Sorry to go back a few posts, but...

Moros, NL and Germany are pretty intense rivals. A NL fan wouldn't want Germany to win.

For the goalline technology...

It is a mystery to me why it is not implemented in football, especially in high-ranked sports events like Euro. The same technology has been used for years in tennis and, for a couple of years now, in volleyball events in Poland. It is yet to be approved by FIVB as standard, since it is yet in planning stages in many countries, but year after year there are matches where one side is always deemed "eliminated by referee"... I have no idea why UEFA hasn't put a thought to this...

Also, Blatter, who was mentioned earlier, can think all he want, but for UEFA Euro 2012, it's Platini that makes the call, and he as a former pro should know how important this technology is.

@szeweningen:

It's also a mystery to me why they don't simply get rid off the whole offside bs while they're at it. Only effect it seems to have is giving referees a chance to make impossible decisions incorrectly. Hockey ("field hockey" for the Canadians, Fins and Russians among us) got rid off the offside rule a decade ago...

Regarding goalline technology, probably the same reason football is still played on real grass instead of artificial grass: the people making the call seem to be rather technophobic, probably defending their ignorance with the standard "last time we looked at it (read: ages ago), the technology was utterly inferior". Of course, nowadays the technology didn't simply catch up, it advanced way beyond the threshold where they should've switched over, but it takes at least a semi-competent person (competent in anything other than squeezing as much money as possible out of everything) to actually figure that out. (No, I'm not exactly a member of the Blatter (or Platini, for that matter) fanclub...)

No one is...

remove the offside rule? um, no. if we're removing rules because the referee makes the wrong call on it sometimes, then lets just play lawless, 17th century style.

If Germany can escape the group of death with 9 points than they can beat any team in europe

The offside rule is to prevent strikers standing in the opposition box for the duration of the game waiting to recieve a longball or similar - It's not exciting to watch a few players goal poach. As for artificial turf, it was the fans and the players who helped get rid of that last time rouns (in England at least) as it did not ake for as good football as grass does and it led to more injuries to the players. The football league recently opened it up to their league vote and found that it was still largely unwanted.

RvW you really must be kidding. Offside is THE single-most important rule in all of football. Well, apart from the "noone use their hands except the goalies" rule, of course...

Anyways, it's time for the crystal ball!
Česko vs. Portugal could become a really intense game. Or not. The Czechs will make it in the end.
Greece vs. Germany shall be the most boring thing ever watched on television up until the 88th minute, when Gekas will score the first and last goal of the match (with his head; from a corner kick, presumably). This should be fun. =)
As for Spain vs. France, I foresee 90% possession for Spain and Xavi with 200 passes completed, apart from that it's only fog. Wait... is that... Benzema scoring the winning goal?
Those 130+ minutes of England vs. Italy will be the second-most boring thing ever watched on television. Italy wins on penalties.

remove the offside rule? um, no. if we're removing rules because the referee makes the wrong call on it sometimes, then lets just play lawless, 17th century style.

Not remove it because the referee can get it wrong, remove it because (from what I've heard officials say) the only reason to keep it seems to add "excitement" (the chance of the referee getting it wrong).

The offside rule is to prevent strikers standing in the opposition box for the duration of the game waiting to recieve a longball or similar - It's not exciting to watch a few players goal poach.

Let him stand there, so what? There's two possibilities, either it works or it doesn't. If it doesn't that means they're effectively playing 10-vs-11; hardly a brilliant strategy. If it does actually work (if the rest of the team can deliver enough and accurate-enough longballs) all it takes is one defender to keep him company.
Essentially, what's the difference between the farthest (??) attacker having his position decided by the last defender (due to the offside rule) and the last defender having his position decided by the farthest attacker (due to having to guard him)?

Anyways, it's time for the crystal ball!

According to my crystal wiki, the Czechs didn't make it in the end. No idea whether it was an intense game though; it didn't say so. :p

@ RvW

. . .

You render me speechless

Ronaldo heads Portugal into last four
Czech Republic 0-1 Portugal
A 79th-minute header from Cristiano Ronaldo set up a semi-final meeting with Spain or France.

Source: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/index.html

The Czechs played surprisingly well. Especially Petr Cech:)

[WM] x

then lets just play lawless, 17th century style.

warlight on the field, nice! :)


Paul:

The Czechs played surprisingly well. Especially Petr Cech:)

in which game? the one in which they weren't able to make one shot at the goal? if that is the case... hm... i don't want to see the kind of football games you like

rvw, you are the only person in the world who wants to get rid of the offside rule. its never going to happen.

Aleksandr.. (Is that your real name? you're portuguese,but do you have a russian background?)

The Czechs had no chance of beating Portugal. They knew they had to put up a decent match and they did. When you face Portugal, you need a good defensive if you don't want a 4-0. Maybe they didn't even consider attacking.
Though, you must admit they were quite enthusiastic in the first 30 min.
I like David vs Goliath matches like this one was. I find balanced games rather dull.

Meanwhile, Lahm marks a goal for the Mannschaft .. Even Angela Merkel rejoices.:)

if greece werent so terrible at defending, they might have won, or got it to extra time at least. oh well.

1) The offside rule is NOT going away, let's not debate something so medial.

2) Other than divine intervention, there is no one thing that would have taken the Greeks to the Semis. In the first half, they seemed almost unwilling to play. Everyone was slowly jogging, there was no hassle, and generally no motivation. Their defense was lacking, yes, but better defending would not have taken them anywhere near a victory. They looked like little league players out there; overall, it was a pathetic performance. Furthermore, they need to thank their lucky stars it was only 4-2. In fact, 4-2 with that performance for Greece is nothing short of divine intervention. The way I see it (and I've watched every single game in these Euros so far), the Greeks were the worst side so far, I'm baffled as to how they even made it to the quarter finals, and I'm extremely surprised the final score wasn't something like 8-0. I'd also like to add that I'm not a Germany fan, so there's no bias here.

if they closed players down, actually attempted to clear the ball rather than putting it out for a corner or throw-in all the time, and if their goalkeeper wasnt so terrible, they might not have conceded. the germans didnt exactly tear them apart.

they got a sneaky goal like they often do. that would mean a 1-0 win. but they had 9/10 players behind the ball and were still atrocious and disorganised.

To same affect, I could say that if Xavi's and Iniesta's last names were papacolodopolis and constapopodopolis, then the Greeks would win.

The Germans didn't tear them apart?! If there has ever been a tearing apart, it was this game. I remember at some point in the first half, the commentators said the Germans completed 360 something passes, while the Greek completed 61. Not to mention, the 25+ attempts from the Germans, many of which were quite close. Nothing but a miracle kept the Greeks level until around minute 35 when they first conceded. Yes, they picked it up slightly in the second half, but the Germans outplayed them up and down the field throughout the entire 90 minutes, and that, my friend, is tearing apart.

no, there was nothing to be torn apart. to tear apart something necessitates that something being intact in the first place.

if the germans had really played to their potential, it would have been 8-0, as you said.