Euro 2004

[jdl22]

Thought I would get a thread started about the coming European Cup tournament which begins in June. Two months early doesn't feel like too long to me to begin talking about the biggest sporting event this summer except maybe the olympics (my vote is still for Euro 2004).

For those of you unaware, Euro 2004 is a tournament consisting of the best teams from accross Europe. They went through a qualifying stage and the finals of the tournament has the 16 teams that qualified.

Here are the groups:
Group A
Portugal, Spain, Greece, Russia
Group B
France, England, Switzerland, Croatia
Group C
Sweden, Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy
Group D
Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands

Top two in each group advance to the second round.

Here are my picks:
Group A: Portugal, Spain
Group B: France, England
Group C: Sweden, Italy
Group D: Germany, Netherlands

I think those will be the rankings also with the first team finishing top and second in second.

I have given pretty much straight up vanilla picks so I'll give some likely upsets. I think Greece will give Spain a big fight for the second spot in the group (home ground advantage and the shame of the last world cup will have Portugal top) and maybe win it. Greece finished above Spain in qualifying for this tournament. England have looked shaky as of late, I wouldn't be surprised to see them crash out with the Croats going through.

[lil']

I would dearly love to watch some of the matches here. What channels (if any) will they be broadcast on in the States?

[Ulysses]

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I would dearly love to watch some of the matches here. What channels (if any) will they be broadcast on in the States?

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Cool Official Euro 2004 Website unfortunately w/ no info re: TV coverage

Ugh. I expected Fox Sports World (the greatest channel for soccer coverage in the US) would carry some games, but can't find any info.

SoccerTV.com and a couple of soccer boards say: "Setanta Sport will offer Euro 2004 via pay-per-view and closed-circuit TV in the US. The residential rate is $179 for all matches. Individual first-round matches will cost $19.95 and each match from the quarterfinal through the final will cost $24.95. DirecTV, DISH Network, and iNDemand have signed to carry residential pay-per-view."

Univision or Telemundo might be carrying some games, but this might be a case where these guys have locked up all US broadcast rights and you have to either head to a bar or shell out for PPV.

[jdl22]

I read that it will only be available on PPV. That sucks because they will charge astronomically high prices. For some England friendlies they charged $20 per match. Can't wait to see how much this will be.

[JoeU]

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I read that it will only be available on PPV.

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This is one of my biggest issues with soccer in the US. This is argueably (sp?) the 2nd most important soccer tournament in the world (ok, maybe the UEFA Cup is bigger) and we have to PAY-PER-VIEW???? Then we wonder why soccer doesn't take off in this country. These are going to be, for the most part, the best players in the world; and we can't see the games unless we shell out $180! It is a disgrace. The USSF should wake up, take some of the money MLS paid Freddie Adu, and put the games where people can see them.

Thankfully, my father belongs to one of the many Italian clubs here in CT (as do I indirectly), and those folks will spare no expense at getting those games. Furthermore, because we are members, I don't have to pay at all to see the games. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Just another case of the man keeping us down! [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Joe

[dogsballs]

[ QUOTE ]
This is argueably (sp?) the 2nd most important soccer tournament in the world (ok, maybe the UEFA Cup is bigger)

[/ QUOTE ]

i think your nomenclature is a little bit confused still - not trying to be nitpicky here, but I presume you meant the Champions League (used to be called the European Cup). It's huge. The UEFA cup is like the second tier tourney, where the league runner ups go and the early exits from the champions league end up.

[Ulysses]

Cool thing about SF is that it's a pretty big soccer city (well, California in general) full of all kinds of foreigners. So, not only can you find the games at multiple places, you can actually go someplace with fans for the side you support (or don't, if you prefer).

[jdl22]

Freddie Adu, who's that?

His name sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I remember it from the ESPN sportscenter segment, the CNN headline news 5 minute focus, the dateline NBC show about him, the leading sports story (coming on as a sub) on every local news, his appearance on Dave, an article about him on soccernet, every interview this season of anybody from the MLS no matter their team, position, or even if they know him, constant commentary about him in every match shown in the US whether it involves his team or even his league, or numerous places I don't precisely remember.

I think the big story of the year for American soccer is the success of many of our players in foreign leagues. Unfortunately this gets no mention in the wake of a teenager that is apparently Pele, Diego Maradona, Tiger Woods, and Lebron James all wrapped up in one.

Guess I got a little off track there. I do agree that the USSF or somebody should put some money up so that we can see major competitions like Euro2004 or the Champions league. Paying a trillion dollars for the former and seeing one match per match day in the latter just doesn't cut it. It is getting better with FSW and GolTV which because I prefer Spanish matches is in my opinion the best channel on television. If only we could convince to show teams that aren't Real Madrid and Barca...

Was that a rant or what?

[dogsballs]

don't you mean European Championship? The european cup is what the champions league (teh club tourney) used to be called.

If only scotland had made it...sigh...

England should pull their usual get-to-teh-late-stages-then-lose-to-a-more-talented-team maneouvre.

..now you've made me go look up the tourney and team details on teh web.

[jdl22]

I've heard both referred to as the European Cup. You still will hear the champions league and the competition under discussion as such.

In any case I think we agree on what England will do.