Euro 2004 play-offs second leg

There is one interesting tradition for countries who won third place in World Cup in last 40 years and their success in qualifications for next European Championships

-Portugal won third place in WC1966 => did not qualify for EC1968
-Poland won third place in WC1974 => did not qualify for EC1976
-Brazil won third place in WC1978 => ...
-Poland won third place in WC1982 => did not qualify for EC1984
-France won third place in WC1986 => did not qualify for EC1988
-Italy won third place in WC1990 => did not qualify for EC1992
-Sweden won third place in WC1994 => did not qualify for EC1996
-Croatia won third place in WC1998 => did not qualify for EC2000
-Turkey won third place in WC2002 => ??? qualify for EC2004

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Surely Holland/Turkey are a must.

Watched the Dutch lose to the Scots last weekend but it was enough to suggest a home win here. I though Holland looked the better side and did more attacking. The Scots for their part defended brilliantly and here's hoping they do the same again but I just can't really see it.

Turkey should be too strong for Latvia. Don't no why, just a gut feeling.

With both sides 2/9 with Hills I might add Shrewsbury at 1/1 and make up a decent treble.

De Boer is fit and will probably play from the start, which is a good thing for Scotland
Van Der Meyde collapsed while giving an interview yesterday but he will also play tomorrow, nothing serious happened the doctors said...

To me the obvious thing is ofcourse a dutch win, still I'm going for the X2 here...
Can't help it but looking at the dutch tv every evening it seems to me nothing has changed their approach of this game. They keep on telling "ow well it only is Scotland" and "the game won't be that difficult" and such stuff...

That is one mighty interesting statistic there, savicpp!!!

Wht should be kept in mind, though, is that until Euro 96, there were only 8 teams in the EC making it quite hard to qualify for the competition.

But still....

Indeed Crowie, long may it continue

Otherwise we Belgians are getting the piss the next two years from our northern neighbours >:

Go Scotland!!!!

BTW for the first time since i follow football(and that is quite long) a belgian channel is going to broadcast live a qualifying match with other teams than our own mighty team in order to let the whole nation laugh with those poor dutchies!!!

More "rumblings" from the Dutch camp.

Van Der Meyde obviously swallowed some ego pills yesterday. His comments in the press included referring to Naysmith, who did have a hard time against him on Saturday but was carrying a slight groin strain, as stupid, blind, lucky and silly.

Just what you want to be reading as a defender going into the 2nd leg of such a game. Naysmith will be through him like a bad curry in the first few minutes I bet.

VDM also then went into typical Dutch mode (if that wasn't already) by saying he couldn't be expected to win games on his own and he needed his team mates to get the finger out as well.

Funnily enough RVN also came out and said he couldn't be expected to win the game on his own too. Maybe if they all continue to try and win the game on their own then we will get through.

Only Kluivert seemed semi complimentary by referring to the Scots as having went the extra metre or two required to get a result and asking why shouldn't Scotland play better in the 2nd leg.

Looks like the Dutch are being Dutch and the majority of them are still carrying the "we will win no problems" attitude.

Long may it continue.

The Dutch - gotta love'em

Always entertaining - on and off the pitch

Some quotes/comments from the Dutch

Ruud van Nistelrooy has expressed doubts about the strength of character of the Netherlands side ahead of Wednesday's Euro 2004 play-off with Scotland.

"But that passion is lacking so much from the Dutch team. In our team we have too many people who are not prepared to go the extra yard - people who want to win at all costs."

Barcelona's Kluivert was quoted saying that he would prefer to be playing him up front without Van Nistelrooy - and went on to claim his team-mates preferred passing to the Manchester United player instead of him.

On Monday Kluivert insisted that he had been misquoted but said:

"I agree that the chemistry between me and Ruud was not very good. "But I am pretty confident that I can play with him."

Dutch coach Dick Advocaat has come in for savage criticism in his homeland after the first leg loss and much of that has concentrated on the partnership of Van Nistelrooy and Patrick Kluivert.

"There was nothing wrong with my tactics, it was the players who did not carry out my instructions," Advocaat fumed.

Jesus! Never met a more implosive team in my life! This is the problem of too many cooks spoiling the broth, a situation I thought would/could develop in the Chelski camp.
It all looks good for the Scots. If the Dutch dont score early then the crowd will be on their backs too. 11 man defence for the first 30 mins methinks.
I`m not too sure that Wales will make it thru myself. Cant see why the 0-0 draw is such a good thing. Ruskies now only need a goal and Wales will have to score twice, which will play right into their counter-attacking hands. 2.85 or better is worth it IMO

thats a cracking stat savicpp !!!!!


crowie @ wilkie/van nist (did you write that one yourself?)

personally i agree with the 'draw heavy' possibility ... but i aint too hot when it comes to gambling

[DeepBlueDevilFish]

Can't see Scotland just defending successfully for the first 30 minutes and Vogts has come out and said that they want to try and get an early goal. Then we'll really see the Dutch crowd get on the back of the Dutch players

Being Belgian nobody could accuse me of favouring Holland, but i must say i don't share the opinion of those who see them not qualifying. It's true what qlpol says, on Dutch tv and in the Dutch media (both internet and newspapers) they still don't realise how close they are from being eliminated, but "Make no mistake about it" that the team and coach DO KNOW that. Must say i saw almost all their important games of the last five years and this brings me to believe that if they loose, it will be from themselves. Motivation will be there, concentration too, the support of the fans also, even the eternal quarreling between themselves will be forgotten for once. And, there will be some changes in the team. VdVaart from Ajax will be keyplayer in midfield, Van Hooydonck will replace Kluivert in attack. Both Seedorf and Davids will be on the bench. If Holland manages to deal with the enormous pressure being put on them by the media and the so-called soccerexperts on tv (Cruyff and co) then there could be only result possible, a 2-goal margin win.

[dirkscot]

there will be only one support making any noise at this game, regardless of what is happening, cloggies never made a sound at Hampden, and they may regret playing this in Amsterdam rather than Rotterdam. Scotland can score, and realistically only need 1. Dutch should be favourites but the odds are ridiculous, value is with Scots, dont usually take correct score/scorer but for odds have selected Hutch 0-1, 1-1 and 2-1

"Reputation, what reputation?" McFadden

going out tomorrow am, expect cloggies to crap it as usual

[GETT1NLOTS]

Good luck to Wales and Scotland.

I gave Scotland no chance prior to the first game and was delighted they kept the dutch to a clean sheet and scored a goal themselves.

What a great chance they now have.

As for Wales I agree with Gordon Gecho - 0-0 is a tricky score.

I could see a 1-1 draw here and Russia going through on away goals. I hope I am wrong as I am marrying a leek eater next year and she will be all moody!

[Tulenos]

Wouldn't touch Holland or Turkey @ such short odds myself. After all, these are qualifiers, not just some matches. All said about the Dutch and BOTH teams are playing to overturn the most unfavourable scoreline in two-leg affairs. It only takes one good shot of the opponents and suddenly you have to score three. The Turks' mood couldn't be lifted by their U21 squad as they lost a won game in injury time and are eliminated from the champs. One more thing - Turks and Turkish teams are not that proflific in front of goal of late (like Besiktas in CL) and the fact they were not able to score on Saturday worries me too. In fact, all matches could be low-scoring affairs, but from the betting point of view it just takes sitting out the first 20 mins or so (three of them are covered in-running on Betfair) and then make up your mind.
The best Wales can hope for, imo, is a repeat of the 0-0 scoreline.

Listening to all you lot, i think their is only one of you rite anf thats turkey / holland double.

What gets me though, if you look at odds checker, Wales are 5-4 to win yet Russia are 11/10 favs to qualify????????????

Also what does IMO stand for?

IMO = In my opinion.

[The Saint]

Personally, I'm laying Wales at that price.

If Russia score, and they should, Wales will have to get 2 to qualify and I just cant see that happening! I would love them to go thru but I can't quite see it. Davies is a massive miss for them....

Russia were very guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net on Saturday and should have won 3 or 4. Their away form is not as good as their home but that shouldn't really matter in a one off game such as this.

this is the probable line-up according to dutch-teletext :

VanderSar-Reiziger-Ooijer-Cocu-Bouma-Sneijder-VdVaart-Davids-VdMeyde-vNistelrooij-Overmars