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On June 05 2012 13:44 DoNotDisturb wrote: Spain and England team info, anyone? Haven't followed the football scene for a while.
same as the past couple of years. Spain is still OP and England still looks good on paper but still manges to suck somehow
kind of weird that no one bothered writing an info on those teams yet
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On June 05 2012 11:04 sharkie wrote: Choosing Gomez over Klose would be against everything Loew's philosophy is.
Gomez is the type of striker Germany played last century.
Seeing how old Klose is he might aswell have been playing last century.
+ Show Spoiler +
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On June 05 2012 10:40 Caphe wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2012 06:09 xN.07)MaK wrote: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.
Davor Suker was not the ONLY gifted player on that time. And they certainly werent a 2nd 3rd tier team going into 98, its not like the players popped out of nowhere they did well post independance because the eastern european block was just really good back then and they just played under different flags for bigger countries.
It took a red card for Germany to beat them in Euro 96, (which was a bit of a snooze fest) and teams like the Czech Republic, Croatia, Yugoslavia hell even Denmark with the Laudrups were really good early 90's.
When you break of into smaller countries like that with that its hard to keep generations going unless your like the Dutch or the French having established footballing traditions and systems while getting a fair bit of second or third generation immigration talent now and then to supplement aswell.
As Croatia is now Modric could have the tournament of his life and they might not go through. Although Id like to see them do well.
Its been in decline since the turn of the century.
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As something else you might want to add to the original post, here are the current odds of each team for winning the cup, according to bwin.com
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vq61N.png)
As one of Spanish descent, I do have to say I'm going to be rooting for them all the way!
Edit: Holy shit that thing is huge, might want to edit it.
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^
Spain has gotta be an outright favorite. And honestly, 6% is a bit generous for England...
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Awwww YEAH Greece all the way! I believe! Otherwise... Go Oranje!!! with Deutschland 2nd!!!! Fuck Spain!!!!
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wow, a special section just for the EURO. TL <3
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The odds seem quite fair to me. If anything I think Netherlands and France is a bit undervalued, can't imagine Spain and Germany being that far ahead. And although I'll be rooting for Germany (as long as they're not playing Sweden), I think Spain deserves a higher % than Germany.
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anyone got the odds on roy hodgson getting the sack?
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As a non European, I'm hoping for an Italy win, however unlikely that is XD. I'm guessing though that it'll be Germany/Netherlands (more likely Netherlands) to take the whole thing.
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The last time Italy did well was during a scandal too. Perhaps scandals is just what the national team needs.
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On June 05 2012 14:56 Rebs wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2012 11:04 sharkie wrote: Choosing Gomez over Klose would be against everything Loew's philosophy is.
Gomez is the type of striker Germany played last century. Seeing how old Klose is he might aswell have been playing last century. + Show Spoiler +
Yep all the more reason to be impressed by Klose. He grew up in the old ways where a striker doesn't have to play much with the team yet he is such a good passing player, it's like he has played this style all his life.
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On June 05 2012 17:38 Ysellian wrote: The last time Italy did well was during a scandal too. Perhaps scandals is just what the national team needs. But the quality of this Italian team pales in comparison to 2006 one by far. Last time Greece did well was when they played in the opening game. Perhaps opening game is just what Greece needs
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Not sure if it was mentioned here yet but it was announced that Bayern forward Ivica Olic is out of Euro due to thigh injury.
Surely pretty bad hit for Croatia? I'm super clueless about their team and how big Olic is for Croatia but I'd imagine pretty big.
Edit: Replaced by Nikola Kalinic.
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Totally aside from the game, you watch out for your governments! Big events like that, that occupy the minds of people, are often used to progress laws, that normally would cause an outrage! "Panem et circenses" and you are in it!
PS: Ok, probably not the USA, because nobody there bothers about soccer/football *duck*
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I can see Croatia get to the Semi's. You can quote me on that.
Other: GOOOOOO NETHERLANDS. Although I have the feeling we will stink.
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On June 05 2012 16:33 Sonic Death Monkey wrote: The odds seem quite fair to me. If anything I think Netherlands and France is a bit undervalued, can't imagine Spain and Germany being that far ahead. And although I'll be rooting for Germany (as long as they're not playing Sweden), I think Spain deserves a higher % than Germany.
I think the Netherlands is properly valued, the team has had pretty big problems in defense against even weak teams. In friendlies against better teams they lost control of the midfield completely, which is very uncomfortable for a Dutch team, who traditionally rely on possesion.
The good news is that our offense was looking very strong and fresh againt Northern Ireland, players were finding eachother quite well. We probably have the best selection of wingers and strikers in the tournament, and that might go a long way. If Sneijder can find top form, he is one of the absolute best at what he does. Alot is going to depend on the individual skill of key players.
I have the feeling this year is going to be very hit or miss. I don't think they stand a very good chance against Germany in the pools, and Portugal has proven to be our kryptonite in the past.
For me Germany is the favorite for the tournament, even over Spain. Will be rooting for them if and when Netherlands goes out. I think they are playing the best football right now.
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@Crushinator,
The game against Northern-Ireland was good for self confidence but other than that you can't really judge on our form yet. Sneijder hasn't performed well since 2010 and him saying he's in top shape is still making me have doubts. I really hope he exceeds his own skill but I really doubt he's going to be playing great.
Robben is playing worse than before. He can't even go past a defender anymore. He's very predictable now and against Northern Ireland you could see how he was struggling with all due respect low level defenders of Northern Ireland compared to Robben.
Sneijder is like 50/50 because anything he says you shouldn't believe untill he proves it. Always saying that everything is going to be fine and that Holland will own in the Euro Cup. Very skeptical about him.
RVP is obviously in top shape and Affelay well he's just good and has shown that in the past 2 games he doesn't need long to get back into top shape. These 2 players will really make the difference imo.
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On June 05 2012 17:51 Vaelone wrote: Not sure if it was mentioned here yet but it was announced that Bayern forward Ivica Olic is out of Euro due to thigh injury.
Surely pretty bad hit for Croatia? I'm super clueless about their team and how big Olic is for Croatia but I'd imagine pretty big.
Edit: Replaced by Nikola Kalinic. Olic is pretty big yeah, in terms of work rate and team spirit, which is something we've been famous for and now surprisingly lack. He's an easy going guy, happy about life, great family, had a great career, and just positive overall and his energy rubs off on everyone else, so it's a big loss even tho his technical qualities aren't better than the rest of our forwards.
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