Euro 2012 Thread

[MC KAos]

I definitely think they will make it far, but I'm willing to bet that a European team will be in the finals.

i guess it depends how it shakes out, but if uruguay and argentina are in one side of the bracket, and brazil is in the other, id bet against it. look out for mexico too (even though my country, el salvador, got screwed by the refs last night when we outplayed them) they are fast improving overall and could make a deep run in the world cup. home continent advantage is pretty huge in the world cups.

 

[joseephuss]

The Germans always show up for tournaments. So does Brazil, not so much Argentina or Uruguay. Uruguay is definitely not on Germany's level.

Always is a bit extreme.

Brazil was disappointing in the last World Cup by their own high standards. Uruguay had a better tournament and to some extent so did Paraguay.

Brazil was very disappointing in last years Copa America by anyone's standards. Uruguay and Paraguay both did much better than Brazil.

In big history, Brazil is easily the better soccer country. In recent history, Brazil is chasing Uruguay and Paraguay for dominance in South American soccer. Brazil can reload and take over because they have so much talent. Those other countries will fall back eventually and take years to build up to their current level again.

Argentina is too inconsistent.

 

[MC KAos]

i had never heard of the gotze kid, i dont really keep up with the bundesliga, but he was pretty impressive in that clip! ill have to keep an out for him this season.

 

[RastaRocket]

i guess it depends how it shakes out, but if uruguay and argentina are in one side of the bracket, and brazil is in the other, id bet against it. look out for mexico too (even though my country, el salvador, got screwed by the refs last night when we outplayed them) they are fast improving overall and could make a deep run in the world cup. home continent advantage is pretty huge in the world cups.

Mexico is fielding one of their best teams they've ever had right now. They just beat Brazil.

 

[RastaRocket]

i had never heard of the gotze kid, i dont really keep up with the bundesliga, but he was pretty impressive in that clip! ill have to keep an out for him this season.

[youtube]sDGnsgDD-cA[/youtube]

He is 20 years old right now. Attackng midfielder.

 

[MC KAos]

Always is a bit extreme.

Brazil was disappointing in the last World Cup by their own high standards. Uruguay had a better tournament and to some extent so did Paraguay.

Brazil was very disappointing in last years Copa America by anyone's standards. Uruguay and Paraguay both did much better than Brazil.

In big history, Brazil is easily the better soccer country. In recent history, Brazil is chasing Uruguay and Paraguay for dominance in South American soccer. Brazil can reload and take over because they have so much talent. Those other countries will fall back eventually and take years to build up to their current level again.

Argentina is too inconsistent.

argentina reminds me of the miami heat, a collection of stars but they just cant get it done! brazil is like the lakers, just keep pulling out great players out of thin air. germany is like the spurs, its a lot about the system, they are disciplined and dont beat themselves. brazil has struggled in recent years, but the world cup had a lot to do with robben diving and getting people ejected to get netherlands through, and in 06, the amount of partying they did the nights before games really cost them, a lot of that blame fell on ronaldihno. i would hope that with the world cup being in brazil and their recent failures, they will be focused. brazil focused is pretty much unbeatable.

 

[MC KAos]

Mexico is fielding one of their best teams they've ever had right now. They just beat Brazil.

ya, so is el salvador

we tied costa rica in costa rica, so as long as mexico does its part and beats them in their two games, all we have to do is beat costa rica at home to advance!

but this is definitely a golden age in national soccer for mexico, they are so young and talented! they went into europe and beat some pretty good teams, and as you mentioned, they beat brazil at cowboys stadium recently, they are balling! they have never made it out of the first round of knockouts outside of the cups in mexico, but i think that changes in brazil.

 

[RastaRocket]

ya, so is el salvador

we tied costa rica in costa rica, so as long as mexico does its part and beats them in their two games, all we have to do is beat costa rica at home to advance!

but this is definitely a golden age in national soccer for mexico, they are so young and talented! they went into europe and beat some pretty good teams, and as you mentioned, they beat brazil at cowboys stadium recently, they are balling! they have never made it out of the first round of knockouts outside of the cups in mexico, but i think that changes in brazil.

Don't know much about El Salvador's team but are you talking about WC qualifiers?

 

[MC KAos]

wow, that gotze kid has some mad ball handle! is dortmund big enough in germany that they can afford to keep him, or is he going to end up in bayern or madrid soon?

 

[joseephuss]

argentina reminds me of the miami heat, a collection of stars but they just cant get it done! brazil is like the lakers, just keep pulling out great players out of thin air. germany is like the spurs, its a lot about the system, they are disciplined and dont beat themselves. brazil has struggled in recent years, but the world cup had a lot to do with robben diving and getting people ejected to get netherlands through, and in 06, the amount of partying they did the nights before games really cost them, a lot of that blame fell on ronaldihno. i would hope that with the world cup being in brazil and their recent failures, they will be focused. brazil focused is pretty much unbeatable.

I disagree immensely. While I do think Robben is a big time flopper and one of my least liked players, he was not the reason players from Brazil got ejected.

Brazil gave up a somewhat fluke of a goal in that game and just fell apart after that. Their ejections were warranted and a couple of their fouls were just stupid moves on their part. The thing with Brazil is if you can punch them in the face, they will get flustered. They are so used to Sambaing to victory that they don't know how to play from behind.

I agree that a focused Brazil is tough to beat.

Argentina has several offensive stars right now, but they don't have any defensive stalwarts or a top notch keeper right now.

 

[MC KAos]

Don't know much about El Salvador's team but are you talking about WC qualifiers?

ya, we had a game with mexico last night, it was tied 1-1 late, and the refs missed a clear offsides. we actually outplayed mexico was the crazy part.

el salvador has been super crappy in soccer since the generation before our civil war in the early to mid 80's. we did have the player that is widely considered the greatest player to ever come out of the concacaf region, jorge "el majico" gonzalez. maradona once said he was better than himself! he was probably high on coke when he said that though! lol.

but ya we have a lot of young kids coming up now and we are starting to get a lot better, we were ranked about 156th i think 2 or 3 years ago, we have climbed the fifa world rankings to as high as 49 last month. and all thanks to a Uruguayan coach!

 

[MC KAos]

I disagree immensely. While I do think Robben is a big time flopper and one of my least liked players, he was not the reason players from Brazil got ejected.

Brazil gave up a somewhat fluke of a goal in that game and just fell apart after that. Their ejections were warranted and a couple of their fouls were just stupid moves on their part. The thing with Brazil is if you can punch them in the face, they will get flustered. They are so used to Sambaing to victory that they don't know how to play from behind.

I agree that a focused Brazil is tough to beat.

Argentina has several offensive stars right now, but they don't have any defensive stalwarts or a top notch keeper right now.

well, it seemed to me that they were flustered more by robben's flopping than getting scored on, and they started making stupid fouls, but either way, it think if that game is played 10 times brazil wins 8 out of 10

 

[MC KAos]

[youtube]xsiEfYm7bhU[/youtube]

as you can clearly see, the second mexico goal was CLEARLY offsides

 

[RastaRocket]

ya, we had a game with mexico last night, it was tied 1-1 late, and the refs missed a clear offsides. we actually outplayed mexico was the crazy part.

el salvador has been super crappy in soccer since the generation before our civil war in the early to mid 80's. we did have the player that is widely considered the greatest player to ever come out of the concacaf region, jorge "el majico" gonzalez. maradona once said he was better than himself! he was probably high on coke when he said that though! lol.

but ya we have a lot of young kids coming up now and we are starting to get a lot better, we were ranked about 156th i think 2 or 3 years ago, we have climbed the fifa world rankings to as high as 49 last month. and all thanks to a Uruguayan coach!

Not bad at all for a small country. Good luck to y'all in qualifying, definitely like seeing some underdogs come out.

 

[RastaRocket]

Also, if you haven't heard of Eden Hazard yet he is another great young player.

Unfortunately, he just signed with Chelski.

[youtube]yAlgxvRYAow[/youtube]

21 years old, from Belgium. Every video has Euro trance it's kind of hard to find one without. :laugh1:

 

[joseephuss]

well, it seemed to me that they were flustered more by robben's flopping than getting scored on, and they started making stupid fouls, but either way, it think if that game is played 10 times brazil wins 8 out of 10

That is probably true. Maybe 7.

 

[RastaRocket]

That is probably true. Maybe 7.

Have to factor in draws as well though. Maybe 5.

 

[joseephuss]

The announcers were saying Germany has already clinched a spot. The way I see it they are in a great position to move on to the next round and probably will, but technically they still haven't clinched a qualifying spot in their group if I am reading the rules right.

If Denmark beats Germany and Portugal beats Netherlands, then Denmark, Portugal and Germany will all be tied with 6 points(2 wins, 1 loss) each. It would then come down to goal differential and then points scored and then so on and so forth as far as tie breakers.

Say the Danes win 1-0 against Germany and Portugal wins 1-0 in their final matches, then all three countries will be at a +1 goal differential, but both Denmark and Portugal would move on because they have 4 goals scored compared to the Germans 3 goals. I think it is a long shot, but it is a possibility. Unless I am missing something.

 

[RastaRocket]

as you can clearly see, the second mexico goal was CLEARLY offsides

Definitely was. Nice free kick though for El Salvador.

 

[RastaRocket]

The announcers were saying Germany has already clinched a spot. The way I see it they are in a great position to move on to the next round and probably will, but technically they still haven't clinched a qualifying spot in their group if I am reading the rules right.

If Denmark beats Germany and Portugal beats Netherlands, then Denmark, Portugal and Germany will all be tied with 6 points(2 wins, 1 loss) each. It would then come down to goal differential and then points scored and then so on and so forth as far as tie breakers.

Say the Danes win 1-0 against Germany and Portugal wins 1-0 in their final matches, then all three countries will be at a +1 goal differential, but both Denmark and Portugal would move on because they have 4 goals scored compared to the Germans 3 goals. I think it is a long shot, but it is a possibility. Unless I am missing something.

You're right. They can still lose on goal differential.