teams have similar styles. Russia's defense though is weak so we will sure have a few chances to score!

Viva Espa?a!

Cool to have Spain in the final four. And it's always good to see Italy failing yeah! I think it's gonna be Germany-Russia in the final, but you never know as I was sure that Holland would beat the hell out of those Russians too. Hah.

in the groupstage spain won against russia with 4-1 i think, it'll probably not be that easy this time around :) go russia

yes, infact the the only penalty shoot out yous ever won was againt us in the 02 world cup :(

c'mon spain  :beer:

I know, I remember.  Then we lost against the greatest nation ever in the history of football, South Korea, in penalties too. However, the ref forgot justice that day and took the game to penalties when it should've ended sooner with Spain as winner.

Can't wait to see what happens this thursday!!

Hahaha, fuck, Guus Hiddink was the South Korean coach then

South Korea deserved that win.  ;D

3-2

Germany in the finals.

Now looking for our opponent there.

Spain Vs. Germany. That would be sweet.

I hear ya Genesis  :)


I'm soooooooooo nervous!

Woo hoo! It is Spain Vs. Germany.
I hope Espa?a kicks some German butt on Monday.

Me too, but Sunday would be even better  ;)

What a match last night. I dont think any team has put a better performance than Spain did yesterday. Awesome play by Spain.

People are talking about Xavi, Silva, Villa, Casillas...they keep putting up stelar displays each and every night (I have a weak spot for Xavi Hernandez) but no one is talking about our defense. Normally, when people talk about the defenders is either to critize or smash them, but there's been no talk about Puyol and Marchena and I consider that's unfair. Spain's defense has been unbreakable and by far, Championship's best.

Now Germany in the Final. I dont think Germany has played any good in the past 25 years but they always win. I hope this sunday things go our way though.

Go ESPA?A!

Lolwut? The Lothar Matth?us - J?rgen Klinsmann - Rudi V?ller - Andreas Brehme - etc. team was simply amazing in the 90s. Besides I find that whole "Germany always plays like shit but they still win" argument totally inane. Gee, if they always win they must be doing at least SOMETHING right, right?

Hope the Spaniards bring some tissues for next Sunday's game, cause their tournament will end in tears ;)

Ah, It's Monday early morning my time.

Amazing? Germany have always had a solid team with solid players but I still think their football wasnt something that I'd call amazing. Same as German clubs...I dont think I've ever seen Bayer Munchen playing great either. German teams do know how to win and that's what I said. I do still they've always play like shit.

I don't think you get the point here. Winning is always not the ending result of playing "Good" football.

Italy is another clear example, a winning team but a shit style of play. Effective, yeah, but defeinitely SHIT to watch.

That first Goal by SPAIN. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thrilled t have gotten into this.  It truly is an exciting and amazing sport.


I am goin with Spain Tomorrow. I really dug the way they played.

Villa coming off was a blessing in disguise, Fabregas was immense when he came on.

Hopefully Spain can deliver the goods on Sunday, they've played much better football than the Germans all tournament.

?Football is a simple game where 22 players play against each other and in the end Germany wins.? - Gary Lineker.

Hope he's wrong this time.

But at least german teams are solid as far as financial stuff is concerned and they do not buy referees like in Italy.
On the other hand Bayern has played various good games in the past, I think you missed some then.

I think the final will be a good game because Spain is a very good offensive team, and besides Puyol I like all their players, but since I am from Germany it is obvious for what team I will cheer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/7363545.stm

Looks like Ballack might miss the game through injury which would be a real shame with Villa out already.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/7466067.stm

"I was disappointed Mexico didn't qualify for Euro 2008."
Mexico's WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio shows off his extensive football knowledge on Sky.

yay, he likes real football now

If Fabregas plays for Spain tonight, Spain will win this one easy. The guy is a genius. The best midfield player in the world today.
My prediction is 3-1 Spain.

The better team won, no doubt about it. I was especially disappointed with Germany's effort during the final decisive minutes.

However, I have to say the referees did a shitty job. They missed Spain playing with the hand (whatever that's called in English), and they also missed the Zidane-like headbutt. Bastards!

are you actually been serious or are you taking the piss??

I knew it all along. Espa?a, Euro Champions!

Well, I was rooting for Germany, so that might have something to do with it :P But I'm not taking the piss. Hey, they won 1-0. Those aren't huge numbers y'know, of course you can speculate a bit :)

I don't think the player used his hand on purpose to stop the ball....


The referees also missed the German goalie Lehmann possibly touching the ball with his hand outside the goal area....



The best team won. Congratulations Spain.


Thank God the boring Greek anti-football isn't the winning formula anymore!  





/jarmo

Congratulations Xavi, Puyol and Iniesta..



"zidane-like headbutt"  :hihi:

I'm glad Spain won.

Only two years 'til the World Cup!

We are the Eurochamps!!

 :beer:

This ends 44 years of sadness, frustration and desperation for spanish football.

After the match, in every little, medium or big town in Spain people went out to celebrate. I had never, ever seen so many people on the streets where I live my entire life. What a vibe!

Next, Nadal wins Wimbledon  :yes:

Congratulations Spain.

A deserved win throughout the whole Championship.

  The best team won ! Congratulations Spain!  By far the best player of the tournament was Xavi, he was IMMENSE !

WOW, watched the entire match and it was very entertaining and Im going to start watching whenever its on.


not sure id like MLS though.....................

That would be like watching little league after the world series. Fox Soccer Channel shows matches from the English and Italian leagues (and others), as well as some international matches. ESPN shows the Champions League (European championship for clubs rather than countries.)

Ok, I need some info

They have this in the Olympics right or no?


Also when is the world cup and all that?

Now I can actually watch the US and know whats goin on and really root for them.

2010.

These things are every 4 years.

Next European Championship 2012...then 2016...

World Cups 2010....2014 and so on.

Yes, but the teams consist of players under 23 years old plus up to three wild card overage players. So you won't see the strongest international teams, and most major nations don't take it as seriously as the World Cup or their continental championship.

so I gotta wait 2 more years to see great high level Futbol?

FUCK

Not really, though you did get to start with a very entertaining tournament - you may never see one that good again.

But...

1. International Football: Qualifying for the 2010 world cup has already started, the US played a couple of weeks ago I think. WC qualifying for European countries will start in a couple of months, and South American qualifying has started too I think, or will do soon. You can catch a lot of that on TV if you look around.

2. Club Football. The richest teams in England, Spain and Italy can afford to put together teams that would defeat pretty much any international/country team - whether that's fair or leads to higher entertainment is not clear, but it does mean you can see the world's greatest players in the national leagues as well as the champions league, all of which you can find on TV also.

Here's one site where you can find what's going to be on TV

http://www.livesoccertv.com/

Yeah, it's great. A triumph for football. But do you know what really pisses me off? The sheer amount of smug people that I've come across who "backed Spain from the begining"...

... Well, a lot of people have! Every two years for as long as I can remember! A stopped clock and all that. Bloody 'ell.

Oh, and by back, I mean as in backed them to win. You know... Fancied them for it and all that.

Not at all!, FA Cup & Champions League finals barely ever live up the hype. Euro or World Cup championships that do are even rarer! Pick a team, watch some Seria A, La Liga or Premiership matches. What you have to remember is that international teams spend a couple of months together a year. The domestic season lasts for nine! When domestic teams play, they really play.

Ah yes, I am pretty smug. ;D

I used to only watch the World Cup as well, but the last 2 years or so, I've really gotten into the sport as well.

It's so lame when people say there is no scoring, or all they do is "kick the ball around."

I wish they could see the light too.

International football is great when it's on, but most people mainly watch some league or the other (English, Spanish, Italian etc) since it runs for most of the year. Think of internationals as an added bonus rather than the main event.

 :hihi: Me too.

It was the first time I've ever backed Spain though, it was also the first time my tips ever ended up winning  :hihi:

This loss has been hard for me. I've invested so much in this team for the last 10 years. Every championship I tell everybody that I'm certain Deutschland will win, and every time they lose, usually in the semi's or finals.

If you stop with the bold predictions, maybe Deutschland might win!