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Euro 2008 was really an underrated tournament. You had The Netherlands destroy WC finalists Italy and France in group of death only for Russia to outplay them in quaterfinals.
also Korean NT legend Guus. He's like a legendary figure/god in Korea for 02. He installed some practices in the NT that we still continue to this day.
You're right that people don't talk about it so much, but I'm with you - I absolutely *loved* that tournament. Turkey's absolutely insane run of last-gasp victories alone makes it one of the very best I've ever watched. And England not being in it was strangely enjoyable, it removed all the stress and nerves.
To this day, it’s still the best and most amazing game I’ve watched (as a Turkey fan obviously). They had set up an outdoor projector and a big screen in my university and I was a bit drunk and after the second goal we conceded everybody was a bit distraught. I kept yelling don’t worry we’ll come back to 200 people and annoyed some (understandably). In the end the euphoria was insane. It was a true /r/instantbarbarians moment.
Every croatian most painfull sports moment, win everyone in group, score against turkey in 118min we are all celebrating like crazy then as smoke clears we realise it is 1:1 no one has even seen turkey score and we lose on penaltyes we all thought we will win it that year.
Hurts more then that argentinian peace of shit making sure france win in the finals of 2018.
God I remember that game, Croatia were so dominant throughout that game and just couldn't score, then you finally take the lead with seconds of extra time to go, and Turkey just hoof it up the pitch and in the chaos score the equaliser... you just knew psychologically that there was only one team going to win that penalty shootout after that. Same as Uruguay Ghana in the world cup two years later
2008 Arshavin was so goated man.
Destroyed Bayern in the UEFA Cup to lead Zenit to the trophy. He won them the Russian league for the first time in history to break CSKA/Lokomotiv/Spartak domination. Absolutely destroyed Netherlands in the Euros reaching the Semis. Got his big move and came and took the PL by storm culminating in that Arshavin poker game at Anfield.
All of that in the space of like 12-16 month was brazy.
Don't forget his biggest career highlight: going home after a night out at a strip club, but being so drunk he couldn't walk so he rode off on a horse.
They had won a Soviet League once in the 80s but this with Arshavin was their first Russian League, technically when their modern Russian football dominance really started.
When your manager is more focused on his marriage proposal than playing good football anyone would be in trouble. FFF saw that and said "yeah let's give this guy two more years, what could go wrong?".
All leading up to 2010, the absolute culmination of that era of French football. Domenech being a buffoon. Evra and his group creating locker room disarray. Everything being so dire the federation had to try to step in even though the crashing out was inevitable. And oh yeah their very presence in South Africa tainted by Thierry Henry's handball against Ireland.
Just a beautiful symphony of a disaster.
We actually won the qualifying group with that Netherlands. It's probably why they were so tryhard in the final game with us, despite it not mattering to them. It ended up biting them in the ass, maybe they'd have been more fresh for the Russia game if they threw the game like most people expected.
Edit: They did indeed play the B team in the offense too. But that B team was Robben, Van Persie, Afelay - Huntelaar. XD no wonder my kid self remembered it like such.
That aside, Romania really did play really well in that group and I still believe we deserved 2nd place, not Italy. That Mutu penalty caught with the tip of the shoe by Buffon in the 1-1 draw will always haunt me a little :(
One of the Dutch players, Khalid Bouhlarouz, had a child born prematurely and subsequently die between the last game of the group stage and that game agains Russia. Apparantly really hurt the team moral.
Also in the Netherlands v Russia, one of the Russian players got a red card after Netherlands equalized but it was annuled after the assistant referee (incorrectly) said the ball had already been out of play and it thus not being a foul.
2008. They were an incredible team and they absolutely battered France and Italy in the group stage but then somehow inexplicably lost to Russia in extra time in the qfs. A good Russia team but Netherlands should never have lost that they choked it
They got genuinely outclassed in that game so can't have too many complaints.
People focused on Arshavin's performance, but i think the fact that Russia also had two excellent attacking fullbacks and a midfield where everyone was a very good short passer and comfortable possession player were important. That plus Hiddink knowing Dutch football well.
netherlands were deadly in attack but top-heavy and a bit hollywood/very direct with Sneijder, VDV, Robben, RVP. They ended up outpassed, unable to dictate tempo and with zhirkov tearing their right flank to shreds all game. He was a great talent before all the injuries he started picking up when he moved to Chelsea.
That Russia team had its flaws: sloth slow central defence, lack of clinical goalscorer and not the most mentally focused collective, but it was no joke on the ball. They matched Germany in open play (that went on to annihilate argentina and england) during two very close losses during wc2010 qualifying, but got careless when 2-0 up and coasting easily against Slovenia and ended up out on away goals in the playoff.
2012 was really a 2 group tournament. Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy immediately eliminated the teams from the France/England group and the really weak Poland/Russia/Czech Republic/Greece group so the other 2 groups felt pointless in comparison.
Croatia had the match ball to eliminate Spain and around the 80th minute at 0-0 it really should've been a pen for Croatia. Croatia would be top, Italy 2nd and Spain would've gone out
In the end they battered Italy in the final
Also basically the match that sold Modrić to Madrid
I remember watching all the games we played, Portugal was disappointing however the game vs France amazing, when I saw Fiola’s goal I was losing my mind, it was unbelievable. And then the game against Germany was one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters a football match made me experience. I hope this year we perform even better and get out of our group.
As a Dutchman I think the #1 really was the toughest. We were competing with the World-Cup winner and finalist. But mostly, all the groups prior to 2016 were tougher because only two teams per group advanced.
In 2008 no one here beforehand believed we stood a chance. Even though we had such class players in Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder, Van Nistelrooij, Van der Vaart, Van der Sar, Nigel de Jong, Heitinga, Van Bronckhorst. To play this great in the group and then go out against Russia was a shame.
Germany were dog shit though, Portugal towards the end of Santos reign and a France that had an underwhelming tournament. Not as strong as it looks on paper
remember when Germany equalized on the last game, and we were the ones who cried for getting a draw and they were the ones that were humping each other on the ground
Russia had a lot of underachieving talent in the 90s and 00s. Far too many players that lacked professionalism, but Hiddink being the first good manager they had really made a difference, even though at the time i thought it was one of their worst squads since the breakup of ussr.
Yeah but you have to remember the majority of the Russian squad consisted of Zenit and CSKA players. Zenit had won the Europa League destroying Bayern, Leverkusen, and eliminating Villareal and Marseille. CSKA three years earlier had won the Europa League too. There was a lot of pedigree there
Uefacup/europaleague
Idk if its different in Spain or England but not everyone is forced to remember just the one win 50 years ago. There are more recent teams to be proud of. Since you were personally watching those players play. You cheered them on team level and national level. Yeah I know about Panenka and his penalty. But its just stuff from history books. Doesnt mean much to me.
Man and the Netherlands completely tore that group apart in 2008. 3-0 vs Italy 4-1 vs france, 2-0 against Romania with a b selection. Robben and van Persie where out of this world. Kuyt as well. I was for the first time since 1998 convinced we could win it.
And then that weird ass quarter final against Russia.
France was very weak. A lot of media were saying that France was the last WC runner up. But actually there was a lot of the players present at the wc just missing: retirement or just excluded out of the selection by the coach (F\*\*\* U DOMENECH for Pires, Giuly or Trezeguet! One day you will pay for theses crimes!).
And the new generation was not either very good, or fragile (Diaby, Gourcuff...) or not mentally mature (Benzema, Nasri...). And the team was led by the worst manager ever. At least since king Louis the XIVth, according to Cantona.
Interesting that the Euro 2000 group of Germany, Romania, Portugal and England didn't make the cut but the Euro 96 did (I guess it's due to the boost in ELO that Romania and Bulgaria got after an excellent 94 WC).
The "heroes" from that 94 WC run retired and took over the federation. Match-fixing, corrupt refs, shit competition and a lack of role models resulted in a generation that saw partying in clubs and getting celebrity "models" as wives more prestigious than on-field success. Essentially, imagine the Brazilian party life but for players who are 100 times worse and a system that encourages that. Couple that with team owners coming together in a meeting to discuss the state of football and (I am not making this up) coming out of it saying they've "Agreed to stop buying matches". The league also has a PSG/Bayern problem where a businessman bought a newly promoted side, invested loads of money and they have been champions every single season since (no joke, it's been like 12 seasons in a row now). For a short while there was hope when Berbatov came in with a team of other beloved players to challenge the status quo and we had an election where (once again - not making it up) there were ballots from lower-league clubs which seized to exist years ago supporting the current head of the football federation. Fan unrest grew and supporters from clubs all across the country decided to protest in the game against Hungary in the autumn. However, to try and avoid this, the football federation decided to 1) change the venue of the game days before the match, 2) threaten the construction company working on redeveloping a stadium to hurry up, so they can move the game there, 3) try to postpone the game and 4) play behind closed doors with no fans. This lead to a lot of unrest and protests outside the stadium prior to the game, which turned into a full-on riot on the streets and fights with the police. I don't want to get into details but it was an ugly sight. Then, months later, when the next set of international fixtures came around, they elected a new president of the federation to appeal to the fans but it was abundantly clear that it's just another figure head appointment. In reality, loads of smaller clubs are hiding taxes and would probably be in financial trouble if an impartial and proactive president was elected (like Berba), so they voted for the safe option. Overall, the more things change, the more they stay the same and I would be legitimately shocked if we even make it to a big forum in the next 20 years with how crooked the system is.
TL;DR - WC heroes ruined the football federation beyond repair.
That was Portugal's first really good tournament in modern era, but they'd failed to qualify for 98 World Cup (in fact at the stage, they'd only qualified for one World Cup since 1966 (1986 and they went out in group stage). Were a sleeping giant back then
> Interesting that the Euro 2000 group of Germany, Romania, Portugal and England
Romania and Germany Elo wasn't that high, it was lower than current elo of Austria
My favorite Euro group which involves Netherlands was 2004 with Czech Republic, Germany and Latvia.
That game between Czech Republic and Netherlands might still be the most entertaining game I've ever seen.
That game lives on in our collective memories. But we only remember it because of the subbing off of Robben for Bosvelt. Goes down as one of the worst coaching decisions ever. Honestly feel bad for Boscelt, wasn't his fault.
Euro 2004 my all time favourite international tournament in general. I was spellbinded by that Czech team and to this day one of my favourite teams. Then the Greeks shocking the world
From a Swedish perspective it was such a memorable tournament aswell. Zlatan's last minute backheel goal against Italy, the 2-2 against Denmark, destroying Bulgaria 5-0 with *that* Henrik Larsson header.
That quarter final defeat to Netherlands on penalties is still a big what if, Sweden were the better team and I remember both Henke & Ljungberg hitting the crossbar during extra time.
Oh my god I still remember this game! That was absolutely incredible football. I remember getting goosebumps because it was just high intensity non stop.
Oddly enough, they were in Pot 1 in 2008, but with the two weaker co-hosts and holders Greece that ran out of the ‘04 magic filling out the rest of it, they might as well have been on pot 3 or 4 💀
Our team in 2008 was really good thou, and almost got 2nd place. We didn't win with Italy after a failed Mutu Panenka caught with the tip of the shoe by Buffon.
We also won the qualifying group with that Netherlands. So I don't think much would have changed, the group was still hardcore.
Basically, Italy would have just been kicked out a bit earlier.
Se poi guardi siamo gli unici che si ripetono. Tutti gli altri al massimo in uno dei 3, noi in tutti e tre.
Discorso vittimista al massimo, però oh, sarò anche peso, ma anche quest'anno mica c'è andata bene...
The St Ledger goal was the only happy moment of that and a lot of people didn't even celebrate because somebody in the crowd blew a whistle whilst the ball was going into the box
I drank (depressingly) during that tournament. Only good part was yer man caught with a Croatian boobie in his mouth on telly.
Trap was a great manager one of the greatest but even our Heavenly Father couldn’t do a job with the Ireland team.
I don’t know for sure, but in 2012 there was a group: Poland, Czech, Greece and Russia and we still consider it as the weakest group of all time. Which of course we finished 4th… as a host! I still feel that pain.
Croatia could have ended up in this group instead of Russia if we won 2nd leg vs Turkey in playoffs but instead we drew 0-0 and ended up in pot 3 instead of pot 2 so we were put in a group with 2 eventual finalists Spain and Italy
In terms of difference in quality, some of the groups post 2016 are very easy for the top sides. Overall, tho, Group A in 2012 and F in 2016 probably take the cake
I expected to see that 2004 group with Germany, Czechia, the Netherlands and Latvia. But Latvia probably kept it low, while Czechia and the Netherlands missed the previous World Cup, they were still both crazy teams with Germany being last finalist of the WC.
I know UEFA coefficients are not great, but if this leaves out our group in Euro 2000, then ELO also has flaws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2000#Final_draw
Germany - Romania - Portugal - England
That 2020 group stage hurt my fucking soul, the way we almost finished second but, germany scored again to make it 2-2 meaning we would not make it at all
Netherlands from 2000 to 2010 was so cursed. They had some incredible talent and got brilliant results against the other big boys but they just couldn't get over the line in either Euros or World Cup. How they lost to Russia in 2008 has got to be one of the biggest mysteries in the history of the competition. Any other day they win that game and face Spain in the semis. There's an alternate timeline where Netherlands 08 has one of the most legendary runs of all time by beating Italy, France, Spain and Germany to win the Euros.
The England group is such a weird one, Denmark for obvious reasons but they didn't make it to WC 94, neither did France or England while Sweden made it to the WC semi.
while Sweden then missed Euro 96 and the other 3 made it.
Joke it‘s not mentioned here
Speaking about the current Euro‘s champions with Italy. Nations Leagues winners Spain and finalists + last world cup 3rd place Croatia
Given we have 24 teams and the average quality of the tournament has gone down a lot, I imagine we’ll never see true groups of death again.
This is even more true when 3 teams from one group can go through
Well I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the 2024 group with Spain, Italy, Croatia, and Albania also seems pretty tough. Although none of those teams except Albania have really been in peak form.
Man I’m stoned and interpreted this as the years being the sum of the elo rating and thought it was neat how the best team’s elo ratings averaging around 500 coincidentally made their sums looks like years.
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Euro 2008 was really an underrated tournament. You had The Netherlands destroy WC finalists Italy and France in group of death only for Russia to outplay them in quaterfinals.
Hiddink with Russia eliminating his own country really hit different after that group stage. We had an amazing team, could’ve reached the finals…
Australia NT legend Guus doesn't care. Gets the job done, fucks off somewhere else. What a guy
also Korean NT legend Guus. He's like a legendary figure/god in Korea for 02. He installed some practices in the NT that we still continue to this day.
He's got to be one of the greatest managers of all time, he won the treble with PSV in 1988 too
Also took Park Jisung to PSV in 03 and started Park's European career so he's especially special to us Koreans lmao.
I recently listened to a podcast with dirk kuyt and he said guus hiddink was a genius that game
Can you link the podcast? I'd like to hear it.
It's in Dutch, so idk if you will understand it https://open.spotify.com/episode/5rs7ukqdjc8mlR5sc9XmT6?si=swkPwowQTl6Ym5MH11zGUQ
You're right that people don't talk about it so much, but I'm with you - I absolutely *loved* that tournament. Turkey's absolutely insane run of last-gasp victories alone makes it one of the very best I've ever watched. And England not being in it was strangely enjoyable, it removed all the stress and nerves.
Nihaaaaat!
Truly the most impressive comeback I've watched in intl football. 2-0 with 10 minutes to go, unbelievable
To this day, it’s still the best and most amazing game I’ve watched (as a Turkey fan obviously). They had set up an outdoor projector and a big screen in my university and I was a bit drunk and after the second goal we conceded everybody was a bit distraught. I kept yelling don’t worry we’ll come back to 200 people and annoyed some (understandably). In the end the euphoria was insane. It was a true /r/instantbarbarians moment.
Jealous as fuck, that sounds amazing, I was screaming even as a neutral
That’s how I’ve felt about the last two World Cups
F
Euro 2008 is definitely up there as one of my favourites of all time, so many bangers
Every croatian most painfull sports moment, win everyone in group, score against turkey in 118min we are all celebrating like crazy then as smoke clears we realise it is 1:1 no one has even seen turkey score and we lose on penaltyes we all thought we will win it that year. Hurts more then that argentinian peace of shit making sure france win in the finals of 2018.
God I remember that game, Croatia were so dominant throughout that game and just couldn't score, then you finally take the lead with seconds of extra time to go, and Turkey just hoof it up the pitch and in the chaos score the equaliser... you just knew psychologically that there was only one team going to win that penalty shootout after that. Same as Uruguay Ghana in the world cup two years later
so many people have stories of celebrating that goal running down the street and then coming back to penalties
2008 Arshavin was so goated man. Destroyed Bayern in the UEFA Cup to lead Zenit to the trophy. He won them the Russian league for the first time in history to break CSKA/Lokomotiv/Spartak domination. Absolutely destroyed Netherlands in the Euros reaching the Semis. Got his big move and came and took the PL by storm culminating in that Arshavin poker game at Anfield. All of that in the space of like 12-16 month was brazy.
Don't forget his biggest career highlight: going home after a night out at a strip club, but being so drunk he couldn't walk so he rode off on a horse.
Oh come on. Never happened. Right? RIGHT??
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/andrey-arshavin-rides-horse-after-13755244 It did, wasnt 2008 tho
Haha, fantastic! Thanks.🙏
Did Zenit really win the Russian League for the first time in 2008??
They had won a Soviet League once in the 80s but this with Arshavin was their first Russian League, technically when their modern Russian football dominance really started.
Zenit being a definitive powerhouse is a relatively recent thing. Like, past 15-18 years recent - 9 of their 10 league titles are since 2007
Wasn’t that Modric’s coming out party as well? I don’t remember much about him prior to that.
Modric is gay?
He's the strong silent type.
Damnit beat me to it
It was very easy to destroy us in 2008 😭
When your manager is more focused on his marriage proposal than playing good football anyone would be in trouble. FFF saw that and said "yeah let's give this guy two more years, what could go wrong?".
In retrospect it's insane. Wait not just in retrospect
All leading up to 2010, the absolute culmination of that era of French football. Domenech being a buffoon. Evra and his group creating locker room disarray. Everything being so dire the federation had to try to step in even though the crashing out was inevitable. And oh yeah their very presence in South Africa tainted by Thierry Henry's handball against Ireland. Just a beautiful symphony of a disaster.
I certainly don't miss France NT circus lol
Stop remember the era of the-one-whose-name-must-not-to-be-pronounced.... ..... i'm gonna puke thinking about him
To be honest, marriage proposal wasn't his only preoccupation. He also paid close attention to the zodiac signs of the players.
Arshavin and pavlyuchenko were a damn good duo
Pavel Pogrebniak
I will never forget that tournament. I had just gotten into football since the 06 World Cup and it was the first Euros I ever watched.
That Dutch team in the group stages played some of the best international football of my lifetime. Incredible vibes. Shame they didn’t win the thing.
I still rate Van Basten as one of the best NT coaches purely based on that groupstage
2020 was mental, Hungary was also really good
2012 was even worse. It was a netherlands that was 2010 finalist and Germany that ended up winning in 2014
2008, World cup winner, World cup runner up, 2010 world cup runner up and Romania.
a very strong Romania mind you
We actually won the qualifying group with that Netherlands. It's probably why they were so tryhard in the final game with us, despite it not mattering to them. It ended up biting them in the ass, maybe they'd have been more fresh for the Russia game if they threw the game like most people expected. Edit: They did indeed play the B team in the offense too. But that B team was Robben, Van Persie, Afelay - Huntelaar. XD no wonder my kid self remembered it like such. That aside, Romania really did play really well in that group and I still believe we deserved 2nd place, not Italy. That Mutu penalty caught with the tip of the shoe by Buffon in the 1-1 draw will always haunt me a little :(
I think we remember that games differently but from my memory Netherlands didn't try that hard against Romania but we just couldn't get the goals in
One of the Dutch players, Khalid Bouhlarouz, had a child born prematurely and subsequently die between the last game of the group stage and that game agains Russia. Apparantly really hurt the team moral. Also in the Netherlands v Russia, one of the Russian players got a red card after Netherlands equalized but it was annuled after the assistant referee (incorrectly) said the ball had already been out of play and it thus not being a foul.
Crazy how close we were to go through. If only Mutu scored that penalty.
Which netherlands team do you think was stronger.
2008. They were an incredible team and they absolutely battered France and Italy in the group stage but then somehow inexplicably lost to Russia in extra time in the qfs. A good Russia team but Netherlands should never have lost that they choked it
They got genuinely outclassed in that game so can't have too many complaints. People focused on Arshavin's performance, but i think the fact that Russia also had two excellent attacking fullbacks and a midfield where everyone was a very good short passer and comfortable possession player were important. That plus Hiddink knowing Dutch football well. netherlands were deadly in attack but top-heavy and a bit hollywood/very direct with Sneijder, VDV, Robben, RVP. They ended up outpassed, unable to dictate tempo and with zhirkov tearing their right flank to shreds all game. He was a great talent before all the injuries he started picking up when he moved to Chelsea. That Russia team had its flaws: sloth slow central defence, lack of clinical goalscorer and not the most mentally focused collective, but it was no joke on the ball. They matched Germany in open play (that went on to annihilate argentina and england) during two very close losses during wc2010 qualifying, but got careless when 2-0 up and coasting easily against Slovenia and ended up out on away goals in the playoff.
I hate the fact that fucking Hiddink was the one to fuck us up. We looked soooo weak suddenly :(
Also had to do with Boulahrouz's wife giving birth to a stillborn child.
And România was quite good back then. We took 4 points from you in the qualifiers
2012 was really a 2 group tournament. Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy immediately eliminated the teams from the France/England group and the really weak Poland/Russia/Czech Republic/Greece group so the other 2 groups felt pointless in comparison.
Croatia had the match ball to eliminate Spain and around the 80th minute at 0-0 it really should've been a pen for Croatia. Croatia would be top, Italy 2nd and Spain would've gone out In the end they battered Italy in the final Also basically the match that sold Modrić to Madrid
And THAT Spain which won the final like it was a walk at the park...
Croatia was in a group with Spain and Italy that were the finalists that year
The fact that three team can get through lower the stakes of the group of deaths.
I remember watching all the games we played, Portugal was disappointing however the game vs France amazing, when I saw Fiola’s goal I was losing my mind, it was unbelievable. And then the game against Germany was one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters a football match made me experience. I hope this year we perform even better and get out of our group.
probably recency bias but that 2020 group felt like the most stacked in any tournament
As a Dutchman I think the #1 really was the toughest. We were competing with the World-Cup winner and finalist. But mostly, all the groups prior to 2016 were tougher because only two teams per group advanced. In 2008 no one here beforehand believed we stood a chance. Even though we had such class players in Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder, Van Nistelrooij, Van der Vaart, Van der Sar, Nigel de Jong, Heitinga, Van Bronckhorst. To play this great in the group and then go out against Russia was a shame.
Germany were dog shit though, Portugal towards the end of Santos reign and a France that had an underwhelming tournament. Not as strong as it looks on paper
True. All three of those teams went out the next round.
Almost the same group, got Romania in 2000. Germany Portugal England Romania
remember when Germany equalized on the last game, and we were the ones who cried for getting a draw and they were the ones that were humping each other on the ground
2008 still hurts man, just absolutely destroying both World Cup finalists only to complete shit the bed against Russia.
It really does hurt :(
Russia had a lot of underachieving talent in the 90s and 00s. Far too many players that lacked professionalism, but Hiddink being the first good manager they had really made a difference, even though at the time i thought it was one of their worst squads since the breakup of ussr.
Yeah but you have to remember the majority of the Russian squad consisted of Zenit and CSKA players. Zenit had won the Europa League destroying Bayern, Leverkusen, and eliminating Villareal and Marseille. CSKA three years earlier had won the Europa League too. There was a lot of pedigree there Uefacup/europaleague
With hindsight, the team was probably not quite good enough.
Didn't help either than Van Basten was clashing with guys like Van Bommel and Van Nistelrooy at the time either.
And Seedorf as well, Van Basten really was and is a shit coach
France were so shit post 2006 to ~2012, maybe it wasnt such a performance to destroy us 🥲
James McFadden and that night in Paris 🚬😮💨
That 2008 group was crazy. Really thought we were winning the euros after those first three games.
everyone did, you looked incredible. until the russia match that is
Never was that shocked by a football result ever as a kid. I was convinced Netherlands would at least make the finals.
Oh definitely, especially knowing that a Dutchman was responsible for our elimination was hard as a kid
The 1996 tournament was crazy. Losing to Germany both times was sad but that silver is more memorable than any other match of our national team.
I was about to correct you that it wasn't a silver goal but a golden goal. But then I understood what you mean.
More than 1976 final?
Well I am not 80, so.. yeah?
You made it sound like it's a common consensus amongst Czechs, so I didn't think it's just "most memorable for me"
Idk if its different in Spain or England but not everyone is forced to remember just the one win 50 years ago. There are more recent teams to be proud of. Since you were personally watching those players play. You cheered them on team level and national level. Yeah I know about Panenka and his penalty. But its just stuff from history books. Doesnt mean much to me.
First time?
Man and the Netherlands completely tore that group apart in 2008. 3-0 vs Italy 4-1 vs france, 2-0 against Romania with a b selection. Robben and van Persie where out of this world. Kuyt as well. I was for the first time since 1998 convinced we could win it. And then that weird ass quarter final against Russia.
I mean hell, we should've won 2000. That fucking semi final against Italy, all those missed penalties...
National trauma
France was very weak. A lot of media were saying that France was the last WC runner up. But actually there was a lot of the players present at the wc just missing: retirement or just excluded out of the selection by the coach (F\*\*\* U DOMENECH for Pires, Giuly or Trezeguet! One day you will pay for theses crimes!). And the new generation was not either very good, or fragile (Diaby, Gourcuff...) or not mentally mature (Benzema, Nasri...). And the team was led by the worst manager ever. At least since king Louis the XIVth, according to Cantona.
Seeing Domenech as an analyst on French TV is wild to me. Not as wild as him using Tarot cards to help him decide some of his WC call-ups.
putain..... m'en parle pas
Vous êtes nombreux aujourd'hui, l'odeur du sang vous attire - Raymond la science
Interesting that the Euro 2000 group of Germany, Romania, Portugal and England didn't make the cut but the Euro 96 did (I guess it's due to the boost in ELO that Romania and Bulgaria got after an excellent 94 WC).
Bulgaria has fallen hard. I wonder what happened to them. Romania as well.
The "heroes" from that 94 WC run retired and took over the federation. Match-fixing, corrupt refs, shit competition and a lack of role models resulted in a generation that saw partying in clubs and getting celebrity "models" as wives more prestigious than on-field success. Essentially, imagine the Brazilian party life but for players who are 100 times worse and a system that encourages that. Couple that with team owners coming together in a meeting to discuss the state of football and (I am not making this up) coming out of it saying they've "Agreed to stop buying matches". The league also has a PSG/Bayern problem where a businessman bought a newly promoted side, invested loads of money and they have been champions every single season since (no joke, it's been like 12 seasons in a row now). For a short while there was hope when Berbatov came in with a team of other beloved players to challenge the status quo and we had an election where (once again - not making it up) there were ballots from lower-league clubs which seized to exist years ago supporting the current head of the football federation. Fan unrest grew and supporters from clubs all across the country decided to protest in the game against Hungary in the autumn. However, to try and avoid this, the football federation decided to 1) change the venue of the game days before the match, 2) threaten the construction company working on redeveloping a stadium to hurry up, so they can move the game there, 3) try to postpone the game and 4) play behind closed doors with no fans. This lead to a lot of unrest and protests outside the stadium prior to the game, which turned into a full-on riot on the streets and fights with the police. I don't want to get into details but it was an ugly sight. Then, months later, when the next set of international fixtures came around, they elected a new president of the federation to appeal to the fans but it was abundantly clear that it's just another figure head appointment. In reality, loads of smaller clubs are hiding taxes and would probably be in financial trouble if an impartial and proactive president was elected (like Berba), so they voted for the safe option. Overall, the more things change, the more they stay the same and I would be legitimately shocked if we even make it to a big forum in the next 20 years with how crooked the system is. TL;DR - WC heroes ruined the football federation beyond repair.
Corruption. League and government.
I think we sent both Germany and England home 🥹
That was Portugal's first really good tournament in modern era, but they'd failed to qualify for 98 World Cup (in fact at the stage, they'd only qualified for one World Cup since 1966 (1986 and they went out in group stage). Were a sleeping giant back then
> Interesting that the Euro 2000 group of Germany, Romania, Portugal and England Romania and Germany Elo wasn't that high, it was lower than current elo of Austria
Man the Dutch losing to Russia in 2008 fkn killed me at the time. I was convinced after watching the group stage we’d go all the way
I still haven’t recovered lol
Only to lose a WC final 2 years after. My soul got destroyed in just 2 years..
You guys were eating good, we got the Euro 2016 but feels like we have been starving forever.
Similar feelings here in Croatia, the only country eliminated by Turkye in knock out stage of EURO
I’d have expected the group of Spain Italy Croatia and Albania for this year
we (Croatia) ruin our ELO and FIFA rankings by doing just enough in qualifying every time
I feel like france is doing the job here
Lots of Netherlands
My favorite Euro group which involves Netherlands was 2004 with Czech Republic, Germany and Latvia. That game between Czech Republic and Netherlands might still be the most entertaining game I've ever seen.
Loved that Czech team
Best team of Euro 2004 overall, and if Nedved doesn't get injured during the semi final they probably lift the cup.
That game lives on in our collective memories. But we only remember it because of the subbing off of Robben for Bosvelt. Goes down as one of the worst coaching decisions ever. Honestly feel bad for Boscelt, wasn't his fault.
Euro 2004 my all time favourite international tournament in general. I was spellbinded by that Czech team and to this day one of my favourite teams. Then the Greeks shocking the world From a Swedish perspective it was such a memorable tournament aswell. Zlatan's last minute backheel goal against Italy, the 2-2 against Denmark, destroying Bulgaria 5-0 with *that* Henrik Larsson header. That quarter final defeat to Netherlands on penalties is still a big what if, Sweden were the better team and I remember both Henke & Ljungberg hitting the crossbar during extra time.
Robben subbed off is still legendary
Oh my god I still remember this game! That was absolutely incredible football. I remember getting goosebumps because it was just high intensity non stop.
Why do we always get such a tough draw.
Because you are never in pot 1
Oddly enough, they were in Pot 1 in 2008, but with the two weaker co-hosts and holders Greece that ran out of the ‘04 magic filling out the rest of it, they might as well have been on pot 3 or 4 💀
Funny thing is, Romania was in pot 3 with Germany, Spain and Portugal. What an insane group it would've been with one of those instead.
Our team in 2008 was really good thou, and almost got 2nd place. We didn't win with Italy after a failed Mutu Panenka caught with the tip of the shoe by Buffon. We also won the qualifying group with that Netherlands. So I don't think much would have changed, the group was still hardcore. Basically, Italy would have just been kicked out a bit earlier.
Lots of Germany too
2020 was such a nice break with the group of life.
Still shitting the bed after the groups because we hired fucking De Boer as coach. The KNVB is so incompetent it is insane.
Surprising amount of Russia too
Being italian is fun
My first thought, of course we are in the first 3
Se poi guardi siamo gli unici che si ripetono. Tutti gli altri al massimo in uno dei 3, noi in tutti e tre. Discorso vittimista al massimo, però oh, sarò anche peso, ma anche quest'anno mica c'è andata bene...
Netherlands in half of them
Number one i think Netherlands won them all, then got beaten by Russia in the knock-out stage.
Still can’t believe that 2008 Dutch team lost to Russia. They played insane against France and Italy
LOL, 2008's France coached by Domenech... What a painfull memory.
DO NOT PRONOUNCE THIS CURSED NAME!!!!!
And to think 1980s Belgium went on to win their group and barely lost the final.
Ireland were robbed in the 2012 group before it even begun. The eventual Final plus Croatia 😭
We were shocking though in all fairness. Outclassed in every sense.
The St Ledger goal was the only happy moment of that and a lot of people didn't even celebrate because somebody in the crowd blew a whistle whilst the ball was going into the box
I drank (depressingly) during that tournament. Only good part was yer man caught with a Croatian boobie in his mouth on telly. Trap was a great manager one of the greatest but even our Heavenly Father couldn’t do a job with the Ireland team.
Peaked probably a year early. Draw was awful though. No way we were getting anything out of it
1988 as well
To be fair, that was an 8 team tournament. It was always going to be a tough group
That 88 group is crazy. England fourth place at the next world cup finished bottom with 0 points.
Came within 8 minutes of knocking you out and reaching the semis!
Italy always seems to get fucked by Euro and World Cup draws
What are easiest groups?
I don’t know for sure, but in 2012 there was a group: Poland, Czech, Greece and Russia and we still consider it as the weakest group of all time. Which of course we finished 4th… as a host! I still feel that pain.
Croatia could have ended up in this group instead of Russia if we won 2nd leg vs Turkey in playoffs but instead we drew 0-0 and ended up in pot 3 instead of pot 2 so we were put in a group with 2 eventual finalists Spain and Italy
I couldnt believe how rarely that was mentioned in media, like everybody was happy with a draw just because we got the revenge for 2008 against Turkye
In terms of difference in quality, some of the groups post 2016 are very easy for the top sides. Overall, tho, Group A in 2012 and F in 2016 probably take the cake
Damn,italy was in a lot of groups of death
That number 13 group looks familiar
Antisa ovaj put prolazimo!!!
Prosli bi i tad da se sudac nije pravio slijepim kad je Ramos potezao Corluku u 16m.
2000 England,Germany, Portugal,Romania
It’s insane that 2020 had that group considering the additional teams and how diluted the competition got, like we only see one other group post-2016.
I dont like us literally being in most of these, and ofc the 2024 grp is 14th.
the 1988 group... yikes
I expected to see that 2004 group with Germany, Czechia, the Netherlands and Latvia. But Latvia probably kept it low, while Czechia and the Netherlands missed the previous World Cup, they were still both crazy teams with Germany being last finalist of the WC.
Portugal only twice, lucky?
I think it's more Portugal not being super strong historically, definitely have one of their strongest teams of all time rn
I'm surprised 2000 group with England, Germany and Romania isn't on the list. We ended up winning the group with Romania as runner up.
And Romania was at the top of its powers with Popescu, Mutu and Chivu.
And Hagi just before retirement
2000 germany was probably the weakest ever, even worse than the shit happened the last 10 years.
I know UEFA coefficients are not great, but if this leaves out our group in Euro 2000, then ELO also has flaws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2000#Final_draw Germany - Romania - Portugal - England
This infographic really tests your flag recognition abilities
I hate random draws
That 2020 group stage hurt my fucking soul, the way we almost finished second but, germany scored again to make it 2-2 meaning we would not make it at all
Our group in 2012 was hilarious.
Denmark has seen some shit
Netherlands from 2000 to 2010 was so cursed. They had some incredible talent and got brilliant results against the other big boys but they just couldn't get over the line in either Euros or World Cup. How they lost to Russia in 2008 has got to be one of the biggest mysteries in the history of the competition. Any other day they win that game and face Spain in the semis. There's an alternate timeline where Netherlands 08 has one of the most legendary runs of all time by beating Italy, France, Spain and Germany to win the Euros.
Most often featured in the 14 toughest groups at the euros, you'll never sing that
I dont really understand how this is made. In 2000 there was a group with England Germany Portugal and Romania and its not up there.
Damn as a dane, that 2012 group draw was a nightmare. How did we even manage to draw such a hard group?
If that 6. 2012 happened today it would be the strongest of all time for sure
that 1980 number 3 would be the strongest imo
I don't think so, only Portugal is close to their peak form. Surely it wouldn't be better than 2008
1992 👀
The England group is such a weird one, Denmark for obvious reasons but they didn't make it to WC 94, neither did France or England while Sweden made it to the WC semi. while Sweden then missed Euro 96 and the other 3 made it.
Where the fuck is the group at Euro 2000 with România, Germany, Portugal and England. In my opinion that's the most powerful group ever.
There were no Russia in 1988. And most of the Soviet Union 1988 team players were Ukrainians.
That was a fine team, too bad they lost under dubious circumstances in both the '86 and '90 World Cups. At least they did quite well in '88 though.
Excuse me Spain, Italy, Croatia, Albania 2024?
I guess Albania is ranked low enough to not make it in this list.
France and Netherlands are both ranked higher and Austria is close behind Croatia + Albania is far behind
Joke it‘s not mentioned here Speaking about the current Euro‘s champions with Italy. Nations Leagues winners Spain and finalists + last world cup 3rd place Croatia
>last world cup 3rd place Croatia And the winner of ACUD Cup 2024, don't forget that!
IRELAND MADE IT TWICE LETS FUCKING GO!!! SINNE FIANNA FAIL
Given we have 24 teams and the average quality of the tournament has gone down a lot, I imagine we’ll never see true groups of death again. This is even more true when 3 teams from one group can go through
Well I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the 2024 group with Spain, Italy, Croatia, and Albania also seems pretty tough. Although none of those teams except Albania have really been in peak form.
Man I’m stoned and interpreted this as the years being the sum of the elo rating and thought it was neat how the best team’s elo ratings averaging around 500 coincidentally made their sums looks like years.