Euro 2012

Just kicked off . Good luck to all! Let s hope it ll be a great tournament.
I have Poland-Greece 1-1 and Russia-Turkey 2-0 for today. And I have the Germans winning it all

Didn t know that Turkey is qualified for the final tournament But if you mean Czech Republic instead of Turkey, your tips was very good.

Russia impress me in some phased of the game yesterday. Hope they can recover there beautiful game in the next matches

Today I think it will be 50/50 between Portugal and Germany. And other match I think the Netherlands will make it.

Stupid me

I think the Dutch will beat the Danes 2-0. Only because I think the Danish style of play suits the Dutch.
I see Germany beating the Portuguese 3-1. The Germans have really impressed me .

The Netherlands act very unlucky in front of the goals. It s like Portugal in the other game. If you don t score, you can t win, even if you make more for the game.

Germany was very lucky to win the game against Portugal as they played really bad. It was nothing like the impressive games in 2010 and 2011.

I m sure, that this luck isn t enough to win against the Netherlands for Germany. And if the Netherlands play with the passion like they did today, they will score against Germany and probaly win. But we will see. Evry game is different and as I remember, Germany show two bad performances in groupstage of Euro 2008 (against Croatia and Austria) and one bad performance in groupstage of World Cup 2010 (against Ghana) but still qualified and show impressive unexpected performance in K.O. stages (especially in World Cup 2010).

Today we have Spain vs. Italy and Ireland vs. Croatia.
I think Spain should win against Italy, as I think they in good shape and Italy can t concentrate full, becaus of the betting problems.
In other game I think Croatia have the stronger team. But it is intressting to see if Ireland can make a suprise.

True and true.

Holland wasn t bad luck i.m.o.. They played as individuals, not as a team. They created chances but it seems that Robben, Van Persie and Huntelaar all have points to prove, and they believe that the only way to do that is to score themselves. I ve never seen such poor distance shooting (except when I play swos ). The Danes played clever, got a bit of luck not conceding a penalty and probably deserved to win.

Germany disappointed me, the Portuguese surprised me. Yep, the Germans got a bit lucky and the Portuguese looked impressive attacking. Problem is they looked like the Dutch...they couldn t finish. Should be an interesting group this .

I have Spain beating Italy, though I can see the Italians squeaking a draw. It ll be interesting to see how Italy copes with all the off-pitch problems and their poor friendly results. I ll give it to Spain 1-0.

Croatia - Ireland is a tough one to call. I also believe the Croatians have a stronger squad, better players, but Ireland have looked solid all through qualifying. I ll go for 1-1.

Interesting day yesterday. Spain looked good, and the Italians looked better than most analysts here thought they would be. Ireland were passionate but Croatia were clinical and well-organized. I m looking forward to the next group games .

D-Day for England today. A few months ago I thought they would get slaughtered by France, now I m not so sure. Since Hodgson took over England have looked solid in their last two 1-0 wins vs Norway and Belgium. Not good, but solid. I don t think they ll give many goals away, and I don t think they ll score many either. France looked good in qualifying though people here have questioned the togetherness of the squad. I ll go for a 0-0 draw (I think England would gladly pay good money for that ).

Ukraine and Sweden....well I feel the Swedes could do well in Euro 2012. If this game wasn t a home game for Ukraine I d have gone for an easy Swedish victory. Now, well I still think the Swedes have enough to win, just. 2-1 Sverige.

Rock: You`re with the Englisch or a Dutch fan?

Remark to German game: Main problem is that Schweinsteiger s far away from beeing in a good shape. So the engine of the gameplay sputters. Also Lahm had a terrible day. Couldn t believe my eyes saw him playing.

But the defenders like Boateng and (first of all) Hummels did a great job.

And remember: Germany lost vs Serbia 0-1 and won luckily 1-0 vs Ghana back in 2010. No one remembers those games - everyone speaks about the 4-1 (4-2) ;D vs England and the 4-0 vs Argentina.

I m with the English, though I think getting out of the group would be a major achievement this time round.

Concerning Schweinsteiger, some people here want the Dutch to let Afellay mark him (who only played something like 50 minutes of first team football this year). They think he could effectively shut Schweinsteiger out of the game with his speed (because he isn t fully fit). I agree with your remarks on Germany s defenders, though I was amazed the Portuguese kept getting chances (midfield problems ?). I believe the Germans won thanks to playing as a team (as always ), and their passion. They really gave their all to withstand the Portuguese pressure in the final minutes of the game.

I don t know what the general consensus in Germany is, but there s a lot of respect for the Mannschaft here. A lot of people thought the Germans would win it all before the tournament started and they still do. I think the majority of the Dutch analysts have tipped the Germans to beat Holland this Wednesday (as do I ). Oranje has the players (bar the defence that is), but they don t seem to be playing as a team. There are people who are trying to press the Bild reporting of Holland as the main view in Germany, just to try and drum up a bit of passion, but there s hardly any resentment at the moment. Should be a good game .

Well dime if I was born in San Marino I d support them instead of England .

Good games yesterday.
Milner had a typically English shot on goal . The English look solid and it seems they re really trying to play (for once...) though they lack skill, especially up front. I felt the French were less organized (I didn t like their defence) and were hoping their skill advantage would bring them the points. 1-1 was a good result for both sides I think.
Ukraine impressed me, and it was great to see a legend scoring twice in his golden years . I feel Sweden underperformed and I hope they come out guns a blazing in their next games. One thing, I really really doubt any team in Group D will win it all .

Today Group A. Greece - Czech Republic.....I ll go for 0-0, not much to say. Not really impressed by both teams so far and I think they ll both go out before the knockout stage. Russia - Poland could be very very interesting. Russia played excellent in their first game, Poland looked good going forward, and they have the crowd behind them. A daring predicition...2-2.