MCdread
Jun 26, 2004, 01:13 PM
Yesterday was a special day in the Euro for me. I was at home getting ready to leave to watch a theater play, for which I was invited by the director (or whatever the right name) of the theater group I belong too (she's also a proffessional actress) when suddenly I got a phone call from none other than Stapel inviting me to go to the stadium see the France-Greece game. Since he and his friends are all dutch, I thought I should wear my Netherlands shirt and join the orange tribe. And there we went to the stadium. Unfortunatelly it wasn't the greatest game we have seen (it happens everytime I go to see a game in the stadium...), but there's still a great atmosphere in a game of a tournament like this. The portuguese people were the majority me thinks, but there were people from everywhere there still supporting their teams: english, germans, spanis, russians, etc. all with their flags, despite the fact that was Greece and France playing. And now I won't die without seeing live at least once football god Zinedine Zidane playing. Thanks Stapel!
After the game we went to dinner and have some drinks. And this was when I became dutch for everyone that passed by us. Wearing a Netherlands shirt, lots of portuguese people and from other nationalities approached me saying "Yeah, go Holland! You have a great team!" :lol: I wonder if they didn't find strange that in a group of 5 dutch, 4 were like 1.90 m tall and one was 1.72. :D
Now this is turning out to be a Euro of the small countries and everyone likes the teams that are still in contention, so there is a nice atmosphere.
This morning Stapel left in the direction of the portuguese dry lands to catch with the orange masses. If you wanna pay atention to the TV, he's wearing a crazy orange outfit, something that it is used by people that collect garbish or something like that. :lol:
And now for the french débacle: I guess the way France was playing it was on the waiting. Santini leaves as the worst coach of the tournament. This french team looked like that german team of the 98 and 2000, with all the oldies that had won the WC and EC. The difference is that this time there was actually some talent that was left at home or kept on the bench throughout the whole tournament. Santini was a coach without ideas, he sent the old guard inside the pitch and hoped that Zidane or Henry would solve the problems. But there was no organisation and no real game plan. the team was unballanced and the 2nd oldest in the competition.
The entire left wing was an affair of a 34 years old left back. When he had the support of an uninspired 30 years old winger, Pires, the entire right flank was to... Gallas. :rolleyes: In the defence there was only one really world class player, 32 years old Lilian Thuram. Where's Mexès M. Santini? Where's Boumsong.
In the midfield, Vieira was injured and who does Santini brings to the first team? Dacourt, 30, an average player, to partner Makelélé, 31. Zidane, tired and 32, was the man that had to carry the team. The center of midfield, with those two other players, had no creativity at all. Zidane was marked closely and whenever he went to the wing, France were screwed in the middle. Where's Pedretti M. Santini? Where's Micoud? Why did a useless Wiltord, 30, got to play everytime things were bad, while Rothen was left on the bench until the last 15 minutes of the french campaign. Trezeguet was useless through out the whole competition, and Henry was out of form and follwed everywhere by Seitaridis, even when it was Greece that was attacking and Henry and Trezeguet were stopped like statues in the greek midfield.
Now it's time for a lot of changes in this french team, if they want to regain the status they had. And those changes should have been made after last WC, but as I posted here some time ago, I thought France was only gonna stop using their WC and EC champions when they couldn't walk anymore. It's time to briing new blood.
After the game we went to dinner and have some drinks. And this was when I became dutch for everyone that passed by us. Wearing a Netherlands shirt, lots of portuguese people and from other nationalities approached me saying "Yeah, go Holland! You have a great team!" :lol: I wonder if they didn't find strange that in a group of 5 dutch, 4 were like 1.90 m tall and one was 1.72. :D
Now this is turning out to be a Euro of the small countries and everyone likes the teams that are still in contention, so there is a nice atmosphere.
This morning Stapel left in the direction of the portuguese dry lands to catch with the orange masses. If you wanna pay atention to the TV, he's wearing a crazy orange outfit, something that it is used by people that collect garbish or something like that. :lol:
And now for the french débacle: I guess the way France was playing it was on the waiting. Santini leaves as the worst coach of the tournament. This french team looked like that german team of the 98 and 2000, with all the oldies that had won the WC and EC. The difference is that this time there was actually some talent that was left at home or kept on the bench throughout the whole tournament. Santini was a coach without ideas, he sent the old guard inside the pitch and hoped that Zidane or Henry would solve the problems. But there was no organisation and no real game plan. the team was unballanced and the 2nd oldest in the competition.
The entire left wing was an affair of a 34 years old left back. When he had the support of an uninspired 30 years old winger, Pires, the entire right flank was to... Gallas. :rolleyes: In the defence there was only one really world class player, 32 years old Lilian Thuram. Where's Mexès M. Santini? Where's Boumsong.
In the midfield, Vieira was injured and who does Santini brings to the first team? Dacourt, 30, an average player, to partner Makelélé, 31. Zidane, tired and 32, was the man that had to carry the team. The center of midfield, with those two other players, had no creativity at all. Zidane was marked closely and whenever he went to the wing, France were screwed in the middle. Where's Pedretti M. Santini? Where's Micoud? Why did a useless Wiltord, 30, got to play everytime things were bad, while Rothen was left on the bench until the last 15 minutes of the french campaign. Trezeguet was useless through out the whole competition, and Henry was out of form and follwed everywhere by Seitaridis, even when it was Greece that was attacking and Henry and Trezeguet were stopped like statues in the greek midfield.
Now it's time for a lot of changes in this french team, if they want to regain the status they had. And those changes should have been made after last WC, but as I posted here some time ago, I thought France was only gonna stop using their WC and EC champions when they couldn't walk anymore. It's time to briing new blood.