UEFA European Championship 2012

[Hes]

Only a couple of weeks to go until the European Football Championship.

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?
Which team will disappoint?
Which underdog will surprise us?
What's the poule of death this year?

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?

Tables

Group A
Fri 8 jun, 18:00 Poland - Greece 1-1
Fri 8 jun, 20:45 Russia - Czech Republic 4-1
Tue 12 jun, 18:00 Greece - Czech Republic
Tue 12 jun, 20:45 Poland - Russia
Sat 16 jun, 20:45 Czech Rep - Poland
Sat 16 jun, 20:45 Greece - Russia

Group B
Sat 9 jun, 18:00 Netherlands - Denmark 0-1
Sat 9 jun, 20:45 Germany - Portugal 1-0
Wed 13 jun, 18:00 Denmark - Portugal
Wed 13 jun, 20:45 Netherlands - Germany
Sun 17 jun, 20:45 Denmark - Germany
Sun 17 jun, 20:45 Portugal - Netherlands

Group C
Sun 10 jun, 18:00 Spain - Italy 1-1
Sun 10 jun, 20:45 Ierland - Croatia 3-1
Thu 14 jun, 18:00 Italy - Croatia
Thu 14 jun, 20:45 Spain - Ierland
Mon 18 jun, 20:45 Italy - Ierland
Mon 18 jun, 20:45 Croatia - Spain

Group D
Mon 11 jun, 18:00 France - England
Mon 11 jun, 20:45 Ukraine - Sweden
Fri 15 jun, 18:00 Ukraine - France
Fri 15 jun, 20:45 Sweden - England
Tue 19 jun, 20:45 England - Ukraine
Tue 19 jun, 20:45 Sweden - France

[Tenshi]

Yusss, it will start soon. Need to prepare my voice for the chants and I need to buy some warpaint.

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?

Germany and Spain

Which team will disappoint?

ITALY! *shakes fist*

Which underdog will surprise us?

England and Sweden

What's the poule of death this year?

Poule? Group? Then definitely B. With Germany, Netherlands and Portugal playing in the same group it's going to be no fun for one of them. Or maybe Denmark will be the big surprise. Haha

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?

Tough question. There should've been a casting show to find the best for this job.

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?

If you ask Jupp Heynckes, he shouldn't be let close to the ball when it comes to a penalty.

[Jetty]

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?

Spain, Ukraine

Which team will disappoint?

Germany, Netherlands

Which underdog will surprise us?

Russia, Ukraine

What's the poule of death this year?

It looks like it's a group B, but really group C may be even better, teams from group D may perform better than teams from any other group, and group A is beyond all competitions

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?

It's already known - a pig from Kyiv.

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?

No, just because Holland won't have any penalties on this tournament

[AldeberanBlack]

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?
Spain

Which team will disappoint?
England

Which underdog will surprise us?
Republic of Ireland

What's the poule of death this year?
Group B

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?
Paul The Octopus

He's not dead. He faked his death

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?
Yes

But the ref will disallow it, and he'll miss the retake.

[Hes]

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?

Spain

Which team will disappoint?

The Netherlands. England, I would be surprised if they go far. Not impressed by them.

Which underdog will surprise us?

Ireland. Would be nice if it was Greece.

What's the poule of death this year?

B. I hope Ronaldo cries.

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?

I am trying to train my own cat.

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?

Here they are hoping he scores three against Germany. But I am thinking AldeberanBlack´s option is more viable...
Tables will follow at some point.[/quote]

[Tenshi]

Originally Posted by Tenshi

Tough question. There should've been a casting show to find the best for this job.

There I was joking around, but yesterday someone told me that there was really a casting. Turns out an elephant lady is the winner and will predict the German games.

[Jetty]

Originally Posted by Hes

Here they are hoping he scores three against Germany. But I am thinking AldeberanBlack´s option is more viable...
Tables will follow at some point.

I think if Holland has penalty kicks on the tournament, rather van Persie or Kuyt will be allowed to score them, not Robben.

[Hes]

Originally Posted by Jetty

I think if Holland has penalty kicks on the tournament, rather van Persie or Kuyt will be allowed to score them, not Robben.

Well I hope so, but I am not convinced that Robben won´t claim them. He always wants to take everything. But I agree Van Persie should be taking them.

[Jetty]

Originally Posted by Hes

He always wants to take everything

Yes, and it's his biggest problem. Sometimes he doesn't work on team at all. He tends to overpossess the ball, and this overpossession sometimes costs too much for his team and it was felt in Champions League Final. If not this disadvantage and his injuries he could be a great player of his time.

[SlyEd]

Who are your pre-tournament favourites?
-Germany, i think that they shoved great play in world cup 2010 and now they are rdy to go all the way!

Which team will disappoint?
I believe France.

Which underdog will surprise us?
Denmark. Even though their group is called the 'death group', i expect great thing from them. (or at least,i hope they do well )

What's the poule of death this year?
B..

Which animal replaces the late Paul the Octopus and takes that very important divination role this year?
Bring on another Octopus!! they r cool

As I am Dutch... my biggest question is... Will Arjen Robben score a penalty?
Umm, despite his bad play in the final of CL this year i still believe Arjen Robben is the strongest guy in Holland team. I mean, the man is a legend and he will carry the game.
Go Arjen!!!

[yorkiedoodle]

Originally Posted by AldeberanBlack

Which team will disappoint?
England.

There is no hype or expectation here - no one expects the England team to do well at all - so surely they can't disappoint?

[SlyEd]

Originally Posted by yorkiedoodle

There is no hype or expectation here - no one expects the England team to do well at all - so surely they can't disappoint?

I'm sure there are some people who expect good score from England, I mean, it's England for Christ sake, they can be considered favorites in most matches. ... As long as they don't come across Germans


I don't know why English people themselves, are pessimistic about it, it's not like they have a bad team, i would kill for team like that
My country didn't even make to cup... #&^$#* losers

[Jetty]

Originally Posted by yorkiedoodle

There is no hype or expectation here - no one expects the England team to do well at all - so surely they can't disappoint?

I understand the reason why nobody believes in England, but suppose that actually it would help it. On all latest tournaments there were too much hopes and expectations for England, they were considered as favourites, though there were some evidently stronger teams on those tournaments. So the team was rather overrated. But now they don't have this kind of luggage.

And looking at the squad I don't find it bad. You have the most stable goalkeeper for many years, defense line from the Champions League winner, 'fresh blood' as Oxlade-Chamberlain and Henderson in midfield. Loss of Lampard is bad, but at least Hodgson won't have Gerrard-Lampard problem, preferations in the centre of the field would be clearer. The major trouble I see are forwards - without Rooney on group stage attacking line leaves much to be desired on the first view, but I think Carroll will try to justify expectations, but other players would have to adapt for his style of playing.

[yorkiedoodle]

Last night's 1-0 win over Belgium ahs done nothing to convince the fans that england are on a roll.....

We await the result of scans on John Terry's leg and Gary Cahill's jaw......

[Jetty]

Originally Posted by yorkiedoodle

Last night's 1-0 win over Belgium ahs done nothing to convince the fans that england are on a roll.....

We await the result of scans on John Terry's leg and Gary Cahill's jaw......

Why hadn't they convinced? Anyway they won the game against talented and young Belgium national team. England has been criticized too much I think. They have scored in last 12 games in a row (only in 2 of them they have lost) - it's a very good result, especially have beating such teams as Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium. And Germany, Italy, Netherlands have got painful kicks in friendly matches recently. Also England has the sharpest and fastest counter-attacks among all national teams I have watched for recently. So in this way it's quite OK, I suppose.

But a bunch of injuries is a comlete catastrophe for England. Now Cahill is already out with a fractured jaw. Mertens' foul was awful, he should be disqualified not less than for 3 official games of his national team.

[SlyEd]

What you guys expect from 1st match... Poland-Greece?
Im thinking from 0 - 2 goals.. no more

[Hes]

I have no idea, Poland wants to do well naturally but might be nervous. I am not sure how good Greece is at the moment, haven't seen anything of them.

We can do a little prediction game.

Fri 8 jun, 18:00 Poland - Greece 1-2
Fri 8 jun, 20:45 Russia - Czech Republic 2-0

[SlyEd]

Well Poland is under pressure, it's not easy to play when expectations are high for the home team and Greece plays very 'rough' football with low number of goals and high number of fouls, so im thinking - hard job for Poland.
My prediction here is 0 - 0 .
Russia - Czech Rep 2 - 0. I believe Russians have better team and will most likely win.

[Tenshi]

I don't expect anything from either of those teams. Haven't seen Greece playing either, but I don't think they will be able to repeat something like 2004 ever again.

As for Russia-Czech Repulblic. My guess is that Russia will be better, cause they have the better resources (aka money).

My predictions:

Fri 8 jun, 18:00 Poland - Greece 2-0
Fri 8 jun, 20:45 Russia - Czech Republic 2-1

[Jetty]

Originally Posted by Tenshi

As for Russia-Czech Repulblic. My guess is that Russia will be better, cause they have the better resources (aka money).

Which way could money affect a parity of national teams?