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Just an interesting fun stat: Germany seemed to have most trouble in their 2nd game of the group stage during the last decade or so.
2010 = lost to Serbia 1-0 2008 = lost to Croatia 2-1 2006 = Beat Poland with last minute goal 1-0 2004 = tied Latvia 0-0 2002 = tied Ireland 1-1 2000 = lost to England 1-0 1998 = tied Yugoslavia 2-2
All of a sudden, I feel like Netherlands will beat the Germans or at least get a tie, haha.
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On June 04 2012 23:39 Sonic Death Monkey wrote: - Do you think Reus will be the first pick replacing Müller, instead of Götze? - To me it seems like Podolski/Schürrle are mainly used as left-wingers and Müller/Götze right-wingers. Would that be accurate or do you think Löw will switch it up? What about Reus? - Do you think Kroos will be used mainly as a substitution for Schweinsteiger and Khedira (or possibly starting instead or Khedira) or do you think he might be used as an attacking midfielder? - Million dollar question: Klose or Gomez in the starting lineup, who do you think Löw will choose?
- This is tough to answer. Götze has been injured for a while now and Reus looked pretty good in the test game. However, Löw tried Reus as a striker - so it is possible he will play him behind Klose or Gomez to be a little less offensive (with Müller or Götze in the CM) - Podolski/Schürrle are pure left-wingers (with Podolski being able to play as striker as well, tho very unlikely in the national team nowadays). With Müller and Götze it's not that easy. Both seem to be very versatile in both club and german national team - playing pretty much all positions in the midfield and Müller even as a striker. - I don't see Kroos starting instead of Khedira. Kroos played a decent season for bayern, but it seems like the finals losses got to his head. He also played really badly in the tests. I don't know how good Schweinsteiger is in shape right now, but I definitely see him starting (he's very important for the team) and if Löw plays two defensive midfielders (quite likely), Khedira will definitely start as well. You never know with Löw tho, maybe he'll start as an offensive midfielder, but I'd be surprised if Löw would rather play Kroos than Götze/Reus. - I'm pretty sure he will choose Gomez for the first game(s), although it wouldn't surprise me if that proved to be a mistake. I don't know what it is with gomez, but he just doesn't play well at all in the german national team. Yet. Klose can play anything from okay to fucking awesome in a cup, but he never had a complete breakdown like gomez.
On June 05 2012 00:10 Sonic Death Monkey wrote: Another question about the German team, after the game against Israel, isn't it pretty clear the defense will look like this:
Boateng - Mertesacker - Badstuber - Lahm
I don't see why Löw would play that defense for 90 minutes in the last match before the Euro otherwise.
That's most likely what it's gonna be, yeah. Might as well be Hummels instead of Mertesacker, tho.
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Thanks for the answers, Germans
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On June 04 2012 20:35 niteReloaded wrote: If Modric plays great, we can win the whole thing, if he's terrible we can finish 4th in group. Jelavic is our only other player with class similar to Modric. Reiko mentioned Srna and Olic, but those are bad, one-dimensional footballers.
Other solid players we have are Rakitić and Ćorluka, others are average.
Wow, I think there are like more than 4/5 players better than him in this Eurocup in his position. Shall we make the same predictions for the rest of the teams? Is Spain going to win 3 times this Eurocup based on it?
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On June 04 2012 23:25 NuclearJudas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2012 19:25 GoooN wrote: Sweden has one of the most overrated players in the world in their squad Okay, I'll bite. I assume you're speaking of the top scorer of the Serie A, Zlatan Ibrahimović, who until this year had an insane run of winning the premier league of every nation he was in since 2001? He's hyped to the high heavens here in Sweden, but you'd have to be pretty stupid to think that he's actually a bad player. He's world class for sure, but has struggled in international games for a pretty long time. I can definitely see him scoring on Ukraine and England, and even France. It's time for some Giant Killing. :D I'm obviously a bit biased but whatever. *Sweden cap off* As for the rest of your post, I mostly agree. I have Germany beating Spain in the final, but I can definitely see Spain be eliminated by a hot Netherlands with Van Persie in good form.
Haha. He's good but I'm not a fan of his performances for Sweden
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So many questions ^^
I see Boateng, Badstuber and Lahm for pretty safe bets if Lahm is on the left wing. Mertesacker/ Hummels ... .no idea
I think Reus before Götze on the wing. Götze seems to me more like a offensive midfield joker kind a guy
Özil Khedira - Schweinsteiger(Kroos) is basically set in stone if Schweinsteiger is up to it. Kroos will be Sub for him
I think Gomez before Klose, just because Gomez sometimes takes his time to make his goals, but he will make them sooner or later Klose just needs one chance, one shot or one header. But he clearly istn't fit for more than one half This sounds stupid, but the thing is, you can't put Gomez on in 80 min or sth, it doesn't work that way ^^
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On June 05 2012 01:09 xN.07)MaK wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2012 20:35 niteReloaded wrote: If Modric plays great, we can win the whole thing, if he's terrible we can finish 4th in group. Jelavic is our only other player with class similar to Modric. Reiko mentioned Srna and Olic, but those are bad, one-dimensional footballers.
Other solid players we have are Rakitić and Ćorluka, others are average. Wow, I think there are like more than 4/5 players better than him in this Eurocup in his position. Shall we make the same predictions for the rest of the teams? Is Spain going to win 3 times this Eurocup based on it? I obviously rate Modrić very highly, but I'm not saying he's better than for example Xavi, Iniesta, Silva or Ozil - he's equal to them in my book; better in some areas, worse in some. (incoming controversy? ^^) So, the same goes for all of those nations, if those guys are inspired, their whole teams play sooo much better.
My point was that without him, it will be tough for us. If he is inspired, and the other things are alligned (luck etc), we can go far, and even win - it's football after all, stranger things have happened.
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Rooting for Denmark has never been this hard...
I admire my countrymen who still believe in it, but when comparing the caliber of our players to our skilled opponents it is exceedingly hard to stay optimistic for Denmark's chances to advance.
I expect a humiliating massacre, but still have a sliver of hope that all of a sudden the underdog players in our less than impressive squad will all of a sudden rise to the occasion and impress. It would be a "Platinum league beats Grand Master" kinda surprise though...
It HAS happened before, but I'm having a hard time believing this time. Everything is up to this lad: + Show Spoiler +
It will be an awesome summer though regardless... Euros, Tour De France, Olympics, Wimbledon. "Du godeste!"
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I think Gomez won't see a lot of playtime. Löw loves Klose and although he said that "starting 11" is overrated he seems totally set on some guys like Klose and Mertesacker. He might try to sub Gomez in for a few minutes but my guess is that we're gonna see Reus instead. Götze won't play. He's not that fit and Löw tried him as a defensive midfielder which he totally is not but yeah... At the moment there seem to be better alternatives although I think that Götze is one of the few who can magically turn things around.
Should everything go wrong for Germany... I'll be happy : )
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On June 05 2012 01:54 smr wrote: I think Gomez won't see a lot of playtime. Löw loves Klose and although he said that "starting 11" is overrated he seems totally set on some guys like Klose and Mertesacker. He might try to sub Gomez in for a few minutes but my guess is that we're gonna see Reus instead. Götze won't play. He's not that fit and Löw tried him as a defensive midfielder which he totally is not but yeah... At the moment there seem to be better alternatives although I think that Götze is one of the few who can magically turn things around.
Should everything go wrong for Germany... I'll be happy : )
dude whats with the attitude? We'll takes this EZPZ
EDIT: And to the guy above... Tour de France? Seriously? Thats like playing D2 in the Open Battle.net if you know what i mean ^^
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On June 04 2012 23:39 Sonic Death Monkey wrote: - Do you think Reus will be the first pick replacing Müller, instead of Götze? - To me it seems like Podolski/Schürrle are mainly used as left-wingers and Müller/Götze right-wingers. Would that be accurate or do you think Löw will switch it up? What about Reus? - Do you think Kroos will be used mainly as a substitution for Schweinsteiger and Khedira (or possibly starting instead or Khedira) or do you think he might be used as an attacking midfielder? - Million dollar question: Klose or Gomez in the starting lineup, who do you think Löw will choose?
1. probably yes. But still it depends on th eopponent. For very deep standing and well defending teams he's probably gonna switch in Reus because he said exactly that in an interview. he thinks Reus is great as a "vertical striker" who knows how to get/make space It's not even sure that Müller is going to play. Löw could use Schürrle instead, Götze definitely isn't up to the task yet, but he would otherwise be an alternative. 2. Schürrle has played on the right side against Switzerland, Götze was playing left side in a friendly match last year, you could even use Özil a bit more to the side and put Kroos as the 10. There are a lot of possibilities here. 3. Kroos was actually one of the best players against Israel, but still Khedira/Schweinsteiger has proven to be working very well And even as khedira isn't the most defensive player the German central defense needs some stabilisation. A job Khedira does way better. 4. Klose, since Gomez is just not the playing striker Löw prefers. klose is always going to work with the ball and develop the offensive play, for Gomez it's mostly that you need to give him the ball so he can score. It just doesn't fit the style Löw wants to play...
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On June 05 2012 01:24 GoooN wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2012 23:25 NuclearJudas wrote:On June 04 2012 19:25 GoooN wrote: Sweden has one of the most overrated players in the world in their squad Okay, I'll bite. I assume you're speaking of the top scorer of the Serie A, Zlatan Ibrahimović, who until this year had an insane run of winning the premier league of every nation he was in since 2001? He's hyped to the high heavens here in Sweden, but you'd have to be pretty stupid to think that he's actually a bad player. He's world class for sure, but has struggled in international games for a pretty long time. I can definitely see him scoring on Ukraine and England, and even France. It's time for some Giant Killing. :D I'm obviously a bit biased but whatever. *Sweden cap off* As for the rest of your post, I mostly agree. I have Germany beating Spain in the final, but I can definitely see Spain be eliminated by a hot Netherlands with Van Persie in good form. Haha. He's good but I'm not a fan of his performances for Sweden 
Are you a Swede? I'd agree he's overrated in Swedish media, according to which he's just a notch below Messi and Ronaldo, just because such headlines are what sell. Any Swedish player reaching the level he has would get the same hype. Not so sure he's overrated outside of Sweden, hard for me to tell but I would guess not.
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On June 05 2012 01:49 niteReloaded wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2012 01:09 xN.07)MaK wrote:On June 04 2012 20:35 niteReloaded wrote: If Modric plays great, we can win the whole thing, if he's terrible we can finish 4th in group. Jelavic is our only other player with class similar to Modric. Reiko mentioned Srna and Olic, but those are bad, one-dimensional footballers.
Other solid players we have are Rakitić and Ćorluka, others are average. Wow, I think there are like more than 4/5 players better than him in this Eurocup in his position. Shall we make the same predictions for the rest of the teams? Is Spain going to win 3 times this Eurocup based on it? I obviously rate Modrić very highly, but I'm not saying he's better than for example Xavi, Iniesta, Silva or Ozil - he's equal to them in my book; better in some areas, worse in some. (incoming controversy? ^^) So, the same goes for all of those nations, if those guys are inspired, their whole teams play sooo much better. My point was that without him, it will be tough for us. If he is inspired, and the other things are alligned (luck etc), we can go far, and even win - it's football after all, stranger things have happened.
Even with the best Modric, getting out of group stage will be a surprise, not to say winning everything
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On June 05 2012 06:09 xN.07)MaK wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2012 01:49 niteReloaded wrote:On June 05 2012 01:09 xN.07)MaK wrote:On June 04 2012 20:35 niteReloaded wrote: If Modric plays great, we can win the whole thing, if he's terrible we can finish 4th in group. Jelavic is our only other player with class similar to Modric. Reiko mentioned Srna and Olic, but those are bad, one-dimensional footballers.
Other solid players we have are Rakitić and Ćorluka, others are average. Wow, I think there are like more than 4/5 players better than him in this Eurocup in his position. Shall we make the same predictions for the rest of the teams? Is Spain going to win 3 times this Eurocup based on it? I obviously rate Modrić very highly, but I'm not saying he's better than for example Xavi, Iniesta, Silva or Ozil - he's equal to them in my book; better in some areas, worse in some. (incoming controversy? ^^) So, the same goes for all of those nations, if those guys are inspired, their whole teams play sooo much better. My point was that without him, it will be tough for us. If he is inspired, and the other things are alligned (luck etc), we can go far, and even win - it's football after all, stranger things have happened. Even with the best Modric, getting out of group stage will be a surprise, not to say winning everything Can't agree so. Croatia goes to every tourney being one of the 2nd tier or even 3rd tier team but they always do amazing. From the time of Davor Suker Croatia always have some techinique-gifted player in their team. Modric had proven himself at the Euro 2008 4 years ago, IRRC at the beginning of EURO 2008 most people didn't even give Croatia much chance of getting into the final 8, but they finish their group with 9 points including a win against Germany. They only lost to Turkey on the penalty shoot-out in the QF. If they didn't lose that Penalty shoot-out, they may earn a place in the final since there were some very good chance that they can beat Germany.
With all that said, I'd say Croatia to win the whole thing is kind of not realistic. They can get out of the group if they can secure a win against Ireland and get a good result vs Italy.
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Choosing Gomez over Klose would be against everything Loew's philosophy is.
Gomez is the type of striker Germany played last century.
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Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts
YEEEAH SPECIAL FORUM LETS GO NETHERLANDS
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i dont know why hodgson didn't call up scholes, i mean sure he's old and shit but he can definitely play really well for at least one half ... england doesn't have any good playmaker at the moment, gerrard isn't completely on form. lampard was on a good roll but is now injured ... england's wings aren't that impressive either, so they can't rely on them to brute force their way to win anyway ... predicting another failure from the brits
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can we get an olympic subforum too
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Spain and England team info, anyone? Haven't followed the football scene for a while.
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