Euro 2012 Thread

[jterrell]

Don't sleep on Italy they always do just enough to advance then a couple of 1-0 Italy bore fests later they're all of a sudden in the finals. Seen it to many times to bet against it

I rather like Italy but they haven't been as sharp defensively as I'd expect. And without the wild child they have no offense. Think they'll be good come 2014 but they need to settle that team into a proper side.

I think England's play out wide with Young and Cole makes the difference.

If Cahill was in form I'd give England a chance to shock the world and win the whole thing. The GK is a quality player and the defense only lacks pace(see Cahill). But Terry is a very smart and physical player who wears strikers down and Cole is another quality vet who picks his spots to surge forward.

It will be fun to watch and oft-times the single elimination looks totally different than group play.

I'd love to see the Greeks pull some upsets just as a fan of the game but expect their stay to end at 90 minutes.

 

[jterrell]

why are you anti-French?

my experiences with french people.

they dislike americans bitterly and while somewhat deservedly so they take it to an infantile, teenage angst type level.

i have worked for a few french corporations and found some of the folks amazing but the general attitude is much more coarse.

they especially love insulting people from texas, cowboys and anything considered all-american.

c'est la vie, non?

it isn't a deep thing for me but it is enough to make them my least favorite euro club when i have no real reason for any particular side. having them as my eagles makes it more fun.

 

[CATCH17]

Ronaldo time today.

 

[jobberone]

my experiences with french people.

they dislike americans bitterly and while somewhat deservedly so they take it to an infantile, teenage angst type level.

i have worked for a few french corporations and found some of the folks amazing but the general attitude is much more coarse.

they especially love insulting people from texas, cowboys and anything considered all-american.

c'est la vie, non?

it isn't a deep thing for me but it is enough to make them my least favorite euro club when i have no real reason for any particular side. having them as my eagles makes it more fun.

I haven't been back in years but the last time I was insulted more than once. I love Paris and southern France.

 

[Aikmaniac]

Germany will take the cup this year. Those guys are good. Schweinsteiger!

 

[Zordon]

Portugal looks good so far. No underachieving this year. I would like to see them face off with Spain.

 

[nyc-cowboy]

The Greek team should be ashamed of themselves - what a HORRIBLE showing and I'm not talking about the score.

They went down 1-0 and they went into a defensive shell - they had no ganas/desire to win.

Terrible defenders - terrible Goalkeeper - terrible EFFORT!!!!!!!

 

[Ren]

They won Euro 04 by playing defensive and relying on quick counters so you can't really blame them for trying it again

 

[RastaRocket]

Germany!

 

[ethiostar]

I love Spain's style of play.

It would be interesting to see them vs. Germany in the final.

 

[nyc-cowboy]

They won Euro 04 by playing defensive and relying on quick counters so you can't really blame them for trying it again

Thats fine but if your going to play D then play D - they let the Germans come to the 35 yard line unimpeded, you do that against quality players and you will get burned - you have to put pressure on the ball.

Its like giving a QB all day to throw, sooner or later......

Another thing that got me was that almost every 50/50 ball went to germany they just out hustled them - and there in no excuse for that. You can just see the german players flying to the ball, I didn't see that from the Greek players.

 

[joseephuss]

Germany will take the cup this year. Those guys are good. Schweinsteiger!

Schweinsteiger had a horrible game against Greece. Fortunately Greece is not that good of a team. They had to play a defensive game, but did not have the players to pull it off as they did in 2004. When you have to use more than one keeper in a tournament, then you don't really have a good keeper at all. They were also lacking their best offensive player, which really limited what they could do. It was inevitable that Germany would score and win this match.

 

[MC KAos]

I love Spain's style of play.

It would be interesting to see them vs. Germany in the final.

thats gonna be the final, thats as much a fact as stairway to heaven being the greatest song of all time! it would take a herculean effort from ronaldo and co. to derail that IMO

 

[jterrell]

various....

Greece didn't disappoint like the French. Greece was terrible undermanned and did try to get Samaras in on goal.

Schweinsteiger had the worst game I've ever seen him play. Reported Chelsea target but I want to part of him playing in that form. He almost single-handledly made that a game with giveaways. That would have been an embarrassing game by any American player.

I only watched 45 mins of Spain-France and the French never even tried during that span. They didn't try to defensively pressure Spain at all so it was all walk-up to the 18 and take your chances. See Chelsea v Barca for how you properly park a bus and play defense. You must attack everything in your own defensive 3rd and you have the entire team to do so with. Then you slide a speedster like Ribery out for a quick counter every 20 minutes or so. It isn't pretty but it can work. What France did was play a shell with no effort behind it. Looked like the Cowboys the last few weeks of Wade Phillips reign.

Expect to see Germany v Spain like everyone else. Should be top shelf.

Ready to watch England v Italy today. Should be a nice match up.

 

[joseephuss]

various....

Greece didn't disappoint like the French. Greece was terrible undermanned and did try to get Samaras in on goal.

Schweinsteiger had the worst game I've ever seen him play. Reported Chelsea target but I want to part of him playing in that form. He almost single-handledly made that a game with giveaways. That would have been an embarrassing game by any American player.

That would have been a typical game by any American player.

I only watched 45 mins of Spain-France and the French never even tried during that span. They didn't try to defensively pressure Spain at all so it was all walk-up to the 18 and take your chances. See Chelsea v Barca for how you properly park a bus and play defense. You must attack everything in your own defensive 3rd and you have the entire team to do so with. Then you slide a speedster like Ribery out for a quick counter every 20 minutes or so. It isn't pretty but it can work. What France did was play a shell with no effort behind it. Looked like the Cowboys the last few weeks of Wade Phillips reign.

Expect to see Germany v Spain like everyone else. Should be top shelf.

Ready to watch England v Italy today. Should be a nice match up.

I heard there was a locker room meltdown for France after they lost to Sweden. I think that is why they went with what I thought was a poor lineup. Also probably why they were missing some desire in their game. They just aren't a unified team and once they get under pressure they crumble.

 

[ethiostar]

Pray Italy doesn't score first. If they do, we're in for a boring match. They will just shut it down and play keep away regardless of how much time is left in the game.

 

[RastaRocket]

Don't know who I want to win... I've never liked any of these teams.

 

[nyc-cowboy]

Don't know who I want to win... I've never liked any of these teams.

Same here - but I dislike Italy more.

 

[ethiostar]

Don't know who I want to win... I've never liked any of these teams.

Same here - but I dislike Italy more.

I can't stand Italy. So, by default I'll be pulling for England.

 

[ethiostar]

I can't stand Italy. So, by default I'll be pulling for England.

Although, Italy vs. Germany would be the better match.