I accidently posted this in the wrong spot but as I said let's hope Montolivo brings us European Glory !! Who will be in our group?
we should get through. I thought this could happen, last time at the euros we had Belgium and Sweden in our group we topped it and lost the final to France. I could see the same thing happening, and then the French winning the world cup. Reverse way they did it in 98-2000. Anyhow I don't think we can win it, but making the final is within our grasp. That would be absolute best case scenario but a realistic outcome would be crashing out in the second round. I think we will meet Austria in the 2nd round who will top their group ahead of Portugal. You can do the predictor here http://euro2016.eurosport.co.uk/ A win, draw and a loss should see us through as the best 4, 3rd place teams go through. Loss to Belgium, draw Sweden and beat Ireland is very attainable for us. Anything can happen as we all know. We could go out early, or have a deep run. Verrati, Candreva, Darmian, De Sciglio, Marchisio, Giovinco, Buffon and an experienced defence form a good nucleus of players who are worthy. Would have preferred another group besides group D but it's good to have a tough draw so we don't get complacent. When we've been in Group E we seem to do well, making the world cup final in 94 and winning it in 2006But should we progress which should be hard we would have endured 3 tough games then another one waiting in the next phase in PortugalAustria more than likely. Looks like a hurdle too far as other teams appear to have '' easier '' groups. France or Germany to win it for me.
Italy vs Ireland and Spain vs Croatia last group games for Italy-Spain was the same case for last euro. Anyhow I like our last game vs the Irish, take nothing away from them but we should get the 3 points like last time seeing us through to the next phase.
eerily similar that in November 1999 we lost a friendly to Belgium 3-1 then get drawn with them and Sweden in the draw for euros and make the final and lose to France. History will probably repeat and France will win it. I just did a Azzurri-Fan and did a predictor that saw us playing Poland in the semis and Germany meeting France. 1982 all over again. In my dreams sadly.
I think we should be able to win this group guys. I see us beating Belgium and Sweden but getting a 1-1 draw against Ireland. Ireland have improved and have upset Germany, and I think we might drop some points against them. Sweden should be easy. Honestly this team should be called Ibrahimovic. Once Ibrahimovic is marked Sweden are dead. This team couldn't even take 3 full points with 2 games against Russia, and 2 games against Austria. Not to mention Austria humiliated this team 4-1 in their own backyard. Sweden did beat Denmark, but look Denmark couldn't even make it past Albania to automatically qualify. Overall when we have a harder group we tend to play better, and I am really curious actually on how the game against Belgium will be. Us against Belgium is arguably the best group stage game. By the way though, I have a question? How is it possible we meet France in the final if both of us win our group? We will meet them in the semis if we meet them and both win the group. And by the way I think we can win this whole thing. We should be able to beat France if we are really hungry and want this. France are a great team but on paper they are really only superior to us in parts of the attack. Honestly I think France aren't superior to us. Spain and Germany are the only teams I think that could be superior to us but even them I am still not sure. Considering our curse on Germany and that they have been questionable in qualification I am not sure. As it stands I'd call Spain a little superior to us, but not by much. The rest are either our level or below us. Also if you ask my predictions for the exact score, I think we will beat Belgium 2-1 in the opening match, and then a 2-0 win over Sweden. Against Ireland I think we might drop some points and do a 1-1 draw with them.
Here are my other group predictions: Group A: France to top, Switzerland to advance. Group B: England to top, Slovakia to advance, Russia advances as third place. Group C: Germany to top, Ukraine to advance, Poland advances as third place. Group D: Spain to top, Croatia to advance. (Turkey and Czech Republic will draw knocking both of them out). Group E: Italy to top, Belgium to advance, Ireland advances as third place. Group F: Portugal to top, Iceland to advance, Austria advances as third place. Please don't underestimate Ireland. I watched them in the playoffs and against Germany and they were quite impressive. I said to myself, this is a team I'd like to avoid if possible. They can be quite difficult to break down, and some of their players have pace and ability to hit teams on the counter.
These are my full predictions. Please ask me if you have any questions or disagree? I left out the final on who will win, because honestly I don't know if we could beat Spain or if Spain could beat us. Spain seems to be better as we think, but maybe we could get revenge, and by the time the final happens maybe we would have been more impressive in the tournament. I am leaving the final opened and not predicting that so early.
Yeah did you watch Copa America, Chile shut Messi down very well. Even Jamaica frustrated Messi a lot. Forget about Messi is this unstoppable player. Messi is an amazing player and one of the best in history, but he is not unstoppable or untouchable.