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And what you are doing Petter is exactly the same, just the other way. The Americans didn't submit France to a military council, just like Europe doesn't speak Russian. This is a speculation just as well. If you ask me, they had plenty of plans, and this was just one of them.

Err... mate, that's exactly what he said.


I also almost fully agree with what Las Naranjas said. Wars aren't made because of ethics but because of political or economical reasons. However, I do think there are such political and economical reasons which can justify a war.

SUPERB MATCH! More later.

And the German attack is pathetic.

And Barcik, the football we played today is pretty much the football every team played so far.

True enough, but at least the others seemed to have something in reserves.


Sweden-Italy is the best match of the tournament so far. Great stuff.

A pity. Bulgaria played well against Sweden, despite the scoreline, but today they really 'lived up' to the prior expectations. Denmark had to be just effective to beat such a weak Bulgarian side, and they added to that a few lovely attacks. The Scandinavians seem best so far.

Just giving your memory a friendly kick in the arse. 

France disappoints once again. So weak, so unimaginative, so expected. Where is Henry's movement? Where is Trezeguet's placing? Where's Zidane's elgance? Where's France? Something bad is going on with Les Bleus, they seem too confused, too lost, too tired. They played today presuming the goal would come by itself. And so it did, but had Mornar been more cool it might not have been enough. What the hell is Desally doing in the centre of the defence? He should be in a prehistoric museum, not in the team which proudly competes for the unofficial title of the best team in the world. Right now, it seems bad.

I saw loads of Zidane elegance. At half-time they were showing off all the tricks he had done during the game. Did you see his back-heel flick from the corner? Gallas missed the header from it though.

You are right about Desailly, i think he's past it now. Was it him that missed the ball to let Prso score?

That lovely backheel was everything he did in the match.

And yes, it was Desailly's mistake.

Vel, they won WC98 and Euro 2000 the same way.

For the most part of the match, England was playing on roughy the same level as the Swiss. This pretty much summarizes the match. Campbell, Gerarrd and Rooney were the only players who had a good match in England. They still need to improve dramtically.

It seems nothing can stop France from winning. In 98, a series of come-backs, golden goals and penalty shoout-outs lead them to the final, where they played their only good match of the tournmanet. In 2000, despite playing better, they still needed missed penalties, golden goals and late equalizers. In 2002 Fortuna failed them, and now they are back on track. All of their four goals were rather lucky, a fatal combination between goalie mistakes, defender mistakes and ref mistakes. Nothing can stop them.

More seriously now....

A highly enjoyable 2nd half we witnessed today. The Croations just roamed around the pitch after the half-time briefing Baric gave them. Rosso and Rapajic were especially good, and lead the Croatian team forward. Prso, despite the goal, wasn't focused enough and lost too many balls.
France disappoints once again. So weak, so unimaginative, so expected. Where is Henry's movement? Where is Trezeguet's placing? Where's Zidane's elgance? Where's France? Something bad is going on with Les Bleus, they seem too confused, too lost, too tired. They played today presuming the goal would come by itself. And so it did, but had Mornar been more cool it might not have been enough. What the hell is Desally doing in the centre of the defence? He should be in a prehistoric museum, not in the team which proudly competes for the unofficial title of the best team in the world. Right now, it seems bad.

[Inglorious Bastards (2005)]

Of, this the most interesting ones are the Depps (Pirates 2 and Charlie). Also, seeing Nolan's take on Batman might be very interesting. As for the Hitchhiker's, I am not perticulary optimistic. We'll see. I also think The War of the Worlds might not be too good. Speilberg tends to value the visuals over everything when it comes to sci-fi, too grandiose.

Two movies you failed to name in your list I look forward too:

Inglorious Bastards (2005)

Quenting Tarantino takes his skills to a war films, something that ought to be interesting. Note the main cast: Bo Svenson, Micheal Madsen and Adam Sandler.

Alexander (2004)

The theme is that or the regular epic. The trailer is that of the regular epic. The case is that of a regular epic. But I am really looking forward to Oliver Stone's touch with an epic movie. Might be utterly great. Or not.


And another movie worth mentioning is the 2006 adaptation of Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card is writing the script for this one, and Wolfgang Petersen will direct. If he just stops being cheesy, all will be well. And of course, they yet unknow main actor is crucial factor to the quality of this movie.

An enjoyable first half from Greece and Russia, both teams have improved greatly since their first match. Unfortunately, the ref's decision to send Ovchinikov off might prove fatal to the match. Of course, I can't really blame him, it was really hard to see that he didn't touch the ball with his hands.

Pfft, what a weak match between Holland and Germany yesterday. Two teams with nothing to show. The Czech are far from great either.


Spain as always insist on shooting themselves in the foot. Instead of putting in some effort and gaining the quarter-final spot already today, Spain will probably have to battle a motivated Portugal. Why make your life tougher, why? However, at least against Portugal, Spain won't lazyass, what promises any neutral fan a good match.
As it was against Russia, Spain played as if the goal would come by itself, and as it was against Russia, it did. The way Raul and Morientes co-operated to create that goal is just why they should play together. Vicente was less dominant then he was against Russia, and who really played well was Joaquin in the right side. He showed us a real Spanish winger; Why give a simple cross when you can dribble past the defender in front of you? The Baraja-Albelda double pivot disappointed me again. From Valencia's players, one of the only teams in the Primera who do not play nonchalantly, I didn't expect such laziness. Valeron this time wasn't as effective as in the previous match, largely due to the 3 players marking put on him. Helguera showed off the skills he gained in the Real Madrid "defence", with a ridicilous miss of the pass that became an assist. And again, above all, the man, the legend in making, the best defender in the world, Carles Puyol. Man, how I wish Barca got some proper central defenders so that he can return to the right.

Greece this time weren't quite as ready as they were against Portugal, probably due to the larger difference in the quality level. Nevertheless, all compliments to the defense who marked El Moro and Raul so well. Also, the goalscorer, Charisteas, seems like an excellent B level striker.

Now, presuming Portugal will beat Russia (not at all sure. I won't be surprised if they crush under the pressure), we shall have one great last match.

You mean that little bulldozer who does nothing except run around the pitch and fight with every player of the opposition?

I know throwing in a LOOOOOOOOOL isn't the smartest thing to do, but that was exactly what I felt when James fouled Henry; I laughed out loud. How pathetic can you be? At first, I thought James was sent off and Beckham will go stop the penalty. And that, is quite a LOLish thought.

Throughout the match, it seemed like the French refused to shot from 20 metres. They had so many comfortable shooting positions from medium ranges, but they all the time tried to get the ball into the box, through the excellent English defensive lines. I was yelling "shoot!!!" so many times, but they just wouldn't. Zidane wasn't good enough, Pires' famous diagonal runs were cancelled by the defense, and Henry was off-focus. Viera, however, was excellent, but his job was considerably easier when we look at England's ultra-defensive match.

Tomorrow, the silly English press will blame Eriksson for the loss, but it was he who almost won England 3 points. The English suffer from a severe megalomania; they think they have a great team. Eriksson, a foreigner, knows otherwise. He gave his players the mentality of a small team looking for a surprise victory, and this is the only way the English can play against the stronger French.

Anyway, after seeing how badly both Croatia and Switzerland look, England shouldn't have any problems in qualifying. But in the next phase, they really should return to the underdog mentality.

England will comfortably beat France

You oughtta be shitting me! Puny little England with their no attack and weak midfield? Pires vs. Ahsley Cole? Henry vs. King? Viera vs. Gerrard? These French players have been the best in the Premier League this season, and England will win comfortably? France will crush them. I am talking about a 3-0 or 4-0 hammering.

Yeah, but what about Wayne Rooney vs. the whole of the French defense . I'm not sure how the match will go but the England defense play against Henry in the premiership so they'll know how he plays.

They know him very well. After all, he did score against them 28 times, not to speak of assists.

And yet another little question: Do you know El Manolo? Have you been in his bar? It's in Valencia, right?

That doesn't help you much.... 

Yes, I've seen Lampard play a lot. Excellent player, but the French double pivot is still considerably better. I've also seen Owen play. 

Pires might be a cheater, but he is also the best midfielder in the Premier League.

England will comfortably beat France

You oughtta be shitting me! Puny little England with their no attack and weak midfield? Pires vs. Ahsley Cole? Henry vs. King? Viera vs. Gerrard? These French players have been the best in the Premier League this season, and England will win comfortably? France will crush them. I am talking about a 3-0 or 4-0 hammering.

Spain has to stop being lazy. We all know that it is more fun to be at a fiesta, kill a bull, eat paella and sleep with a lovely latin girl than play football against some Siberian miners, but these are 3 points just as well. Spain hoped that due to their quality advantage, the goal will come by itself. And so it did, but it might not happen another time. If they have just put more effort into it they would have won much more easily.

By the way, Nacho, how come the second captain is a Basque (or is Canizares the second one)? Has it happened before or am I just being racist?

What a lovely match by the Greek! For their very limited talent, they played perfectly. Very organized, very cool, very smart. It's amazing that the people most alike the Israeli one can play such controlled football. Maybe we need a german coach as well.

Portugal surprised even me. At first, I thought they will be beaten in a respectful manner by France in the quarter-final, but now I doubt they will qualify from their group. If Spain enters its organized mode, I don't see any way the hosts can beat them. They just couldn't stand the pressure. At firt, they wanted to score too much. They were playing in a hurry even before Karagunis scored the first goal. Later they slowed down a bit, but all their attacks were so banal and predictable. Figo was horrible - he should have taken the game on himself when his team was playing such a bad match, to channel the ball and use the diverse attacking repertoir of the Portugese. But he just disappeared. And when they were 2-0 down, why weren't there 10 players in red in Greece's box? How did they want to score? So pathetic!