Euro 2012

Yes, it belongs with other sports, but hardly anyone goes there, and the topic will be more active in here.

So... anyone excited?

As woeful England are looking in the news, I actually have a sneaky feeling they will come out a lot better than expected.

England as a nation is full of misfits. A bit of this; a bit of that. This England squad is no different. There are players there that wouldn't normally have a chance, and this can only encourage them to play with higher passion than automatically expecting to be selected with the likes of Rio.

And for the first time in a long time, a lot of kids and players are there without the greatest of egos.

I think, for a change, this could be wonderful.

I know they won't win it, but I don't think they will be as shafted as we think.

I'll be 100% wrong.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

I've got a bet on with my friend; if England win and Andy Carroll top scores, I get a Raul Meireles haircut.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

I doubt England will get out of the group stage!
Still, it's nice there isn't the misplaced and arrogant "we're going to win it" attitude like in previous tournaments.
I mean when have England played technically superior football to the other nations, like Spain or Holland do now?
I don't think they ever have...

Quote
Incident 2k9
I've got a bet on with my friend; if England win and Andy Carroll top scores, I get a Raul Meireles haircut.

Quoted so you can't change it to winning the tournament rather than winning a match.

Though I've doubts we'll do that either...

I'm normally hyped up for tournaments, but I'm struggling here. We've no chance of winning (well, we've got Greece 2004 chances of winning, so very slim).

I'm extremely disappointed with Hodgson's squad too. I thought we'd have a clean break and we'd get the likes of Richards and Carrick in the team, or a last hurrah for Scholes. To be honest, I think we're going to struggle to do better than we did in the World Cup. We've got 6 Liverpool players in the team. They might as well just give us the cup mug for hitting the post the most now! I hope he plays Baines rather than Cole (though Cole's still good). Jakielka instead of Lescott. Oxlaide-Chamberlain instead of Milner. And God forbid Downing getting a game (what were you thinking Roy?!). But I think we're just going to be as close to a Capello line-up as we possibly could be, and we'll go through the motions again. At least Hoddle's England had something fresh and imaginative about it. This is just same old.

I'm pleased Carroll is in - if Hodgson has the balls and the tactics work and England play to his strengths (and I don't mean wide balls, I mean doing the old Bolton route of Carroll knocking it down for a partner, as he did extremely well at Newcastle) with a high defensive line (so we've got players who are actually up near him occasionally) then we've got a hope. It wouldn't be pretty, but it's the only possible way we could win. But if we play Terry there's no way we'll have a high defensive line, because he can't run. And as a result whoever plays up front will be isolated.

To be honest, I'm more excited about the Olympic team than I am the Euro 2012 one.

Looking forward to the tournament, it's going to be an interesting one, as i think several teams have the players to win, i guess it's who turns up on the days. My bet would go on Holland, although i think both Germany and Spain are in with a very good shout. I as usual will attempt to watch every match possible in the midst of my exams.

England for once are actually looking sensibly at a tournament. I've always been fed up with how our media says "we're going to win, this is our greatest chance yet" at almost every major tournament. As soon as those words are spoken I know their campaign is as good as dead. This time England know realistically they probably won't win, so lets just see how it goes. Maybe without the hype the pressure isn't on and they can't make it nicely out of the groups and fall gracefully at the Quarters or Semi's to a really good Spanish/Dutch team (ideally not German!)

The squad is a bit of a mix and match, some players like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Welbeck deserve their shot and will hopefully do well. Others have no place in the squad whatsoever, ie most of the Liverpool squad, Carroll, Kelly, Downing. How Richards didn't make it in over either Kelly or Jones i will never know. Carroll deserve's his place far less than someone like Crouch or Sturridge. And well Downing has been next to useless all season with plenty of better players in his position, Adam Johnson, Lennon (i've never worked out why lennon is continuously overlooked?) and perhaps even Wilshere. Still the squad has some good young players in, certainly a team that England can build for the future with.


gav Wrote:
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> To be honest, I'm more excited about the Olympic
> team than I am the Euro 2012 one.

It's interesting you should say that actually, i am the only person i know who is actually interested to see who makes the GB Olympic team...

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2012 10:08PM by truecrysis.

I probably would have put Grant Holt in instead of Andy Carroll...

@Gav: I did mean win as in the whole tournament...

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2012 10:54PM by Incident 2k9.

I know... read again.

becks and lampard in for the olympics! add scholes too!


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

Germany to dethrone Spain, if they keep their momentum and gameplay from the World Cup, where they only lost because they altered their style instead of attack Spain. Germany, Spain, Holland.

Out of interest, how serious do people think the racism problem will be? As in whats the chance of matches actually getting called off through racism etc.
Dutch have had possible racist chants at their training ground, and well looking at some of the videos its hard to believe that it's going to stop just for this tournament. I can't help but feel in one match the problem might cause the referee to end the game. Hopefully i shall be proven wrong
Well at least its not much of a problem today, don't think Poland, Greece, Czech Republic and Russia have many black players.

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truecrysis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out of interest, how serious do people think the
> racism problem will be? As in whats the chance of
> matches actually getting called off through racism
> etc.
> Dutch have had possible racist chants at their
> training ground, and well looking at some of the
> videos its hard to believe that it's going to stop
> just for this tournament. I can't help but feel in
> one match the problem might cause the referee to
> end the game. Hopefully i shall be proven wrong
>
> Well at least its not much of a problem today,
> don't think Poland, Greece, Czech Republic and
> Russia have many black players.

I find it a bit wrong that all of the Nazi-style chanting and racist abuse is coming from some people in Poland. Check your history books, chaps...seriously.

I would imagine that if any game were to end up being stopped, it would involve Italy. Lord Balotelli went on record saying he'd walk off if racially abused, and would kill anyone who threw a banana at him. People might try to get a response out of him, and it could turn nasty.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> truecrysis Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Out of interest, how serious do people think
> the
> > racism problem will be? As in whats the chance
> of
> > matches actually getting called off through
> racism
> > etc.
> > Dutch have had possible racist chants at their
> > training ground, and well looking at some of
> the
> > videos its hard to believe that it's going to
> stop
> > just for this tournament. I can't help but feel
> in
> > one match the problem might cause the referee
> to
> > end the game. Hopefully i shall be proven wrong
> >
> > Well at least its not much of a problem today,
> > don't think Poland, Greece, Czech Republic and
> > Russia have many black players.
>
> I find it a bit wrong that all of the Nazi-style
> chanting and racist abuse is coming from some
> people in Poland. Check your history books,
> chaps...seriously.
>
> I would imagine that if any game were to end up
> being stopped, it would involve Italy. Lord
> Balotelli went on record saying he'd walk off if
> racially abused, and would kill anyone who threw a
> banana at him. People might try to get a response
> out of him, and it could turn nasty.

A France - Italy match would be a real tester, Balotelli along with a large chunk of the France team surely wouldn't take it. I read about his comments, along with the FIFA reply that if anyone was to walk off the pitch like Balotelli says he will, they will get booked.
That would really make the Lord Mario a much happier person, racially abused and booked because he was having none of it

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2012 12:17PM by truecrysis.

To be fair, walking off the pitch for no footballing reason is a standard bookable offence, which was somewhat glossed over by the media. Hopefully if it comes to that, then common sense will prevail and any booking will be rescinded, even though it's not normally something rules allow.

I'm giving him a large benefit of doubt here, but I think Platini was trying to encourage players to stay on the field, and trying to diffuse any situation before it arises... but he @#$%& it right up. What is it with the footballing hierarchy being incapable of conveying any political message diplomatically?

I'd hope any game with widespread racist chanting is abandoned, if not by the officials, then hopefully the players will take matters in their own hands. Hopefully isolated chants can be dealt with on an individuals basis, and won't require the game being suspended.

Balotelli is awesome, I wish there were more characters like him in the game.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

Really good opening day, nowhere near as cagey and dull as everyone was saying it would be.

Poland vs Greece. Well a tale of two halves lol. Poland had everything go there way including some useless goalkeeping to gift Lewandowski a goal and an absolutely ridiculous red card where neither of the yellows were justified let alone both. Poland should really have gone in 2/3-0 up by half time. But second half it become all Greece suddenly. Salpingidis had an absolute stormer scoring a goal, winning a penalty and also having a goal disallowed, whilst Sczcesny was dreadful, terrible mistake for the goal and well his red card/penalty was perfectly justifiable. Greece probably felt they could have won it from that second half and maybe should have. Great open game, definitely not your usual boring opening match, it flowed really well.

Russia vs Czech Republic. Well Russia pretty much dominated this, maybe should have scored 6/7 if Kerzhakov hadn't been so utterly useless at putting a ball anywhere near the net. Arshavin did something he never did at Arsenal, played very well and Dzageov was always a threat. Czech Republic maybe could have got back into it at 2-1 with Kerzhakov letting them stay in it, but aside from the goal they failed to really threaten at all, and as soon as Pavlyuchenko came on the game really ended. Easy win for the russian who from this will probably end up winning the group with 3 wins.

Will be an interesting fight to see who comes second in group A, because in all fairness none of the bottom 3 teams really looked any better than the other.

Anyway a great day in store tomorrow, Netherlands - Denmark and Germany - Portugal, hopefully will be a cracker!

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Yeah, the goalkeepers on both sides in Poland vs Greece were useless. I remember when Chalkias used to play for Portsmouth, he was a shite keeper then as well...
Poland need to work the ball into the box more with more men upfront; too many times was Lewandowski left on his own upfront. Greece are a very tough defensive side, but are really lacking in quality.

Russia were utterly dominant this evening; they've got a really strong nucleus of players and I'd imagine they'd get out of the group easily.

I don't get the Czech Republic, they were really good a few years ago. I guess their best players are reaching the later stages of their careers, and there's not much in the way of replacement. Players like Baros, Rosicky, Cech and Hubschman have been in the side for years now...

I will have to juggle revision, football and F1 tomorrow...

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Yup well except from Tyton who saved a penalty and atleast looked a fairly competent part time replacement for Sczcesny. I agree about Poland, Lewandowski barely touched the ball in the second half, he was left alone with no service which took away Poland's main threat. Still if you compare their performances to those of Greece and Czech Rep, I can see Poland perhaps scraping through in 2nd.

I think one of the problems with Czech Republic is that they aren't particularly good at anything (well except maybe goalkeeping). If you look at most other sides you see either an attacking team (Russia, Poland in this Group, and then the likes of Spain, Holland, Germany etc) or a solid defensive unit (Greece being the best example). Czech Republic are neither really, their defence is nothing to shout about, and since the likes of Nedved and Koller have gone, as well as Rosicky and Baros being passed it pretty much, their attack isn't really that spectacular either. When you aren't stand-out in one you almost lack an objective in the match. Greece know that every time they play, they attempt to score 1 or 2 goals in corners and maybe counter attacks, and spend the rest of the game absorbing attacks like a sponge (in fact this is very similar to how Hodgson is setting England up). Holland/Spain/Germany/Russia know that attack is their best defence so look to get forward and score as many as possible. Czech Republic look to win... somehow. Maybe once Vaclav Kadlec comes through they can start to base an attack around him. Until then they just look lacklustre in both departments.

At least that's how i see it

Anyway yeh tell me about it, i've got to balance revision, exams, football and F1 tomorrow, this isnt going to end well...

Edit: Just looked back at my posts, i've just realised i'm making massive football discussion paragraphs on a motorsport based forum, probably should be more concise here

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2012 12:49AM by truecrysis.

A pity about Szczesny, that really screwed over my fantasy team!

In my opinion France is the dark horse for the tournament, they have a pretty good squad, and if their attitude is ok, then they could surprise.

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X (@ed24f1)

Not a goal-fest today, but 2 very disciplined teams won today.

I was impressed by Krohn-Dehli's goal, created by a Danish counter-attack. The Dutch were very wasteful.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Yup definitely two result driven games, but then with such a tough group, they are always going to play for a win anyway they can.

I agree, good goal but Krohn-Dehli, but as you said the Dutch had so many chances, they really should have taken some of them.

Portugal sat back a lot, almost as though they hoped to endure the pressure for the whole game, then some Ronaldo magic would give them a goal. Then Gomez (who hadn't had a fantastic game) pops up and ruins it.

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For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here: [docs.google.com]