[aisuru]

the tournament kicks off tomorrow, time for some predictions!

Austria - can't see them getting too far. although the hosts usually do better than expected, with Germany and Croatia in their group, i doubt they have much chance of making it to the next stage.

Switzerland - same as Austria, can't see them making it out of the group stage.

Poland - can be quite a solid in defence, but lack a dynamic edge that will see them missing out.

Portugal - probably be easy winners of Group A, but won't make it as far as the final. if they get to the semis, they'll crash out to Germany.

Italy - could make it all the way to the final, but probably won't do it this time. probably semi-finalists.

France - might struggle to beat Holland to the runner-up place of Group C, and then struggle to beat Spain in a quarter-final, if they're lucky. without Zidane, they would have got nowhere in 2006. hampered by a lack of true quality in the squad, and by having a nutter as the coach.

Greece - kinda fluked it in 2004, with a bit of luck they might make Group-D runners-up in 2008. won't achieve much past that though.

Turkey - could surprise a few people in the group stage. will give a good account of themselves, but won't make it to the last eight

Czech Republic - runners up in Group A, victims of German dominance in the quarter-final.

Germany - possible winners. almost guaranteed to get to the final.

Croatia - group B runners up, may get to a semi-final too, with a bit of graft. a fair bit of quality in the squad, and will probably be the side with the most names mispronounced by ITV commentary teams.

Russia - a side that has a good chance of surprising people with the level they can achieve. for many years a dark horse in international football, as the Sovyet government wasn't usually open to high profile transfers to Europe's top clubs, and hence their best players were largely unknown in the west. with the fall of the Communist Party came a drop in funding, but with so many Russian oil tycoons currently around to bankroll the top teams in Russia, talent doesn't go unexploited.

Spain - i've heard 'could be Spain's year' for about ten years. perennial under-achievers, probably quarter-finalists at the best

Sweden - Henrik Larsson is back again! as long as he's match fit, Sweden could do some damage in a group where runner-up is likely to be a tightly contested place. he's an excellent player, and did most of the work in 2006. hopefully Ibrahimovic will do more than he did in the world cup though, which was absolutely sweet-FA. if he's not feeling too lazy, he could be a deciding factor. aye, you may be able to guess which team i'm supporting ;)

Romania - the 'group of death' won't be kind to them.

Netherlands - not as good as they once were. won't make it to the final, but may not even make it out of the group stage.


come on then, let's hear your predictions/thoughts/ramblings!

[Matt the Thrasher]

I reckon the final will be between the winners of the group of death , either Italy or France and Germany .

They way the draw has worked out Germany have got a very easy route to the semis where they will most likely face Portugal.

Group C is justifiably called the group of death this time Romania are no mugs they actually finished abve Holland in qualification taking 4 points off them so can't be written off , still think it'll be Italy & France first and second in the group though.

As for the rest Spain have a fantastic squad on paper but never seem to perform at major championships and i don't think this'll be any different , the Czechs are always strong in qualifiying but neverseem to perform in the final stages either , of the Hosts I think the Swiss will do better and may make the quarters , I think Croatia may do well the rest are just making up the numbers.

Germany to win for me

[aisuru]

Portugal 1 - 0 Turkey - could have gone either way, i thought. Switzerland v Czech Republic was a better game than i'd expected. today's games will hopefully be good as well. Germany and Croatia to win

[Johny2008]

Portugal will be the winner ! ;)

[aisuru]

Austria 0 - 1 Croatia
another game that could have gone either way.

[aisuru]

France were just horrendous. no drive, no desire to go forward. they're not getting to the next round, not if they play like that. Romania's defending was just average for most of the game, and France couldn't break through. up against an Italian defence, they're stuffed. not to mention Italian and Dutch forwards.

[toonmagic9]

it was a dreary performance from france not helped by some strange tactics by the coach, two holding midfielders against what was always going to be a defensive minded romanian team, but typical french performance as other than the last world cup like england they have flattered to decieve.

[aisuru]

i hardly rated most of the French team during the last World Cup, didn't rate most of them during qualifying and now i don't rate any of them. they're actually getting worse.

they need to do three things.
1, stop resting on the laurels of eight and ten years ago
2, realise that the only reason they reached the final in Berlin two years ago was because of Zidane, and
3, sack their nut-case of a coach. il est un imbécile

[toonmagic9]

Originally Posted by aisuru

i hardly rated most of the French team during the last World Cup, didn't rate most of them during qualifying and now i don't rate any of them. they're actually getting worse.

they need to do three things.
1, stop resting on the laurels of eight and ten years ago
2, realise that the only reason they reached the final in Berlin two years ago was because of Zidane, and
3, sack their nut-case of a coach. il est un imbécile

can't really see any flaws in your arguement but a shame the holland/italy game was marred by a stupid decision and a ridiculas law making body.

[aisuru]

agreed, there was no way that goal should have stood. a player off the pitch, lying on the ground injured, cannot possibly be 'active'. they keep going on about the attacker being 'active' in play when the ball is passed forward, so the defender should have the same rules applied. van Nistelrooy didn't celebrate immediately, showing eve he didn't think the goal would stand.

enjoyed the Croatia Germany game this afternoon. the water polo match between Switzerland and Turkey has to be the highlight of the tournament so far though

[yahoo!mo]

What a result and what a game. Everybody was expecting a win for the tournement favourites Germany, but they should have known not to take a quality team like the croats, who did beat England at Webley lightly. You have to remember that it could have been a more convincing result for Croatia, but 2-1 was I think very fair.
[link removed]

[toonmagic9]

yeah a great result for croatia although i'm not that surprised they beat germany as they're a reaaly good first eleven and should be considered as a contender this year. As for the water polo it turned out to be a good match, better than bbc's offering of the austrians and the poles, didn't even watch all the match it was imo that poor. I also think platini will have to eat a bit of humble pie over his comments about england as well as his national team are probably thw worst performers out of the teams who could win it be interesting to see them play the dutch.

[dinesh_seo]

Originally Posted by Johny2008

Portugal will be the winner ! ;)

Yes i agree with you

[aisuru]

Germany in the final, but not the better team for me. only did just enough to get by, and were lucky to be able to come back like the did. Turkey were the better side by a long way.

[toonmagic9]

true but i think germay jnew they had enough in them to outscore the turks, it was a fantastic match though and turkey made it so good with there attitude, and ability best match so far imo