The Euro 2012 thread

[lestatdark]

SecondWar said:

lestatdark said:

SecondWar said:
I did a set of predictions for the tournament and got to the semi-finals with Spain, Holland, Germany and France, at which point it became to close for me to call. Going of current team form there could be some surprises. Italy have been playing really poor and could end up struggling against Ireland and Croatia. Denmark have been widely tipped to finish bottom of Group B but everyone has appeared to overlook the fact that they got the better of Portugal in qualifying. Ukraine are quite likely to get the home team boost, and Sweden-England matches are usually very close, hard to say who will get through out of those three.

First major tournament I've watched where I've felt that the (more or less) top 16 teams have made the finals. With the exception of Group A where I'd say Russia will run away with it, all the groups have strong teams. Although i still cannot understand why France were in Pot 4 (i.e. the lowest ranked 4 teams) for the draw.

Denmark only took the better of us in the early stages of the qualifying, when we were piss poor under Queiroz's management. After Bento took over, we dispatched them with a 3 - 1 win. 

Sadly, we had already lost too much terrain over Denmark when Queiroz got finally booted to go for first place in the group. 

Not saying that Denmark should be overlooked in group B, I think they can and will put a mighty decent fight for all three teams, but if anyone also counts out or overlooks Portugal, then they're making the same mistake. 

And before anyone comes talking about the pre-euro preparation matches, may I remind you that Spain did particularly poor on those before the last World Cup and where did Spain left the WC? Oh right, as the champions. Preparation matches mean squat. 

Fair point regarding Denmark/Portugal. But Italy have been underperforming for quite a while, going as far back as the World Cup. Spain are a nightmare to play even when teams are on form and Ireland and Croatia will be tricky opponents as well. The warm-up matches might mean little but they give good insights into have teams are shaping up. I was reading some pundits' views on France, and despite their strong scoreline they appeared to a weak defence that stronger teams could take advantage off. Then there is England (my country before anyone accuses me of bias). They won 1-0 against Norway and Belgium but looked average in both games with only occasional moments of strength. The Norway match in particular was dire.

I'm particularly against pre-competition matches, have always been and will continue to be. They can create false expectations regarding a team's capacity and preparation for said competition, even if they do show some highlights regarding what are the team's potential.

My main reason as to why i'm so against them is simple: They put players in immediate danger of suffering a threatening injury that puts them off the competition and a large chunk of their own team matches. I know this can also happen in the last stretch of the regular season, but when that happens, the national team can reform and reshape itself with new players and different strategies, which is much harder to do once you're a week away from the competition's start. 

England's Cahill is one of the most recent "victims" of such occurrence.