Sweden v Netherlands

naitkris

i am predicting (well hoping really) of 1-0 or even 2-0 to Sweden with the Dutch doing a France/England type quarter final performance and with Larsson and Ibrahimovic showing the Dutch they're a force to be reckoned with.

Big Ears

Sweden 2 -1 Hollland .

mike65

Cant say really. I'll only say the "big" team is most likely to go out!

Mike.

woosaysdan

im going for a holland victory 2 - 0

Pacifico

3-2 to sweden i'd say

KdjaCL

Sweden win / me runs out to bet on Holland seems to be the way its going for me.

If Sweden sit back they wil lose badly if they try to play football they will lose badly ,if they lob it over the top they will get a goal and defend for their lives . Should be a good game.

kdjac

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

AdMMM

I reckon it will be 1-1 at full time.

Holand will score silver goal with around 5 mins remaining.

2-1 to Holland

PHB

I think it'll be a 2-1 to Holland with holland constantly attacking with Sweden getting a good counter attack.

Ruud to get and score a peno

Harry2001

Holland 2 Sweden 1

Larsson for Sweden, Van nostrilhair will score another dodgy 'offside' goal

eirebhoy

I can't believe Sweden are 12/5 to win, they should be favourites IMO. Holland are like England, great players, not so great team. Although, Robben seems to have made them a force to be reckoned with. Sweden to win.

My bet would be, Sweden to sore in both halfs at 7/2 and just for the craic, Sweden to win on peno's 10/1.

Pepe LeFrits

Sweden are my favourite team in Euro2004 while Holland are probably my least favourite, so hopefully Sweden will win. I'm not very optimistic though, I think if Holland get going they'll blow Sweden away

Big Ears

I think a lot of people here are underestimating Sweden , I beleive they will dominate the game and will win by less goals than they will deserve to .

naitkris

Originally posted by Big Ears
I think a lot of people here are underestimating Sweden , I beleive they will dominate the game and will win by less goals than they will deserve to .

i really hope you are right Big Ears. my heart tells me Sweden will take Netherlands down big time, but my gut is very worried about the Dutch attack.

Ibrahimovic and Larsson both will be out to show the Dutch a thing or two and they've said so numerous times in the last day or two. Ibrahimovic in particular sees this as more than another Euro 2004 match to him as he plays for Ajax in the Netherlands and may play against three of his club teammates tonight.

KdjaCL

Can they stop the Dutch attacking play, constant incessant unrelenting attaking play?

I think they can if they get an early goal they could keep the dutch out.

kdjac

Big Ears

Theres one thing about that unrelenting Dutch attacking play that isnt so frightful : the end product .

Sure they produced it against the Czechs but aginst Germany it didnt look like the had much chance of scoring until late on .

The way the delt with a very fatigued Latvia defence is what should be expected of a side in the quarter finals , it wasnt exactly frightning now was it .

The Swede's were brutally efiecient aginst the Bulgarians , they only had 39% possesion and scored 5 goals , almost every time they hit the target they scored .

PHB

Does anyone else not rate Ibrahimovic at all?
Like I know he scored that great goal in that match which was absolutely unreal but for the rest of the match he was nowhere to be seen, wasn't getting into position for the chances.

naitkris

Originally posted by Big Ears
The Swede's were brutally efiecient aginst the Bulgarians , they only had 39% possesion and scored 5 goals , almost every time they hit the target they scored .

that was against a not so great Bulgarian side, against Denmark so many shots by Sweden on goal were either saved, hit the post or just wide of the Denmark goal.

hopefully the Netherlands defence won't be too great and the Netherlands will tire in the 2nd half and get frustrated, if this happens, Sweden will definitely win.

Big Ears

That is true but Thomas Sorenson has been in superb form , the only mistake he has made in the tournament is that palmed cross aginst Sweden ( I wouldnt realy blame him for conceading the penalty , there wasnt much he could do ) .

eirebhoy

This "unstoppable Dutch attacking play" is just like the "long ball" Irish play. Will they ever lose the tag?

Pacifico

Is anyone else not hearing commentary on RTE?

edit : its working now

Pepe LeFrits

zzzz

Big Ears

Well unsuprisenly Nistelrooy should have been booked for diving , he also (accidently ) gave osslund a stud in the face .

There has been quite a lot of horseplay like Nistelrooy's in this tournament

eirebhoy

A lot of people wanted Holland to get out of the group ahead of Germany because they're a lot more exciting. zzzZZZ.

mike65

The current Dutch coaching mentality is an insult to the previous era of total football. Advocaatt belives in Total boredom. 3 strikers on the bench and finally one comes of the bench with 5 mins left! The Swedes are strictly meat and potatos yet could still win this.

Mike.

Guy:Incognito

i might be wrong but in the past , during a shoot out, would Ljungbergs penalty not have been disallowed? I thought that if it was in a shootout once the ball starts to come back out, the penalty is finished. ie it has to go straight in or nothing.



The dutch seem to be dragging out the celebration a bit, anyone just switching on would think they just won the competition.

KdjaCL

It have been disallowed as once the ball stops travlling forward the peno has been missed.

But on the whole Robben not being on the losing team and scoring the winner was the only decent thing about the game ,he played very well.

kdjac

Guy:Incognito

Originally posted by KdjaC
It have been disallowed as once the ball stops travlling forward the peno has been missed.

thought as much.

smuckers

Yea Robben has class close control and link up play v good too.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by KdjaC
But on the whole Robben not being on the losing team and scoring the winner was the only decent thing about the game ,he played very well.

I actually thought Robben had a bad (well average) game, well compared to the standard he set himself in previous matches.

Bill O'Herlihy, said a few minutes ago he's delighted that Holland are through because he couldn't stand the prospect of Sweden and Greece in the semi's. What a ridiculous comment to make. He didn't say it because Sweden and Greece have been boring but because they haven't got as many stars in their team.:rolleyes:

Big Ears

Bill has been saying how poor competitions are when big teams go out for his entire time at RTE , he hated it in the Champions League and he didnt like it in the last world cup , I think this shows he has no real interest in soccer .

despite what most of you are calling broing I enjoyed the watch today even though Sweden lost .

Harry2001

The extra time was good but the rest was rubbish, Sweden were unlucky with the woodwork but overall Holland deserved to win.

Holland had to win a shoot-out sometime

Pepe LeFrits

I thought Robben was crap, he was up against a decidedly poor centre back drafted in to right back and rarely threatened, no pace or cutting edge at all.

That game was... dull. Freddie Ljungberg's penalty made me laugh though.

naitkris

alright, was on the edge of my seat for the whole match and just gotten it together that Sweden are out of Euro 2004... hard for me to take and i can just imagine how the whole Sweden team are feeling, particularly Mellberg and Ibrahimovic.

i do feel Sweden were the better side, had more chances, and had the goal size been 10 cm bigger on every stretch Sweden would have won - so many times shots hit the post i can't count (1 shot from the Dutch but so many times more from Sweden).

oh well, here' s for Denmark, Portugal or the Czech Republic to win Euro 2004...

Big Ears

Mellberg penalty wasnt that bad and would have gone in the corner(which is why I fell sorry for him even more so than Ibramhimovich) , but Van Der Sar made a brilliant save , and has been Hollands best player in the tournament .

Isaksson was the most exciting player on the pitch , you never know what way he will save a shot .

Harry2001

Originally posted by eirebhoy
Bill O'Herlihy, said a few minutes ago he's delighted that Holland are through because he couldn't stand the prospect of Sweden and Greece in the semi's. What a ridiculous comment to make. He didn't say it because Sweden and Greece have been boring but because they haven't got as many stars in their team.:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

When are RTE gonna get shot of him?

he knows nothing about the game, he must drive Giles and Dunphy crazy

mike65

I left the room so did'nt hear Mild Bill, was he really judging future games on star power?

Mike.

Pigman II

Originally posted by Stekelly
i might be wrong but in the past , during a shoot out, would Ljungbergs penalty not have been disallowed? I thought that if it was in a shootout once the ball starts to come back out, the penalty is finished. ie it has to go straight in or nothing.

As far as I remember the case-study was Bruno Bellone (I think?) who 'scored' for France v Brazil in Mexico 86 after the ball bounced in off the Brazilian goalies back after hitting the post and coming back.

On that occasion the goal stood too, so I think the general ruling is 'yes, the attacking player cannot hit the ball twice in the direction of the goal (ie a rebound)' but that there is nothing to say that the goalie cannot cause a second goalward movement.

Originally posted by Stekelly
The dutch seem to be dragging out the celebration a bit, anyone just switching on would think they just won the competition. [/B]

What else would one do? I've not seen a team yet who just went 'meh' after a winning a peno shootout.

After all Ireland v Romania 1990 was IMHO one of the worst matches ever played (especially by us) but it wasn't like we apologetically excused ourselves off the pitch after we won the shootout.

Harry2001

Originally posted by Pigman II
As far as I remember the Case study was Bruno Bellone (I think?) who 'scored' for France v Brazil in Mexico 86 after the ball bounced in off the Brazilian goalies back after hitting the post and coming back.

On that occasion the goal stood too, so I think the general ruling is 'yes, the attacking player cannot hit the ball twice in the direction of the goal (ie a rebound)' but that there is nothing to say that the goalie cause a second goalward movement.


What else would one do? I've not seen a team yet who just went 'meh' after a winning a peno shootout.

yep, you can't blame them really they have lost 4 of the bloody things

Dewey

What a poor match, i thought it was really bad. Why would Dick Avoacat bring on Makaay with 5 minutes left?? he should of been on much earlier. I didnt think Robben was all that great. he was ok, but i cant see him starting ahead of Duff for Chelsea next season.

The Peno's were good but not good enough to make you forget what a bad match it was.

But i do belive Portugal vs. Holland will be a good attack match.....i hope.

I had Sweden to win Euro 2004 and Larrson for top scorer so i might get each way on him if he can say in the top 3.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Harry2001
he must drive Giles and Dunphy crazy

I think we can all agree that Bill knows little about football but most of us on the soccer forum would know more about football (players, managers, etc.) than Giles. I can't comment on Dunphy because I never know when to take him seriously.:)

smuckers

Dunphy as the song goes is a langer.

muffen

That is no way of going out of the tournament

Here I am holding 4 tickets to the Semifinal, don't even feel like going anymore...

Pigman II

Originally posted by smuckers
Dunphy as the song goes is a langer.

Despite his constant brown-nosing of the TraityoR I still have time for Dunphy.

His sarcastic comment yesterday about how Leonard Johansen was 'a wonderful man' who had done 'so much for the game' was the highlight of last night.

KdjaCL

I thought Robben was the only player who looked like creating anything for Holland.
Played well imo looked like somfin was gonna happen when he got the ball.

kdjac

Big Ears

Its true that he was the only player that look like creating anything , but then again playing against a centre back he aplies his trade in the Swedish leagues he should be . Ostlund didnt look comfortable at centre back , and often lunged in wildly , all Robben should of have to do is avoide a lunge and he would be all on his own down the left wing .

smuckers

The thing I like about Robben is that he always seems to take the right option, he controls it and brings it down brilliantally with the sole of his foot, at one stage he was in the corner flag had 2 players around him and still manged to get a cross in for Van Nis. The slide rule rule pass to Van Bronkhorst was something you'd expect from a veteran, he also switched wings alot.

therecklessone

That was dire.

Neither team deserved to go through.

PHB

I thought it was a good match, a little boring but it made up for with drama at the end

I thought Robben was dismal, as was Van Der Mare

Seedorf show'd his skill a tiny bit but failed to really shine.

Hollands formation seemed to work very well againist the Czech, an attacking team, allowing them to quickly counter-attack, but agianist Sweden who played fairly defensivly (relative to the Czech's) it didn't work very well.

What amazed me was how Van Nist didn't get given more chances with the weakness of the fullbacks.

Van nist got a total of 7 chances in the match I think, only 3 of which were from decent crosses.
He had (by his standerds) a bad game, was a bit unlucky on the riochet, which was really a half chance just made looking better by uber control.

Cocu played a good game but he seemed to still be realyl defensive even after he took a midfield position.

Hopefully Robben and Van Der Mere won't be started against Greece, that way when they come on they will have the hunger required

eirebhoy

Originally posted by PHB
Hopefully Robben and Van Der Mere won't be started against Greece, that way when they come on they will have the hunger required

They play Portugal next.