82 points !
Some start !
Go pokkeherrie, go !

(and crash later)

Funnily, in the past competitions, I expected the Dutch to go farther than they eventually went, and this year, I blandly believed they'd be the weakest side and Romania, along with either France or Italy would qualify.
How wrong one can be.

My team is shit.
Fuck Jogi Löw, i thought he would give Schweinsteiger the chance to play the full game.

The Dutch were really good and Austria was kind of a surprise aswell.

anyways,

Go Spain, score some points for me, please!

i needed france to win
and holland italy game to be a draw
surely that was a more likely outcome
im fucked now
hahah

I just realized Captains get their points doubled... I shall read the rules better...well, go spain, go wohever I've got in my team....
I'm just glad that in the "real world" we'll be world champions for 2 more years ha ha .

I suppose it's unnecessary for me to inform you all that I had a highly enjoyable night at the pub yesterday... what a game. :eek:

I never knew the current Dutch side would be capable of such brilliant counterstrikes like the 2nd and 3rd goals, both starting with a save on their own goalline. Van Bronckhorst was the man of the match for me, his role in that 2nd goal was amazing, even better than scoring that last one.

Of course Holland's got a good chance at progressing to the next round now, but anything is possible and group C has still everything to play for. Italy aren't killed off yet; I think they played better than France and Romania did. The final group game between Italy and France could be a battle of life and death.

I couldn't believe it when I saw that... as if yesterday's game wasn't good enough already! :D

To be fair, I have to share the 22nd spot with 5 or 6 other people and I'll definitely drop a few places today because I don't have any group D players in my team. But for a few more hours I'm the highest ranked Dutch player in the game.
http://en.fantasy.euro2008.uefa.com/...ry=152&phase=1
(just needed to brag about that before the opportunity is gone)

Sounds familiar.... :D
great great match yesterday, holland played a wonderful game, kinda unexpected.

No, it wasn't! :)

Like many, i thought it was offside too, but my mate immediately said it wasn't because of Panucci still being behind the backline... turned out he was right, minutes before the commentator noticed that as well.



Agreed. I couldn't see the full game but from the highlights it seemed that Austria really deserved a draw. Maybe they'll have more luck in the other games. It's always good for a tournament to see the host nations do well.

Yes he was behind the goal line but he was also completely off the field and not in play, laying on the floor. Still it was a good result and Italy really did look quite old didnt they?

Hmmm, I think the rule should be applied only when a player goes "willingly" out of the backline or at least when he can come back into the field and be considered as an "active player"..that said, orange people deserved to win by 3-4 goals even without that possible "gift" :).

I definitely hadn't expected it... I thought a 0-0 would've been a good result.

Kuyt's often slagged of for his lack of skill compared to the other Dutch forwards (ball bounces 1-2 meters from his foot etc), but he's got a work rate that is exceptional. As long as he, Sneijder and Van der Vaart are prepared to run back all the way to their own box to defend when needed, then the Dutch defence doesn't have to be as weak as we all thought it would be. Before the tournament started, Sneijder and Robben were the players who looked in great shape. Sneijder played very well (it was his 24th birthday too) and Robben can now work on his comeback (likely to be the Romania game) without having too much pressure on it. Van Persie didn't look bad either for someone who hasn't played since April.

In the Italian team Ithink Materazzi and Barzagli were the weak links yesterday. I would say Pirlo even played a great game. he almost scored twice, but was unlucky that his efforts were saved and Holland scored immediately after both times. Donadoni surprised me a bit when he took off Di Natale while being 2-0 down. In between the 70th and 80th minute I wasn't confident yet on a Dutch victory. If Italy had scored 2-1 then I don't know if Holland's defenders would've kept their nerves.

He was active, because he hadn't left the pitch with the referee's permission. He could've gone back into the pitch at any time.... which he did immediately after the goal was given to go complain at the referee. :)
He may not have left the pitch "willingy", but he would have had benefit from it had he been inactive.

Ha ha ok. It doesnt make much difference anyway and Holland certainly did look good. A Germany/Holland final perhaps?

I reckon Germany or Portugal could be very likely, but Holland is still very far away... I still rate France, Italy and Spain higher than Holland at the moment and it's possible they'll have to play all three of them.

Its as wide open as the wide open Beaver of Nashville.

Honestly it's from before the tournament even started that I think italy should care more about scoring goals than defending...
the backline isn't much good this year, while we have a potentially lethal midfield/attack (cassano del piero di natale toni camoranesi boriello qualgliarella perrotta de rossi can all do good things ). I think we'll need faster fullbacks (grosso did good) to get some more playable balls for the attack...yesterday when a more offensive team was on the field the game was already on 2-0 and holland could afford to defend and wait for a good counter attack chance.. next time we should attack right from the start and keep the opposing team under pressure for the entire game.. my prediction for future defensive lineup: zambrotta on the right, grosso on the left, chiellini and (sadly) barzagli ...

Zambrotta looked pretty good as well. Much has been said about the Italians being old (average age over 31 years and that's not counting the 34-year old injured Cannavaro) but I don't think they're too old.
I agree with Italy needing some faster backs though because France will have some speedy forwards too.

It's too bad I can't watch the Spain game tonight.

i heard today that the ref claimed it was onside because the player didnt ask permission to leave the field of play!!!!! talk about saving face... he was off the pitch therefore off the field of play and so the goal was offside.....

it would be more important if it remained 1 nil but holland were great!

my god pokkeheirrie. you are 22nd overall in the standings and the top dutch player!!!!!!!! fairplay... catch up time

compared to me...

134,411 places behind overall and up to 7430th in ireland! gah!!!