By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sports Discussion - The Euro 2012 thread

Ajescent on 08 June 2012

Right folks, I've got the Sweepstake up and running, today's first games are between

Poland vs Greece (Nikkom)

Russia vs Czech Republic

choose your numbers before then to earn your spot please!



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

Around the Network
Ajescent on 08 June 2012

RolStoppable said:
This thread is nicely organized, I hope we'll also get tables for the standings of each group as the days pass by.

As for today's start of Euro 2012, it's not particularly exciting due to the draw of Group A. There's no really big football nation in there, but on the bright side this also means that everyone has realistic chances to reach the quarter finals, so if nothing else, at least this is going to make the group interesting to watch. I expect Greece and Russia to go to the next round, because the more recent showings of Poland and CR at World Cups/Euros (2006 onwards) have been disappointing. I would prefer Russia and CR to go through though.

Poland - Greece 0:1
Russia - Czech Republic 2:1

 Enter my sweepstake game!



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

dr3b on 08 June 2012

I will be pulling for England, and trying not to be pessimistic about it. I would like to see them win, but figure a semi-final spot may be where they end up and a final spot would be a great and a step in the right direction. Second choice would be the Netherlands. I won't bother trying to predict a winner.



Ajescent on 08 June 2012
dr3b said:
I will be pulling for England, and trying not to be pessimistic about it. I would like to see them win, but figure a semi-final spot may be where they end up and a final spot would be a great and a step in the right direction. Second choice would be the Netherlands. I won't bother trying to predict a winner.


sweepstake! Who knows, you might get England (you won't because it's gone, but join anyway!)



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

DirtyP2002 on 08 June 2012

As pessimistic as I am, I don't think that Germany will play a good tournament.

And Löw is pretty biased when it comes to the players. You have an uphill battle coming from a club in the Ruhrpott ( )
Seriously, I don't get why Mertesacker or Badstuber are playing and Hummels is not. Müller played an awful season and is a starter while Götze or Reus are not.

Kroos played really really bad the last matches and Schweinsteiger was injured for the best part of the season.  Löws reaction is: Schweinsteiger is the undisputed No. 1, if he is still injured there is still Kroos! WTF! What about Bender, who played a very good season, what about Gündogan who would be a much better team with Khedira (Khedira is a very robust player while Gündogan comes with good technical skills)

 

I mean there is not ONE PLAYER from the German champions of 2011 and 2012 in the starting 11! (Borussia Dortmund) There is not even ONE PLAYER from the 3rd or 4th of the last season (Schalke 04 and Gladbach) either. Just Bayern Munich with a handful international ones like Klose (Rome), Khedira, Özil (Madrid) and Mertesacker (Arsenal).

 

And don't get me started with Tim Wiese, Ron-Robert Zieler as 2nd and 3rd goalkeeper. Weidenfeller plays on such a high level for the past 3 years now and didn't even had a chance. Ter Stegen played an awesome season with Gladbach as well.

 

So yeah [/rage]

 

I think France has a good team and are underestimated a little bit due the things from 2010. They will play a good tournament and have a shot to win it.



Imagine not having GamePass on your console...

Around the Network
Ajescent on 08 June 2012

Only Spain Portugal and Ukraine left!!



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

lestatdark on 08 June 2012
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. 



Current PC Build

CPU - i7 8700K 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz turbo) 6 cores OC'd to 5.2 GHz with Watercooling (Hydro Series H110i) | MB - Gigabyte Z370 HD3P ATX | Gigabyte GTX 1080ti Gaming OC BLACK 11G (1657 MHz Boost Core / 11010 MHz Memory) | RAM - Corsair DIMM 32GB DDR4, 2400 MHz | PSU - Corsair CX650M (80+ Bronze) 650W | Audio - Asus Essence STX II 7.1 | Monitor - Samsung U28E590D 4K UHD, Freesync, 1 ms, 60 Hz, 28"

Ajescent on 08 June 2012

But more importantly, the tournament has started and you missed the sweepstake :p



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

Ajescent on 08 June 2012

Poland are blitzing Greece right now, Greece can hardly get a touch



PS One/2/p/3slim/Vita owner. I survived the Apocalyps3/Collaps3 and all I got was this lousy signature.


Xbox One: What are you doing Dave?

lestatdark on 08 June 2012
Ajescent said:
Poland are blitzing Greece right now, Greece can hardly get a touch

*Euro 2004 flashback* .

Greece doesn't need the ball if they can score in a lucky attempt and defend like Chelsea xD.



Current PC Build

CPU - i7 8700K 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz turbo) 6 cores OC'd to 5.2 GHz with Watercooling (Hydro Series H110i) | MB - Gigabyte Z370 HD3P ATX | Gigabyte GTX 1080ti Gaming OC BLACK 11G (1657 MHz Boost Core / 11010 MHz Memory) | RAM - Corsair DIMM 32GB DDR4, 2400 MHz | PSU - Corsair CX650M (80+ Bronze) 650W | Audio - Asus Essence STX II 7.1 | Monitor - Samsung U28E590D 4K UHD, Freesync, 1 ms, 60 Hz, 28"