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Official Euro 2012 Thread

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Fun_dip
Posts: 2623 - Karma: 913
Official Discussion Thread for the Euro this Summer.
I for one am stoked since I feel the Euro is the best International competition "trimming the fat" if you will.

Predicitions.
Group A: Russia- 1, Poland- 2(a toss up between them and Czech)
Group B: Germany- 1, Netherlands- 2.... wish Portugal could surprise someone, but I doubt it
Group C: Spain-1, Croatia- 2... Croatia partially because I hate Italy, but I think Croatia can actually take Italy
Group D: France- 1, England- 2


France wins it all by beating England for a second time.. more of a hope than a prediction, but oh well. Hope Spain doesn't win and I'd love to see Ireland be competitive.
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Good Times.

Post whatever Euro Tournament stuff you want.
May 22 2012 7:11PM
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lorax
Posts: 1296 - Karma: 85
oh I totally agree, it just seemed like you were using that as an argument against his studlyness.
Jun 28 2012 3:56PM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
4 minutes to kill!!
Jun 28 2012 4:36PM
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lorax
Posts: 1296 - Karma: 85
OOZZZIILLLL
Jun 28 2012 4:37PM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
fack! ok fuck italy, fuck spain, im off
Jun 28 2012 4:39PM
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division.bell
Posts: 2762 - Karma: 1,905
Seriously.

They should have let that last attack play out. I was sure an equalizer goal was coming...fuck.

Good match though, definitely entertaining despite Germany not looking to be in top form.
Jun 28 2012 4:39PM
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Squaw6
Posts: 469 - Karma: 50
Starting to feel bad for Germany:

World Cup 2002: 2nd
World Cup 2006: 3rd
Euro 2008: 2nd
World Cup 2010: 3rd

And Bayern Munich finishing second in everything this year. But Italy played incredible today. Congrats to them.
Jun 28 2012 4:41PM
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ryano
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 1,535
Italy doesnt deserve to be in the finals.. but germany did play like shit. Im mad.
Jun 28 2012 4:41PM
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lorax
Posts: 1296 - Karma: 85
fuck that was a fun game to watch I guess. watching neuer at the half line keeping the ball in was really entertaining.
Jun 28 2012 4:41PM
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division.bell
Posts: 2762 - Karma: 1,905
Fuck yes.
Jun 28 2012 4:42PM
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steezbox
Posts: 1394 - Karma: 701
I am so pissed off right now. Germany was my favourite team, but they played just atrociously. I fucking hate Italy.
Jun 28 2012 4:42PM
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ryano
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 1,535
So much this.
Jun 28 2012 4:43PM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
haha yeah, although i dropped a tear, neuer made me laugh running in the attackline
Jun 28 2012 4:43PM
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S.Ki
Posts: 2172 - Karma: 3,218
Same. Plus this referee did not let this last attack be played out and all it seemed he was on the side of Italy. I AM MAD ASWELL. GERMANY DID NOT WIN ANYTHING SINCE I WAS BORN. :(
Jun 28 2012 4:43PM
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Squaw6
Posts: 469 - Karma: 50
Why don't they deserve it? Because you don't like them? What is with NS and Italy? I'm not an Italy fan, but I can recognize how well they have played this tourney. They thoroughly deserve their place in the final.
Jun 28 2012 4:44PM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
I was hoping they'd get through although I didn't think they would beat germany.
Jun 28 2012 4:46PM
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steezbox
Posts: 1394 - Karma: 701
I feel that, in general, Germany has played much better than Italy throughout the whole tournament. In fact I find that Italy got lucky on many occasions.

Anyways, regardless of likes/dislikes, who do you guys think will win - Spain or Italy?
Jun 28 2012 4:54PM
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aloha.
Posts: 412 - Karma: 163

Even though I don't really like Italy, they deserved to win this game, and they should have had a few more in the end. Everyone with Italy played damn hard, and they worked for the win, where Germany just looked lethargic at times. 

I think Italy is going to keep the fire going in the finals and pull an upset. A goal by Mario Balotelli and the winner by Diamanti to beat Spain 2-1. My .02

Jun 28 2012 5:01PM
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lorax
Posts: 1296 - Karma: 85
I honestly didn't used to like germany very much. But this squad was so fun to watch.
Jun 28 2012 5:02PM
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steezbox
Posts: 1394 - Karma: 701
Oh, for sure. They outplayed Germany completely. As much as I despise Italy, I think that they are going to win as well. Not the biggest fan of Spain either though.
Jun 28 2012 5:03PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10054 - Karma: 25,277
I don't see why people are hating on Italy.
They have changed so much from a team that plays massive defense, dives constantly and terrible tacklees to a team that plays with a far more attacking and lively style.


And most importantly they play as a bloody team, they are one big unit.
They are proud to play for their country, just look at them singing the National Anthem, they don't just want it, they will work to get it. They are passionate to win.

They may have had a slow start in this tournament but they improve every match.



Pirlo is amazing, his passes are brilliant, so well placed and effortless, he easily passes 1/2 man and is always on the move.


Balotelli, he may be an odd person at times and you my hate him, but I've never seen him play with so much drive. His two goals last night were excellent, and unlike a lot of other high-profile strikers he actually delivered this tournament.

Balzaretti, that guy is everywhere, one moment he is defending the other moment he is on the attack.

Buffon, legendary as always.

I can highlight every player of Italy but damn, what I see with them is teamwork.



Cesare Prandelli has been an excellent coach so far, he changed Italian tactics, united the players, with each other and he dresses well.

Click for larger image

Thank you Prandelli, for making a great Italian team.
Jun 28 2012 5:52PM
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Jane6
Posts: 5359 - Karma: 4,505
german goalie - bossmode affirmative
Jun 28 2012 6:16PM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9210 - Karma: 5,357
buffon is the boss keeper, he's so good
Jun 28 2012 6:18PM
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lorax
Posts: 1296 - Karma: 85
real talk. Neuer was going dumb hard in the last 5 minutes of that game.
Jun 28 2012 6:37PM
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bakedpow
Posts: 8770 - Karma: 10,462
Italy deserved that no matter how much it hurts me to say it.

Oh well the germans got 2014 to think about.
Jun 28 2012 6:47PM
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ryano
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 1,535
they dont deserve it because they've played like crap the whole tournement, and have gotten extremely lucky.

yes, germany played awful this game, and didnt deserve to win this one match in particular.

its just sad to see a team play so well throughout the tournament, and blow it against a team that was obviously struggling hard throughout their games to play well.

all italy has going for them right now, is balotelli finally stepped it up. even if italy play like they did against germany today, i dont think it'll be enough against spain, specially with casillas in goal to shut down balotelli.
Jun 28 2012 7:20PM
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OGHolliday
Posts: 2390 - Karma: 2,430
Spain wins I quit. Here we go 0-0 spain in PK's......
Jun 28 2012 7:24PM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
NOOO !!!

germany, y u no win ?


Spain vs Italy is gonna be such a shitshow, Spain's gonna win though ....


Jun 28 2012 7:31PM
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eldridge
Posts: 2272 - Karma: 47
they've already played spain to a 1-1 tie....if they play like they did today they will win in 90 minutes
Jun 28 2012 7:32PM
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Squaw6
Posts: 469 - Karma: 50
Italy dominated Ireland and England, outplayed Croatia and Germany, and got a result against Spain. When have they gotten lucky? When have they really struggled?
Jun 28 2012 7:34PM
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Fun_dip
Posts: 2623 - Karma: 913
I think Italy can take them.
It was only Balotelli being dumb one time that would have put them ahead in their 1st match. After his performance today I think he won't make the same mistake. He seems hungry to win and even comes back to help defend occasionally, which is not common with him.
Jun 28 2012 7:53PM
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Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. troll. theres no other explanation for a chelsea fan to be calling spain, or anyone else, boring to watch. nice one man, i got a kick out of that.

and BAM double troll, beckham isnt technical? technicality is all he has. in his day the best crosser of the ball and one of the best long passers in the world. dude sure doesn't have the athleticism to make it at some of the best teams in the world.

man, you are on trollfire today, really well done.

and squaw6, thanks for talking sense. italy deserve to be where they are, theres nothing lucky about it. should be a great final if italy come to play. two of the best midfields the world has to offer, and if balotelli and cassano are as good up top as they were today, two of the best offenses as well.

balotellis second celebration was the second most badass of all time behind cantona.
Jun 28 2012 8:45PM
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shibby
Posts: 7088 - Karma: -19

i'm being completely serious. passing the ball sideways for 90 minutes is not exciting. Chelsea's CL campaign was anything but boring - masterclass in defending, counterattacking and riding your luck.

beckham is so fucking overrated it's retarded. he's won a single la liga as a bit part player since he left United. sure he could hit a deadball but so could Juninho.

Italy may deserve to be there but they got EXTREMELY LUCKY that they caught Germany on an off day. 99 times out of a 100 germany would smash them. it's also a testament to how mediocre this tournament has been, only 1 top class side the Germans. fair play to Italy they play with passion and for eachother and in this tournament that's been enough.

don't care who wins. normally i'd say Spain but they've bored me to death and have won the past 2 major tournaments. i won't be watching anyways.

Jun 29 2012 12:33AM
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,297
well, germany really sucked that game. But you gotta say that italy got quite lucky too. It could have easily been 1-0 or 2-0 within the first 10min. But then the germans defense was just bad. Simple as that.
I also think that the referees in this particular game and in the whole tourney were kinda of a dissapointment. There were 4-5 major fault of the referee in that game yesterday (for example giving yellow to Hummels in the end there and so on)


Jun 29 2012 1:14AM
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easiestEC
Posts: 2471 - Karma: 489
ITALIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Jun 29 2012 1:20AM
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taylornicky
Posts: 2889 - Karma: 2,579
ALL THE WAYYY!!!!!!!!
Jun 29 2012 1:23AM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
as long as spain doesnt take the title im fine
Jun 29 2012 2:37AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
the ideal result for me would be both team buses crashing, causing retirement-forcing injuries upon both entire squads.


Hate the italian team. They did well to win today, and have been decent the whole tournament, so fair play to them...but i just hate to see them win anything. Has anyone paid any attention to the fact that the italians tend to do well in any tournament that follows a serie a season in which in a match fixing scandal breaks out?


And spain...well, if they win, it'll be like united winning the premiership. I don't like it, i'm not happy, but I'm used to it. But still...3 consecutive international tournament wins? This sport was fun to watch when i was younger. Seems these days the same 20 players are winning everything from club to country.
Jun 29 2012 2:49AM
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Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
i'll give you calling spain boring because its become so trendy today but you cannot say they are worse than chelsea. masterclass in defending? did you see them play? did you see how many chances they gave up? how many posts barca hit? teams not finishing their chances isn't the same as chelsea playing great defense. their counterattacking was mediocre at best and they did it what, twice a game?

whats overrated about beckham? if anything i'd say he's underrated because everyone thinks he was a fluke player and hates him for being good looking.

still dont see why italy is lucky. did germany really have an off day? i think italy just kept their midfield really narrow and compact and the german midfielders besides ozil just couldnt deal with it. i would be shocked if italy and germany played 100 times and germany won 99 of the games. their midfield is real quality and i think it showed vs. germany and england and spain. and you really think germany was the only top class side? besides portugal where have they really been top class? beating a remarkably unremarkable netherlands, beat denmark unconvincingly, and crushing the second worst team in the tournament, greece. hell they apparently don't even have a starting eleven the manager feels he can trust
Jun 29 2012 2:10PM
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LivinOuttaBounZ
Posts: 949 - Karma: 382
As an Arsenal and Barcelona supporter, I will reluctantly support Fabregas and the Spanish team. Ever since my hero, Zizou dropped Materazzi. Even though both Zidane and Marco are retired, I still have trouble supporting the Italian team under any circumstance. My $0.02
Jun 29 2012 4:48PM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
well greece was good enough to beat russia, which was everybodys darling and the strongly supported and was a missed PK away from beating the highly supported hosts poland in an emotional game.

you can say the same about italy. ok they played spain, but is ireland better than denmark? obviously not. is croatia better than the netherlands? i would also say no.

germany beat a team (portugal) which ultimately forced spain into penalty kicks. and it was a deserved win when talking about field advantage. portugal had ONE good chance and germany had at least 3 decent ones.

at this stage, you need a good strategy, a good day and a little luck. germany was outplanned and italy was also the luckier side. no problem, germany didnt do enough to deserve a win.
Jun 29 2012 10:25PM
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Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
my point was that germany isn't the only top class team in the tournament, and if one doesn't consider spain or italy or portugal top class, then germany probably dont deserve to be called so either, based on their performances.

they beat russia on the flukiest goal you can score, at half time, after everyone on the field had switched off except karagounis (i think it was him?). and besides that russia was very dominant.

no, ireland isn't better than denmark, but i would say croatia played a good deal better than the netherlands did, even if they arent better on paper.

again, why was italy lucky? unless you count germany not converting the chances they had, very of few of which were simple. but besides that, why were italy lucky?
Jun 29 2012 11:01PM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
i played for easily 14 years or so. obviously, when you make these two 2 goals, you can brag about how ice cold you are (a little like germany vs netherlands). when you take advantage of your scoring possibilities like italy did in the 1st half, you shoot 2 goals everytime.

i am just saying, that there is a thin line between being "ice cold" and "lucky". i am not saying that the win by italy wasnt deserved, but after these 2 goals you look like the fucking champ.

and when you talk about "punishing individual mistakes", buffon had two brain farts, which i havent seen from him. one on that corner, where he didnt get the ball and pirlo had to clear on the line. the other one where he shoved that soft crosser right into his own player and the ball went a yard wide.

again, germany didnt do enough to win this game. but imo, the media is too fast up on everybodys ass about how bad they are or how good they are. at a EURO, there is literally NO bad team (not even ireland, talk about a team getting fucked by bad luck). thats why germany and spain werent dominating like they did in WCs.

as a fan, its nice when youre on the other side of the fence (like obviously i am on the losing side), but you always have to keep a clear head. no matter if "your" team lost or won, imo, luck is such a big thing in team sports. i am a bayern fan. watching the CL final was so tough. are they a bad squad because they lost in PKs? the media would have sucked their collective dicks if they had won in PKs. now they "are too bad, too inexperienced, too whatever to overcome adversity". similar with spain. they could very well lose this game against portugal. obviously they also had possibilities to win it. but are they now better than germany? are they even better than portugal? i stopped saying shit like this a LONG time ago. team sports are so complex and sometimes an inch here or there turns a nailbiter into a landslide or vice versa.


SIDENOTE
i also (hardcore claim for an european) watch the NFL pretty passionatly. there was the perfect example in the ravens/pats game in the AFC championship. flacco throws a perfect pass, evans drops it after a good play by a journeyman DB. seconds later, their kicker (cundiff?) misses a chip shot FG and sends the pats to the SB. so is brady now a winner? are the pats the better team? everyone talked like that. i am a pats fan. yeah it was nice. but also lucky. you have to respect the factor of luck in such knockout tournaments. no offense or so towards you, idk how this posts read, just my 2 c.


BOTTOM LINE
a knockout tournament is often won by the best team over that period, but most often by the best team that still had a little luck here or there. congrats to italy and spain, they deserve to be in the final. i can respect that.
Jun 30 2012 6:15AM
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NPF
Posts: 5152 - Karma: 12,116
germany :( always will be my team. to bad. world cup 2014 is whats up.
Jun 30 2012 6:25AM
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Bogs
Posts: 4296 - Karma: 1,361
no offense taken, i dont think we really have a quarrel here. i agree with a lot of what you said. i probably havent been as clear as i should of been. i just think its silly how so many people here are talking about how italy is incredibly fortunate to be where they are and how germany, 99 times out of 100, would have crushed them. i think thats stupid, i've seen nothing to suggest that italy are incredibly lucky to be where they are, sure they got a bit of good fortune here and there, but, like you said, all teams need that to win knockout tournaments like this. but its not like the teams they've played have suffered some horrible injustice by losing to italy. likewise, i havent seen anything from germany to suggest that they should have beat italy 99 times out of 100 and i think its silly for people to talk up germany like they're the only good team in this tournament because they think possession based teams like italy and spain are boring and because portugal dont have as many household names. germany beat a bad netherlands, beat denmark but didnt dominate, held on against portugal, crushed a relatively weak greece, and lost to italy because, like you said, every team in the tournament is good, and germany certainly isnt the only one.

i actually think we're pretty close to being on the same page. i just wasnt being clear enough earlier.
Jun 30 2012 9:32AM
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BChaps1209
Posts: 1350 - Karma: 2,441
don't get me wrong i'll be for italy all the way in this final, but casillas is a much better keeper.
Jun 30 2012 9:58AM
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Laurent.
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Jun 30 2012 10:39AM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
i agree nearly 100%, +k
Jun 30 2012 12:31PM
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eldridge
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Jun 30 2012 1:15PM
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PlaygroundRapist
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Jun 30 2012 1:24PM
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Shukovski
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Jun 30 2012 1:32PM
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