Euro 2008 Predictions

[superbob]

Alright people, the time is upon us. Tomorrow, June 6th is the day it finally starts so we might as well have a thread about it.

Group A:
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey

Group B:
Austria
Croatia
German
Poland

Group C:
Romania
France
Netherlands
Italy

Group D:
Spain
Russia
Greece
Sweden

Now who's gonna take it?

Is kinda obvious if you've seen my world cup predictions so long ago and that is Germany, the land of my fathers.

Group A:
Portugal and Czech are going through with portugal winning the group

Group B:
Germany and Croatia are going through with germany winning the group

Group C:
I'm thinking that France and Italy are going through in this one, but i can't think of who's winning

Group D:
I'm thinking Spain and Sweden are going through, dunno who's winning either.

Winning the tourney is going to be germany

[S.O.C]

Germany or France will win it...nuff said :O

[reKoil]

Greece

My heritage is Greek, but if not the Greeks, Portugal or Germany, my number 1 team is Bayern, so..

I just hope, hope to GOD, Italy doesn't win, to many Italian friends I have...

[S.O.C]

I hate Greece....+i dont want them to win so i can make fun of my cousin ;D
+italy....just dirty :O

[Sexy Latina]

(Group A) Protugal and Czech with Portugal winning atleast 3-1.
(Group B) Germany and Croatia with Germany takin the win.
(Group C) France and Italy with Italy takin the win again!!!!
(Group D) Spain and Russia with Spain taking the win.

Hopefully it comes out like the world cup! Some awesome games there!

[incy]

portugal's looking strong this year, with c.ronaldo, quaresma, veloso, nani and other youngsters..

france too, are a strong side. the new striker that has just been recruited into the national team.. uhmm gomis something something.. he's good and, karim benzema...

netherlands too, sneijder, robben and all.. fast attacking team.

my predictions for the winner of Euro 2008.
France

[Enishi]

Germany is my team...gots German blood running in my veins. Plus Lahm is my hero.

Although....we have to look out for Austria. Even though majority of the country wanted them to pull out of the Cup because they said they weren't ready and wanted to escape any shame of defeat I believe they could pull something off. They recently rose up in the world ranks into the top 100 (moved 9 spots up too) so I want them to be the dark horse that no one expects.

[S.O.C]

yeh i forgot to add germany to my list,they kickass...especially when they score from 25 yards + distance:O those shots are teh seks

[superbob]

^ The german squad, especially ballack and frings, are really the only group that are willing to take those long shots should they have teh opening, and the scary thing is, is that those shots are accurate. I remember Frings's goal against Costa rica in the first game of the 06 world cup, that 35m bomb off of the free kick that hit the upper right corner.

[lokes]

forza azzuri

taking it just like they took the world cup.

[b@st@rd]

Àhahaha were fucked, 1st match against italy... It'll be a miracle if we advance.

[waqo]

The dutch shall win, never fear!

Edit: I have been busy, but I'll be taking over this thread very soon XD

Since a lot of people were hyping Ze Germans, I'd just like to say that they looked really poor in their warm-up games (no one has really impressed though) but they have the talent. I think their defence is a problem though I saw highlights of the Belarussians slicing them open with through passes, not a good sign! Anyway teams that usually peak during the tournament rather than before it have the best chance.

Ok my predictions for today 07-06-2008 (no time to do a Group by group yet):

Switzerland v Czech Republic: Score: 1-1

The Czechs are favourites in this game and the Swiss don't really have the consistency to make it through this group, but they will sneak a point off the Czechs imo. Home advantage and the tournament euphoria should play its part. If the Czechs are to win Koller will be key in attack because Baros has been out of sorts for quite a while.

Portugal v Turkey: Predicted Score: 3-1

Portugal still have a problem with an out and out goal-scorer with only Nuno Gomes up front it should see them struggle against more organised defences. The Portugese midfield is amongst the best in the tournament and this team's defence is almost impeccable with class at every position. This team is certainly capable of winning this tournament but it depends on their goals from attack.

Turkey have been fading as a force in football after some good years in and around 2002, Ronaldo will get on the scoresheet and Nihat will probably get the consolation goal for the Turks.

[S.O.C]

Originally Posted by lokes

forza azzuri

taking it just like they took the world cup.

italy got lucky to get the world cup....now france is back for payback :O

[waqo]

Today's matches have a certain x-factor about them, especially the Germany- Poland clash that has been in the press all week for many wrong reasons. Hopefully, football shall take center stage tonight!

For yesterdays games, the Swiss got mega unlucky having a penalty turned down and hitting the crossbar. Petr Cech was superb and kept them out time and time again with some good saves. The Czechs scored with one of their only threatening plays of the second half and did enough to see it through.

Predictions for today:

Austria-Croatia Score: 0-2 (edit: sorry there's noway the Austrians will score!)

The Croats should have enough in the tank to seal this one. They advanced at the expense of England in the qualifiers and have some gloriously technical players headed by Niko Kranjcar. Watch out for Luca Modric as well he is a good prospect.


Germany-Poland score prediction: 2-1

The Poles biggest strength is their coach Leo Beenhakker. Other than that they have a solid group of players but shouldn't have enough quality in a serious match to take anything from the Germans.

Obviously, Michael Ballack who has been in excellent form in the second half of the season with Chelsea will be one of the players to watch. Contributions from Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose.

Poland will probably score at least one though because from what I've seen of the German defending it is circumspect to say the least.

[ZrKen]

I'm still having a hard time believing England aren't at Euro. They'd be my tips to win if they were in it.

Strongest team at the moment is definitely Germany so no doubt they'll at least make it to semi's. I'm real interested to see how Group C turns out. Normally I'd go with Italy and France but Netherlands aren't push overs and Romania are decent on a good day.

[waqo]

Originally Posted by ZrKen

I'm still having a hard time believing England aren't at Euro. They'd be my tips to win if they were in it.

Strongest team at the moment is definitely Germany so no doubt they'll at least make it to semi's. I'm real interested to see how Group C turns out. Normally I'd go with Italy and France but Netherlands aren't push overs and Romania are decent on a good day.

You know I live in England and am a supporter of the team when it comes to football. But to be completely honest they didn't deserve to be there, they wouldn't have won it if they had been there!

England just don't have the clinical approach to the game. They are a group of great individuals but not a team! They lack a quality finisher and any team that doesn't have one struggles at International level. Its a very different game to the club game, you need to stick to simplicity and England have a poor squad.

A brave English manager would choose either Lampard or Gerrard and stick to his guns. A better English manager would pick Defoe before it was too late and not keep playing with Rooney on his own upfront. I think Capello is a good man for the England job, he brings efficiency and a no-compromises attitude. If his approach works then maybe the English pre-madonnas shall realize that they are better off playing as a team and oh yeah practise some bloody penalties in a knockout tournament!

Today's games were pretty mediocre, Croatia showed up for 25 minutes scored then went on the backfoot and survived the Austrian onslaught due to the lack of clearcut Austrian chances and a goal-scorer. Croatia seem to be missing Eduardo a lot (shame about the lad he's a quality player) they just didn't have any targets in the box although Olic worked his socks off upfront.

THe Germany match wasn't much better with the Poles starting very slowly and all over the place defensively. The Germans were going to score 5 if they had brought their shooting boots with them. Poland improved in the second half and tried to attack but lacked quality in their final ball. Germany whilst being impressive were never really threatened.

[superbob]

The german defense wasn't to great during the game though, they let a lot of balls through and most of the time ballack or frings had to come back to help in simple situations. The german attack on the other hand was quite good, if they decided to be a bit selfish the score could have easily been 4 or more goals for them. They've got a very strong team, just the defense needs to step up to the level the rest of the team is playing at.

[Ravi]

Originally Posted by b@st@rd

Àhahaha were fucked, 1st match against italy... It'll be a miracle if we advance.

We got dumped into the pool of death.

I'm still rooting for the guys though!

[waqo]

Originally Posted by superbob

The german defense wasn't to great during the game though, they let a lot of balls through and most of the time ballack or frings had to come back to help in simple situations. The german attack on the other hand was quite good, if they decided to be a bit selfish the score could have easily been 4 or more goals for them. They've got a very strong team, just the defense needs to step up to the level the rest of the team is playing at.

I'm glad someone saw that as well (I mentioned the German defence in my previous post), the problem is with Metzelder having missed 90% of the regular season through injury and Mertesacker getting older they're not solid at the back. Plus with Lahm and Jansen very keen to get up front and support the attack the central midfielders Frings especially has to be spot on to cover. If they play against a team with strong wingers like Portugal (potential semi) they may well be left exposed at the back.

Luckily for the Germans the only other real championship winning side in their side of the draw is Portugal so they don't have to get it right till deep in the tournament. I still think that France or Spain are looking good with the Dutch and Portugese the dark horses.

I like the German attacking force and all the three names I mentioned in my predictions did well. Gomez is another quality player its weird though that Gomes, Klose and Podolski were involved in the first goal and then Klose and Podolski again in the second and all three have strong Polish links.