Euro 2008

[redstriker06]

This is long overdue, so have at it.. with predictions and such. I got my money on a Germany-France Final.

[feyenoord_for_life]

This is long overdue, so have at it.. with predictions and such. I got my money on a Germany-France Final.

Germany vs. winner of Group C (My hearts with Holland, but Im thinking Italy)

But who cares, this would be a fantastic match Germany - Holland

[blue nose uk]

Who cares - no England :(

Seriously, this year i'll be able to watch it to enjoy the football instead of thinking "will we get through" and "I must watch this team cuz we might get them".

I fancy Germany to win it but i'll be keeping an eye on Sweeden if Seb Larsson makes the squad.

[Lusankya]

Germany - Italy/France/Holland/Spain

But I doubt Spain will make it.

Germany is nearly a sure bet, they only have 3 real competitors. Portugal with Ronaldo but without any good strikers, Czech Rep with an really old team and Croatia. I can't really estimate Croatia, but they lost their best striker.

[The_ChelseaSupporter]

Holland will win it.

[SportBoy333]

Germany-Holland final.

[FNU]

Holland is good enough to get through Italy, France, and Spain?

[feyenoord_for_life]

Holland is good enough to get through Italy, France, and Spain?

On any given day we have the players to beat anyone we want. Unfortunately those days are rare between.

I think we match up particularly well with France and if both teams comit to playing forward, we certainly have more game breakers. If we can draw Italy i ll be satisfied as we dont match up well with them. I dont think Spain is by any means a stronger opponent, and by that stage of the tournament they may not even be there.

I think you can confidently say that all of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Holland and *swallows pride* Portugal can win this tournament based only on players. It really is who gets hot at the right time. I know im biased, but I really think Holland have the best attackers in Europe and if they can work together and click at the right time, they could do a lot of damage to opposing back lines.

Our bench will include the second highest scorer in Europe (huntelaar), Robben or Seedorf, Babel, Kuijt and Affelay (if you dont know how he is, ask Tottenham fans, or wait a year or two. the kids got better ball control and pace ive ever seen)

Are we going to win? probably not
Are we going to get out of the group? who knows

It depends if we get the team that beats Croatia 0-3 away or the team that goes down to Austria 0-3 in the first half

[redstriker06]

From what I've seen of Holland through the qualifiers I really don't fancy them to get by Romania, France, and Italy. Its not that they lack talent, I think they just lack some cohesiveness and a coaching change (essentially a clean slate) would do them a world of good.
I also question the quality of their defense, ten years ago Holland had a fearsome back four with the likes of Stam, Reizger, Frank and Ronald De Boer, et al. Now, instead of having guys playing for Barcelona, Manchester, and Milan Dutch defenders playing for Wigan and Blackburn. I guess we'll wait and see

I'm picking the Group C teams based on qualifiers. France beat and drew Italy, Romania for their part beat and drew Holland. So France to go through as winners with Romania as runners up, but I expect to come down to the last day when France meets Italy, and Romania meets Holland.

[masto22]

My final is:
Germany - Italy/Holland

[Quaresma]

On any given day we have the players to beat anyone we want. Unfortunately those days are rare between.

I think we match up particularly well with France and if both teams comit to playing forward, we certainly have more game breakers. If we can draw Italy i ll be satisfied as we dont match up well with them. I dont think Spain is by any means a stronger opponent, and by that stage of the tournament they may not even be there.

I think you can confidently say that all of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Holland and *swallows pride* Portugal can win this tournament based only on players. It really is who gets hot at the right time. I know im biased, but I really think Holland have the best attackers in Europe and if they can work together and click at the right time, they could do a lot of damage to opposing back lines.

Our bench will include the second highest scorer in Europe (huntelaar), Robben or Seedorf, Babel, Kuijt and Affelay (if you dont know how he is, ask Tottenham fans, or wait a year or two. the kids got better ball control and pace ive ever seen)

Are we going to win? probably not
Are we going to get out of the group? who knows

It depends if we get the team that beats Croatia 0-3 away or the team that goes down to Austria 0-3 in the first half

Not a chance in hell.

We havent played a good game of soccer in over 2 years..and that includes the world cup where we were a shadow of the powerful team we had at the euros in 04.

scolari can thank Mourinho for over half the starting XI in 2004( notice when they drifted apart to different clubs we have gradually declined in quality on the national stage) and our soccer right now is woefully gruesome.

He has no clue what hes doing, or what players to play..I wouldnt be suprised if we went out during the group stages quite frankly.

Germany has a fairly easy path to the finals..and its going to be a war between Spain( I think they can FINALLY get their act together this year..but then again how many times has that been said about them:D)Italy/France/Holland on the other side to face them.

[redstriker06]

I'm posting my full predictions, feel free to do the same

Group A
Switzerland 7points
Portugal 5 points
Turkey 2 points
Czech Republic 1 point

Switzerland is going to ride the crowd's emotions, they also get a break by getting to face the Czech Republic in the first game and Turkey in the 2nd. They could have a berth in the next round wrapped up by the time they face Portugal.

Portugal failed to impress me in qualifiers and it took them until November '07 to clinch in what was one of the easier groups. I think they will be good enough to advance, but I don't expect a repeat of 2004 or 2006.

Turkey is a bit of an enigma, they were absolutely on fire in their first four qualifiers, then they totally tanked (2-2 draw vs MALTA?!?!) and were lucky to edge out Norway. Turkey has a ton of talent, but it looks like they might be missing Hamit Altintop, either way I don't like their chances, but look out for them in 2010.

No Rosicky, No Chance... Petr Cech can only do so much and the defence in front of him is A LOT worse than the one he plays with in Chelsea. Its a pity, because the Czechs peaked in 2004 and deserved to win the tournament 4 years ago.

Group B
Germany 9 points
Croatia 4 points
Poland 4points
Austria 0 points

Germany has the luck of draw, a vanilla group and they are on the weaker side of the bracket. They were clinical during qualifiers until Joachim Loew took the foot of the pedal after clinching. Solid defense, vibrant midfielders, and a good bunch of strikers to choose from. The only question mark is who plays between the sticks.

Croatia's chances to some damage on this side of the bracket took a hit when Eduardo Da Silva went down with that gruesome injury. That said, Croatia oozes talent. When the former Yougoslavia (which would have won a major tournament had it not been for that horrible thing called ethnic strife) was divided up Croatia got the biggest share of the spoils. That said, I think they might struggle putting goals in the back of the net, but their slick midfield play will mask that during the group stages.

This is Poland's first appearance at the Euro Championship. A lot of credit has to be given to the ageless Leo Beenhaker who has instilled some confidence in this team. I think it's a huge accomplishment that they will be in this tournament and I am banking on Beenhaker to have the team put in a respectable showing... something Poland has failed to do in the past two World Cups.

Austria, oh Austria... when your own people have started a petition to ban you from a tournament in your own country, what is left to say? Scoring a goal and keeping games withing two goals should be Austria's target for this tournament.

Group C
France 5 points
Romania 5 points
Italy 3 points
Holland 1 point

I feel France has improved by leaps and bounds since their Finals appearance 2 years ago, new talent has come through that famous Clairefontaine system. This team is no longer the Team of Zidane, Barthez, Trezeguet, and Thuram (although the latter 2 might feature). There is just so much talent in this team and Domenech has had this team clicking since that 2nd round match versus Spain and there are no signs of them slowing down. That said,
they will not walk over the teams in this group... but I still think they will feature in the final.

Romania isn't really on the radar at the moment. BIG MISTAKE. First of all Romania aren't newbies. This team is a lot more than just Mutu and Chivu, I've seen the team play without them and absolutely destroy the likes of Albania and Russia. Of course, France, Holland, and Italy are far superior opponents. That said, I think Romania can grind out a couple of draws against the likes of France and Italy and have all to play for going into their last game vs. Holland (who they beat and drew during qualifiers).

Italy historically hasn't done well at European Championships, they are also notoriously slow starters. The talent is there, and even though the members of their backline are well into their 30s they still have tons of game. What worries me is whether or not Cannavaro (35), Materazzi (35), Pannucci (35) can cope playing 3 games in 9 days.... don't think so. If they can bottle that World Cup Magic then they will prove me wrong. My gut says they won't. Three draws and an early exit is what im betting on.

Holland is in complete disarray, nobody likes Van Basten... and they looked distinctly average during qualifiers (lucky that Bulgaria tied Albania twice, otherwise we'd be talking about Bulgaria right now). I also have serious questions about their defense, they need a new coach, clean slate, and a fresh start.

Group D
Spain 7 points
Greece 5 points
Sweden 4 points
Russia 0 point

Spain on talent alone will top this group, they'll look good doing it too. They will be promptly ushered out in the quarterfinals though. Aragones is this team's biggest enemy, also not taking Raul is a big mistake, defense has issues as well.

Greece are the defending champs and they cruised through a vanilla group. Looks like Rehaggel has put together a formidable combination of young players and Euro 2004 vets.

Sweden has serious issues, neither Shaaban nor Isaakson have put in serious minutes with their club teams. Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to score in all 12 qualifiers and latest reports show that underwear model Freddie Ljunberg will miss out on this summer's tournament. But Sweden has always been more than the sum of its parts. So they'll challenge Greece for that runner's up spot.

Russia shouldn't be here, I saw their friendly against Romania and they looked absolutely atrocious. This is not your typical Guus Hidink coached team. Is Guus Hidink a miracle worker? YES. Its a miracle that Russia will be playing football this summer,, and you can thank good all Guus for that.

Quarterfinals
Switzerland over Croatia
Germany over Portugal
France over Greece
Romania over Spain

Semifinals
Germany over Switzerland
France over Romania

Final
France vs. Germany (I'll hold off on any predictions right now)

[Avante]

Holland and Portugal are my favorites. Top scorer: C. Ronaldo or Ruud van Nistelrooy.

[TechFootball85]

Holland and Portugal are my favorites. Top scorer: C. Ronaldo or Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Ruud doesn't appreciate what Van Basten is doing. I doubt that we can see his action in EURO 2008.

[feyenoord_for_life]

Its true we dont have the big name classic defenders of old, but we did tie for the fewest goals conceded in qualifying (ironically with france) and (i dont have the citation) but we recently took over the european record for clean sheets in a row (ironically broken by italy) so we are pretty solid at the back and our CB (Heitinga) seems to have quite the scoring touch.

As for the other groups, just looking at Redstriker06 's post

Group A -agree with completely

Group B -agree with completely, although i would not be shocked to see Turkey squeeze through.

Group C - 1. Italy, 2. Holland, 3. Romania, 4. France.

But who knows. You can justify any one of these teams going through. Only time will tell

Group D - 1. Spain, 2. Russia, 3. Greece, 4. Sweden

Spain started well in the world cup, and with so much talent its hard not to see them at least get through the group stage. Second spot for me is between Russia and Greece. Sweden is not the team it was 4 to 5 years ago. Their talent drops off significantly after their starting 11 and theyre facing too tough teams in Greece and Russia that have their systems thoroughly worked out. Russia, much like Croatia are seeing a boom in young talent. For that reason and that Hiddink practically guarantees his teams group progression, im saying Russia

[Smoga]

MODS: can we please get dedicated Euro 2008 Forums already? The tournament's only a month and a week away!

[Prawn Sandwich]

The question has already been asked and we're awaiting an answer

[Marbur66]

Group A
Portugal 5 pts
Turkey 3 pts
Czech Republic 3 pts
Switzerland 2 pts

Group B
Germany 9 pts
Croatia 4 pts
Poland 2 pt
Austria 1 pt

Group C
France 5 pts
Netherlands 5pts
Italy 3pts
Romania 2pts

Group D
Spain 9 pts
Sweden 4pts
Greece 2pts
Russia 1 pt

Quarterfinals
Croatia beats Portugal
Germany beats Turkey
France beats Sweden
Spain beats Netherlands

Semifinals
Germany beats Croatia
Spain beats France

Final
Spain beats Germany (penalties):(

[thewop]

Group A
Portugal 5 pts
Turkey 3 pts
Czech Republic 3 pts
Switzerland 2 pts

Group B
Germany 9 pts
Croatia 4 pts
Poland 2 pt
Austria 1 pt

Group C
France 5 pts
Netherlands 5pts
Italy 3pts
Romania 2pts

Group D
Spain 9 pts
Sweden 4pts
Greece 2pts
Russia 1 pt

Quarterfinals
Croatia beats Portugal
Germany beats Turkey
France beats Sweden
Spain beats Netherlands

Semifinals
Germany beats Croatia
Spain beats France

Final
Spain beats Germany (penalties):(


Germany has never lost in penalties

[thewop]

italy germany final germany has never beaten italy in a major tournament