European Football Championships 2012

[PaddyFancy]

I'm calling it. England win Euro 2012 because its 2012, a big year for England. Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics. Why stop there and let England lose another football tournament in this year of all years?

[Covskin]

England will only win because no one actually expects them to win. So yeah, I'm expecting a Germany win myself.

I must say, watching our win against Sweden just now was near torture. England always put their fans through the wringer.

[blackherox]

@Non Specfic: Thats a good idea, I'll edit my first post, may shorten it a bit though.

^I agree with the above. I can't remember the last time England came from behind to win. Hodgson made a good decision to put Theo Willcot on. And thats the thing. England ceratinly don't have the quality to Win this tournament, but if they can just get their tactics right, they could do well.

I mean I don't think anyone pegged Chelsea to beat Barcelona and Bayern to win the Champions League

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I love the Blues <3 <3

Anyway, I'll be very (and I mean VERY with a capital V) shocked if England win this tournament. They are not as strong as Portugal, Germany and Spain (and there are a few others but I forgot them).

Good win for England today by the way. They almost threw it away though lol.

Also:

The heck is this guy wearing?!

Edited June 16, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[Kevin]

Well done, Greece on beating Russia! I'm looking forward to both the Portugal vs Netherlands and Denmark vs Germany games tomorrow myself.

[Vec]

Ok so:

To the next round: Czech Republic, Greece

Out: Ireland, Poland, Russia, Sweden

Tomorrow Netherlands has to go for all or nothing against Portugal and pray for a little help from Denmark. So unless something unexpected happens, Netherlands is basically screwed

[blackherox]

^Group B is even more tense and complicated then Group A. Although don't the Dutch need Germany to beat Denmark (Dennmark have 3 points a win, puts them on the same points as Germany). Although even if the Danes win against Germany, they could still be knocked out if the Portugal win their game.

[Vec]

Oh you are right

I was a bit sleepy when I wrote that XD

[Sushi]

Aaaaand the German National Soccer Team, or in short, the DFB, wins their third and final group stage game.

Results are 2:1, with Lukas Podolski scoring the first, and Lars Bender scoring the second goal. YAAY!

But...I can't shake this feeling: I was not impressed. It seemed to me that the Germans were a little bit too confident and laid back today. Sure, a draw between them and the Danish team would be okay too, but winning this game would secure their advancement to the quarterfinals. (And I am glad that they won this game)

The Germans were a bit slow today. There were a few nice moments, but they need more of those moments, just like in the 2010 World Championship. (They were absolutely awesome back in 2010!)

I am glad that they won, and I hope that Jogi Löw's squad returns to "serious mode". No more "laidback and slow" like today, because the Knock-out System won't allow that! Its do or die time for the German Team now.

Edited June 17, 2012 by TheBlueHedgehogAUT

[Chibi]

Yay, Germany won! How delightfully predictable.

And so we are through to the next round. And who's our next opponent? Greece!

...oooooh boy. There's way too many parallels here.

[Applejack1973]

Yay Germany!

[Your Vest Friend]

I saw a funny gaff on BBC News 24 relating to this yesterday. You know how on the news programmes, there's often an auto-scroll of an important headline and info? Well, when reporting on Euro 2012, a message was scroll roughly to this effect;

BREAKING: Germany and Holland through to the quarter-finals. Denmark and the Netherlands are eliminated from the tournament.

Can anyone spot the problem with this?

Portugal isn't there; Holland and the Netherlands are the same damn thing!

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

For goodness sake, I wish people would stop calling them Holland. They are Netherlands! Respect their name!

[blackherox]

I kinda feel bad for both the Danes and Crotia, they both played really well, had some unfair desicions (which could have put the game in their favour) and thanks to a lucky goal near the end of the games, there both now out. I don't think Germany or Spain have played as good as they can (at least in comparison to the last world cup).

Now Portugal and Italy have been FANTASTIC.

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh dear, mum won't be happy.

Not because she's strongly supporting Croatia, but because she's strongly against Spain for their attitude towards the racial abuse their fans have been dealing out and how the club is just ignoring it.

I don't have an opinion myself, I don't know about this behind-the-curtain business.

[Linkabel]

So changing the subject of this thread, where are your battle stations when watching the games? This is mine:

Luckily someone on the school likes soccer so they put it on

Edited June 19, 2012 by TheBlueWind

[Kevin]

Well done, England on winning today's match and advancing to the quarterfinals.

I can't wait to see how the Germany vs Greece match turns out. It's on the day I leave for Dusseldorf too, so it'll be interesting to see the local reaction when I get there.

Edited June 20, 2012 by Kevin

[Gabz Girl]

Didn't even know there was a topic for this, so here's what I have to say about the footie atm.

I was supporting Holland since the start, but I was astonished they didn't make it through the entire group, losing every match a d ending up with 0 points. This is the same Holland that was in the final against Spain two years ago, wtf happened?!

Now I've only got England to support and they have been doing alright. Tonight they're playing against Italy, a relatively tough team. With Balotelli being such an aggressive twat he will hopefully get sent off fairly early in the match. Hate his attitude.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Gabz Girl

[Your Vest Friend]

Now you ain't got shit to support. :/

[blackherox]

Why is it ALWAYS ON PENALTIES?!

[Kevin]

Damn! England lost right at the end in the penalty shoot out! I was really hoping they would pull it off too!

[TrueBlue]

Eggman again!? Penalties again!? Ugh.

[JayZeach]

More to the point - If England hadn't been trying to play defensively the whole match to aim to either win in the 88th/89th minute or penatlies - they wouldn't have went out.

They played against a team they knew that were going to hammer them, and by trying to draw it into penalties where they were sure they'd win - they lost.

As a team they need to step up and learn to play more than just the "carry the ball up the pitch, cross it and knock it in" They don't pass enough or effectively and leave open space where unnecessary.

That said, the next few games should be interesting now there's not a team pussyfooting their way around the ball every match.

(And no, I'm not and England supporter, but then I don't support any team in the Euro =P Just watch the games and hope they're interesting, sad to say a lot of the group stages were a disappointment)

[Gabz Girl]

Now you ain't got shit to support. :/

Spain (my boyfriend is Spanish). =P

England played rubbish in the second half and penalties...well! I sure hope they can get their act together for 2014!

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

My team Portugal's going to beat those Spaniards! Ronaldo's on fire! <3

(And I'm tired of Spain/Barcelona winning everything)

Shame that England's out. But I'm not surprised. If Italy got knocked out instead, it's the highest piece of robbery I've ever seen. Even worse than Chelsea-Barcelona.

If I have any word of advice, I'll say this: Get rid of Rooney. He's the most overrated player in the world. People go on and talk about Rooney yet he has done nothing in WC2010 and this Euro Championship. In fact in almost all England matches I've seen, Rooney has done nothing.

And don't give me that "at least he scored a goal in Ukraine!" because a lower division striker would have scored where he was too. And it was a goalkeeping error, it was a gifted lucky goal.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Ming Ming Love