Euro 2012

[Elite]

Really, good football? To be honest, Spain has nothing going on that made them good at the World Championships two years ago. I find their play rather boring and not too interesting to watch. They are not the unbeatable giants everybody thinks they are..

[Nekov]

Well, I actually love the way they play. They make the most out of being a team, passing the ball to the open man, creating spaces, pressing the other team. I don't think they are unbeatable but i sure enjoy watching them a lot.

And yes, I consider that to be good football because of what I mentioned above.

[Elite]

Still, they are not as good as two years ago. They made a lot of slippery mistakes in both their matches against Italy and Ireland. They could have pulled a better result out of both. That's basically what I meant.

And because of that, I think Croatia will do their utmost best and I think (based on how they have played) that they can at least tie the match.

[Nekov]

True. I'd say it's mostly because neither Villa or Puyol are playing and both of them make a huge difference. I think only Germany or maybe Italy can beat them right now.

[Elite]

Well, Italy failed to beat them, so for that to be proven they shall need to meet in the finals, which is, at the moment, still entirely possible.

[reneranucci]

Well, I actually hate the way they play. They make the most out of being a team, passing the ball to the open man, and then passing to another open man, and then he returns the ball, and then he gets the ball again, and then makes a backwards pass, and then one defender passes to another defender, and then to the goalkeeper, and then back to the defender, and then back to Xavi, and then to Iniesta, who wants to go forward, but hey! why do that when you can pass back to Pique? So  Pique has the ball, he looks to the side and there is Arbeloa, who gets the pass, then back to Pique again, then to Xavi, then to Xabi, Silva is open on the other side, then back to Xabi, then back to Pique, where's the goal again?

FTFY

[Elite]

Thank you!

[Nekov]

Well, I actually hate the way they play. They make the most out of being a team, passing the ball to the open man, and then passing to another open man, and then he returns the ball, and then he gets the ball again, and then makes a backwards pass, and then one defender passes to another defender, and then to the goalkeeper, and then back to the defender, and then back to Xavi, and then to Iniesta, who wants to go forward, but hey! why do that when you can pass back to Pique? So  Pique has the ball, he looks to the side and there is Arbeloa, who gets the pass, then back to Pique again, then to Xavi, then to Xabi, Silva is open on the other side, then back to Xabi, then back to Pique, where's the goal again?

FTFY

Which turns out to be the best way to have the other team lose track of where they need to be standing therefore creating spaces for Spanish players to receive the ball alone and create danger.

The truth is, the more you have the ball the less chances the opposing team has to score. If you try to rush a play and you lose the ball then you might get a goal scored against you, but if you are patient and move the ball around and make sure not to lose it until you have scoring opportunity then your chances of winning increase.

[reneranucci]

Well, I actually hate the way they play. They make the most out of being a team, passing the ball to the open man, and then passing to another open man, and then he returns the ball, and then he gets the ball again, and then makes a backwards pass, and then one defender passes to another defender, and then to the goalkeeper, and then back to the defender, and then back to Xavi, and then to Iniesta, who wants to go forward, but hey! why do that when you can pass back to Pique? So  Pique has the ball, he looks to the side and there is Arbeloa, who gets the pass, then back to Pique again, then to Xavi, then to Xabi, Silva is open on the other side, then back to Xabi, then back to Pique, where's the goal again?

FTFY

Which turns out to be the best way to have the other team lose track of where they need to be standing therefore creating spaces for Spanish players to receive the ball alone and create danger.

The truth is, the more you have the ball the less chances the opposing team has to score. If you try to rush a play and you lose the ball then you might get a goal scored against you, but if you are patient and move the ball around and make sure not to lose it until you have scoring opportunity then your chances of winning increase.

I'm not denying that. However, Spain carries that style to the extreme where it is not fun to watch anymore, and you wonder whether they remember where the goal is or what the purpose of the game is. Just look at their last 4 games in the World Cup 2010: four 1-0 victories, where they dominated the ball, scored, and then kept making passes and passes and passes... Effective? Yes. The spectacular football many people claim it to be? Not at all. I would really like to enjoy that team, but I just can't watch their games anymore, it's an exercise of patience more than an sporting event.

[Nekov]

The fact that they scored only one goal doesn't mean that the match was boring. During those last 4 games Spain shot the goal 66 times. In their last 4 games Germany scored 11 goals yet they only shot 58 times. Spain creates lots of goal situations during matches they just miss a lot of them.

[jag66]

Well from the evidence of that game and their game against Itay, it looks to me like Spain are very beatable. Hopefully england can manage it in the quarters 

Has anyone read the rules for when teams have the same number of points in the group stage? Very complicated permutations in the the group just finished!

[Elite]

2 teams with the same points: the match which those two teams played counts. Is that a tie? Then it goes on goal difference.
3 teams with the same points: goal difference from all matches apart from matches played against the team with a different amounts of points.
4 teams with the same points: I don't have a fucking clue. What if all matches in the group stage would be tied? That would be well weird.

[Zantera]

Spain and Barcelona are like two Prog Metal bands. Lots of wank and displaying what they can do, but I don't find it interesting to watch a team pass the ball in sideways for 5 minutes and then attacking.

[jag66]

2 teams with the same points: the match which those two teams played counts. Is that a tie? Then it goes on goal difference.
3 teams with the same points: goal difference from all matches apart from matches played against the team with a different amounts of points.
4 teams with the same points: I don't have a fucking clue. What if all matches in the group stage would be tied? That would be well weird.

Here's the whole set of rules. Eeek.


• (a) higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question

• (b) superior goal difference in the matches among the teams in question

• (c) higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question

• (d) If, after having applied criteria a) to c), two of those teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine the final rankings of the two teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to i) apply in the order given

• (e) superior goal difference in all the group matches

• (f) higher number of goals scored in all the group matches

• (g) if the two teams have played each other in the final group game, the team to progress would be decided on penalties. Otherwise it comes down to the Uefa national team coefficient ranking system

• (h) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament)

• (i) drawing of lots.

[Scorpion]

Has it ever come to i)? Probably not, but then, unlikely shit happens all the time.

[jag66]

Has it ever come to i)? Probably not, but then, unlikely shit happens all the time.

I'd presume not. Even if it got to (g), the likelyhood of the 'coefficient' being the same is pretty low.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient

[Scorpion]

True. From what I saw, there aren't even two countries with the same UEFA coefficient.

[wasteland]

Well, Italy has won its place to the quarter-finals. Until the next match I'm a happy panda!

[Elite]

England and Sweden victory! Fuck yeah, it couldn't have been better!

[ariich]

Well, somehow we ended up clear winners of our group, but we really didn't deserve it!

[jsem]

What a goal by Ibra.

[alirocker08]

How the fuck we did that I shall have no idea.

[Elite]

Well, somehow we ended up clear winners of our group, but we really didn't deserve it!

Yes, we did. Who else? France was pretty crap in all matches, Ukraine failed to score enough goals and Sweden should have had France's spot in the final ranking, but not the first place, for they lost against us.

[ariich]

France outplayed us and Ukraine outplayed us. I didn't see the Sweden game so can't comment on that.

[John94]

Great Euros so far. Wasn't feeling patriotic so I didn't really support them fully (I am a club over country fan) - but Gerrard has been awesome which I hope continues into the new season. Likewise, Carroll played well against Sweden and I hope he gets a go against Italy, physically he would dominate them especially without Chiellini.

[wasteland]

Great Euros so far. Wasn't feeling patriotic so I didn't really support them fully (I am a club over country fan) - but Gerrard has been awesome which I hope continues into the new season. Likewise, Carroll played well against Sweden and I hope he gets a go against Italy, physically he would dominate them especially without Chiellini.

Well, Bonucci is quite imposing too... Too bad he's quite young and unexperienced...

[Scorpion]

Germany vs. Greek tonight, and I must say that even though I'm looking forward to the game, the constant politisation of this fucking event is pissing me off. There are newspapers in Germany (not very respectable ones, admittedly) that show headlines like "Bye, Greece - we won't save you this time!" or people calling for the Greek to show the German flag on their football shirt, as a sponsor.

Can't we just enjoy the fucking game and stop this shit? This is soooo out of line.

/rant

Sorry for that. I hope we win anyway.

[reneranucci]

[TheVoxyn]

Fun match, glad Germany won (was to be expected though).

[Scorpion]

Yeah, it took a bit until it really gained momentum, but the second half was pretty good.

[njdtfan]

Looks like Spain, does have France number. Not a huge fan of the way they play (Spain) and I am seriously getting tired of teams playing defence and just trying to counter attack (France, Greece). But, the extreme passing seems to work for Spain, Germany, etc. Spain will score 1 more and win 2-0.

That said, i am so friggin stoked for tomorrows game. I think my Italian dudes can pull it out. and may actually suprise alot of people by reaching the final. (Crosses fingers)

[Elite]

Bah, that was sucky. proved my point on Spain's playing earlier. Damn.

[njdtfan]

No drive from France the entire 2nd half. Come a holes-its the euro cup. I am actually glad. I think Spain vs. Portugal is an awesome matchup. Should be an intersting match.

[Elite]

No France wasn't doing their best either, bunch of assholes. Ukraine or Sweden should have been in their place..
Anyway, yeah; Spain vs Portugal should be a match to look out for.

[njdtfan]

Now lets Go Italy! I am so friggin stoked for this. I think (suprisngly) Italy can shut down England. 1-0 Italy. I have 30 of my buds coming over for the match.