UEFA European Championships

[womble]

I'm looking forward to the European Championships which kick off next week. I'm supporting whoever is playing against Turkey!

[freakyfreaky]

Re: UEFA European Championships

That's a good strategy to keep me interested in the competition, I'm going to adopt it too Womble if you don't mind.

[womble]

Re: UEFA European Championships

Not at all, Freakyfreaky. Հիւրս եղեք...
The first game to look forward to is Portugal v Turkey at 8.45pm (UK time) on Saturday.

[Armanen]

Re: UEFA European Championships

I hope Portugal smashes the turds!

Does anyone know if this will be shown on a sopcast channel?

[freakyfreaky]

Re: UEFA European Championships

I hope they make linguica out of them... Go Portugal!!!

[skhara]

Re: UEFA European Championships

I hope Portugal smashes the turds!

Does anyone know if this will be shown on a sopcast channel?

I am almost positive it will be.

Go here:

http://www.myp2p.eu

and get all the players. The channels aren't showing up yet, but there will be multiple ones available closer to kickoff.

[Armanen]

Re: UEFA European Championships

I am almost positive it will be.

Go here:

http://www.myp2p.eu

and get all the players. The channels aren't showing up yet, but there will be multiple ones available closer to kickoff.

Thanks for the info man.

[skhara]

Re: UEFA European Championships

I shall be rooting for:

1. Team Italy (as I've always rooted for this team since I was a kid)
2. Spain (play a very attractive game and on paper seem to be the best --although alway a disappointment later as they lack a fighting spirit to go along with their talents)
3. Portugal (kind of like Spain)


The two non-european teams are France and Turkey.

[freakyfreaky]

Re: UEFA European Championships

Some background on the Turkish squad for purely academic purposes when watching the championships. http://community.foxsports.com/blogs...2008_Part_3_of

"Turkey made their European Championship Finals debut in 1996 but lost all three games. Four years later they lost in the last eight to Portugal by a score of 2-0.

How they qualified
It was topsy-turvy qualifying campaign for Turkey. Against all odds (including a ban on playing at home for part of the group stage) they started very well in Group C then hit a torrid streak at the midway point.

Just as they looked as if they had again blown their chance they recovered their nerve and finished seven points behind Greece and a point ahead of Norway. Hakan Sukur who has been left out of the squad for the finals was Turkey’s leading scorer with five goals. Tuncay Sanli and Nihat Kahveci each had three.

The Coach
Fatih Terim is in charge at the Euros for a second time having helped Turkey to England in 1996. After the ’96 tournament and for the next four years Terim held a Midas-touch with league titles and a UEFA Cup coming his way while in charge of Galatasaray.

A move to Serie A with Fiorentina and then AC Milan did not prove to be nearly as successful and a return to Galatasaray failed to rekindle past glories. After failing to make it to the 2006 World Cup finals a place in the last eight is probably the minimum he needs to keep his job.

Key Players
Nihat Kahveci has enjoyed a fantastic season with Villarreal in the Spanish league and looks to have put his injury woes behind. Small, mobile and with the instinct that only very good goal scorers have, Nihat could again become one of the most sought after strikers in Europe after this tournament.

Great Euro Memory
At Euro 2000 the final group B match found co host Belgium needing only a draw against Turkey to move on to the knock out stage. Despite going into the match winless in five finals games Turkey shocked the home side with a goal on the stroke of half time from Hakan Sukur and with twenty minutes left the talismanic striker repeated the feat and Turkey moved on with Italy to the quarter final stage.

Synopsis
Turkey and host nation Switzerland have “history” from a 2006 World Cup qualifying play-off game so when they face each other there might be fireworks. A hit-or-miss qualifying campaign makes it very difficult to assess Turkey’s chances. On top form they could be a great dark horse; on other days they may struggle to win a game.

Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying
Drawn in Group 5 along with Spain, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Armenia and Estonia."

[MrHyeSev]

Re: UEFA European Championships

Go Portugal!