2012 UEFA European Championship

[Sérgio Marques]

Well, for our side, we keep our style, play well and losing in the end.

 

[Tom]

Well, the first goal hasn't been given (or rather the advantage but...it would've been a no-brainer, as you might agree), a red card against Portugal hasn't been given, too.

Portugal was superior in the 2nd half but then again, so was Germany during the first half and we were robbed. I guess 1:0 was a fair result after all and taking the referees mistakes into account.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

You can play well against Germany, but win is another thing, its a super competitive team.

CR7 should really stop complaining every time a teammate does something he doesn't like, that really goes against the other guys confidence.

Anyway Portugal should have won Euro 2004 at home, but a solid (and defensive and boring) got in the way.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Well, for our side, we keep our style, play well and losing in the end.

Sounds familiar At least Ronaldo had two hairstyles this match

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Looking forward to Spain vs Italy tomorrow. Second red card of the tournament will be on the Italian side I think

 

[Joao Borges]

Portugal just decided to do what they usually do on many matches: Play very well, but fail to take advantage of the opportunities. We missed goal after goal and we paid severely by that. Frustrating to see this happen a lot with this team. We have potential to be the best, but we can't finish!! Come on guys, put the goddamn ball into the net. Oh and don't hit the post!

P.S. This could apply to Holland as well against Denmark

 

[Jesper Lundqvist]

 

[Ben Herbert]

We'll shall see Friday Jesper.

 

[GAIAjohan]

To me the English team looks pretty weak.. I thnk Sweden will have chances..

The English club teams are killing the English national team by buying too many players from more renowned youth teams which have less money like Ajax, Feyenoord, several French and Belgian teams. And many of these players fail at a big club like Chelsea or City and play on loan at 2nd division crap. These players never become the stars people thought they would be because they sink away in those big teams. Just look at Arsenal how many French boys did Arsène hire? There are 7 Belgian players at Chelsea which should be great in the future, but will they ever shine now? Will they ever have a chance?At the same time English youth players are not interesting anymore and it's clear that teams from abroad don't buy English players.. So many English players stay at 1st and 2nd division teams and just some talents (like Gerrard) make it, because the investment in such a French guy or whatever has to be earned back... But at the same time 9 or 10 out of 11 players on the pitch are from other countries. THAT is what is killing English football. English players are not wanted abroad, nor are they wanted in their own English teams..

The English team:
The goalkeepers aren't that good. if Joe Hart drops out with an injury they're very very weak,, And Jack Butland even played in Second Division last year...

Not too impressed with the defenders. They may be a tad better than the Dutch defenders but nothing else than that.. They will have a hard time with the Swedish attackers..

The midfield lacks experience, only Scott Parker is older than 30 y.o.

The forwards are except for Wayne Rooney nothing special and had a pretty disappointing season.


Now Sweden:
If a GK like Isaksson is the first goalie something is wrong. He has a very doubtful reputation at PSV Eindhoven and that's just the Dutch Eredivisie. Also he was 2nd GK at PSV Eindhoven last year, behind Polish second GK Tyton.

Not too impressed with the defenders as well. A collection of defenders from weaker teams in high leagues. Or the best teams in weaker leagues..

Same goes for the midfield unfortunately.

They have a couple of good forwards. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is awesome. Johan Elmander is said to be good nowadays, even though he failed at Feyenoord in 2003 or something. The substitutes aren't very good. Rosenberg failed at Ajax, Toivonen is not a real Forward, at least not at PSV. He's more a number'10' between forwards and midfielders. I don't know why Hysén is, but the Swedish competition is not strong..

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Does anyone dare to share a prediction for the Spain vs Italy match?

 

[Omer Said]

Does anyone dare to share a prediction for the Spain vs Italy match?

2-2

 

[Lars Brugman]

Does anyone dare to share a prediction for the Spain vs Italy match?

Yes, There will be a lot of cards given.

 

[Joao Borges]

Does anyone dare to share a prediction for the Spain vs Italy match?

Probably 0-0. I heard Italy will be playing with 5 defenders. Italian football is always so defensive. But either a tie, or Spain victory.

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

If Italy is tied with Spain the last minutes, you can count on them winning on some absurd hail mary counter-attack.

So I'm guessing 0-1 for Italy. Not very confident.

 

[Ben Herbert]

I have a few bets for the spain game any of these's will do -

Spain 2-0 Italy 1-0
Iniesta 1st goal or Di Natale 1st goal

 

[Jesper Lundqvist]

italy will win. 2-0 ...both goals scored by Cassano

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Di Natale 1st goal

You'll be rich!!!!!! What a beautiful attack!

 

[James Chant]

Bit of an ever age game for me. The 2 goals were good, but I expected more from Spain.

Croatia will he a good night I think, despite a poor run recently

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Well, Spain went out with no strikers at all, hard to have a good game like that.

I must say, Italy was a bit of a surprise. I expected them to hole up at the defense and only do some fast counter-attacks, but they played a lot.

Del Bosque just needs to stop experimenting and put together a solid team, instead of whatever he's doing right now.

Also, what the """"" was Cassano doing, attacking Casillas with no chance at all to reach the ball? Should have seen a yellow there.

 

[GAIAjohan]

New commercial from Volkswagen for the upcoming match between The Netherlands and Germany: