[antonk]

Okay, we have our matches! I thought it'd be a better idea to separate these matches from the group stage ones.

Thursday, June 19, 2008
19:45 UK Portugal v Germany

Friday, June 20, 2008
19:45 UK Croatia v Turkey

Saturday, June 21, 2008
19:45 UK Netherlands v Russia

Sunday, June 22, 2008
19:45 UK Spain v Italy

My money is on Portugal, Croatia, Holland and Spain to go through. Although I won't be surprised if Russia beat Holland.

Your thoughts everyone!

Also in HUGE news for Holland, Boulahrouz will miss the match against Russia, and potentially the rest of the tournament after his prematurely born baby daughter died. I send my condolences to Khalid and his family, and hope they can make it through this hard time.

This post has been edited by antonk: 19 June 2008 - 11:56 AM

[pujol5]

Portugal, Croatia, Holland, Italy.

[yusuf423]

condolances also to the Boulahrouz family.

My picks to go through are germany, turkey , holland, spain.

[Beast]

Tonight game is interesting the 2 side met in the WC and Germany trashed Portugal thanks to Bastian...

Lowe has to prepare well cause Portugal are also stronger then last time.. one of those 2 will head to the final disregarding who will win from Turkey & Croatia ..

too bad for Khaled my prayers for him & his family.. he will be missed big time for the Netherlands he is a solid player who moved to the wrong clubs... its up to Heitinga now to replace him.. and judging from the technical analysis for the Dutch and several reports.. Van Basten can play with any 4 defenders.. its the midfield that is the core of his idea's

[El Wardo]

deepest sympathy to Boulahrouz and his family... tough times for them.

I got Portugal, Croatia, Holland and Spain advancing... Wouldn't at all be surprised to see the cunning Italians beat the naive Spanish once again..

Holland has been the best team so far but Russia is bloody dangerous, I'm expecting a high scoring encounter there, 3-2 or something like that.

[Edward224]

Russia will beat Holland in a penalty shoot out.

[Beast]

Boulahrouz back in squad after family tragedy


Holland defender Khalid Boulahrouz returned to training on Thursday following the death of his prematurely-born baby daughter.


The Chelsea man left training on Wednesday to travel to the hospital to be with his wife, who was admitted after suffering complications with the pregnancy.


But Boulahrouz was back with his team-mates at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne the following day, putting him back in contention for Holland's quarter-final clash with Russia on Saturday.

Coach Marco van Basten said that Boulahrouz would remain a part of the squad for the rest of the finals.

'I understand it is very difficult for Khalid and we will all try to support him however we can,' Van Basten told a news conference.

'He can always go to be with his wife. These are important matters, we all realise that only too well.

'He thanked everyone for their support. I think he acted very maturely.'

Boulahrouz started all three of Netherlands' group victories in the tournament.

[Irish_Cule]

I'm sad to hear about Boulahrouz. It's very brave of him to continue on.

Russia played fantastically well yesterday but Holland are a whole different team. If you think of who Russia have beaten - an aging Swedish side and a poor Greek team- they haven't really done anything that special. Yes they have played beautifl football at times but the only quality team they have played was Spain who hammered them. They can certainly progress if the play their best but I have serious doubts about them.
I think Portugal will have too much for Germany but it will be very tight.
Croatia will beat Turkey quite comfortably IMO.
I hope to God that Spain will beat Italy, but I have a funny feeling that the Italians will scrape through as usual. I'm going against this feeling though and I think Spain will edge it.

[Patriot_Pride_Worldwide]

I'll take the contrarian view: Germany, Turkey, Russia, and Italy to progress

[Irvin_007]

YES!! midterms done, time to watch some football!!

I have Germany, Croatia, Holland and Spain going through.

[Beast]

Portugal- Croatia-Holland - Spain

Portugal - Holland in the final...

too hard to tell actually Germany & Italy are too good to be underestimated.. hell even Turkey & Russia's Guus...

Holland to win the trophy or Spain i'll stick to where my money went

[pujol5]

Come on, Portugal! Beat the dinosaurs!

[Beast]

4 new starters for the Germans .... wow and finally Gomez is on the bench...great decision

[Beast]

Bastian by nature score once again in Ricardo...

and Klose score the second

amazing Germans tonight

[pujol5]

Let's see what the new Real Madrid player will do tonight. f**k!