Free kick Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 With the group stage a little more than halfway through I am puzzled, given what I saw of some teams, as to how they ever managed to qualify for this event. I have watch several games live, others on tape, and for many of the weekday noon starts I watched the first half of the matches live while having lunch. After watching 45 mins of Switzerland yesterday and Bulgaria today, I am left wondering how these sides could have ever qualified for this event. I cannot recall the last time that I have seen a team as boring and unimaginative as the swiss were on that day. The stereotypes took a bad beating yesterday since it was the the English who displayed nice individual technique, moved the ball effectively, and frequently switched the points of attack. The swiss were totally predictable and could not have been more direct in their play. They just hoofed it forward in the general vicinity of some player hoping someone will catch up with it or get a break. I saw balls float from one side of the pitch, over the box and then kicked back in the other direction. I didn't see any creativity to manufacture a scoring chance. Also, aside from a few names that sound synonomous with Basle who were a suprise in the Champions league a few years ago, no one strikes me as a star on the world scene. Stephane Chapuisat is still around but I seem to recall him as being a key player on their side at USA 94 ( 10 years ago) along with Ciriaco Sforza. yet he is still a starter today. I thought that the Swiss looked pretty entertaining in that WC and probably deserved a better fate since they were grouped with the US, Romania, and Columbia. Sinc then I always thought of them as an underrated side and thought so even when the CSA set up a friendly against them. But not anymore. How did they get so boring? I just finished watching the first half of Bulgaria versus Denmark. a time of possession stat popped up near the half stating that the the danes held possesion for 57% of time. From what I saw, I'm surprised it wasn't higher. The Bulgarians did nothing except for one good chance late in the half. The rest of the time, it seemed the danes were't having to worry too much aside from the fact that they had trouble finishing. The 1st half goal they scored was very much characteristic of poor marking/defending ( ie.; they went right down the heart of their defence and found themselves with two players all along in front of the keeper). Didn't see their earlier game, but I think that a 5-0 loss to sweden kinds speaks for itself. Yet, these guys finished first of their qualifying group ahead of Croatia, Belgium and Estonia. it is also, another team whose players I don't associate as playing for big clubs or are even stars in Europe. Kind of tells me something alot about the dynamics of group stages in qualifying tournaments and I believe Bulgaria were real benefactors. Getting the right schedule is important as is meeting your 2 key adversaries at the right time and venue. canada had a bad schedule IMO in the semifinal stage last time around in 2000. Its a bit better this time around, but still not ideal since those important games 3 and 4 are away games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcl_19 Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Part of it is because of who they were grouped with or who they matched up with in the playoffs......a team like belgium is better then bugaria or switzerland imo and thats not because i live in belgium....i've only lived here for 9 months.....im not a bit belgian supporter (tho i'd cheer for them b 4 i cheered for most teams) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 Agree about Belgium. You could also add Turkey, Ireland, Serbia Montenegro, and even Scotland to the list of teams that would have been more interesting to see. I Believe that Belgium is the classic case of the side that got screwed by the schedule. They finished with 16 pts. tied with Croatia and one point behind Bulgaria. The croats grabbed second based on points diff. The Belgians had a home date in the final qualifying game which they won. But unfortunately they needed a result from Bulgaria in their match. But Bulgaria had already secured a spot to Euro 2004. So naturally the help the belgians needed, didn't materialize. I still can't figure how Ireland finished behind Switzerland and Russia. The Irish looked good at the WC, yet both Switzerland and Russia have not impressed me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Concacaf Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Belgium are really inconsistent. They've qualified for the last 6 world cups but only 1 of the last 5 european championships (and that was 2000 when they were a host). Hardly anyone predicted they would beat the Czech Republic in the 2002 WC qualifying playoffs, yet they did, but couldn't beat Bulgaria in Euro 2004 qualifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two-sheds Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Then again I haven't really been impressed with anyone yet. Admittedly my viewing of entire games has been limited beacause of work. The Italians seem to be falling into the same trap that they fell into at the WC (i.e. going one up and trying to defend the one goal lead and then messing it up at the end). France hardly look impressive, despite scoring 4 goals - 1 intended from a free kick, 1 deflected from a free kick, 1 from a penalty gained from an awful back pass and one from a one on one with the keeper and that was from another poor back pass. Following the uk press (as an englishman abroad) they are not impressed with the performaces thus far from England, but so far I haven't been impressed with any team yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bxl Boy Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Belgium is in a generation change abd the coach changed too A lot of player that was in Japan for the World Cup left And their first qualifying game was against Bulgaria, on beginning of september Too much new players : Bulgaria won and the qualification was decided that day In Bulgaria, at the second game, Collina forgot a clear penalty (he even admitted it himself) to Belgium close to the end of the game : 2-2 in place of 2-3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devioustrevor Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Frankly, thus far in the tournament I'm rather surprised and impressed by the Swedes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 I think it's pretty easy to pick the overachiever of the tournament, though. Greece may not play well for entire matches but at least they throw it all on the field. And they do at least attack down the sides and the middle of the pitch. They're about the only team who has exceeded my expectations so far. I've only watched a half-dozen matches so far, though (and many of the matches I only caught the second half). And I haven't caught the Czechs yet. But I have to agree with Tony; there's not much to watch here, so far. It's really shaping up a lot like the last World Cup. Neither of the finalists in WC02 were at all inspiring, IMO. When will a truly brilliant team come and lift all this out of the mediocrity? Eduardo Galeano and I want to know! Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 quote:Originally posted by mattbin But I have to agree with Tony; there's not much to watch here, so far. It's really shaping up a lot like the last World Cup. Hmm, I've actually been thinking the exact opposite. I can't say that I've been really surprised by anything, though. I guess it's just me but I expected something good from Greece. quote:Originally posted by Free kick I Believe that Belgium is the classic case of the side that got screwed by the schedule. But more often than not there's going to be someone "screwed" by the schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Free kick Agree about Belgium. You could also add Turkey, Ireland, Serbia Montenegro, and even Scotland to the list of teams that would have been more interesting to see. I disagree about S&M and Turkey. You don't get much of an easier route to the finals than these countries could have had. I believe England are one of the weakest #1 seeds when it comes to making the qualifying groups (and they look terrible in Euro 2004 so far). And then Turkey got destroyed by Latvia - one of the weakest sides in the playoff round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desigol Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Northern Ireland mightn't have scored in their group, but they became kingmakers by getting 2 0-0 draws against the Ukraine and a 0-0 draw at home to Spain. Greece beat them twice, won 1-0 in Spain and 1-0 at home to the Ukraine. Therefore Greece topped, whilst Spain had to make do with a play-off spot. As for Ireland, they were suffering from a post-World Cup hangover. It took alot out of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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