Welcome to Team Liquids EURO 2016 coverage! Brought to you by Pandemona with pretty pictures by Sneriac
10th June 2016 - 10th July 2016
Over the next four weeks we will be bringing you everything you need to know about the tournament in France and most importantly a great place to discuss all things football!! We will be giving you group threads for each individual group, a masterful power rank given to you for the best hype in the nerd world, who doesn't love a power rank Also when the squads are finalized in the upcoming days i will give you a list of every single one right here on team liquid keeping you here and not needing those 10 web browsers open!
So now onto the preview!
Stadiums
This years tournament is in France, spread across 10 fantastic locations in France! We have the beautifully warm south of France with Marseille Nice and Toulouse hosting games. Then Lyon Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux completing the southern French venues. In the north we have Lens and Lille with the also the Parc de Prince, the home of PSG. The final and the mighty impressive Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis will be completing the list.
The Teams!
The Groups
Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F
The Format
Ok, for those of you who watch the Euro's every year will realize that this year, there is two more groups than usual thus, more teams! Yes this is correct as we have expanded the Euro's from 16 team tournament to a 24 man tournament, why you ask...well lets just say that UEFA enjoy money Now other than that it has opened up a slightly more exciting tournament now it is longer and also gives the lesser European nations more of a chance in qualifying, which they definitely took! We have 5 nations making their first ever showings in the Euro's and a team who has not featured since the first tournament in 1972! So we have 24 teams, we know who they are and now we know the groups. So how does it all work, well we have a round robin format coming up which will put the teams of each group against eachother fighting for the qualification spots. Now if you know your maths, you will be thinking well 24 teams into a round of 16 is not going to be able to work with the amount of teams and the amount of groups. Well UEFA though about this and decided to let the four best third placed teams qualify and enter the knockout stages giving us a round of 16. So that means there will be alot to play for in the group games with every goal and point a huge factor in who gets a place in the knockout round. After the group stage is done and we know the 16 teams in the next round, the pre determined bracket awaits them and a standard single elimination bracket ensues until we get to the winner! Also UEFA enjoy not to have that pointless game before the grand finals of the third place match, so we will just see a straight knockout tournament and a final, hoorah!
Schedule!
A quick brief schedule for the tournament with dates and time zone attributed is as follows! Don't worry in the group threads that will come soon ™ there will be a game by game schedule.
Opening Game Friday, Jun 10 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Round of 16 Saturday, Jun 25 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Sunday, Jun 26 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Monday, Jun 27 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Round of 8 Thursday, Jun 30 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Friday, Jul 01 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Saturday, Jul 02 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Sunday, Jul 03 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Semi Finals Wednesday, Jul 06 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Thursday, Jul 07 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Grand Final Sunday, Jul 10 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
CSS: FO-nTTaX Awesomeness: Panda Pictures: Sneirac
On May 30 2016 23:23 Kleinmuuhg wrote: Panda such a tryhard in a very good way Never change
Haha :D It's alot easier to be a tryhard with a graphics person, as i have an idea but my Artistic side is not good, so thanks to Sneriac to help bring the ideas forward to make me even more tryhard !
Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
I am not that pesimistic about this roster, it might be weaker on paper but still strong. Neuer is still the best out there Boateng and Hummels are elite, Mustafi, Kimmich, Can and Rüdinger more then solid. Khedira always delivered in the national team, Kroos played a great season, i think Schweinsteiger still has something left in the tank if he gets healthy. And an offense around Özil, Müller and Götze can beat anyone.
Overall i dont think Germany is a favorite but with a bit of luck everything is possible.
I still don't like the new format. This euro would be better with 16 teams.
Anyway. I expect Spain doing better than in the last worldcup (Players are less tired and some of them are in very good form like Iniesta). But I don't expect them to win. I expect Ro8 or Ro4.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
While I was hyperbolic, Germany's defense is still quite poor. Hummels and Boateng may be one of the best CB pairs out there, but Hummels is injured and the team has no quality fullbacks. The team lost Lahm and was running 3 CB's in the back 4 at WC14 and they haven't improved whatsoever. This leaves them horrendously exposed to counters which is exactly what has happened since the world cup.
As for offense, it doesn't matter how many good midfielders you have when you don't have a reliable striker. Again, the team lost Klose and didn't gain anyone to replace him, and the striker position was weak back in the world cup. The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession.
Well... It is funny how all the teams are talked down. Well except England, but you all know what being England means. So who wins, if all those nations are trash?
Looking at various international betting sites we have: (taking the odds from betway, but order was the same on the international pages without bias) 1. France 4.33 - even without Benzema and Sakho and always troubles in their team chemistry... the home team is the favourite 2. Germany 5.00 - Squad sucks, everyone bad, losing pretty much all their friendlies since the WC. Still... World Champion, the image of being a tournament team and actually still a damn good squad... 3. Spain 6.00 - Average age must be around 45 years, or so it feels. Whatever... They have still insane quality, they are defending champion... 4. England 9.00 - As I said earlier, it is more likely that the Netherlands win this Euro than England. This is proven by history (not qualified teams won the Euro more often than England) - still... their team looks quite capable and the hype train is rolling (like every tourney...) 5. Belgium 12.00 - Whenever there is no tourney, they are considered the best team in the world. And then a tourney happens and they are just mediocre... 6. Italy 17.00 - They were good once... Somehow it faded. Also the presence of Italian players outside the Italian league got drastically reduced over the past years. You hear from time to time about some great talents, but the results are still lacking. 7. Portugal 21.00 - Christiano Ronaldo, and according to certain people so many great talents. Oh and always hated by the refs or so they say. Yeah... Whatever. Probably not enough. Then agian, if CR scores 10+ goals, maybe it is enough. 8. Croatia 29.00 9. Austria 41.00 10. Poland 51.00 ... 22. Hungary 251.00 23. Northern Ireland 251.00 24. Albania 401.00
On May 31 2016 23:32 mahrgell wrote: Well... It is funny how all the teams are talked down. Well except England, but you all know what being England means. So who wins, if all those nations are trash?
i just wait for the Powerrank and then i place my bets ^^
To be honest, i will back my power rank in betting terms, and i will give you a super secret Pande Leicester Tip :D (aka outsider who will be nice Each Way monies)
On May 31 2016 23:56 Pandemona wrote: To be honest, i will back my power rank in betting terms, and i will give you a super secret Pande Leicester Tip :D (aka outsider who will be nice Each Way monies)
? super secret Pande Leicester Tip has to be England keke
Germany will drop out in semis like everytime. Not a good squad at the moment. I have bashed quite hard on Pandemona and his love for the english squad, but I really hope they will win this Euro. They play amazing football
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
While I was hyperbolic, Germany's defense is still quite poor. Hummels and Boateng may be one of the best CB pairs out there, but Hummels is injured and the team has no quality fullbacks. The team lost Lahm and was running 3 CB's in the back 4 at WC14 and they haven't improved whatsoever. This leaves them horrendously exposed to counters which is exactly what has happened since the world cup.
As for offense, it doesn't matter how many good midfielders you have when you don't have a reliable striker. Again, the team lost Klose and didn't gain anyone to replace him, and the striker position was weak back in the world cup. The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession.
Germany scored the most goals in the 2014WC and lost exacly one player, a 36year old who could barely manage more then 45 minutes a game. How does that lead to "The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team". And "and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession." ist just wrong. The team shined the most in the past with great midfield pressure and counter attacking (hints the 48% ball possesion in the wc semis).
Honestly i dont really care about friendlies or qualifikation games because most of them are very meaningless for the players and the result.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
While I was hyperbolic, Germany's defense is still quite poor. Hummels and Boateng may be one of the best CB pairs out there, but Hummels is injured and the team has no quality fullbacks. The team lost Lahm and was running 3 CB's in the back 4 at WC14 and they haven't improved whatsoever. This leaves them horrendously exposed to counters which is exactly what has happened since the world cup.
As for offense, it doesn't matter how many good midfielders you have when you don't have a reliable striker. Again, the team lost Klose and didn't gain anyone to replace him, and the striker position was weak back in the world cup. The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession.
Germany scored the most goals in the 2014WC and lost exacly one player, a 36year old who could barely manage more then 45 minutes a game. How does that lead to "The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team". And "and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession." ist just wrong. The team shined the most in the past with great midfield pressure and counter attacking (hints the 48% ball possesion in the wc semis).
Honestly i dont really care about friendlies or qualifikation games because most of them are very meaningless for the players and the result.
We lost Klose, Lahm, Mertesacker and Kramer of the players that actually played enough to matter. That's 4 instead of 1.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
While I was hyperbolic, Germany's defense is still quite poor. Hummels and Boateng may be one of the best CB pairs out there, but Hummels is injured and the team has no quality fullbacks. The team lost Lahm and was running 3 CB's in the back 4 at WC14 and they haven't improved whatsoever. This leaves them horrendously exposed to counters which is exactly what has happened since the world cup.
As for offense, it doesn't matter how many good midfielders you have when you don't have a reliable striker. Again, the team lost Klose and didn't gain anyone to replace him, and the striker position was weak back in the world cup. The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession.
Germany scored the most goals in the 2014WC and lost exacly one player, a 36year old who could barely manage more then 45 minutes a game. How does that lead to "The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team". And "and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession." ist just wrong. The team shined the most in the past with great midfield pressure and counter attacking (hints the 48% ball possesion in the wc semis).
Honestly i dont really care about friendlies or qualifikation games because most of them are very meaningless for the players and the result.
Germany's game against Brazil is a statistical anomaly that heavily skews their scoring statistics in WC14. Aside from that, they scored 4 (in game 1 against Portugal), then 2-1-2-1-1. Germany absolutely did not win the WC on the back of their offense; they won it through the midfield, a great back line (minus a real LB), and some lucky misses from Argentina in the final.
The fact that their offense was mediocre to begin with, and then they lost their best true striker (who was quite old, as you pointed out) only supports the fact that the team hasn't improved at the striker position whatsoever since the WC. As I mentioned as well, losing the best RB in the world to international retirement also really hurts your defense.
Germany has had a long stretch of unconvincing wins dating back to the WC. Their games against the U.S., Algeria, France, and Argentina were all solid (they were still the best team in the tournament back then), but nothing close to dominant. A slew of friendlies and qualifiers since then have ended in unconvincing fashion (where they win by a goal or two when they should've won by a lot more, and just held onto possession without looking threatening in attack) or outright draws/losses when they should do better.
People always rationalize this by saying that friendlies/qualifiers don't matter, but that wisdom ("Germany underperforms unless they're in a tournament") simply ignores the fact that we just fell short of a trophy for 18 years.
I'm honestly confident in Germany having the most talented pool of players in the world right now. The problem is a combination of 1) injuries and 2) coaching. There is no logical reason to have strong hopes in the team winning it all right now, as all indications point to some glaring problems for the team right now. They'll probably make it to the quarters or semi's, but once they hit a team like France/Spain/Italy, I have no doubt they'll bow out and disappoint. While Germany wasn't dominant in the WC, they were still clearly the best team. This time around, several teams look significantly more dangerous than in the WC (primarily France/Spain/England), while Germany only looks worse than they did in the WC.
On May 31 2016 21:30 BlackCompany wrote: Honestly the german team is kind of weak compared to what they were i think. If either Hummels or Boateng is injured for the entire tournament (i know Hummels is missing the first games at least sadly) then the defense is already in trouble. Lahm gone means right defender is also a big question. And midfield/attack has the problem that most guys are out of form or 20 years old. I mean Kroos, Özil, Müller and Gomez should have their place secured. Then the question is if you trust an out of shape Draxler, Schürle, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Götze or some 20 year old newcomers where you dont know how they perform in the team. Ugh.
Hopefully everything starts turning out well once the tournament started. Kind of like WC 2014 where the team was shit before the tournament but got better every day.
German defense is utter trash and German attack is weak. Combine that with Löw (who I still think only won the WC in spite of his managing) and this team is going to disappoint, badly. The only thing Germany is good at is holding the ball.
Wow that is harsh
Boateng and Hummels utter trash? hmm... you mad bro? Guessing for Hector and Höwedes as LB and RB, quite solid actually. Midfield good at ball holding? Yep, also good at passes in the deep and shoting Attack, well we have the Müller factor and a Gomez who seems to be in the form of his life. But true: Other teams have a better attack
While I was hyperbolic, Germany's defense is still quite poor. Hummels and Boateng may be one of the best CB pairs out there, but Hummels is injured and the team has no quality fullbacks. The team lost Lahm and was running 3 CB's in the back 4 at WC14 and they haven't improved whatsoever. This leaves them horrendously exposed to counters which is exactly what has happened since the world cup.
As for offense, it doesn't matter how many good midfielders you have when you don't have a reliable striker. Again, the team lost Klose and didn't gain anyone to replace him, and the striker position was weak back in the world cup. The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession.
Germany scored the most goals in the 2014WC and lost exacly one player, a 36year old who could barely manage more then 45 minutes a game. How does that lead to "The team has repeatedly demonstrated that they aren't a very dangerous attacking team". And "and have pretty much been winning games through overwhelming possession." ist just wrong. The team shined the most in the past with great midfield pressure and counter attacking (hints the 48% ball possesion in the wc semis).
Honestly i dont really care about friendlies or qualifikation games because most of them are very meaningless for the players and the result.
Do you completely ignore Lahm's existence or what? lol While I hate Lahm as a person he was the most gifted player in the current German national team since he pretty much started his career. His loss, plus Klose who perfectly fit into Löw's system and also delivered vital goals and positioning you lost two of the most important players. Plus considering that Schweini's form is a question mark, you pretty much only have Neuer, Ozil and Kroos left for performing players. Germany has really become weak with the loss of Lahm, Klose and Schweinsteiger (did he even play in the last few years?). Also Mertesacker was maybe not a gifted or world class player but he was one of the leaders in this team.
EDIT: Anyone who considers betting on Austria: please save your money. Watch how Alaba performs in the Austrian national team (own goal vs Malta)
Still disagree with rashford inclusion. Kid has talent, but I think he shouldn't be in the main squad. He should have played in the Toulon tournament. I also would have preferred Carroll who was in good form, though maybe he got injured or something not sure. Carroll would have provided England with a different dimension.
That said, rashford isn't the one that pisses me most. We have Wilshere who missed the whole season being picked over Drinkwater who had a fantastic title winning season. Wilshere has talent and can change games no doubt, but he is a really big gamble. Then there's Henderson who makes even less sense. He is injured and had a mediocre season. We can close one eye about Wilshere because he has the x-factor, but Henderson is a limited player. Really little reason to select him over Drinkwater. I'd argue that noble deserves a spot too, but its a little hard to appreciate his abilities.
Reputation over form. Heh. England's going to flop once again, but what's new.
On May 31 2016 23:44 sharkie wrote: France is pretty big favourite to win the Euro for me.
As long as they manage to play like a team (which they have never done without Zidane... lol)...
with the holes that is the defense i don't think that france can confirm as a favourite one, a lot of injuries as far as i know (not expert on it, but i read a lot since a few days), but i can be wrong
as the true favourite right now though i won't say anything since i do not have enough info and expertise on the matter
On May 31 2016 23:44 sharkie wrote: France is pretty big favourite to win the Euro for me.
As long as they manage to play like a team (which they have never done without Zidane... lol)...
with the holes that is the defense i don't think that france can confirm as a favourite one, a lot of injuries as far as i know (not expert on it, but i read a lot since a few days)
as the favourite right now i won't say anything since i do not have enough info and expertise on the matter
you are the favourites on the process of elimination plus home advantage
Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Austria Wien), Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ramazan Özcan (Ingolstadt).
Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dinamo Kyiv), Christian Fuchs (Leicester City), György Garics (Darmstadt), Martin Hinteregger (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Florian Klein (Stuttgart), Sebastian Prödl (Watford), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt), Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham Hotspur).
Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern München), Marko Arnautović (Stoke City), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Stefan Ilsanker (Leipzig), Jakob Jantscher (Luzern), Zlatko Junuzović (Werder Bremen), Marcel Sabitzer (Leipzig), Alessandro Schöpf (Schalke).
Forwards: Lukas Hinterseer (Ingolstadt), Rubin Okotie (1860 München), Marc Janko (Basel)
Czech Republic: Found no pic, but here's the squad:+ Show Spoiler +
Goalkeepers: Petr Čech (Arsenal), Tomáš Vaclík (Basel), Tomáš Koubek (Slovan Liberec).
Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubník (Viktoria Plzeň), Pavel Kadeřábek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Fenerbahçe), David Limberský (Viktoria Plzeň), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Marek Suchý (Basel), Tomáš Sivok (Bursaspor).
Midfielders: Vladimír Darida (Hertha Berlin), Bořek Dočkal (Sparta Praha), Daniel Kolář (Viktoria Plzeň), Ladislav Krejčí (Sparta Praha), David Pavelka (Kasımpaşa), Jaroslav Plašil (Bordeaux), Tomáš Rosický (Arsenal), Jiří Skalák (Brighton), Josef Šural (Sparta Praha).
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Praha), Tomáš Necid (Bursaspor), Milan Škoda (Slavia Praha).
On May 31 2016 22:22 Pandemona wrote: Winning squad boys
Why would you pick Wilshere and not Drinkwater? Wilshere has played like 3 games all season? And looks like he'll be playing 4-4-2 diamond, who plays that nowadays?
On June 01 2016 07:20 HolydaKing wrote: Now that the squads of the teams got announced and I miss them in the OP, I made the effort to search them. Maybe add them top the OP?
Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Austria Wien), Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ramazan Özcan (Ingolstadt).
Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dinamo Kyiv), Christian Fuchs (Leicester City), György Garics (Darmstadt), Martin Hinteregger (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Florian Klein (Stuttgart), Sebastian Prödl (Watford), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt), Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham Hotspur).
Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern München), Marko Arnautović (Stoke City), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Stefan Ilsanker (Leipzig), Jakob Jantscher (Luzern), Zlatko Junuzović (Werder Bremen), Marcel Sabitzer (Leipzig), Alessandro Schöpf (Schalke).
Forwards: Lukas Hinterseer (Ingolstadt), Rubin Okotie (1860 München), Marc Janko (Basel)
Czech Republic: Found no pic, but here's the squad:+ Show Spoiler +
Goalkeepers: Petr Čech (Arsenal), Tomáš Vaclík (Basel), Tomáš Koubek (Slovan Liberec).
Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubník (Viktoria Plzeň), Pavel Kadeřábek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Fenerbahçe), David Limberský (Viktoria Plzeň), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Marek Suchý (Basel), Tomáš Sivok (Bursaspor).
Midfielders: Vladimír Darida (Hertha Berlin), Bořek Dočkal (Sparta Praha), Daniel Kolář (Viktoria Plzeň), Ladislav Krejčí (Sparta Praha), David Pavelka (Kasımpaşa), Jaroslav Plašil (Bordeaux), Tomáš Rosický (Arsenal), Jiří Skalák (Brighton), Josef Šural (Sparta Praha).
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Praha), Tomáš Necid (Bursaspor), Milan Škoda (Slavia Praha).
In a few hours there should be pics for every team I hope.
On June 01 2016 07:28 sneirac wrote: Eh Pande is making a separate post/thread for that will go up sometime tomorrow I think.
Yeah what Sneirac said, in the op it said that its coming soon and then is a poll hyping what is coming. Thanks for your work but im in the process of doing the same thing
On June 01 2016 18:43 HolydaKing wrote: Well, good it's coming. I was interested myself for some teams so it wasn't useless anyways. Perhaps it made it easier for you too.
Of course. I was doing in slightly different format as you will see tonight when i post.
On June 01 2016 23:51 haitike wrote: Spain playing a friendly with South Korea and the commentators of Spanish television are talking all the time about 2002 WC referees xDDD
TBF I thought Spain had even more reason to complain about them than Italy.
And I agree with the "France favorite by principle of exclusion" as stated above. Before most other recent tournaments, I felt that there were always several real contenders. Kinda strange when at the same time, club football has probably reached its all time high in terms of overall skill level.
On June 01 2016 23:51 haitike wrote: Spain playing a friendly with South Korea and the commentators of Spanish television are talking all the time about 2002 WC referees xDDD
TBF I thought Spain had even more reason to complain about them than Italy.
And I agree with the "France favorite by principle of exclusion" as stated above. Before most other recent tournaments, I felt that there were always several real contenders. Kinda strange when at the same time, club football has probably reached its all time high in terms of overall skill level.
You think so? I actually felt this year's CL was very low in quality. Bayern should have lost vs Juve, Real sucked, English clubs sucked (no idea how Man City got into semis), Barca suddenly plummeted in spring.
I think this Euro perfectly reflects current state of football.
On June 01 2016 23:51 haitike wrote: Spain playing a friendly with South Korea and the commentators of Spanish television are talking all the time about 2002 WC referees xDDD
TBF I thought Spain had even more reason to complain about them than Italy.
And I agree with the "France favorite by principle of exclusion" as stated above. Before most other recent tournaments, I felt that there were always several real contenders. Kinda strange when at the same time, club football has probably reached its all time high in terms of overall skill level.
You think so? I actually felt this year's CL was very low in quality. Bayern should have lost vs Juve, Real sucked, English clubs sucked (no idea how Man City got into semis), Barca suddenly plummeted in spring.
I think this Euro perfectly reflects current state of football.
Yes, this years CL was the worst in a long time, I tried to forget about it so hard it apparently worked :D I guess I was referring more to the last years than to that one season we just endured. Maybe current shape dominates the longterm trend right atm.
On June 02 2016 02:30 739 wrote: I just want Poland to get out of the group and reach 1/4 at least, that'd be a total success. And we don't have that bad squad to be honest.
Also I think that this years Euro finals will be some unpredictable stuff. Predicting no Spain/France/Germany in finals >.<
Spain vs. Germany in the finals, just wait for it.
But I hope neither of them win honestly. Would be fun if another team wins, I'll cheer for Croatia and England to do well.
On June 01 2016 23:51 haitike wrote: Spain playing a friendly with South Korea and the commentators of Spanish television are talking all the time about 2002 WC referees xDDD
TBF I thought Spain had even more reason to complain about them than Italy.
And I agree with the "France favorite by principle of exclusion" as stated above. Before most other recent tournaments, I felt that there were always several real contenders. Kinda strange when at the same time, club football has probably reached its all time high in terms of overall skill level.
You think so? I actually felt this year's CL was very low in quality. Bayern should have lost vs Juve, Real sucked, English clubs sucked (no idea how Man City got into semis), Barca suddenly plummeted in spring.
I think this Euro perfectly reflects current state of football.
Yes, this years CL was the worst in a long time, I tried to forget about it so hard it apparently worked :D I guess I was referring more to the last years than to that one season we just endured. Maybe current shape dominates the longterm trend right atm.
Euro's and world cups are at the end of a long season and the players play with people they barely practise with. I don't think it's strange that the quality of tournaments is lower in general.
On June 02 2016 02:30 739 wrote: I just want Poland to get out of the group and reach 1/4 at least, that'd be a total success. And we don't have that bad squad to be honest.
Also I think that this years Euro finals will be some unpredictable stuff. Predicting no Spain/France/Germany in finals >.<
Spain vs. Germany in the finals, just wait for it.
But I hope neither of them win honestly. Would be fun if another team wins, I'll cheer for Croatia and England to do well.
To be honest, It would be could England in the final or winning it. But in the other hand, we would have to bear with Pande after it
On June 01 2016 05:44 DucK- wrote: Still disagree with rashford inclusion. Kid has talent, but I think he shouldn't be in the main squad. He should have played in the Toulon tournament. I also would have preferred Carroll who was in good form, though maybe he got injured or something not sure. Carroll would have provided England with a different dimension.
That said, rashford isn't the one that pisses me most. We have Wilshere who missed the whole season being picked over Drinkwater who had a fantastic title winning season. Wilshere has talent and can change games no doubt, but he is a really big gamble. Then there's Henderson who makes even less sense. He is injured and had a mediocre season. We can close one eye about Wilshere because he has the x-factor, but Henderson is a limited player. Really little reason to select him over Drinkwater. I'd argue that noble deserves a spot too, but its a little hard to appreciate his abilities.
Reputation over form. Heh. England's going to flop once again, but what's new.
Roy Hodgson has a weird (and understandable because he used to be their coach) obsession with Liverpool's players no matter how trash they are. Henderson has always been subpar ever since he started playing for Liverpool, even freaking Lucas was better at some points.
I understand the reason for picking Rashford. If you look at the team they don't have much options in terms of attacking, Their wings are pretty mediocre if Sterling doesn't have a good day. Sturridge is just back from injury and thus he's a not yet a guaranteed good sub to have on the bench. So forwards wise England only has Vardy and Kane as sure things (Rooney will most definitely play a more midfield oriented role). Though you might be right as Euro will probably turn out to be too big for the kid.
I'm not really sure about Spain chances. Team looks good on paper but latest matches against stronger/competitive teams (Germany, France...) left me really disappointed. Also, it doesn't seem like we have a reliable forward/striker that can make a difference in difficult matches (like D.Villa).
Apart from the 'traditional' top tier teams, I'm looking forward to watching Belgium play. I haven't seen much from them but it seems like they have a really solid squad coming into the EURO.
On June 02 2016 19:22 SMaD wrote: I'm not really sure about Spain chances. Team looks good on paper but latest matches against stronger/competitive teams (Germany, France...) left me really disappointed. Also, it doesn't seem like we have a reliable forward/striker that can make a difference in difficult matches (like D.Villa).
Apart from the 'traditional' top tier teams, I'm looking forward to watching Belgium play. I haven't seen much from them but it seems like they have a really solid squad coming into the EURO.
Nolito is doing great in friendlies in the same position that Villa played. Let's see if he can step up in the real tournament.
I agree. I think that the favourites are Germany and France. I don't think that Spain can win the thing. Although I think they are in better form than in the WC two years ago. Iniesta and Nolito in good form, Silva looks good, Ramos finished solid the season despite his bad start. Pique has been awesome this season. De Gea is spectacular. Koke/Tiago are great, etc. My main doubt is the 9 (old Torres slot). For me Morata has not the level and Aduriz is not fit for spanish style of play (Same that happened to Costa). I think I would have preferred Torres, he looked good this last months.
Casillas got squad captain right, please tell me he won't start the tournament for Spain. Literally Spain will go very close aslong as Casillas does not play
Ok then, that is good i expect good things from Spain then, its midfield is the best in the tournament as usual and i see them being able to snatch the odd goal. Pedro and Cesc playing week in week out together will only help them in this regard too for example. I hope England get to abuse them in the semi finals on our way to victory
For the First game of the Euro I would play with: Rui Patrício Vieirinha, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Eliseu Danilo, Adrien Joao Mario, Renato, Quaresma Cristiano Ronaldo
lol I just watched the highlight, Bruno Alves almost decapitated Kane right there. Though England really lacked attacking options even being 1 man up. That's going to be real hard when they play better defensive teams in Euro like Italy.
If England wins we will never hear the end of it Ill cheer for Belgium but in the final against them(they aint winning 1 before us) France is ok, not a huge fan of the french tho. Spain is ok but boring in the past Germany would be nice cause I like their football although I am scared for Germany for some reason.
On June 03 2016 07:34 Kipsate wrote: If England wins we will never hear the end of it Ill cheer for Belgium but in the final against them(they aint winning 1 before us) France is ok, not a huge fan of the french tho. Spain is ok but boring in the past Germany would be nice cause I like their football although I am scared for Germany for some reason.
Germany it is for me.
The way it looks Italy will probably just sneak behind all the big names and snatch the cup before everyone notices its gone
wow, Kane such a badass. a flying kick to the head and he just gets up trying to chase the ball. and what the fuck kind of idiotic tackle is that in a friendly? like I understand losing your head in an important match but in a friendly?
On June 03 2016 08:13 Liquid`Drone wrote: wow, Kane such a badass. a flying kick to the head and he just gets up trying to chase the ball. and what the fuck kind of idiotic tackle is that in a friendly? like I understand losing your head in an important match but in a friendly?
lol if this had been Pepe we could have had a team of paramedic rushing to perform live operations on the field
The hype is real, I want Poland to have a good performance finally, instead of the usual trifecta of "opening match" "match for everything" and "match for honor" >.> we have the best squad in decades, so there are some chances they'll advance from the group at least...
also I want England to do well, I've always cheered for them even when they sucked absolute ass ;]
On June 03 2016 08:13 Liquid`Drone wrote: wow, Kane such a badass. a flying kick to the head and he just gets up trying to chase the ball. and what the fuck kind of idiotic tackle is that in a friendly? like I understand losing your head in an important match but in a friendly?
lol if this had been Pepe we could have had a team of paramedic rushing to perform live operations on the field
you mean Pepe instead of Kane? Or instead of Balves?
Hmm... i guess Pepe beeing Pepe in both cases ^^ "His head hit my foot and now my ankle is broken!! Help! That's a red card for him right?!"
On June 03 2016 08:13 Liquid`Drone wrote: wow, Kane such a badass. a flying kick to the head and he just gets up trying to chase the ball. and what the fuck kind of idiotic tackle is that in a friendly? like I understand losing your head in an important match but in a friendly?
lol if this had been Pepe we could have had a team of paramedic rushing to perform live operations on the field
You really don't know Bruno Alves. He's worse than Pepe. Pepe just happens to be in an high profile club so he has more visibility.
If you search for Bruno Alves + Kung Fu you'll find a lot of "funny" stuff
I think Germany and Spain are the clear favourites. Not sure why people are suddenly doubting Germany and calling their squad weak lol.
Idk why France is first with the bookies. They lost 3-4 to Belgium in the latest friendly we did. Friendlies don't matter shit, I know, I still think they're mediocre at best. The home advantage could carry them to the semis but not further.
As for Belgium, we have the players to be top 4, we'll see if it happens. Our defence is a bit shit due to injuries (Denayer as central defender omfg) but the 3 other lines are solid. Sadly being in group E means that if both Germany and Belgium win their groups, we will already meet in the quarter finals. Oh well.
edit: cheers for doing this again Pande, the WC subforum was great, looking forward to your power ranking. If Belgium isn't top 5 I will be very upset. (inb4 you place England ahead of us lolz)
2nd Bruno Alves gif was between Chelsea and Fenerbahçe. That match played for victims of a big mine disaster at Soma. Match was played really fairly... till Alves tried to butcher Diego Costa.
On June 03 2016 18:13 Laurens wrote: I think Germany and Spain are the clear favourites. Not sure why people are suddenly doubting Germany and calling their squad weak lol.
Idk why France is first with the bookies. They lost 3-4 to Belgium in the latest friendly we did. Friendlies don't matter shit, I know, I still think they're mediocre at best. The home advantage could carry them to the semis but not further.
As for Belgium, we have the players to be top 4, we'll see if it happens. Our defence is a bit shit due to injuries (Denayer as central defender omfg) but the 3 other lines are solid. Sadly being in group E means that if both Germany and Belgium win their groups, we will already meet in the quarter finals. Oh well.
edit: cheers for doing this again Pande, the WC subforum was great, looking forward to your power ranking. If Belgium isn't top 5 I will be very upset. (inb4 you place England ahead of us lolz)
Our squad isnt weak, absolutely not. It can beat any other team, and will stomp some. But I dont think the team will be on a roll for every single game, and I'm doubting their ability (and experience for some positions) to grind out wins on an off day against quality opposition. I believe the squad is closer to 2010 than 2014 in this respect.
It might still be enough to win the tournament. But I think if you say that germany is a clear favorite, and not just slightly ahead of the competitors, then this is more a statement about the other teams than about germany.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
On June 04 2016 04:16 OtherWorld wrote: Spain > Poland in the finals, semis will be Spain > Hungary and Poland > Slovakia and yes bookmakers are overrating France so much it's crazy
On June 04 2016 04:16 OtherWorld wrote: Spain > Poland in the finals, semis will be Spain > Hungary and Poland > Slovakia and yes bookmakers are overrating France so much it's crazy
Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia in the semis?
Bold prediction.
Well, I do have Hungary beating England in the quarters, but that could really go either way. So Spain vs England is also a likely semifinal.
I could see poland going pretty far, they have a pretty legit team. slovakia or hungary? I honestly see them as the weakest teams of their respective groups..;p
On June 04 2016 07:04 Liquid`Drone wrote: I could see poland going pretty far, they have a pretty legit team. slovakia or hungary? I honestly see them as the weakest teams of their respective groups..;p
Yup, I got Wales and Iceland as nr 3 in their groups too. Poland vs Switzerland in the Ro16 is a close match though.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
I'm kind of against it to be honest. It makes the qualifying and the group stages almost meaningless. Every game in the international tournaments is supposed to be cut throat and intense....with so many teams in groups (and despite the upset potential) you already see some teams that have no chance of advancing and some matches that nobody besides the countries involved want to see.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
You are right that its a bit inflated,. But how do you make it smaller than that in the knockouts?
I agree with someone up there that the 16 team Euro was way more intense and a much stronger tournament to watch than the WC, but generally the overall strength of Europe means that the inflated format isnt to bad either.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
You are right that its a bit inflated,. But how do you make it smaller than that in the knockouts?
I agree with someone up there that the 16 team Euro was way more intense and a much stronger tournament to watch than the WC, but generally the overall strength of Europe means that the inflated format isnt to bad either.
Maybe 4 groups of 5, only 2 making it out of each group? Group phase = best phase anyway, and I dont like some of the 3rd place advancing (being compared to each other while playing completely different opponents). It would mean you lose 4 teams, but consider those being hungary, albania, northern ireland and 1 other and not many people would mind.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
You are right that its a bit inflated,. But how do you make it smaller than that in the knockouts?
I agree with someone up there that the 16 team Euro was way more intense and a much stronger tournament to watch than the WC, but generally the overall strength of Europe means that the inflated format isnt to bad either.
Hmmm if it were me, I'd only let the group winners decide to the knockout stage. Then you have the 8 best teams remaining.
On June 03 2016 23:47 haitike wrote: group stage is a joke this cup anyway. 24 teams and only 8 are eliminated.
Yeah, finishing 1st in this group stage means crap. Actually, it might be even worse than second as you wasted power in finishing 1st while the 3rd place team prolly made it into the knockout stage with minimal effort...
I really like that more teams are allowed now into the Euro (previous format was a bit too small imo) but too many in knockout stage... Group stages are my favourite part of the big tournaments
You are right that its a bit inflated,. But how do you make it smaller than that in the knockouts?
I agree with someone up there that the 16 team Euro was way more intense and a much stronger tournament to watch than the WC, but generally the overall strength of Europe means that the inflated format isnt to bad either.
Hmmm if it were me, I'd only let the group winners decide to the knockout stage. Then you have the 8 best teams remaining.
Would make group stage cutthroat!
Yeah straight to quarters is what I was thinking with 6 grp winners and 2 best place second. So even if you cant win the grp coming second and coming second well would also relate to teams not giving up and/or trying harder in grp stages. What probably mean more open games.
My idea for 24 (asuming we have to have 24 teams) was have 8 qualifying groups. Top of every group goes straight through to the Ro16 of the tournment proper. 2nd and 3rd in each group go to the group stage. 16 teams in the first group stage half go out and half go through and join the other 8 in the last 16.
You have to have two group stages really or there's a risk that your team can do well in the qualifying go straight to the last 16 lose their first game and be out of the tournment having played only one game.
Having a second group stage starting at Ro16 is better and gives added insentive to win your qualifying group so you don't have to play in the first group stage and play 3 extra games.
The new European qualifying has made the FIFA rankings even more of a joke than they already where. Austria are ranked 10th in the world by winning a group with Moldova, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Sweden and Russia in it. I'm pretty sure Japan, Australia maybe even Korea would win that group and they are ranked outside the top 50. Same goes for England in 11th and our crazy easy group.
Don't get me wrong there's clearly still a huge gulf between the level of football in Europe in Asia. Spain made Korea's national team look like little boys just the other day. But it doesn't seem right that teams like England and Austria should shoot up the rankings just by beating a few terrible teams.
I can only name one Swedish player, but perhaps that speaks to my ignorance more than their ability. Russia can't be considered anything other than terrible untill they fire Fabio Capello and get a football manager in instead.
My point is probablly made better with Englands group to be honest, we really did play terrible teams except Switerland and that makes us 11th in the World? Without even playing anyone good? OK.
On June 07 2016 21:33 Greg_J wrote: I can only name one Swedish player, but perhaps that speaks to my ignorance more than their ability. Russia can't be considered anything other than terrible untill they fire Fabio Capello and get a football manager in instead.
My point is probablly made better with Englands group to be honest, we really did play terrible teams except Switerland and that makes us 11th in the World? Without even playing anyone good? OK.
Can you name a qualifier group with more than 2 "good" teams, in your opinion?
On June 07 2016 21:33 Greg_J wrote: I can only name one Swedish player, but perhaps that speaks to my ignorance more than their ability. Russia can't be considered anything other than terrible untill they fire Fabio Capello and get a football manager in instead.
My point is probablly made better with Englands group to be honest, we really did play terrible teams except Switerland and that makes us 11th in the World? Without even playing anyone good? OK.
Can you name a qualifier group with more than 2 "good" teams, in your opinion?
That is excatly my point. All the European teams have had really easy qualifying beating little teams and the UEFA FIFA ranking gives them lots of points despite not actually playing anyone good or been tested at all. With the notable exception of Netherlands which is an entirelly different conversation.
On June 07 2016 21:40 haitike wrote: Capello is still in Russia, lol?
Capello got sacked with Russia not looking like qualifying, a Russian came in and managed to somehow beat Sweden in controversial circumstances and qualified in 2nd. Oh the guy in charge is CSKA Moscow manager, he does both jobs at the same time.
On June 07 2016 21:40 haitike wrote: Capello is still in Russia, lol?
Capello got sacked with Russia not looking like qualifying, a Russian came in and managed to somehow beat Sweden in controversial circumstances and qualified in 2nd. Oh the guy in charge is CSKA Moscow manager, he does both jobs at the same time.
I didn't actually know this (obviously). Thanks for enlightening me.
edit: Also that means Russia might not be terrible any more.
On June 07 2016 21:33 Greg_J wrote: I can only name one Swedish player, but perhaps that speaks to my ignorance more than their ability. Russia can't be considered anything other than terrible untill they fire Fabio Capello and get a football manager in instead.
My point is probablly made better with Englands group to be honest, we really did play terrible teams except Switerland and that makes us 11th in the World? Without even playing anyone good? OK.
Can you name a qualifier group with more than 2 "good" teams, in your opinion?
That is excatly my point. All the European teams have had really easy qualifying beating little teams and the UEFA FIFA ranking gives them lots of points despite not actually playing anyone good or been tested at all. With the notable exception of Netherlands which is an entirelly different conversation.
You will notice that most EU teams have LOST points since then, despite the "really easy qualifiers". Spain and Portugal gained a handful of points. Austria gained a lot. Germany and The Netherlands lost 400-550.
Doesn't look like the EC qualifiers give EU teams an advantage in the FIFA rankings. Not that anyone cares about the FIFA ranking.
On June 08 2016 05:57 sharkie wrote: huge blow to Germany's defense, Rüdinger out and gone
Really? A huge blow? Many were surprised he even got nominated. I don't know him though, so I have no opinion.
While that is true, I think this is mostly due to the fact he's playing in italy is therefore off the radar for many people. He was nevertheless considered to be a starter in most recent reports, at laest while Hummels isnt fit.
I just filled group stages and bracket stage at some online site and my grand finals was England vs Germany. I predicted Spain to disappoint and not win its group so Germany met them in the quarter finals and kicked them out. My bracket looked really fun, quarter finals Austria vs Switzerland and semi finals Austria vs Germany. :D Other semi finals was Croatia vs England, and yes, it doesn't seem realistic but everything is possible. Crotia kicked out Belgium in the quarter finals. :-) I don't remember where France lost, I think in the quarter finals to England?
Anyway, has someone else done the same thing and who was in your grand finals?
My finals was Spain vs France with France acting revenge on Germany in the semi final from the last world cup. Then Spain to beat England in the semi final and France winning. However that was more a brain version, i and everyone knows England are winning this competition
On June 09 2016 02:40 Pandemona wrote: My finals was Spain vs France with France acting revenge on Germany in the semi final from the last world cup. Then Spain to beat England in the semi final and France winning. However that was more a brain version, i and everyone knows England are winning this competition
Does anyone know of a complete prediction of everything (match scores and winner) by statistics? I want to enter this into my fantasy league to see how we measure up.
On June 10 2016 20:32 aseq wrote: Does anyone know of a complete prediction of everything (match scores and winner) by statistics? I want to enter this into my fantasy league to see how we measure up.
The first link has Belgium-Germany in quarters with Germany advancing. That's what I think will happen, but in my bracket I put Belgium to win it all ofc.
The second link has Ireland finishing first in group E lol. No further comment.
Haha thanks! I found those 2 as well myself, but they both have strange match scores. In one, nearly every match is 1-1 or 2-1, in the other, nearly every match is 1-0 or 1-1.
Laurens: I have Belgium advancing in that match as well.
On June 10 2016 21:14 aseq wrote: Haha thanks! I found those 2 as well myself, but they both have strange match scores. In one, nearly every match is 1-1 or 2-1, in the other, nearly every match is 1-0 or 1-1.
Laurens: I have Belgium advancing in that match as well.
Have you ever had an inhouse betting league over an entire season? Betting 2-1 every game is the winning strategy.
On June 10 2016 21:14 aseq wrote: Haha thanks! I found those 2 as well myself, but they both have strange match scores. In one, nearly every match is 1-1 or 2-1, in the other, nearly every match is 1-0 or 1-1.
Laurens: I have Belgium advancing in that match as well.
Have you ever had an inhouse betting league over an entire season? Betting 2-1 every game is the winning strategy.
Agreed. However, I usually deliberately bet on higher scores, because i dont really want watch a game having the thought of "plz no more goals for the sake of my prediction" in the back of my mind by half time.
I would love to see a statistic over the last 10 years if the goals per game in a league has gone up as i swear football has way more goals in it than ever before. Remember my World Cup where i said it was gonna be a world cup full of goals and it delivered, was a very entertaining 2014 world cup, lots of good goals and interesting games, where as the previous tournament in South Africa had way less goals.
Yeah; Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match) Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match)
Was a pretty big difference in 26 extra goals over the 64 games and i could see the Euros being at least 2.7 goals per game over the course of the tournament. Even with the managers complaining? about the heat already.
On June 10 2016 21:35 Pandemona wrote: I would love to see a statistic over the last 10 years if the goals per game in a league has gone up as i swear football has way more goals in it than ever before. Remember my World Cup where i said it was gonna be a world cup full of goals and it delivered, was a very entertaining 2014 world cup, lots of good goals and interesting games, where as the previous tournament in South Africa had way less goals.
Yeah; Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match) Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match)
Was a pretty big difference in 26 extra goals over the 64 games and i could see the Euros being at least 2.7 goals per game over the course of the tournament. Even with the managers complaining? about the heat already.
A few years ago there were statistics that goals had decreased quite a bit with South Africa being the ultimate low-point. So Brazil having 27 goals actually doesnt mean much
On June 10 2016 21:14 aseq wrote: Haha thanks! I found those 2 as well myself, but they both have strange match scores. In one, nearly every match is 1-1 or 2-1, in the other, nearly every match is 1-0 or 1-1.
Laurens: I have Belgium advancing in that match as well.
Have you ever had an inhouse betting league over an entire season? Betting 2-1 every game is the winning strategy.
True, but in the Goldman example, most matches are 1-1. Won't get you any points for correct results (depending on your fantasy league).
On June 10 2016 21:35 Pandemona wrote: I would love to see a statistic over the last 10 years if the goals per game in a league has gone up as i swear football has way more goals in it than ever before. Remember my World Cup where i said it was gonna be a world cup full of goals and it delivered, was a very entertaining 2014 world cup, lots of good goals and interesting games, where as the previous tournament in South Africa had way less goals.
Yeah; Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match) Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match)
Was a pretty big difference in 26 extra goals over the 64 games and i could see the Euros being at least 2.7 goals per game over the course of the tournament. Even with the managers complaining? about the heat already.
A few years ago there were statistics that goals had decreased quite a bit with South Africa being the ultimate low-point. So Brazil having 27 goals actually doesnt mean much
Ok lets see i am fascinated so will post the results
2014 Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match) 2010 Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match) 2006 147 (2.3 per match) 2002 & 161 (2.52 per match) 1998 171 (2.67 per match) 1994 141 (2.71 per match) (52 games played)
So basically in the 64 game format Brazil is tied with France for most goals so we did improve! My point was also it seems to be going full circle, from a very defensive period in middle 00s to a way more offensive game in mid 10s
I wonder when we will see the first game where one team totally owns the other. So far all fairly close games, especially when we go by the final scores.
On June 12 2016 06:30 HolydaKing wrote: I wonder when we will see the first game where one team totally owns the other. So far all fairly close games, especially when we go by the final scores.
Well until the goal by Russia, England totally owned them.
On June 12 2016 06:30 HolydaKing wrote: I wonder when we will see the first game where one team totally owns the other. So far all fairly close games, especially when we go by the final scores.
Well until the goal by Russia, England totally owned them.
On June 12 2016 17:25 Kleinmuuhg wrote: English fans booing during the russian national anthem was also disgusting.. and that wasnt just a few hundrets
True, but it has not much to do with england or russia. Happens on a regular basis with other combinations of teams too.
Well it will be interesting to see how UEFA handle this. Normally events like this would probably lead to a hefty fine and a stadium ban but I can't imagine that they will come down this hard especially if they want to decide by Tuesday.
English fa not getting charged makes me think it's only about what happened inside the stadium because in the City itself it seemed to be just as many english hooligans as russians
How many people did watch france vs romania and england vs russia in France and England? In Germany 12,47m people watched England and 15,47m watched France. They are a high numbers. From all em germany qualifier games, Germany vs Georgia attracted the most with 11,5m viewers.
On June 12 2016 23:09 Dingodile wrote: How many people did watch france vs romania and england vs russia in France and England? In Germany 12,47m people watched England and 15,47m watched France. They are a high numbers. From all em germany qualifier games, Germany vs Georgia attracted the most with 11,5m viewers.
14.5 millions watched France vs Romania in France.
Probably just empty warnings, but I'd laugh so hard if they get sent home.
England hooligans did the same at first game Euro 2000. FIFA warned England about elimination, England did nothing anymore.
Notice that those warnings have only to do with excesses within stadiums.
Wrong. All associations have agreed to the terms and regulations of UEFA beforehand. And they allow punishment for any problematic behaviour of their fans, no matter if inside or outside the stadium.
So also the entire discussion if UEFA is allowed to do it, is moot. The teams/associations knew it, they agreed to it, and they will have to deal with it.
On June 10 2016 21:35 Pandemona wrote: I would love to see a statistic over the last 10 years if the goals per game in a league has gone up as i swear football has way more goals in it than ever before. Remember my World Cup where i said it was gonna be a world cup full of goals and it delivered, was a very entertaining 2014 world cup, lots of good goals and interesting games, where as the previous tournament in South Africa had way less goals.
Yeah; Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match) Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match)
Was a pretty big difference in 26 extra goals over the 64 games and i could see the Euros being at least 2.7 goals per game over the course of the tournament. Even with the managers complaining? about the heat already.
So, right now we are at 13 goals in 7 games. Not even 2 goals per game Let's hope the teams pick it up, once they are done with their first match. Looks like everyone was still looking for their game so far and nobody really showed what was expected of them.
Probably just empty warnings, but I'd laugh so hard if they get sent home.
England hooligans did the same at first game Euro 2000. FIFA warned England about elimination, England did nothing anymore.
Notice that those warnings have only to do with excesses within stadiums.
Meh not sure if those hooligans even give a crap about their team or they just need an excuse to create havoc. Seriously United Nations should organise a Hunger-game like event every year where we trap all these fuckwits within an arena and let them battle to dead until the last one survives and shoot that last guy in the face.
Breaking News Russia handed a provisional "kicked out" of Euro 2016 suspended sentence by UEFA. Anymore trouble and they will be thrown out of the competition!
Lets hope everyone calms down now as no one wants to see a team eliminated that way, it isn't fair on anyone. Mainly the teams in Group B. How do the points work out if Russia gets kicked out? Does everyone get 3 points for the win over Russia? Or do UEFA treat it as a 3 man group in which it is then unfair to Group B in fighting for 3rd place playoff position due to not having a 3rd game.
Pretty sure they would forfeit all their games 2-0 (including played ones) in that case. And well, when members of the board of the RFS publicly announce that "I can't see anything troublesome with fighting fans. On the contrary, go on guys" and "They defended the honor of Russia and did well". What do you expect? Oh yeah, the same guy is also the vice president of the Russian parliament...
btw: the RFS is also charged 150k €. Unsuspended. Not that they will really care.
If they forfeit all their games 2-0 which is fair enough, that then becomes unfair to every other group right? Group B probably looking at getting a 3rd place playoff spot pretty comfortably maybe? Or do they only give Wales and Slovakia the wins if they get kicked out or what not, it opens a lot of worms kicking them out so i do hope they be good now.
Suspended sentence only concerns in stadium behaviour. And I will not believe this until it actually happens. Expelling the host of the next world cup and completely fucking over their terrible tournament structure, no way.
On June 15 2016 03:13 sneirac wrote: Suspended sentence only concerns in stadium behaviour. And I will not believe this until it actually happens. Expelling the host of the next world cup and completely fucking over their terrible tournament structure, no way.
Well, a ban would be from the UEFA, FIFA can do what they want. :D
On June 15 2016 19:19 HolydaKing wrote: Excited to see if the Russian "fans" will behave today.
Well, they announced they are only after the English, because supposedly they called themselves the toughest and hardest hooligans, and the Russians want to "show them". Thats probably also why we have already seen Russians showing up at the Wales-England match, instead of their own one.(Okay, there are only 30km between) But of course, this does not mean, there aren't idiots left over to also ruin their own game.
But well... Germany vs Poland on Thursday hopefully stays reasonably peaceful... Both sides also have some history and announced they are looking for trouble there.
On June 15 2016 19:19 HolydaKing wrote: Excited to see if the Russian "fans" will behave today.
Well, they announced they are only after the English, because supposedly they called themselves the toughest and hardest hooligans, and the Russians want to "show them". Thats probably also why we have already seen Russians showing up at the Wales-England match, instead of their own one.(Okay, there are only 30km between) But of course, this does not mean, there aren't idiots left over to also ruin their own game.
But well... Germany vs Poland on Thursday hopefully stays reasonably peaceful... Both sides also have some history and announced they are looking for trouble there.
germans looking for trouble sure thing mate. they might spill some beer on someone, that's about it. they won't do anything remotely close to what the russians/english did. pretty sure about it.
ye don't know about russia though, hopefully nothing happens but the way officials were talking on twitter etc. it's not unreasonable to think that stuff will go down again. you need to take distance from their actions, say that you don't support these actions whatsoever. this is just stupid and if they get disqualified i feel for the coach the most. T_T
Well according to reports, German police stopped a massive group of German ultras who are known to Germany and are banned from games there from going and representing Germany in the hooligan warfare. They stopped the vehicles which had, gum shields, mma gloves and helmets in as they were ready to go as big as Russians did. They were stopped imagine the ones that got through!
Russians are pretty crazy, Chelsea forum this morning mentioned how there new trick is to send a few Russians out to bait a reaction, then when the police start pepper spraying the fans and they all running away, then the main group of Russians come from behind and hit everyone running!
On June 15 2016 19:19 HolydaKing wrote: Excited to see if the Russian "fans" will behave today.
Well, they announced they are only after the English, because supposedly they called themselves the toughest and hardest hooligans, and the Russians want to "show them". Thats probably also why we have already seen Russians showing up at the Wales-England match, instead of their own one.(Okay, there are only 30km between) But of course, this does not mean, there aren't idiots left over to also ruin their own game.
But well... Germany vs Poland on Thursday hopefully stays reasonably peaceful... Both sides also have some history and announced they are looking for trouble there.
germans looking for trouble sure thing mate. they might spill some beer on someone, that's about it. they won't do anything remotely close to what the russians/english did. pretty sure about it.
On June 15 2016 19:55 Pandemona wrote: Russians are pretty crazy, Chelsea forum this morning mentioned how there new trick is to send a few Russians out to bait a reaction, then when the police start pepper spraying the fans and they all running away, then the main group of Russians come from behind and hit everyone running!
Damn. Russian ultras played too much rome total war :o
On June 15 2016 19:55 Pandemona wrote: Well according to reports, German police stopped a massive group of German ultras who are known to Germany and are banned from games there from going and representing Germany in the hooligan warfare. They stopped the vehicles which had, gum shields, mma gloves and helmets in as they were ready to go as big as Russians did. They were stopped imagine the ones that got through!
Russians are pretty crazy, Chelsea forum this morning mentioned how there new trick is to send a few Russians out to bait a reaction, then when the police start pepper spraying the fans and they all running away, then the main group of Russians come from behind and hit everyone running!
They stopped only 19. And we do not have only 19 idiots. Pretty much the entire Hogesa-movement (Hooligans against salafists, but in reality just a right extremist gang of hooligans) is in France. And pretty much everyone else who got hit by a iron bar to the head a little bit too often also went there. And for Poland the situation is pretty similar. As both hooligan groups had their encounters in the past, they see this as their big game. But well... French police should be well warned now. And if they keep some of those meatheads for a few months, I won't be sad.
Yeah now France has no excuse, they know what is coming they should be prepared, i do hope they are because it is unfair. I no 99% of English who go as an example just want to drink and sing songs, thats is what most fans i guess want to do as well. So i hope they can keep it calm so people can enjoy themselves!
And mustafi is in this lineup, because he scored a goal? WTF? His contribution to the German defense was really not great. Certainly not top11(of the tourney) worth.
i am pretty sure mustafi deserves his place. agree with ronaldo being a useless something in the game against iceland, of course you can't expect him to perform every game but let's be honest he doesn't deserve his place in the best 11
On June 15 2016 22:47 mahrgell wrote: And mustafi is in this lineup, because he scored a goal? WTF? His contribution to the German defense was really not great. Certainly not top11(of the tourney) worth.
Well his interception also initiated the counter leading to the 2-0. But yeah, I probably wouldnt have him in there either.
On June 16 2016 01:37 Salteador Neo wrote: Ah, CR doing nothing other than complaining about the other guys defending all game and celebrating a draw, while Messi gets a hattrick.
After that joke CL, everything in the football world goes back to normal. Quite pleasant :D
I guess the solution is that Ronaldo also needs to grow a beard
German TV is now saying, that English "fans" have shown up in Lille, drinking all day and now engaging and provoking Russians (regular fans, not hools) after the game as well as demolishing cars. Police now fired teargas against the English and dispersed them for now.
On June 16 2016 01:58 mahrgell wrote: German TV is now saying, that English "fans" have shown up in Lille, drinking all day and now engaging and provoking Russians (regular fans, not hools) after the game as well as demolishing cars. Police now fired teargas against the English and dispersed them for now.
yea apparently one russian throw a bottle so it's enough for the english fans to smash everything around and act like apes
"It was an absolutely unacceptable incident when a bus with more than 40 Russian supporters was stopped and [the police] demanded that they leave the bus for document and ID checks,
Why on earth would France not be allowed to perform a security check in their own country. Russian politics ugh
On June 16 2016 17:58 Mafe wrote: Looking forward to today. Should be maybe the best matchday so far.
Yup, if Wales doesn't disappoint. Germany vs Poland should be good, but it also has the potential to be one sided. Depends on how fast goals happen, if any happen at all.
So after earlier this week a 24yo Northern Irish fan died, when he fell off over a fence (about 5-10 metres down, no one else was close, it is considered an accident). The fan was mourned during todays N. Irish game vs Ukraine. Later this game another 60yo N. Irish fan now died to an heart attack in the stadium. A damn unlucky nation.
too many boring games and only few goals per game so far. I heard from Özil few days ago that turfs are the reason. They all look lovely green but it's too slippery if you are running.
Yesterday the 2nd goal of france was a good example. 3 players slipped. I think most players have settled their runs on those turfs and they suffer therefore.
On June 17 2016 06:07 Dingodile wrote: too many boring games and only few goals per game so far. I heard from Özil few days ago that turfs are the reason. They all look lovely green but it's too slippery if you are running.
Yesterday the 2nd goal of france was a good example. 3 players slipped. I think most players have settled their runs on those turfs and they suffer therefore.
Yeah it's annoying, I only follow football for World Cups and sometimes Euro, so having that few goals makes some matches painful. FRA vs ALB turf was indeed horrible, it looked like players were on ice. Apparently it's because AC DC played on the stadium just one month ago (?). Hopefully some stadiums will be good enough for interesting matches.
german news say that UEFA is unsatisfied with the turf in Marsille, Lille and Saint-Denis. In particular for the opening match in Saint-Denis, I recall seeing loose pieces of turf on several occasions.
Btw, these 3 stadia are exactly the ones where France play their groupstage matches....
Hahaha Czech Republic's draw with Croatia It's been a while since I've seen someone play this shit and still be able to fight for advancement from the group on last match
So that's Croatia, Russia, Turkey and England who are in trouble with UEFA for the behaviour of their fans. At some point they are going to have to bite the bullet and charge France with being unable to hold a football tournament.
UEFA has opened disciplinary cases against a number of nations playing yesterday: - Hungary: pre game brawls, hostilities against security staff, fireworks during the game - Belgium: fireworks during the game - Portugal: CR7 selfie with a fan on the pitch after the game
On June 17 2016 20:49 Mafe wrote: german news say that UEFA is unsatisfied with the turf in Marsille, Lille and Saint-Denis. In particular for the opening match in Saint-Denis, I recall seeing loose pieces of turf on several occasions.
Btw, these 3 stadia are exactly the ones where France play their groupstage matches....
The UEFA apparently sent an expert earlier this year, who said the lawn was not good enough. They gave the job to an Austrian society who takes its turf from Slovakia but the transport did not go so well and they did it late so it did not have the proper time to root.
The French assosciation society of lawns (it exists) is mad about this because they did have their word to say and entirely disagreed with the decision to change the lawn so late.
Okay, what we need for the last playday is: Belgium loses by 1 or 2, nobody cares what Italy does Portugal and Iceland both win their games, but Iceland either wins with a higher margin or wins the fairplay ranking against portugal. Alternative is: Portugal and Iceland both draw their games, but Iceland gets enough bookings to drop behind Portugal in fairplay ranking
What would happen then?
the lower half of the bracket would read like that:
Germany - Slovakia Italy - Spain --- France - Belgium England - Portugal
So now we only have 4 possibilities for the groups 3rds. But the only way the third of group F doesn't qualify would be for Portugal to lose and I don't think it'll happen. So we have:
BCDF: France vs N. Ireland / Wales vs Turkey / Germany vs Slovakia / Croatia vs Iceland or Portugal or Hungary BCEF: France vs Belgium or R. Ireland / Wales vs N. Ireland / Germany vs Slovakia / Croatia vs Iceland or Portugal or Hungary
With the second configuration, France could also play Sweden but it would require Sweden to beat Belgium and R. Ireland to beat Italy with 2-3 more goals of difference than Sweden.
God this bottom bracket is staaaacked. I put Croatia as one of the favorites, I'm not even surprised they beat Spain, now they have an easy way to the semis and possibly the final!
On June 22 2016 10:49 WillyWanker wrote: So now we only have 4 possibilities for the groups 3rds. But the only way the third of group F doesn't qualify would be for Portugal to lose and I don't think it'll happen. So we have:
BCDF: France vs N. Ireland / Wales vs Turkey / Germany vs Slovakia / Croatia vs Iceland or Portugal or Hungary BCEF: France vs Belgium or R. Ireland / Wales vs N. Ireland / Germany vs Slovakia / Croatia vs Iceland or Portugal or Hungary
With the second configuration, France could also play Sweden but it would require Sweden to beat Belgium and R. Ireland to beat Italy with 2-3 more goals of difference than Sweden.
God this bottom bracket is staaaacked. I put Croatia as one of the favorites, I'm not even surprised they beat Spain, now they have an easy way to the semis and possibly the final!
On June 22 2016 15:15 Laurens wrote: I find the "bottom bracket is stacked" posts funny.
The reason why a lot of "good" teams are in the bottom bracket, is because they failed to win against ppl from the top bracket
The best team so far imo is Croatia, and they're in the top half.
France, Germany, Italy, all finished first and ended up in the bottom half, and are a more impressive trio than Wales, Croatia, Group F winner. And as runner-ups Spain and England are more impressive (in repute at least) than Switzerland or Poland.
On June 22 2016 15:15 Laurens wrote: I find the "bottom bracket is stacked" posts funny.
The reason why a lot of "good" teams are in the bottom bracket, is because they failed to win against ppl from the top bracket
The best team so far imo is Croatia, and they're in the top half.
France, Germany, Italy, all finished first and ended up in the bottom half, and are a more impressive trio than Wales, Croatia, Group F winner. And as runner-ups Spain and England are more impressive (in repute at least) than Switzerland or Poland.
Yeah based on repute it's stacked, no disagreement there.
I've not been impressed by Italy. They parked the bus v Belgium and scored on counter (2 beautiful goals, I give you that). Lukaku should've tied it up with his amazing chance he got, ah well.
Poland and Wales have shown they are on the same level as Germany/England.
Portugal and Belgium will (hopefully) join the top half too.
I'd be more excited for a Croatia - Belgium semi than Germany - France but I may be biased
On June 22 2016 15:15 Laurens wrote: I find the "bottom bracket is stacked" posts funny.
The reason why a lot of "good" teams are in the bottom bracket, is because they failed to win against ppl from the top bracket
The best team so far imo is Croatia, and they're in the top half.
France, Germany, Italy, all finished first and ended up in the bottom half, and are a more impressive trio than Wales, Croatia, Group F winner. And as runner-ups Spain and England are more impressive (in repute at least) than Switzerland or Poland.
Yeah based on repute it's stacked, no disagreement there.
I've not been impressed by Italy. They parked the bus v Belgium and scored on counter (2 beautiful goals, I give you that). Lukaku should've tied it up with his amazing chance he got, ah well.
Poland and Wales have shown they are on the same level as Germany/England.
Portugal and Belgium will (hopefully) join the top half too.
I'd be more excited for a Croatia - Belgium semi than Germany - France but I may be biased
You'd be more excited to see 2 second zone team play in the semi-finals than a staple a European Football that has so much history. This is not bias, this is you being a hipster.
Group stages are a bad predictor for the rest of the tournament. Team often underperform at first and grow into the tournament later. Belgium has also been pretty bad except for one half. I don't see why they'd be preferred over Italy or another big country.
At least the final should be even. On one side, one big team that had to play 2-3 big games and on the other side, no big team that could just go up to the final without any trouble.
On June 22 2016 18:07 RvB wrote: Group stages are a bad predictor for the rest of the tournament. Team often underperform at first and grow into the tournament later. Belgium has also been pretty bad except for one half. I don't see why they'd be preferred over Italy or another big country.
Yes, some team step up and others dont in knockout stages. However, I think that in >80% of tournaments in the last decades, the eventual winner was a teams that has won its group.
On June 22 2016 18:07 RvB wrote: Group stages are a bad predictor for the rest of the tournament. Team often underperform at first and grow into the tournament later. Belgium has also been pretty bad except for one half. I don't see why they'd be preferred over Italy or another big country.
Yes, some team step up and others dont in knockout stages. However, I think that in >80% of tournaments in the last decades, the eventual winner was a teams that has won its group.
Just looking at the EUROs... 3/7 since 1988 (Netherlands, Denmark, France and Greece all failed to win their group but became EC). It looks different for worldcups though, 7/7 since 1990.
On June 22 2016 18:07 RvB wrote: Group stages are a bad predictor for the rest of the tournament. Team often underperform at first and grow into the tournament later. Belgium has also been pretty bad except for one half. I don't see why they'd be preferred over Italy or another big country.
Yes, some team step up and others dont in knockout stages. However, I think that in >80% of tournaments in the last decades, the eventual winner was a teams that has won its group.
Just looking at the EUROs... 3/7 since 1988 (Netherlands, Denmark, France and Greece all failed to win their group but became EC). It looks different for worldcups though, 7/7 since 1990.
Spain it is then They were the only ones smart enough to not win their group. Or maybe they just thought: "nahh our bracket side is boring, lets go play with Italy, France and Germany instead"
Spain is still my favorite. Italy is the ideal big team opponent, no high press, no talent forward. Then they have to beat Germany to win this euro anyway and I think they're superior to them (unless Low decides to change his tactics to be more about counterattacking but I doubt he will). Then the rest would be weaker, England, France, Croatia, Poland...
On June 23 2016 03:02 OminouS wrote: Iceland - Austria. Wasnt the last goal off side? Not the goal giving pass but the long pass that gave Iceland the opportunity in the first place?
On June 23 2016 03:02 OminouS wrote: Iceland - Austria. Wasnt the last goal off side? Not the goal giving pass but the long pass that gave Iceland the opportunity in the first place?
On June 23 2016 16:23 Daswollvieh wrote: Germany meeting Italy/Spain in the quarters... Choose your worst nightmare, I suppose.
I really really really hope for Spain. At least this would be an open, fun to watch, kinda game. Spain won the last encounters due to beeing better, which isn't the case anymore IMO
Low has just no idea how to play vs Italy and will keep his current style/ formation just to lose horribly to 2-3 counter attacks
On June 04 2016 04:16 OtherWorld wrote: Spain > Poland in the finals, semis will be Spain > Hungary and Poland > Slovakia and yes bookmakers are overrating France so much it's crazy
Adjusting this, I now foresee Poland or Croatia > Hungary and Spain > England in the semis, and then either Spain > Poland or Croatia > Spain. Unless Italy magically manages to beat Spain, in which case Italy > Poland or Italy < Croatia.
On June 23 2016 20:33 nojok wrote: That bracket, it's like the tournament is starting in quarter finals and the winner has to play a bonus match.
I dunno, people are excited because there are a lot of big names in the bottom bracket, but realistically Croatia and Poland are on the same level as Germany and Spain, Italy equals Belgium, and France/England are roughly equivalent to Wales/Portugal and Hungary, so it's in fact a rather balanced bracket.
On June 04 2016 04:16 OtherWorld wrote: Spain > Poland in the finals, semis will be Spain > Hungary and Poland > Slovakia and yes bookmakers are overrating France so much it's crazy
Adjusting this, I now foresee Poland or Croatia > Hungary and Spain > England in the semis, and then either Spain > Poland or Croatia > Spain. Unless Italy magically manages to beat Spain, in which case Italy > Poland or Italy < Croatia.
On June 23 2016 20:33 nojok wrote: That bracket, it's like the tournament is starting in quarter finals and the winner has to play a bonus match.
I dunno, people are excited because there are a lot of big names in the bottom bracket, but realistically Croatia and Poland are on the same level as Germany and Spain, Italy equals Belgium, and France/England are roughly equivalent to Wales/Portugal and Hungary, so it's in fact a rather balanced bracket.
I couldn't disagree more, but I guess only time will tell
I also disagree. Based on group play, you could say top and bottom are equal. But in big tournaments, better subs and more tournament experience start to play a big role.
On June 24 2016 04:28 sharkie wrote: still no thread? how is hype going to build up with no thread!!
There were dota threads to be made and bad tv episodes to be watched, patience. Meanwhile have you released the your worst team rankings yet? Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, who was the worst off all?
In light of England's poor result, I went through some of their recent performances in major tournaments. Turns out, the last time they won a game by more than a single goal was way back in 2006 against Trinidad & Tobago.
Euro 2016 vs. Iceland (1-2 loss) vs. Slovakia (0-0 draw) vs. Wales (2-1 win) vs. Russia (1-1 draw)
WC 2014 vs. Costa Rica (0-0 draw) vs. Uruguay (1-2 loss) vs. Italy (1-2 loss)
Euro 2012 vs. Italy (0-0 penalty loss) vs. Ukraine (1-0 win) vs. Sweden (3-2 win) vs. France (1-1 draw)
WC 2010 vs. Germany (1-4 loss) vs. Slovenia (1-0 win) vs. Algeria (0-0 draw) vs. USA (1-1 draw)
Euro 2008 DNQ
WC 2006 vs. Portugal (0-0 penalty loss) vs. Ecuador (1-0 win) vs. Sweden (2-2 draw) vs. Trinidad & Tobago (2-0 win) vs. Paraguay (1-0 win)
Although to be fair, I guess they haven't been beaten by more than a goal in that time frame either apart from that Germany loss.
EPT
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![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cjyt-J4W0AAC6Go.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjyAgqWVAAEsm3l.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjykbhnWgAEGtLp.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cj0TrvjUYAA2K83.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cji1DzBXAAA1ZWW.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjyMYIMUkAAgNd2.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cj0MpwBVAAEwKPe.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjycD3QWkAA6Lma.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjzNTwjVAAELgnQ.jpg:large)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjyXeowUUAAbxc-.png)
![[image loading]](http://the18.com/sites/default/files/u100001394/Sweden-Euro-2016-squad.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjyUejpVEAArBcC.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjyaZRQWUAABpHL.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjywnfrXIAAJdsX.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjypMK6W0AAYBo7.png)
![[image loading]](http://m.nemzetisport.hu/data/cikk/2/48/42/77/cikk_2484277/renatohulk.gif)
![[image loading]](http://abload.de/img/renatograndebhjdq.gif)
![[image loading]](http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/811667/bruno-alves-o.gif)
![[image loading]](http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view8/20140809/5087151/criminal-patada-de-bruno-alves-a-diego-costa-o.gif)
![[image loading]](http://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/2803275/original/?width=780&version=2803275)
![[image loading]](https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/13315599_895224937266647_671612821793990406_n.jpg?oh=4d5248fb0a0924536ae4d823111130ee&oe=57C732F3)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jPWY7i4.png)
vs ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NfQbeGn.png)
Goals scored 171 (2.67 per match)![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Flag_of_South_Africa.svg/23px-Flag_of_South_Africa.svg.png)
Goals scored 145 (2.27 per match)
147 (2.3 per match)
& 
161 (2.52 per match)
171 (2.67 per match)
141 (2.71 per match) (52 games played)![[image loading]](https://images.scribblelive.com/2016/6/10/ccd8c6ca-ab30-48f5-b101-e9f13b8a3d6d.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://cs635105.vk.me/v635105103/ca44/DcpmA5ZtbWA.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://e02-marca.uecdn.es/assets/multimedia/imagenes/2016/06/15/14659968625356.jpg)
