Croatia: Modric, Raktic, and Mandzukic: UCL winners (two treble winners). Plus tons of talent. Turkey: Not many world class players. Turan and a few others.
What greece did before euro 2004? Or costa rica and colombia before wc 2014? Croatia didn't shine much but at least they qualified on regular'basis for'the main tournaments, missed only one world cup and one euro in the last 20 years! Not bad for a 4 million people country after a civil war....turkey 2008 was a miracle everybody knows that croatia was the best team on the'pitch that night...turkey never won against croatia on an official game as pk are condidered a tie in the stats. Croatia-turkey euro96:1-0 croatia-turkey euro08: 1-1 turkey on pk, turkey-croatia euro12: 0-3, 0-0....croatia might not have achieved much lately' but in euro 12 they were more than resisting against italy and spain the 2 finalists, spanish themselves are not really that confident playing against croatia again. We got the best croatian generation coming....rakitic, modric, mandzukic won the 3 last CL, subasic was the missing piece in our NT, he is a better gk than the one we had for a decade, perisic with inter, kalinic with fiorentina, srna with chaktar, and corluka prove themselves are very decent european level players! And then we got top class youngsters on their way for a bright career....halilovic, kovacic, brozovic, jedvaj, vrsaljko will spend a while in the best european clubs, so i can tell without any shame we can beat anyone on one match....we'll see.
I never said you couldn't. But I stated truth so don't deviate from that. I said I think Turkey will finish ahead of you guys and I think they will. So what. It happens. Italy has missed out on the ko phase 4 times since 1996 missing out to the likes of the Czech's, Danes and Swede's, Slovakia, Paraguay, New Zealand, Uruguay and Costa Rica. Are they allbetter than Italy, no. But it does prove the better side doesn't always finish above so called weaker opp. Rakitic, Modric and Mandzukic European winners doesn't tell a whole lot as look who the likes they were playing with. Simone Barone, Massimo Oddo and Vincenzo Iaquinta are WORLD CUP WINNERS. Big ********en whoop. btw Turkey have made the semis in the 2002 and 2008 tournaments which is more than what you have ever did, ever. That's two semi finals where you have one and the last coming in 1998. Better or not, they knocked you out so tough titties son.
I agree with the fact they can finish ahead...yes. lol reaching the world cup semi-finals in 2002 beating china, japan and senegal is nothing special as far as i'm concerned...i prefer to do it beating germany and take the 3rd place over netherlands....turkey has decades of national team....croatia is only a 20 y o country....yugoslavia also reached semi-finals of world cup and a final of euro....so croatia in 20 years of competition after a civil war got 1 semi-final of world cup, 2 euro 1/4 finals, and turkey in decades and decades reached one 1/2 final of wc and one 1/2 of euro....missed world cups 2014 2010 2006' euros 2012 2004...lol i wouldn't exchange our football history against their no thanks we'll see. Ps: croatia prevented turkey to play euro 2012' winning 3-0 in istanbul....so.....the last meeting went on croatian side.....
Olli Bierhoff was "relieved" after the draw to say the least. But not because of Italy, because "we avoided Croatia".
I do not know how you can use past results, even the recent ones to determine what will happen at the Euro. You just claimed that Poland beat Germany. At the same time, Ukraine beat Poland twice in the qualification for WC2014 (with pretty much the same teams). So, which one counts and which one does not?
My predictions: Group A: FRA, SUI, ROM, ALB Group B: ENG, SVK, RUS, WAL Group C: GER, UKR, POL, NIR Group D: ESP, CZE, CRO, TUR Group E: ITA, SWE, BEL, IRL Group F: POR, AUT, HUN, ISL I am not even going to attempt to figure which 4 third-place finishers will advance.
I never did in the first place you ignorant fool. I was giving that idiot an example of what can happen as in better teams getting beaten and what happened recently. The teams that I predicted to do well weren't based on merely those results, but if even if they were, so what. What are we going to base it on, last world cup lets just close this thread then since we supposedly can't give an opinion. And so what if Ukraine beat Poland twice etc. I guess that means Germany is doomed for since Ireland beat them and drew in GermanyPortugal losing to Albania, Belgium losing to wales and failing to score a goal in two games and Spain losing to Slovakia. Lets rule them out then moron
Whoa! Just when I thought logical discussion still has place among peers you go ahead and prove me wrong. My point is YOU CAN'T use previous results between two teams as a basis for relative strength consideration. You are just to dense to realize this.
Some interesting neighbor rivalries ... France-Switzerland, England-Wales, Poland-Germany, Poland-Ukraine and Austria-Hungary
there are but yet you did not meet them . Let me write here so we can discuss after the tournament . Gökhan Töre ( 23 ) & Oğuzhan Özyakup (23 ) . Maybe you will not believe but they are even more talented than Arda. Ofcourse Arda is a special player and much more experienced. Those guys were just needing time and in this tournament it may be the right time . Töre's style is like Robben and and Özyakup's style is like Zidane . Thanks to these 2 guys Beşiktaş is leader now in Turkish Super League .
Exactly we turks do not attend all tournaments but when we attend we do cool things This will be 4th tournament we are attending since 2000 .And below are the records. euro 2000 quarter final world cup 2002 semi final ( 3rd place ) euro 2008 semi final euro 2016 bla bla final ( prediction )
Though I greatly respect your opinion, I think that not all the top seeds will win their groups!! France, Germany...yes, Spain and England..runners up and I wouldn't be surprised if Italy and Portugal wound up as 3rd placed wild card teams!!
I just do not see who can remove England or Spain from the first place in their respective groups. England will get three wins. Spain will be tested and may lose points against the Czechs and the Croats, but I do not see them losing. Portugal is, by far, the best team in its group. Italy will be pushed by Sweden. I just don't buy Belgium. Belgium are just NOT all that. I think this tournament is one of the few tournaments that may go according to form. Unless, of course, something huge happens. For example (I do not wish this on any NT), imagine what happens to Portugal's chances if CR is hurt. Or Ukraine's chances if Yarmolenko gets hurt. Or Sweden's chances if Ibra gets hurt.
I like Tore. Still young but definitely world class. I think Selcuk Inan and Calhanoglu are also world class. If all 3 are healthy along with Turan they will have an exciting attack.
With all due respect, I would be amazed if Portugal found themselves in third place, that would be a big shock imo.
According to my experience it will stay that way until someone complains about it in the service forums.
The UEFA Referees Committee has appointed the 18 referees who will take charge of the 51 matches at UEFA Euro 2016. The list of referees who have been selected: 1. Martin Atkinson (ENG, 1971) 2. Felix Brych (GER, 1975) 3. Cüneyt Cakir (TUR, 1976) 4. Mark Clattenburg (ENG, 1975) 5. William Collum (SCO, 1979) 6. Jonas Eriksson (SWE, 1974) 7. Ovidiu Hategan (ROU, 1980) 8. Sergey Karasev (RUS, 1979) 9. Viktor Kassai (HUN, 1975) 10. Pavel Kralovec (CZE, 1977) 11. Björn Kuipers (NED, 1973) 12. Szymon Marciniak (POL, 1981) 13. Milorad Mažić (SRB, 1973) 14. Svein Moen (NOR, 1979) 15. Nicola Rizzoli (ITA, 1971) 16. Damir Skomina (SVN, 1976) 17. Clement Turpin (FRA, 1982) 18. Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP, 1971) As at UEFA Euro 2012 and in the European Qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2016, the referees will have added support through the deployment of additional assistant referees. Each refereeing team will consist of a referee, two assistant referees and two additional assistant referees. The majority of assistants and additional assistants will come from the same country as the referee. A third assistant referee will also be appointed and will stay on standby until the start of the tournament. The full referee teams will be announced in February 2016. The preparation of the referees for UEFA EURO 2016 will include various courses and training activities, including: • 26–28 January 2016 – UEFA assistant referee course in Cyprus. • 1–5 February 2016 – UEFA's annual winter course with all UEFA Elite group referees, including the UEFA EURO 2016 referees. The referees will receive technical instructions, as well as physical training plans to follow until the final tournament. • 18–22 April 2016 – UEFA EURO 2016 preparatory referee course in France. The referee 'quintets' will train together and undergo fitness tests and review the application of the technical instructions they have received. The referee teams will arrive in France on 6 June 2016 for the final tournament.
24 teams competing... 23 will be eliminated... So I figure 23 sets of supporters will feel robbed by the officials.
Not saying Portugal is a favourite for the tourney, but Third lol. Okay truth is no one can be certain of anything, almost always there will be a few upsets, but unless some terrible luck happens, first place, or perhaps a lackluster performance and second place should be straight forward. Austria is the team I feel is the most challenging and can cause a problem. With Italy, Sweden usually plays well vs Italy, but Italy is far superior technically. They should have a cake walk against Ireland. Belgium, just don't know what to think, on paper very good, should compete with Italy for first.