Three predictions about the European Championship:
France won't win it.
England won't lose to France.
Spain will do nothing. (This last one the easiest, if only I had a tenner for every time someone has written, 'It's true that Spain have done nothing in any tournament ever, for as long as football has existed, but this time...')
Posted by mark at June 7, 2004 05:45 PM | TrackBackIncredibly bold predictions, there.
Posted by: mwanji at June 7, 2004 06:39 PMI did pick Fernando Torres to be my top scorer in the competition at work, but mainly because everyone else had gone for Henry *yawn*... where's the glory in predicting that France's top striker will score lots of goals exactly?
Posted by: Philip at June 7, 2004 07:06 PMSpain will do nothing. Nada. Rien.
In fact, it amazes me to discover that the "Spain is favourite this year" chant is not an invention of the local press, and it's actually heard outside our borders. Believe me, I actually have those tenners Mark speak about, and they don't compensate.
Posted by: Diego at June 7, 2004 07:36 PMThing is, Diego, on paper, Spain should be excellent. But they never seem to be able to cut it in the big tournaments. You can go one of two ways on this: think, well, their luck's got to change this time, or think, all past signs indicate that they will flatter to deceive. I'm surprised by how many ppl are suckered into the first option; it's one of my favourite tournament pastimes, actually, spotting the pundit who will utter those immortal words, "Spain might not have done well in the past, but...."
Posted by: mark k-p at June 8, 2004 06:19 PMit's THE big thing isn't it, always has been, that cliche, the Spain game, for the commentators and the average peep in the street.
as for predictions, ooh. put it this way, i doubt there'll be any surprises about the composition of the last 8.
Posted by: scott at June 8, 2004 07:27 PM"England won't lose to France."
Oooh, you were *so* close. We are lucky bastards, yes.
Posted by: mwanji at June 13, 2004 10:08 PM