UEFA EURO 2008 GROUP C
Romania v France 1700 BST
Netherlands v Italy 1945 BST
GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times BST)
To get involved use 606 or text us your views & comments on 81111.
(Not all contributions can be used) By Jonathan Stevenson
1702: France are bossing possession early on, but Romania are getting 10 men behind the ball, with Daniel Niculae ploughing a Euro 2008: "Group of Death" kicks off ...
France deports genocide suspect ...
Opinion: Society Should Keep its Human Rights Promise ...
Italian police swoop on migrants ...
Air France scraps Alitalia bid ...
Alitalia accepts Air France offer ... lone furrow up top.
1700: The Group of Death gets under way. Are you scared yet?
1658: Two properly rousing, humbling anthems are belted out. Gary Neville et al, take note.
1655: Lilian Thuram and Christian Chivu, two of the great defenders in world football in the last few years, lead out France and Romania at the Letzigrund Stadium.
1654: "I am really annoyed. I had the choice of Kuyt or Anelka for my dream team and chose Kuyt as I didn't think Anelka would play. I am very angry."
GraymeadYNWA on 606
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Is that a bit like choosing between a punch in the face or one in the stomach? For those of you sending fantasy football/dream team chat in, please, please don't.
1651: "I'm going for a draw - I'm not siding with the favourites, can you believe it? I think Romania will sit deep and hit France on the break and I cannot believe the France team - I don't like Abidal, I don't like Malouda and I don't like Anelka."
BBC Sport pundit Alan Hansen
1649: "There can only be one man on earth who could have picked Abidal in front of Evra."
mu-tom on 606
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And what are the odds of that man being the manager of France, who actually gets to pick the team? I mean it must be like six billion-to-one or something.
1646: "Who's going to win the Golden Boot? I think it will be Luca Toni if Italy run the table, though I'd like to see Fernando Torres bag it."
Tower of Babel on 606
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Is Luca Toni the most Italian sounding name there has ever been? I went for Miroslav Klose before the tournament, not realising he's suddenly become the most unselfish footballer on earth. Passing? That won't get you goals, Slavo.
1643: "Ha. Stevo that sounds like me - I've told almost everyone I know to get on the Romania bandwagon. Hey, I was right with Greece last time!"
Chris in Sheffield, via text
1639: "Oh no. Stevo your predictions exactly match mine. Does that make me useless as well?"
Fluorescent_Imp on 606
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Time will tell mate, but the omens aren't good - in 2000, I famously told a girl I was trying to impress to stick all her money on England winning the tournament. I think that's partly why people call me a clown. She certainly did, anyway.
1636: So what are Stevo's thoughts on Euro Two Thousand And Great so far? Well, the host nations are both rubbish - Uefa, have a think next time you give away two places, at least make sure one of them is awesome, like in 2000. Secondly, Cristiano Ronaldo really isn't as good for Portugal as he is for Manchester United, is he? And finally, who taught Miroslav Klose to pass? The great Gerd Muller must be disgusted with him.
1632: Romania have some history with Groups of Death. In 2000, they were expected to finish bottom of the pile including England, Germany and Portugal. They finished second, helped by Phil Neville's last-gasp suicidal tackle that cost Kevin Keegan's side a place in the quarter-finals.
1627: I know Raymond Domenech picks famously odd France teams, but even so - Abidal ahead of Evra? Malouda? Anelka? And with Gallas and Thuram at the back, I think they look beatable. Good for the tournament, however, that Franck Ribery is fit and that Karim Benzema gets an early chance to shine.
1624: TEAM NEWS Romania v France
France: Gregory Coupet, Eric Abidal, William Gallas, Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele, Franck Ribery, Jeremy Toulalan, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema.
Romania: Bogdan Lonut Lobont, Cosmin Marius Contra, Dorin Goian, Razvan Rat, Gabriel Tamas, Mirel Matei Radoi, Cristian Chivu, Razvan Cocis, Adrian Mutu, Daniel Niculae, Banel Nicolita.
1622: My Euros came to life in stunning fashion last night when I rocked into a Polish bar to watch those boys take on Germany. Quite honestly I can't remember a boozer atmosphere like it - God only knows what would have happened if the Poles had bagged at any stage. Incidentally, bit of advice for the next game for the DJ who kept playing 'Polska' songs during the second half - there's a time and a place, son.
1618: "Am I the only one thinking that Romania could sneak through on the blind side of this group? I foresee many draws between the "big 3"."
Ash in Bolton, via text
No mate, you're not the only one. My mate Pearlo reckons Romania will get through too, but he's predictably unpredictable with his predictions. Stevo's predos for today? Romania 1-2 France and Netherlands 1-1 Italy. Don't forget, however, I am useless.
1614: Some more news just in - Manchester United have reported Real Madrid over their continued pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo. My thoughts: "Oh hello, pot, it's kettle. Everything OK?"
Real reported over Ronaldo link
1610: There will be team news just as soon as we have it, rest assured of that. Meanwhile, get involved. Get involved like you never have done before - by texting on 81111 and by mixing it up with the rest of the 606 crew. Times like these, they don't come along that often. Remember that 350-mile round trip to watch your team lose 1-0 last season? This is your reward.
Join the debate on 606
1605: Some very early news for you - France captain Patrick Vieira has been passed fit to take some part in Euro 2008 after recovering from a left thigh injury, so Mathieu Flamini, who had been on standby, will leave the camp. Cue a wry smile from Arsenal fans...
1603: On this gorgeous summer's day, the warmest of welcomes to our coverage of what has been popularly dubbed 'The Group of Death'. There is usually one and this time it's a cracker - first up we've got Romania v France, followed by the mouth-watering Netherlands v Italy. Life, frankly, gets no better than this.
1600: Well you didn't think Cheesy would do every game, did you?
BIG MATCH STATS
Head-to-heads
Romania and France have met each other on 10 occasions, Romania winning three, France winning six times and one match finishing in a draw.
In three competitive matches, Romania have never managed to beat France.
The two teams have played each other once at the European Championship. On 10 June 1996, France beat Romania 1-0 through a Christophe Dugarry goal.
Their latest encounter was on 13 February 2002 in a friendly match, France beating Romania 2-1 with goals from Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit (France) and Ionel Ganea (Romania).
Team facts - Romania
Fourth appearance at the European Championship and yet to win their opening match.
Their best result is reaching the quarter-finals at Euro 2000, in which they were eliminated by Italy.
Won only one of their 10 European Championship matches. They beat England 3-2 at Euro 2000, ending a run of eight winless matches in these tournaments.
Coach Victor Piturca also led Romania to Euro 2000, but he left after the qualifying campaign after a conflict with Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi.
Team facts - France
The last host nation to win the European Championship (1984).
Have won the European Championship twice (1984, 2000). Germany are the only country to have won it more often (three).
Have the best "average record "at the European Championship. "Les Bleus" have gathered a "composite points total" of 48 points in 25 matches, an average of 1.92 points per match.
France featured in the very first match at the European Championship, which was then called the European Cup of Nations. On 6 July 1960, France lost 5-4 against Yugoslavia. The nine goals in that match still mark the highest scoring encounter in the history of the European Championship.
Their 1984 campaign marks the only time since the introduction of the group stage (1980) that a nation has turned in a perfect record in a single edition (five wins out of five in this case).
Failed to survive the group stages at the European Championship just once. In 1992, France finished third in Group One, behind Sweden and Denmark.
Player facts - Romania
Cristian Chivu is the only player in the current Romanian squad to have scored at a European Championship. He netted the opening goal in the 3-2 win against England.
Gabriel Tamas and Daniel Niculae play their club football in France, both at AJ Auxerre.
Seven of the Romanian players were born in Bucharest, making the Romanian capital the city where most Euro 2008 squad members were born. Moscow is second on this list with six.
Player facts - France
Lilian Thuram could break the all-time appearance record at the European Championship, as his current tally stands at 14.
Thuram is now joint record holder together with Zinedine Zidane, Karel Poborsky and Luis Figo.
Big Match Stats source: Infostrada Sports
(BBC)
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