Football - EURO 2012

[George Hay]

everyone couild see the offisde, except the referee, the linesman and the goal judge.
All of them need glasses very badly,

As they say in baseball,"the umpire is always right."
--George Hay

[Danny_Alvarez]

As they say in baseball,"the umpire is always right."
--George Hay

While George is right. I think that until FIFA implements video refereeing there won't be peace in world football. Unfortunately, Blatter is so corrupt we won't have video refereeing till he steps down.

2 sports where video ref is a clear success are American Football and Rugby League. In American Football each coach has a number of "challenges" which he can use (where the ref has to look at the play in slow motion and check if he was right or not and he can change the ruling accordingly)... after he has used them all he cannot "appeal" the ref's decision anymore.
In Rugby League, each game has 2 appointed video referees that watch the game from a room. When there is a play in which the ref is not 100% sure due to the speed of the action or his line of sight being blocked he can ask the video refs to look at it .
There have been too many decisions in the last 2 world cups, copa america and euro to ignore this issue.

Danny Alvarez

[Danny_Alvarez]

If spain wins again this will be that last championship I will watch

LOL Sune ... saying that about the favourite team leaves you with a slim chance of watching the next one.

They are showing the quarters, semis and final live in free-to-air TV here...(something they didnt do for the group matches) and i might watch some of it. I stopped watching all the group games cause some games clearly lacked the excitement i expected (and it is a lot easier to watch a game from the couch than in front of a computer screen while freezing your butt) .

I think that Germany and Spain are the overwhelming favourites and justly so... but if this year has shown us anything is that anybody can win on the day even the teams that are favoured to lose like Greece .
My predictions for the Semi finals are Spain vs England and Germany vs Czech Republic

cheers
Danny Alvarez

[Ingo_Zachos]

...
I think that Germany and Spain are the overwhelming favourites and justly so... but if this year has shown us anything is that anybody can win on the day even the teams that are favoured to lose like Greece .
My predictions for the Semi finals are Spain vs England and Germany vs Czech Republic

cheers
Danny Alvarez

As the winner of Germany -Greece plays the winner of England -Italy and Portugal plays the winner of Spain-France in the Semis how could Spain vs. England or Germany vs. Czech Rebulic be possible ?

Anyway, Portugal won against the Czechs, looking clearly better. To lose by one goal seems to be very flattering to the Czech performance, especially in the 2nd half.

Christiano Ronaldo with a lot of chances and finally a goal, but still his handicap is is weak technique, causing him to miss even the best chances. He needs to do better against Spain, or he will be ineffective like he was against Germany. The other Portugese players also did not look good when it came to convert the chances.

They are great individual players and a good team, but they need to score better or they "sterben in Schönheit" (die in elegance) as we say in Germany.

Today Germany - Greece, and in 2012 there will be no Octopus to prevent Germany from winning each game. Greece need to outplay our Eagles or they are out. Greece may play like the Czechs or Chelsea, so watch for the standards, boys!
But if the Czechs can beat Greece, I see no reason why Germany can`t.

My prediction for the other games are still the same , Spain can beat France, even if they are not in best shape, but France looked desastrous against Sweden, and were lucky not to eliminated as England sent them through.
And Italy is better then England, but the English coach is resourceful, and Welbeck and Walcott are dangerous. So this is the most equal pairing, but Italy has the better midfield and a better defense then Sweden, France or the Ukraine. An easy group is a big handicap in the first elemination round, and the English defense was lucky against the Ukraine. Against Italy they would get two or three goals if they don`t improve. England will try to make it close, but their defense will not be ready for that task, though the English offensive may score.

Greetinx from Dortmund ona grey cloudy day,

Ingo Zachos

[George Hay]

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/vide ... ic-gallery

Statement Made By Germany is the headline on the FOX Soccer Channel!

[Ingo_Zachos]

Hello football fans,

Germany beat Greece 4-2 in the 2nd QF. Germany dominating, even with a completely new offensive section. Reus and Schürrle are technically strong. They are even better then Podolski and Thomas Müller, and Klose and Gomez are both goalgetters in good shape it seems.

Only setback was the defensive, especially Boateng who caused two goals, although I can not see how the 2nd penalty was justified. Greece was more aggresisve then the Czechs in the 1st QF. Maybe replace him with Lars Bender, who even scores goals. Oezil looked like a good playmaker, but Goetze may replace him any time he is injured or banned without a quality loss.

The team looks much stronger then against Switzerland in the test match now, even better then in 2008 and2010 when they lost by an odd goal to Spain. Italy should be next, but don`t underestimate England, though I think that groups B and C were the much better groups to warm-up for the elimination rounds.

Let`s see how Spain does against France. Spain favorite. They were outplayed by Croatia and won on a referee mistake, but France is not as good as Croatia, and I belive another 1-0 without any significant chance by France will do, but it may be 2-0 or higher if the Frenach play like they did in their last group match.

Greetinx from Dortmund on a cloudy morning,

Ingo Zachos

[Ingo_Zachos]

Now we have seen all Quarter Finals, and the Semis are played by the usual suspects:

Portugal - Spain
Germany - Italy

With the exception of Portugal, all teams are former winners, and Portugal also made it to the Semis and even the Final before, and has done great performances in the last World Cups and EUROs.

Itlay were clearly the better team against a very defensive English team, but though they created chance over chance they did not score. However, England, as ususal, could not play a relaxed and determined penalty shoot-out on internatinal level. Chelsea won on club level, but England seems to be a very good example of self-fullfilling prophecy.
The Italians on the other hand looked in control. England needs to try to win in 90 or 120 minutes, or they will never make it.

I was surprised that Hodgson after the England-Sweden game did not try to let Walbeck and Walcott play together. It was only their joint effort that gives a glimpse of hope.
These two can play high-speed combinations, but the rest of the team was static like Germany in 2000 and 2004. Hire a coach that had no merits in the Premier League, but knows how to sort out players with low speed and lack of ball control, and who plays something else then 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

Even in this old formations the Italians or the Ukraine outplayed them, so why are they the last to play like that? They are not even good in that systrems!

My predictions:

Portugal - Spain: Equal chances. Portugal is much stronger then France or Croatia, and Italy already outplayed Spain. Portugal may do the same, and against their neighbours they are highly motivated. Spain may however win, if Christiano Ronaldo and Nani again miss so many chances.

Germany - Italy: Germany favorite, but Italy can make a fight like they did against Spain. And against Portugal Germany scored, but could not display dominance. Italy has recovered from the 2010 fiasco. However, the German team has matured since 2006 and look now good enough to grab their first title in this century. Note: Germany never won an elimination match against Italy, but they are all old enough for their first time.

Quote of the week: "I always try to bring out the best in myself", when in the end of a press conference Marco Reus was asked by a japanese journalist if he knew that his haircut was nicer then Mario Gomez`s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_eYj8Txq_0

Greetinx from old Europe,

Ingo Zachos

[George Hay]

Spain wins EURO 2012 !
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/euro ... ata-070112

[Danny_Alvarez]

Great link George .

I cannot hide the fact that I have a huge soft spot for Spain. That is the place where my ancestors come from. I think their style and football philosophy is second to none. Very happy with the result. And I also think the best two teams made it to the final.
congratulations to Spain.

[tommyc]

Sune................thats yu out of the Euros for good.Viva Espana.

[MostFamousDane]

Sune................thats yu out of the Euros for good.Viva Espana.

1. Firstly from now on you will address me as Sir or Mr Vice President
2. Secondly you will respect my authoritah!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx4jn77V ... re=related)

To get back to the topic - yes it has been a unbelievable sucky year ..... just like the previous 37 ones.

The vice president

[Danny_Alvarez]

ROFLMAO i am trying to look up SOUTH PARK in danish ..... im dying to see what they sound like .... Mr Vice prezzzzz sirrrr the new football season is upon us and therein lies more pain for ya .... Messi will inevitably win his FOURTH consecutive BALLON D'OR and meanwhile Sockaldo will achieve nuttin

i personally am already looking forward to brazil 2014