To keep things under control, I think we need a separate thread for each game.

When does the match start? :scan: for updates.

7.45 pm local time.

Yes, right.

Trezeguet is not playing, is he? So the French have a good shot at winning...

Yes, right.

Trezeguet is not playing, is he? So the French have a good shot at winning...
Wouldn't they miss his qualities as a handball-player?

Appaently the affairs within the french camp are not the best. First it was Aimé Jacquet criticising the team, saying there was no spirit, players in bad form, wrong formation and the midfield loosing ball after ball. Santini didn't know how to reply. Then at the press conference, the coach seemed a zombie and it was Desailly at his side that did most of the talking. The great part was when Desailly started to give tactical lessons and telling who should play and where and how. Santini could only look in disbelief. Finally Desailly said that it was time of silence, and both Santini and the french FA official could only reply: "Er... I don't know what Marcel is talking about, we were and still are always open to the press and to talk." :lol:

It had been reported also that before the Switzerland game, Zidane and Desailly went to Santini's room to convince him to re-think the stategy and line-up...

Go France!

I'm hoping for a Greece victory. :crazyeye:

I'd like to see the last of the "big guns" go out of the tournament.

France should win the game comfortably...

I hope Greece wins with extreme luck. :D

I don't want to see a game won because of too many lucky decisions...

I find it amazing that France dont play Saha with Henry. They seem a perfect match to me.

France should win the game comfortably...

Yes, but when you have the Greek keeper in your fantasy football team...

France should win the game comfortably...

Unless they get too comfortable...

0-0 at halftime. Pretty dull match so far for the neutral spectator. But I'm happy to see the Greeks not being inferior to the French.

What a horrible yawnfest. I pity the poor sods who actually have to support these teams.

What a horrible yawnfest.Okay, that's more to the point...

I guess that the France's team is no better than during the qualifications, then ^^

Very poor French squad up to now.

Keep on with the updates :D :scan: .

Keeping my fingers crossed for Greece, although it looks like France is more aggressive in the second half.

Goal for Greece!! 1-0. :eek:

EDIT: Just when France appeared to be playing better.

Greece has scored!

1-0!

EDIT: Darned! You beat me to it!

Sensational!! Even if Greece loses this match 1-5 they are THE team of the tournament!!

Uh, France seems really keen now... they'd have to be... but I'm not impressed so far.

They should do something about their defence - they seem afraid of the Greeks...

Wow, what a chance, French header centimeters off... still good, still good, just a little longer...

Hope we won't have the France - England scenario, just a few minutes more....

OMG, my nerves... :D

Hellas moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon os mala pola...

Congrats to Greece :goodjob: :goodjob: :goodjob:

Greece win 1 - 0. The english are avenged :clap:
They managed to avoid being annoyingly robbed in injury time :worship:

YEAH, Greece wins!

This was a very poor match. They both don't deserve to be in the semi-final...

I hope/think we can beat the Greeks if we beat the Czechs... fingers crossed...

Congrats Greece, and a very nice goal! :worship:

What a difference with yesterday. Congrats to Greece though! :goodjob:

It seems Marla Singer's fear has come true! Holland is now the "biggest" nation left in the tournament :crazyeye: . That can only spell trouble for tomorrow :eek: :eek: :eek:
Too bad San Marino didn't pass the qualifiers :lol:

we did it
otto is the greatest
we dit it



:crazyeye: :) :lol: :lol: :lol: :goodjob: :) :eek:

It's the persian wars all over again!!!!!
poor poor france...

Hellas moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon os mala pola...



Hey, I was about to post that ! Hope it doesn't take their team as long to
get home :D.

It seems Marla Singer's fear has come true! Holland is now the "biggest" nation left in the tournament :crazyeye: . That can only spell trouble for tomorrow :eek: :eek: :eek:
Too bad San Marino didn't pass the qualifiers :lol:

:lol: thought the same.

boring match, but Greece did to the best of their abilities, very disciplined and deserved the win. What was with Zidane?

Rather tedious match, but a great result nevertheless!

Oh. Congratulations to the Greeks! :thumbsup: This was a great team performance.

(In my previous comment I was thinking about yesterday. Those two teams showed more drama and superior skills. But that doesn't mean that I don't think that Greece did a great job with the players they have).

Wow, congratulations to Greece. At least our Greek friends didn't get upended in injury time like we (the Italians) did in the final match of Euro 2000.

Hey, I was about to post that ! Hope it doesn't take their team as long to
get home :D.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh, the joys of classical education!

Maybe we can associate all the Greek players with a mythological figure. I propose Charon for Charisteas, the one taking man to their final resting place :D .

I assume it was a quote from the Odyssey or the Illiad or something like that?

Yes, it was the first line from the Iliad:

'Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon hos malla polla, planchtè epei Troiès, hieron ptolietron eperse.

Or

'Muse, tell me about the man, the sneaky one, who wandered for 10 years after the fall of Troy's holy fortress'.

(incidentally, only one of two ancient Greek phrases I remember)

Congrats to Greece they did seem to earn the result.

Yes, it was the first line from the Iliad:

'Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon hos malla polla, planchtè epei Troiès, hieron ptolietron eperse.

Or

'Muse, tell me about the man, the sneaky one, who wandered for 10 years after the fall of Troy's holy fortress'.

(incidentally, only one of two ancient Greek phrases I remember)
Isn't that the first line from the Odyssey? I remember the last one from the Iliad to be something like "Menin aeide thea, peleadiou Achileos"...

Let's hope for Marla that Holland wins against Sweden tomorrow - just to maximise the population... :D

Correct. the first verse is from Odyssey, refers to Ullysses
the second from Iliad...

Yes, it was the first line from the Iliad:

'Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon hos malla polla, planchtè epei Troiès, hieron ptolietron eperse.

Or

'Muse, tell me about the man, the sneaky one, who wandered for 10 years after the fall of Troy's holy fortress'.

(incidentally, only one of two ancient Greek phrases I remember)
Incidentally, also the only two ancient Greek phrases I remember...

Don't want to lecture here, but I think it was the Odysee and I think the part "polutropon hos mala pola" means "after he suffered so much" and not "the sneaky one".

But that was slightly off-topic.

[edit] thinking about it again polutropon means "many places", well, it was many years ago that I studied this

Did you people read it in Greek? I must confess that I read a rather popularised Danish translation of the Illiad, and I never really got through the Odyssey... :blush:

Wooo!! In another forum, I had put down Greece as this tournament's dark horse!! :smug:

Darn, this thread seriously lack of sore losers comments from French.
C'm'on, boys and girls, complain ! At least a little !

They are on the French-speaking forums. They haven't much to complain about. It's not like their goals were disallowed, or Henry's leg was broken, or anything...

Isn't that the first line from the Odyssey? I remember the last one from the Iliad to be something like "Menin aeide thea, peleadiou Achileos"...

:blush:

Evidently my mind stopped functioning properly there - must have had something to do with the football on display :rolleyes: ;). I *knew* it was from the Odyssee (nearly made the same mistake again :eek: By the way, the fact that I knew what it meant should show I did actually know where it was from :coveryourbehind ).

We were forced to 'read', i.e. translate line by line, parts from the Odyssee - I never read it completely. I did read a translated version of the Iliad (the other Greek phrase I know was simply the first line from our first text book, which went 'The ship is in Byzantium' - don't ask).

thinking about it again polutropon means "many places", well, it was many years ago that I studied this


that would be polytopon.
polytropos is the prodigious person.

There are French on the forum - how can we lure them here? Akka aren't you French and unsatisfied with something? If not, couldn't you act like a snotty French gonfleur who wants the Greeks to be disqualified? PLEASE?

Hey, my 3000th post! :cool: :D

I'm sad, but this result is normal ; the best team wins tonigth...

let see to the next 1/4 tomorrow.

This is the beginning of Iliad. I hope the Danes or the Czhecks will appriciate our history and spare us a few goals... :cool:


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/image.jpg

This was a very poor match. They both don't deserve to be in the semi-final...

How can you say that? The Greeks played superbly...what did you expect them to do? 1 goal not enough? I'm sure the Greeks are quite happy with it...

Best. Euro. Ever.

:goodjob:

Greece Champion!!! :D ;)

How can you say that? The Greeks played superbly...what did you expect them to do? 1 goal not enough? I'm sure the Greeks are quite happy with it...

Best. Euro. Ever.

:goodjob:

I already replied on my own comment :) They deserved to win this match. There's always a chance that they reach the finals. But I've seen a couple of teams playing better football. Sadly these teams play vs each other in the quarter finals.

There are French on the forum - how can we lure them here? Akka aren't you French and unsatisfied with something? If not, couldn't you act like a snotty French gonfleur who wants the Greeks to be disqualified? PLEASE?
I'm sorry, I would gladly help, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be convincing...

Santini next coach without a job? Or would he already go?

It was actually already planned before the Euro, that he would resign after it.

Santini next coach without a job? Or would he already go?

Yes, he has already said that he is moving to Tottenham

And are there any French players that plan to retire after this tournament?

I feel sorry for the French fans. They, like English fans, have a team full of talent but lacking commitment, passion, or something. It must have been extremely frustrating to watch and as England have just suffered a similar fate I offer all my sympathies to the French supporters.

Well done to Greece though. They came with a game play and it worked a treat. I think it's good that a team like Greece can go so far in a tournament as big as the European Championship.

And are there any French players that plan to retire after this tournament?

Don't know yet ;
but I thought Desailly is already finish, and Thuram, Liza are over 34
Zizou said he is there untill WC2006..

I feel sorry for the French fans. They, like English fans, have a team full of talent but lacking commitment, passion, or something.
Uh, that description fits Holland pretty well as well...

On behalf of many people from small countries, let me express my satisfaction that the arrogance of the major countries can still be punished. Keeping to Greek mythology, one might even say that Nemesis is alive and kicking!

I'm confident.

Now that France has lost two major championships in a row, it will probably loose its situation of favorite. Which means that it will, at least, be good and will win matches.

(as French always do the opposite of what they're supposed to)

A unusually weak French performance ultimately led to their downfall. It seems to me that once the so-called underrated teams manage to slow down the pace of the game, the traditional big ones crumble and become indecisive. We've seen it many times before in tournament, e.g., in the match between Germany and Latvia and in Italy's games as well. The newcomers (Latvia, Bulgaria, Greece, etc) often rely heavily on an improvisational style which can cause the kind of disintegration as we saw today. I also think that was numerous times the case yesterday with England against Portugal.

At least italians and english showed up after we were eliminated..where are all the french??? :confused:

I can't believe, there must be a reason for the strongest always loses

It must be another conspiracy - Portugal would never beat France in the final, so they must get the Greeks as opponents again now they know to take them seriously.

:lol:

I'm French and I'm here.

Don't want to comment long on that. Tonight's match was like watching an old animal slowly dying. The defense wasn't strong and stable, unlike in 1998 and 2000. Trezeguet was out for all the Euro, partly due to the field formation (which I think Santini badly managed). And I wonder if Santini put some "ball-takers" (a la Vieira) in the midfield... :sad: On the whole, a very poor game by France, which is almost insulting our great victories some years ago. Congrats to Greece for playing as well as they could, but how frustrating to play against a closed and defensive team again and again and again. Portugal-England was fabulous in terms of entertainment, but you couldn't expect such a match with Greece on the field. Still, France did so few to play a nice match too.

Now that we aren't champions of anything anymore, this part of our football history is closed. Jacquet and the team he put in place in the mid 90's will remain our god. ;) I think the French team will undergo some deep changes in the next months, and be seen again as "just a strong team", not the unbeatable team that we thought we were. Surely needed to get good again later. About this Euro 2004, what a huge waste of resources !! :eek: Some good players (Rothen, Pedretti, and surely Saha) didn't play (or hardly). The tactical formation didn't evolve much where it was really needed. I can't believe all the crap happened right during the competition and not before.

Ok, let's get "so-said" arrogant again : we are still champions of friendly matches !!! :lol:

I'm too f*cuked up to read the thread but I gotta say congrats to Greece! After all those years of living in the same street as Otto he finally pulled off his big success. Congratulations really....

Originally Posted by El Sop
And are there any French players that plan to retire after this tournament?

Don't know yet ;
but I thought Desailly is already finish, and Thuram, Liza are over 34
Zizou said he is there untill WC2006..


I was not far from reality : Desailly & Thuram said it last month.
And finally now this is official, Liza annonces that he retires from the "Bleus"" and will concentrates its efforts on OM futures. :eek:

and the last, Zizou, will hesitate more 2 weeks.... :cry:

I was never a big fan of Lizarazu, and Desailly started going down a long time ago. Thuram however, I feel we'd still be very useful to the team. He's still the best defender of France.

This is the end.... :
Zizou leaves the "Bleus" too, after 10 years.
26 goals in 93 selections, 63 wins, and only one defeat as captain : it was its last game, against Greece.

Zidane was the greatest French player in selection, and even if nobody is irremplacable, it will be a huge lack for the next generation.
Its number #10 won't be use in the next match (Domenech said it'd be too hard for anyone to hold it)...


Merci Monsieur Zidane....... :king: