Euro 2012 Thread

Paully D

Feck it, there's 10 weeks to go and this great weather (along with the longer evenings) has me looking forward to days and nights like tonight when I'll be watching the European Championships, so I'm going to create this thread and we can talk about everything Euro 2012 in here up until the tournament starts, and who knows maybe this thread will still be going come June?

Anyway - to start off here's the groups:



Next, the fixtures:



The QF's will be as follows: Winner group A V Runner-up group B (match 25); Winner group B V Runner-up group A (match 26); Winner group C V Runner-up group D (match 27); Winner group D V Runner-up group C (match 28).

The SF's will be as follows: Match 25 V Match 27; Match 26 V Match 28

The final obviously needs no explanation :pac:

Looking at some ante-post bets:

I really fancy Germany for this at 7/2.

In the top goalscorer market I think there's really good e/w value in Hunteelar at 20/1. He was top scorer in qualifying with 10 goals. Klose is always there or thereabouts in major tournaments and can be got at 14/1 which could be worth a look too.

Cheers!

prettyboy81

Think Germany will do it as well & get revenge on Spain in the final....Top Scorer is wide open but hard to look past RVP!

G.K.

Germany are my tip for it.

ASOT

Mario Gomez to get top scorer imo

plasmaguy

Tough to call.

If the Spanish strikers are on form, including that guy from Valencia, then they have to be favourites as they have a lot of class in goals, defence and midfield.

But Germany are looking strong.

Germany v Spain final but I tip France to have a good tournament.

Jesus Wept

Eire to pull a Greece.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

I'll get the predictions rolling shall I? :pac:

Group A:
Russia
Czech
Greece
Poland

Group B:
Germany
Holland
Portugal
Denmark

Group C:
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Ireland

Group
France
England
Ukraine
Sweden


Holland to beat the Russia, Germany to beat the Czechs, Spain to beat England and France to beat Italy in the QF's.

Spain to beat the Holland in the SF and Germnay to beat France.

Spain then to win it out.

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I'd be surprised if either of the hosts didn't get through but I can't see which one. I think I'm correct in saying Poland are a shambles and Ukraine have a difficult group. Spain -vs- Germnay should make for a cracking final,provided they get there. I really fancy France to do something special, they have a lot to prove after the shambles of a WC and they have a very good squad. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they managed to get to the final. England might surprise people if Harry takes over, but they will get to the SF at best, he doesn't have the tactical awareness to win a major tournament. Portugal have shockingly hard group, how 3 of the best 10 teams in the world are together is very surprising.

As for Ireland, I can only see us picking up a point against the Croatians. I can't see any other result than a loss against Spain, but then look at Switzerland in the last WC, and as for Italy, they seem to have gotten themselves in order.

All will be revealed soon enough though. I'll be interested to see how accurate my predictions are.

klose

Cant wait for this, have the first 2weeks of the tournament booked off in work. Hopefully be a real good vibe around the place..

JerryHandbag

The-Rigger wrote: »

Eire to pull a Greece.

England to pull an England :pac:

dreamers75

We will get out of the group :eek:

Jesus Wept

We'll top the group. Robbie Keane top scorer for the tournament.

G.K.

My predos in style of THFC's

Group A

1. Russia
2. Poland
3. Greece
4. Czech Republic

Group B

1. Germany
2. Holland
3. Portugal
4. Denmark

Group C

1. Spain
2. Croatia
3. Italy
4. Ireland

Group D

1. France
2. England
3. Sweden
4. Ukraine

Holland > Russia, Germany > Poland, Spain > England, Croatia > France


Spain > Holland, Germany > Croatia


Germany > Spain


I think Croatia will get through over Italy/France because I think there'll be a shock somewhere and I don't see it anywhere else (I'd not call Poland a shock, only Russia in their group are particularly good)

TaosHum

I think if Portugal can get out of Group B then I would fancy them to win it.

Have so much talent and if they can put it together, then they are very dangerous.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Finish the Leaving Cert the day Ireland play Spain. :cool:

Rhys Essien

Ireland will get out of the group,as they have done in 90,94,02.

We will inflict major revenge on Spain after robbing us in 02.

Positive thinking and all that.

cgpg5

Here's hoping for some good weather here while its on and overall a great tournament. I really enjoyed 08. As for my tips. Have to say Germany to win, seem to be the real deal. Spain have no defence and will get caught out I feel. For an each way bet, I backed Turkey before the tournament in 08 and was oh so bloody close, I'll go for Croatia in this one. have a feeling about them

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

cgpg5 wrote: »

Spain have no defence and will get caught out I feel.

:eek: They conceeded 2 goals at the WC 2010, and none in the knockout stages. Their constant presure on the ball from all eleven players coupled with their possesion makes them one of the best defensive teams around imo.

Reganio 2

baz2009 wrote: »

Finish the Leaving Cert the day Ireland play Spain. :cool:

I fly back from Spain the day of the Ireland Spain match

People are severely over-estimating Croatia I think. I don't rate Ireland at all, but Croatia aren't that great in the slightest.

kitakyushu

I don't think Ireland will get out of the group but I'm confident we will get a few points and maybe even a win (most likely v Italy).

cgpg5

Reganio 2 wrote: »

I fly back from Spain the day of the Ireland Spain match

People are severely over-estimating Croatia I think. I don't rate Ireland at all, but Croatia aren't that great in the slightest.

Are always good in the major tournaments. Kranjcar and Modric are quality, they're certainly better than us I feel.

cgpg5

THFC wrote: »

:eek: They conceeded 2 goals at the WC 2010, and none in the knockout stages. Their constant presure on the ball from all eleven players coupled with their possesion makes them one of the best defensive teams around imo.

Tbh the rest of their team is so good their defence rarely has much to do. But if tested I feel they could come unstuck. Ramos has to be one of the worst defending full-backs I've seen was awful v England recently, Pique is a United reject good on the ball but poor defender, Puyol is committed and a great warrior but prone to the odd error and left back has been a problem position in the last few years.

Reganio 2

cgpg5 wrote: »

Are always good in the major tournaments. Kranjcar and Modric are quality, they're certainly better than us I feel.

Not really though, sure they didn't qualify for South Africa, didn't get through the groups in the 2 before it. Yeah they finished 3rd the one before that which was insanely impressive but they don't perform at all major tournaments.

cgpg5

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Not really though, sure they didn't qualify for South Africa, didn't get through the groups in the 2 before it. Yeah they finished 3rd the one before that which was insanely impressive but they don't perform at all major tournaments.

On second thought you're indeed right. But they do have a good record of getting to major finals. Had a cracking Euro 08 too. A nice group in this tournament will suit them I feel.

Reganio 2

cgpg5 wrote: »

On second thought you're indeed right. But they do have a good record of getting to major finals. Had a cracking Euro 08 too. A nice group in this tournament will suit them I feel.

They have a good record in the Euro's alright, QF's being a regular occurrence.

klose

Great odds on paddy power for top scorer, van persie at 10/1 huntelaar at 20/1. Same team of course but cant complain with them

plasmaguy

I see the game against Spain as being one of those great performances, and if only matches, discussed about for years to come, like Euro 88 against Holland, Italia 90 against Italy, Spain WC 2002, and France in Paris in 2009.

I see us putting in a world class performance and the Spaniards nicking a flukey goal in the 80th minute or something.

Croatia and Italy are there for the taking though.

I wouldn't be surprised if we come out of the group. Both the Italian and Croatian managers seem to be overawed by Trap's reputation, they may end up tying themselves in knots tactically. Again positive thinking. Bring it on though.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

cgpg5 wrote: »

Tbh the rest of their team is so good their defence rarely has much to do. But if tested I feel they could come unstuck. Ramos has to be one of the worst defending full-backs I've seen was awful v England recently, Pique is a United reject good on the ball but poor defender, Puyol is committed and a great warrior but prone to the odd error and left back has been a problem position in the last few years.

Agree about Ramos, he seems to do well at CB though. Pique is not a United reject. This article is probably crap (only using it because it came up top in a google search), but it references how Fergie said he never wanted to lose Pique, and even if you google it plenty more will come up.
Even still, Spain defence isn't their 4 players at the back, it's their whole team, which is what makes them so hard to score against. Look at any of their players when they don't have the ball, they hound the man in possesion.

Father Damo

The-Rigger wrote: »

We'll top the group. Robbie Keane top scorer for the tournament.

If we had Messi and RVP up front Traps style would still have us having the lowest scoring total :pac:

Apart from Spain the other two teams are beatable. My main concern is that Italy simply cant afford not to get out of the group- it would be their third atrocious tournament in a row by that stage. Still- it has to be said, I reckon Italy and Croatia both fear Ireland more than they fear each other. Not to mention that we have drawn Italy twice and beaten them once in recent years in very tight matches. The Irish always travel in numbers- the stadium will be like a game in Landsdowne.

RiseToTheTop

It'll be here before we know it...and gone before we know it.

Euro 2008 seems like yesterday, World Cup even sooner. I'm 25 now so getting to that stage. When I was a child a year was a very long time.

elefant

Jeez, group A is muck. I probably won't watch a single game in that one, excpet maybe to see a bit of the opening match.

sprinkles

Reganio 2 wrote: »

People are severely over-estimating Croatia I think. I don't rate Ireland at all, but Croatia aren't that great in the slightest.

I find this happening a lot. Everyone that was on off the ball as guest presenters while Ken was away had us down to lose or at best draw against Croatia. Is everyone remembering the Croatia of 2009/10? They're not as good as they were, struggled to qualify (Turkey collapsed in the playoffs in the first game but were the better team over the 2 legs). I can't see us losing to them and think we could definitely snatch a win. It's for the taking. Spain is a no brainer which would set up the final match against Italy as a massive game. Fingers crossed!

adamski8

Rhys Essien wrote: »

Ireland will get out of the group,as they have done in 90,94,02.

We will inflict major revenge on Spain after robbing us in 02.

Positive thinking and all that.

they were world cup groups, MASSIVE different to euro groups!

elefant wrote: »

Jeez, group A is muck. I probably won't watch a single game in that one, excpet maybe to see a bit of the opening match.

host nations are always interesting to watch and if your you wont be interested in watching poland v russia for a great grudge match then thats your loss.

_blank_

elefant wrote: »

Jeez, group A is muck. I probably won't watch a single game in that one, excpet maybe to see a bit of the opening match.

If you think there are bad teams in this tournament, wait until they expand it further.

kitakyushu

Rhys Essien wrote: »

We will inflict major revenge on Spain after robbing us in 02.

They gave us 2 pens in the game, played a good portion of extra-time with ten men (seemingly without Ireland even realising it?) and even missed two out of five pens in the shoot-out. I don't know how much more generous one could expect an opponent to be?

If they did rob us it was only because we left all the windows and doors to our house open and put a big sign over the porch saying 'we've gone on holidays for 2 weeks'.

~Rebel~

kitakyushu wrote: »

They gave us 2 pens in the game, played a good portion of extra-time with ten men (seemingly without Ireland even realising it?) and even missed two out of five pens in the shoot-out. I don't know how much more generous one could expect an opponent to be?

If they did rob us it was only because we left all the windows and doors to our house open and put a big sign over the porch saying 'we've gone on holidays for 2 weeks'.

Not to mention playing strikerless for a good chunk of time too!

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Was in Spain for that Spain - Ireland game in '02, the locals couldn't get over how they managed to progress. Think it was Kilbane that missed an absolute sitter from the rebound after the Ian Harte penalty?

That_Guy

Backing Germany to the hilt. Huntelaar represents excellent value at 20/1 for top goalscorer. 43 goals in 44 games for Schalke this season in all competitions.

steelcityblues

Too early I think to make group predictions, until I see more teams in friendlies.

Personally, I would like to see Cristiano Ronaldo have a brilliant tournament for Portugal, to shut up any people who still doubt he is a special player, (mainly Dunphy :pac:).

As for Ireland, I certainly have no doubt that the players will give it their maximum, whatever the results are. We might not be able to say the same for all other 15 countries.

FernandoTorres

THFC wrote: »

I'll get the predictions rolling shall I? :pac:

Group A:
Russia
Czech
Greece
Poland

Group B:
Germany
Holland
Portugal
Denmark

Group C:
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Ireland

Group
France
England
Ukraine
Sweden


Holland to beat the Russia, Germany to beat the Czechs, Spain to beat England and France to beat Italy in the QF's.

Spain to beat the Holland in the SF and Germnay to beat France.

Spain then to win it out.

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I'd be surprised if either of the hosts didn't get through but I can't see which one. I think I'm correct in saying Poland are a shambles and Ukraine have a difficult group. Spain -vs- Germnay should make for a cracking final,provided they get there. I really fancy France to do something special, they have a lot to prove after the shambles of a WC and they have a very good squad. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they managed to get to the final. England might surprise people if Harry takes over, but they will get to the SF at best, he doesn't have the tactical awareness to win a major tournament. Portugal have shockingly hard group, how 3 of the best 10 teams in the world are together is very surprising.

As for Ireland, I can only see us picking up a point against the Croatians. I can't see any other result than a loss against Spain, but then look at Switzerland in the last WC, and as for Italy, they seem to have gotten themselves in order.

All will be revealed soon enough though. I'll be interested to see how accurate my predictions are.

Italy have hardly got themselves in order. They lost their last two matches to USA and Uruguay and had a fairly uninspiring qualification drawing with Serbia and Northern Ireland while scraping a 1-0 win away to Faroe Islands! Plus we beat them 2-0 last year.

steelcityblues

FernandoTorres wrote: »

Italy have hardly got themselves in order. They lost their last two matches to USA and Uruguay and had a fairly uninspiring qualification drawing with Serbia and Northern Ireland while scraping a 1-0 win away to Faroe Islands! Plus we beat them 2-0 last year.

I wonder if results in qualifiers are an accurate way of predicting tournaments.

Italy left it to the last day to qualify for USA 94, yet make it to the final only losing on penalties to Brazil. Brazil,l I think, were not convincing themselves in the qualifiers for 2002 WC.

kitakyushu

steelcityblues wrote: »

I wonder if results in qualifiers are an accurate way of predicting tournaments.

They're not the be all and end off of predictors but I certainly find them valid and useful data.

For instance the classic is Greece in 2004. They went into the 2004 finals as rank outsiders purely because of their name. So despite the fact that they won their qualifying group (ahead of Spain!), beat Spain *in* Spain, and won their last 6 games in a row with 6 clean sheets not many rated them.

Basically they had been doing the business that won them the tournament right in the qualifying stage yet not many people appeared to register it because they'd lost their opening 2 games.

If there's any unfavoured team in the 2012 who has a good run of results in the 2nd half of qualifying with few goals conceded then I'd keep an eye them.

cournioni

Heading over for the group stages, really looking forward to the atmosphere more so than anything. I won't hold my breath that we'll play great football, but you'd never know!

I reckon it will be Holland or Germany to win it if they haven't taken lumps out of each other by the end of their group stages game.

kfallon

Backing Germany to win this at 7/2, have a few quid on as we speak :cool:

I think France are 15/8 to beat England in the opener, I think that's a very good bet especially if Pearce is the English manager!

Not really thought about top scorer, RvP seems to obvious (yes, yes I know, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck!!) so I might have a few quid on Gomes come the start of the tournament.

Some nice jerseys to look forward to also

steelcityblues

Some awful designs. Germany away is nice and simple, though.

kitakyushu

It always amazes me come new-jersey-time that a lot of the so called 'nice' ones are the kind of thing people wouldn't be caught dead in if they didn't have a football badge on them.

For me the simpler the better.

Kidchameleon

Here is one *possible* outcome...

Group Stage

Group A
Poland(1st), Greece, Russia(2nd), Czech Republic


Group B
Netherlands(1st), Denmark, Germany(2nd), Portugal


Group C
Spain(1st), Italy, ROI(2nd), Croatia


Group D
Ukraine, Sweden, France(1st), England(2nd)


Quarter Finals

QF1: Winner Group A v Runner-up Group B
Poland v Germany

Germany to progress...

QF2: Winner Group C v Runner-up Group D
Spain v England

England to progress...

QF3: Winner Group B v Runner-up Group A
Netherlands v Russia

Netherlands to progress...

QF4: Winner Group D v Runner-up Group C
France v ROI

ROI to progress...


Semi Finals

SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF3
Germany v Netherlands

Germany to progress...

SF2: Winner QF2 v Winner QF4
England v ROI

ROI to progress...


Final

Germany v ROI
(who would wear the green jersey??)

Oat23

^^
I think England beating Spain is more unlikely than us getting to the final :pac:

Kidchameleon

Oatesy23 wrote: »

^^
I think England beating Spain is more unlikely than us getting to the final :pac:

Thats a good thing so! (England beat Spain late last year!!!)

Hulk Hands

Germany are a horrible price at a general 3/1-7/2. When you see that the current European and World champions Spain are 5/2 +, it really doesn't make sense that Germany are less than a point bigger. You then have a very good Holland side which ran Spain the closest in the WC, and they are more than double Germany's price at 15/2.

I can understand why they are so short. It happens in a hell of a lot of markets. You have an obvious favourite that people don't want to hammer into, so they look for a 'fashionable' alternative. This time it's Germany. I'll even expect their price to contract further in the coming months as lazy tipsters and football pundits who don't understand gambling will put them up as their selection.

I'm not saying they don't have a good chance. A good young side that performed admirably at the WC, and breezed through their qualification group. If they were 6/1+ i'd be putting them up as my selection. But that doesn't stop the 3/1 being a ridiculous price. They haven't shown enough to be so close to Spain in the betting.

If you're determined to back them at underpriced odds, at least don't back them outright. You'll get far more value just backing them at each stage. Look at their expected route. Giving very short conservative prices as an example, they are 3/10 to get out of the group, We'll say Greece in the QF (1/5), England in the SF (4/7) and Spain in the final (6/4)...3/10 x 1/5 x 4/7 x 6/4 = Over 5/1. That's a significant increase on the 7/2 available now.

I'm actually thinking Spain are a bet at 13/5 to win it out. Whilst the hunger may not be totally there, they may just be good enough to win regardless. They never hit form during the WC at all, yet were still good enough to win it in second gear. The last time they were at the Euro's, 08, they set the place alight and they may be an even better team now. Goals will be a slight worry, but as the WC showed, one is often enough as they control possession so well. I wouldn't back them now however. They started very slowly in the WC, and are only 1/7 to get out of the group. Little point in backing them now when they will likely still be 9/4 before the quarter finals. Back them then instead.

The only real juice I can see in an outsiders price at the moment is the 25's available on Portugal. Very tough group, but 25's is too big and they'll be a hell of a lot shorter should they make it to the QF.

tolosenc

Hulk Hands wrote: »

The only real juice I can see in an outsiders price at the moment is the 25's available on Portugal. Very tough group, but 25's is too big and they'll be a hell of a lot shorter should they make it to the QF.

This is where the moola is to be made.

Back now @ 25/1 to the tune of a tenner, then lay when they get out of the group and are 5/1, to make back your tenner or a bit more (exposing yourself to €50 on that will earn you back your original ten at least).

That_Guy

Last time I checked Brazil, USA, Argentina and South Korea weren't involved in the EUROPEAN Championships.