Tie-breaker rules (btw, I think they are odd, and some of them are new) POINT SYSTEM : Three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for defeat. TIE-BREAKER RULES : If two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria will be applied to determine the ranking : (a) Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question. (b) Goal difference resulting from the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). (c) Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). (d) Goal difference in all the group matches. (e) Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches. (f) Coefficient of points from the last two qualifying competitions for the final rounds of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 (points gained and divided by the number of matches played). (g) Fair Play conduct of the teams (final tournament). (h) A drawing of lots by the Organising Committee. There is no need to apply criteria (g) & (h) at this year's championship because the only teams with equal coefficient under criteria (f) are teams of England, Italy & Spain (ranked 5.) and then Denmark & Russia (ranked 11.) who were drawn into different groups anyway. Ranking and coefficients for all 16 teams when applying criteria (f) : 1. 3.000 - France 2. 2.400 - Portugal 3. 2.389 - Sweden 4. 2.333 - Czech Republic 5. 2.313 - England 5. 2.313 - Italy 5. 2.313 - Spain 8. 2.188 - Germany 9. 2.167 - Holland 10. 2.125 - Croatia 11. 2.056 - Denmark 11. 2.056 - Russia 13. 1.889 - Bulgaria 14. 1.611 - Switzerland 15. 1.563 - Greece 16. 1.250 - Latvia Criteria (a) to (h) above are not applicable under these circumstances : If two teams meeting in one of the last group matches have the same number of points, the same goal difference and the same number of goals, and if this match stands at a draw at the end of normal time,then the ranking of these two teams will be determined by kicks from the penalty spot. (note : UEFA Regulations for the European Football Championship 2004 do not explain what happens when there are 3 teams with the same number of points, the same goal difference and the same number of goals after all group matches ended and at the same time the result in the last group match between any 2 of these 3 teams is a draw - the Regulations are not clear on how is the ranking determined when 1 of the 3 teams is not taking part in the penalty shoot-out
Italian star Fransesco Totti will face a hearing tomorrow and could be banned for the rest of the tournament after spitting on a Danish player in the 0-0 draw Monday. This would be a huge blow to Italy's hope of winning this year. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/euro2004/headlinenews?id=303197&cc=5901
assuming the greeks get at least a draw v the Russians then one of Portugal or Spain is going home.. that should be a great game..... damn i wish they were on at a better time.... games on tv downunder are on at 1 and 4 am
The Greeks are practically through to the next round. Only if Portugal wins by a low margin against Spain and Greece loses by a higher margin against Russia, Greece will NOT advance to the next round, according to my very sophisticated back-of-the-envelope calculation. Greece moving on to the next round is a huge surprise and success for them. Their German coach is already being worshipped as some sort of Messiah over there .
I think he should be kicked out of the last 2 group games. Anything more than that is a bit too harsh. Good game from Germany. Their goal was lucky, but they dominated the match. So far, it looks like France will win it. If you watched all the games, few teams demonstrate the character and confidence that France do. I think I'm becoming a Spain fan thanks to Joaquin and Vicente. These two guys are terriffic. There are only a handful of players who can truly slice through a 4-man defence, and both these guys are on the same team. Considering Holland plays 4-3-3, I would hate to see Holland having to go up against them. After seeing all the teams in action, I'm thinking it will be Holland and France in the final.
Holland sucks. The final will be Germany v. Italy. It's usually not the team that plays best in the group stage that wins, but the one that peaks later.
I think you're overstating that Holland sucks...they had a horrible game but that happens. Most of the favorites had horrible first games and I am quite sure the dutch will bounce back. They're too talented not to. The problem is the coach, he switched to different system 2 DAYS before their first game, that's why Holland looked so lost and out of sink. They should be allright agains the Czechs even though it will be a diffiicult game. I HATE Italy like i hate the Fakers. They are so BORING. They never play to win, they just play to stop the other team and hope they can score ONE goal. They have no balls. PEace. I think France will be in the final. I hope Holland can play them in the final but I am not sure how the next round is set up. Peace.
Totti was given a three match ban today, so he will be unable to play until the semifinals, if Italy makes it that far. Huge blow for the Italians. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/euro2004/headlinenews?id=303277&cc=5901
Ok, so Holland played a poor game. Then you go on to say the teams that don't play well at the beginning and peak later are the teams that win. Doesn't Holland fit that criteria? I think Holland will keep improving. Can't say the same for the Germans though. I think they had what will turn out to be one of their betetr games of the tournament.
I will give this the same weight as I gave your prediction of Bayern dominating Europe this season...
Yeah Rehagel is being billed as the savior right now in Greece due to his transformation of the style of play that Greece has been playing in the last year. I actually do agree and think that he has done an amazing job of making the Greeks into a team, rather than a collection of fairly talented players. With respect to Greece advancing, as you said and based on your earlier tiebreaking post which I requested for this very question, Greece can still lose and advance, with it all depending on goal differential.
Big win for England, although they didn't look all that impressive in doing it. Once the Swiss were down to 10 men, the match was over. 3-0, two goals for Wayne Rooney, the youngest player to ever score in a European championship.
Denmark - Bulgaria 2-0 ... Tomasson scored 1 goal and 1 ast while Gronkjaer, who just got back from his mom's funeral got a goal. Italy - Sweden 1-1 .. Ibrahimovic shocked Italy by scoring a goal in 85th minutes putting Italy in a difficult position to qualify Sweden and Denmark can play for a draw which then require Italy to win at least 2 or 3 goals to qualify, looking at the bad defending display by Bulgaria I think it's still possible.
If Italy plays like they did in the first halph then they are contenders but as always they tend to play at the result and thats just wont cut it. And France is when playing at their potential proberly the best team in the tournement. They just need to play with the right players and change the formation and with more variaty. Those who saw the sweden-italy game saw that Sweden is a good team but they got their goal just because Italy backed home.
I just looked at the tiebreaker rules again. An interesting fact comes out of this: If Denmark and Sweden play 2-2 or 3-3 or 4-4 or something like that, Italy is definitely out - even if they win 10-0 against Bulgaria!! That would come out of rule c).
nobody has posted the Holland - Czech Rep. game yet ??? the score was 3-2 for Czech.. Holland led 2-0 after 25 minutes through an immense performance by Robben (2 ast) ... it was 2-1 at halftime...then Advocaat made a huge mistake by subbing Robben for Bosvelt (probably the worst dutch player in euro04) changing the formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2... the game turned around since then. It got worst after the dodgy decision by the ref to send off Heitinga for his second yellow card. Then Czech scored 2 goals to put this game as one of EURO classic. Meanwhile, Germany shockingly held to 0-0 draw by Latvia Czech have insured themselves a place for the next round. Germany probably have to beat Czech to advance. Holland have to beat Latvia to advance and hope Germany don't get a win.
The Holland-Czech game was the greatest game at the Euro so far. Latvia is a tough opponent...I would not be surprised if they got another draw against Holland, or even beat them. The real shocker would be if Germany does not beat the Czechs and Latvia wins and moves on to the next round.
WEG MET ADVOCAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH. This guy is such an idiot. Had Robben indicated that he was injured I would have understood. But supposedly he's been fit for weeks so his injury should not have been a problem. He could play, leave him in. "Resting" him is stupid when we are not even guaranteed of the next round yet. And then he puts BOSVELT in there. A guy who sits on the bench with ManCity. The team was doing well, I don't understand why they got rid of Robben. Why not van der Meyde if you want a bit more control on the midfield? Robben was SUCH a threat, he was driving the Czechs insane. And it's not like defending is our greatest quality. I almost had a nervous breakdown when Robben left the pitch, I could not believe it. This was probably the most heartbreaking defeat I have ever lived through, maybe other than Brazil in 1998. Euro 2000 was a classic Dutch screw up... missing all those penalties. I had more anger and disbelief. World Cup 2002, the players didn't come up with the good throughout the entire campaign. But this... amazing attacking football, a 2-0 lead, chance after chance after chance, the young players stepping up, it all seemed so perfect. And now heartbreak. I don't expect that we will beat Latvia, they are dangerous too. Nevertheless, I think Germany will pull off a win against a Czech B team as they have everything to play for while the Czechs are going to rest all their big players. And it's not like they have a deep squad to make up for the loss of people like Nedved, Rosicky, Poborski, or whomever they decide to leave out. I don't get how the Germans always end up going through. In the end it's our own fault.
