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Euro 2012!


Ben

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With Euro 2012 starting tomorrow, I thought I'd make a thread to get behind our boys, despite the complete lack of faith that I have for us and the fact that I await the inevitable spluttering, half-hearted exit from the competition that will probably arrive sooner rather than later. We have an awfully weak squad and we've had terrible preparation.

 

Now, with the negatives out of the way..

 

COME ON ENGLAND!

 

Ben's Predictions:*

 

England's progress: I fear we shall be knocked out in the Group Stages, but I'll say we'll squeeze through in second place after some heroics that will get everyone excited. Then we'll get Spain in the quarter-finals, and get comfortably dispatched.

 

Winner: I'll have to go for Germany who look fresh, have talent in abundance (Khedira, Shweinsteiger, Ozil, Muller, Gotze, Podolski, Klose, Gomez, etc.) and will take some beating. Anticipating them prevailing in a great final against the Spanish.

 

*Not worth paying attention to them, anything can happen!

 

Let's go, let's go, let's go! :animal:

 

Results (Whether Ben was right or wrong, in brackets).

 

Game 1: Poland 1-1 Greece. (Wrong)

Game 2: Russia 4-1 Czech Republic. (Right)

Game 3: Holland 0-1 Denmark. (Wrong)

Game 4: Germany 1-0 Portugal. (Right)

Game 5: Spain 1-1 Italy. (Wrong)

Game 6: Republic of Ireland 1-3 Croatia. (Wrong)

Game 7: France 1-1 England. (Wrong)

Game 8: Ukraine 2-1 Sweden. (Wrong)

Game 9: Greece 1-2 Czech Republic. (Right)

Game 10: Poland 1-1 Russia. (Wrong)

Game 11: Denmark 2-3 Portugal. (Right)

Game 12: Holland 1-2 Germany. (Right)

Game 13: Italy 1-1 Croatia. (Wrong)

Game 14: Spain 4-0 Republic of Ireland. (Right)

Game 15: Ukraine 0-2 France. (Right)

Game 16: Sweden 2-3 England. (Right)

Game 17: Czech Republic 1-0 Poland. (Right)

Game 18: Greece 0-1 Russia. (Wrong)

Game 19: Denmark 1-2 Germany. (Right)

Game 20: Portugal 2-1 Netherlands. (Wrong)

Game 21: Croatia 0-1 Spain. (Right)

Game 22: Italy 2-0 Republic of Ireland. (Right)

Game 23: England 1-0 Ukraine. (Right)

Game 24: Sweden 2-0 France. (Wrong)

 

13/24 right in group stages, mildly disappointing but some teams just didn't turn up at all.

 

Quarter-Finals

 

Game 25: Portugal 1-0 Czech Republic. (Right)

Game 26: Germany 4-2 Greece. (Right)

Game 27: Spain 2-0 France. (Right)

Game 28: England 0-0 Italy. (Wrong) :(

(Italy win 4-2 on penalties).

 

Semi-Finals.

 

Game 29: Portugal 0-0 Spain. (Wrong)

(Spain win 4-2 on penalties).

Game 30: Germany 1-2 Italy. (Wrong)

 

Final.

 

Game 31: Spain 4-0 Italy. (Right)

 

Congratulations to Spain. :D

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I'm watching the first match in the minute (Poland vs Greece). Ideally id loved England to win, but thats not really going to happen. I have a funny feeling that we wont even get out of the group stages this year.

 

We had a sweepstake at work today and I've got Germany so it could be interesting if Germany and England happen to play each other!

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Let the disappointment begin :D

 

My sentiments exactly. ;)

 

I'm watching the first match in the minute (Poland vs Greece). Ideally id loved England to win, but thats not really going to happen. I have a funny feeling that we wont even get out of the group stages this year.

 

We had a sweepstake at work today and I've got Germany so it could be interesting if Germany and England happen to play each other!

 

Germany is a wonderful team to get in the sweepstake, I'm personally backing them to go the whole way. I'm pretty sure England won't get far enough to play them, but even if they do I wouldn't be too worried. :lol:

 

Cracking first game of the tournament at any rate. Two sending offs, two goals, a penalty miss. What more could we want? :D Great job from gusty Greece as usual, and they'll probably be disappointed they couldn't press on and win. I had Poland down to take the first game so there's the first of many wrong predictions from Ben. :(

 

Prediction 2: Russia to take this against the Czech Republic.

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Well that's better than us being embarrassed like I just know we're going to be.

 

Well, well, well, the Russians have looked formidable. 4-1 against Czech Republic, who in all fairness aren't the biggest contenders but the Russians will be delighted with how they've played. Everyone linked well together and they looked like a closely-knit group who played some great football.

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Saw the 2nd half of the 2nd half.....Russia looked good and well deserved winners. Ones to watch me thinks!

 

Yeah I'm not so sure they'll be contenders for a semi-final/final place in all fairness, but they certainly look comfortable in the search for top spot in their own group. I guess we'll have to see how they get on against better opposition first (it should be a better game against Poland next).

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So that's the second day of the Euros over and it's been a good day of football with the first major upset of the tournament. I was surprised that Denmark managed to put the stoppers on hotly-tipped Holland and win 1-0 despite Holland's twenty-eight attempts on goal. In a tough group they have had the worst possible start.

 

Tonight's game with Germany and Portugal was a bit of a dull affair which only sparked into life during the last twenty minutes, after Gomez's fantastic 72' minute goal for the Germans. It opened the game up but Portugal couldn't get back into the match which meant the solitary German goal was enough; 1-0 and three early points in their quest to win the Euros this year.

 

As for second day predictions I once again got one right and one wrong and I'm extremely disappointed in Holland not taking their chances. :lol:

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I decided not to back any games today as I thought they would be too tight to call and that an 'upset' would be likely. I knew Denmark would be harder to beat than a lot of people thought but I didn't think they would manage to sneak a win. Ive got Lewandowski to be top scorer, England to be last in the group and Holland to win. The Holland one is looking unlikely, they just don't look cohesive, I would have brought Huntelaar on much earlier.

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I'm not putting any real life money on any of them, I don't gamble, just want to predict each match purely because I enjoy the football. Yeah, agreed with Denmark, I thought they might be able to grab a draw possibly but don't think many saw them beating Holland. Lewandowski looks great but I'm convinced it'll be one of the 'bigger' team's players that'll get it, probably one of the Germans. England to finish last made me laugh. :lol: I agree with the Huntelaar decision, I really rate him as a forward. Your right though, they looked like they couldn't gel properly out there. They'll need some good results to come through the group now.

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The reason why I went with Lewandowski instead of one of the bigger names was the value in the odds. I got 20-1, Gomez, Klose, RvP etc had much poorer odds. Rumours are abound that Spain will play without a recognised striker to start with which quite frankly is a baffling decision. If it's true it's either tactical genius or a monumental blunder. Although Spain really should beat Italy I'm not too sure how I think this will go, Italy could nick it just like the Danes.

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In which case that makes much more sense.

 

It seems it was true - unbelievable. I've never seen it before although they're saying Barcelona have done it numerous times. I think they'll be okay as they've got more than enough class in midfield to get the goals, but you'd think they would have at least had one playing upfront.

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Spirited but ultimately poor effort from the Irish to go down 3-1 to Croatia. Tthey really don't often concede three goals and will be disappointed that they did. I thought they showed great determination, particularly to get the scores level again, but in the end the better team won. I had them down to win on my predictions but I didn't really believe they would, just fancied putting it down in case there was an upset. It'll be a tough ask for the Irish to pick up any points now.

 

Spain were disappointing today, they lacked that killer touch upfront, perhaps from not playing a striker? I'd still expect them to go on and make short work of the other teams, but I was surprised they couldn't do any better than 1-1 against Italy this evening.

 

England tomorrow, that should be fun..

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I expected Croatia to win but they looked a little more comfortable than I expected. I agree that Ireland were ultimately poor which is a shame, they have a decent talent level and usually punch above their weight.

 

Spain were very disappointing, they looked very tired and needed someone to take a shot far more often than they did. It kind of reminded me of the games where Arsenal try to walk the ball into the net. Spain will pass most teams to death but Italy are tactically probably the best team to counter-act this kind of game. Playing without a striker works at times for Barca because they have people who will take a shot when it is presented like Messi. They like to draw a defence out and play through them. Italy just kept dropping more people into midfield and defence when they didn't have the ball. That said, Spain took their goal well and the ball from Pirlo for the Italy goal were absolutely perfect. Super Mario was garbage, it seems he is all or nothing and today he was nothing.

 

The England game should be fascinating, if it's anything like the friendliest then we sit deep and look to grab a goal when one presents itself. It will also be interesting to see who starts up front and what formation the team takes.

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Thank you, sporty thread, for helping me figure out why I was hearing football chants tonight from the pub down the road, without looking like an oblivious fool to anyone I actually know in real life (because they all at the very least always know what's occuring in football/soccer etc. Saying I don't follow Irish teams in those sports is like saying I don't drink tea. I'd half expect a local priest to turn up on my doorstep to absolve me from my sin. Tea and Irish teams are sacred here in Ireland. :lol:)

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I expected Croatia to win but they looked a little more comfortable than I expected. I agree that Ireland were ultimately poor which is a shame, they have a decent talent level and usually punch above their weight.

 

Yeah, so did I but after Ireland's good run of recent form I thought they might push them hard. Rather disappointed.

 

Spain were very disappointing, they looked very tired and needed someone to take a shot far more often than they did. It kind of reminded me of the games where Arsenal try to walk the ball into the net. Spain will pass most teams to death but Italy are tactically probably the best team to counter-act this kind of game.

 

Oh without a doubt. As soon as I found out that they'd be starting without strikers, like you I was baffled. They had an abundance of talent in midfield but like you say it was always going to be a tough ask to pass their way into the goal with an Italian defence. The goal displayed the kind of thing they can do with that type of football, and I'd expect them to do it more comfortably against Croatia and Ireland if they decide they're sticking with that strategy.

 

Super Mario was garbage, it seems he is all or nothing and today he was nothing.

 

I agree. What on earth was he doing when he went past Ramos then dawdled his way to the goal thinking that he'd have all the time in the world. Useless.

 

The England game should be fascinating, if it's anything like the friendliest then we sit deep and look to grab a goal when one presents itself. It will also be interesting to see who starts up front and what formation the team takes.

 

I'll be honest, I'm not confident at all. France look fantastic and the whole sitting back and taking the few chances we get (like Chelsea against Barcelona in the Champions League), won't work in my eyes. We have a strong defence and goalkeeper even with the injuries we've had, but I still doubt we have enough to hold out. I'd actually rather not see us play like that either, we have strength in midfield and if we can take the game to them perhaps we'll have some sort of a chance. We'll see.

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Thank you, sporty thread, for helping me figure out why I was hearing football chants tonight from the pub down the road, without looking like an oblivious fool to anyone I actually know in real life (because they all at the very least always know what's occuring in football/soccer etc. Saying I don't follow Irish teams in those sports is like saying I don't drink tea. I'd half expect a local priest to turn up on my doorstep to absolve me from my sin. Tea and Irish teams are sacred here in Ireland. :lol:)

 

:haha: Oh Noll, you're like my friend who pretty much hates all football. He was really confused when he started seeing loads of flags all over our village, and would have been undoubtedly completely unaware that we were playing if he hadn't seen it on Facebook. Anyway, you're welcome for the thread. :lol:

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Did watch some of the Ireland game last night, but was so tired due to lack of sleep, I dozed off after about 5 minutes. Unless OH wants to watch a game, I doubt I'll watch much, tbh. Might try and catch the rest of the Spain games if I can since we watch La Liga games more than domestic football, so I have an outside chance of actually recognising some of the players! :lol:

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Spanish football is usually great to watch anyway, so can't blame you for that. :haha:

 

Was pleasantly surprised with England earlier, I think we played well and we can definitely build on it for the next two games. A draw is a great result for us against France, with Ukraine and Sweden to play, and I'm more confident we'll go through now (whether in first or second I'm not as sure).

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Germany is a wonderful team to get in the sweepstake, I'm personally backing them to go the whole way. I'm pretty sure England won't get far enough to play them, but even if they do I wouldn't be too worried. :lol:

 

 

Having watched all the matches thus far, I'm quite pleased that ive got Germany :) I may even win the sweepstake, you never know hehe!

 

I was also pleasently surprised with Englands performance against France, a draw was a lot better then loosing, as I though they would! I do think we will go through second or not at all though!

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Entirely possible! I can't see us not getting through now after we've picked up a point against France. Sweden and Ukraine both looked poor in their match against each other and I'd be reasonably confident we can pick up points again both. Although it is England, so you never know. :lol:

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