EURO 2012

...and Russia were fine until this match

Czechs are mitteleuropa, and Croatia's practically Italy

Hold on, I'm not having Russia held up as a counterexample

I thought Russia would go far in this tournament, thought their back four and midfield were well above average, just didn't account for quite such poor finishing.

I don't consider Russia Russia part of Eastern europe - to the east, but, they are just Russia.

I still have a formally iron curtain approach to these things so Czechs = Eastern. And again, middle Europe doesn't really exist as a 'footballing region'.

Croatia are def East!

Just saw a report on Greek election, guy was talking about a big day tom with car horns in the background...people are celebrating :-)

Tonight, Greece owns Europe.

it's almost as if the metaphorical concept of balkanization applied to states, because if one were to imagine all of the balkan countries together, why what a fine football team they would have

and by the same token, russia could have hleb, konoplyanka and mkhitaryan to add to their collection of ineffectual attacking midfielders

anyway heightened facetiousness isn't going to hide my disappointment here

greece might have one of the better cb pairings now? during the first half they were largely hidden behind the first line of defence but towards the end they looked solid...the pilsbury doughboy a schalke has been a prospect for years but former milan disappointment papastothopoulos looks like a canny fuck too, and he is pretty quick iirc

hm

the way they played in the first half was so defensive that one can assume vs germany or whoever they will play for 0 - 0

samaras might just about be a better dribbler than big angelos charisteas but he is worse in every other aspect

gekas is done too

Russia are just flakey cunts and deserve it really. Feel a bit bad for Poland but then again I didn't see their game today.

Roffle:

Polish reaction in the Warsaw pubs and clubs: "At least the Russians are not through."

was watching the poland v czech game. poland were shit, didnt deserve it, but russia? cant believe they blew it. greeks are a rubfest

Kind of hope someone at Sheremetyevo airport puts up a sign saying "No this is Russia" on their return.

Russia blowing it and Greece being resolute are both predictable in their own way. Probably the biggest surprise for me was that this terrible Czech team ended up topping the group.

Told you all Russia are shit. They drew with us at home FFS.

Group A got found out for the charlatan it was last night.

a fat clown for all to see.

a nothing group.

group a is a creep.

Probably the biggest surprise for me was that this terrible Czech team ended up topping the group.

Scots gonna hate but they improved after that disastrous opener - they were so dominant in the 2nd half last night it was embarrassing.

Can easily see them reaching the semis now.

Oops sorry wrong tag there.

I'd be surprised if they did, tbh. They looked very fragile for much of the Greece game and were probably lucky to get three points. I like a couple of their midfielders, and Cech when he's on form, but reckon they'll struggle against Portugal. Might have a shot against Denmark, though.

holland, tho

i haven't seen this strootman goon at all but if he is half as good as he is espoused to be, they should play him because otherwise the team is broken between two dmids and sneijder or if vdv plays, two amids and whichever of de jong and van bommel is retained

portugal's midfield is one joao moutinho away from being a lot of nothing, even denmark are probably better with eriksen and kvist atm

czechs have improved since hubschman came in but i'd definitely take them to go out in the qf. thought their dominance in the 2nd half said more about poland's spent force and lack of plan b than it did about them. xp.

Portugal are just as flakey as Russia.

Nobody's as flaky as Russia, except their little brothers Serbia

nigeria has a claim

Portugal are flaky, but not against the Netherlands ;_; (10 matches, 1 loss)

nah they aren't flaky, assuming they are judged by their record over the last decade or so rather than looking at preening eejit ronaldo shanking forty shots a game into the stands

2k4 you could make an argument but they did reach the final and greece were just on dis ting, 2k6 semifinal, 2k8 quarterfinal, narrow loss to spain two years ago

and throughout all of that (since the demise of figo and especially ruí costa) they have largely been a solid, aggressive, defensively minded team....they tend to wobble in qualification but they get there in the end so

2k6 was an awful perf against France (terrible SF all round), 2k8 Spain were doing the 1-0s but it should have been 4-0 morelike (only the Dutch figured out a tactic). Can see them doing nothing again come crunch time if they get through tonight.

Greece were magnificent Greece, but they were at home. Even Eng managed to win at home, once.

that neglects how 'crunch time' for portugal is usually at a stage beyond their actual talents

they lost 1-0 to france playing defensively vs the best side in that world cup, they forced spain to alter their natural playing style more than anyone else has managed in the last four years

i haven't seen this strootman goon at all but if he is half as good as he is espoused to be, they should play him because otherwise the team is broken between two dmids and sneijder or if vdv plays, two amids and whichever of de jong and van bommel is retained

― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Sunday, June 17, 2012 12:19 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I too would put Strootman in the starting eleven, but our manager is just too chicken and stubborn to do it. He brings all these wonderful bright hot prospects to the tournament only to start with the same old players and in a system that hasn't worked for a year now.

Holland: Stekelenburg; vdWiel, Vlaar, Mathijsen, Willems; De Jong, VdVaart; Robben, vPersie, Sneijder; Huntelaar

So Heitinga, Afellay and Van Bommel (his son in law) are sacrificed. Could have been worse. I don't think Van der Vaart will last 60 minutes though, he's not in good shape. Fat and slow tbh.

That's the Spurs way afaict.

True dat. He's been extremely vocal and eager about wanting to start though. So tonight's the night to show he deserves it.

Good stuff, might as well go for it. What are the chances of a Battle of Nuremberg repeat?

Vlaar for Heitinga (player of the year of Everton!) seems surprising, but Heitinga has been dire in building up this tournament I think.

Van Bommel kicked it all off last time iirc, he could be sorely missed.

IK, with Portugal versus Holland, there's always the chance of that. Portugal is the single team Holland has won the least against. 10 losses, only 1 win in 11 matches. Yikes.

Van Bommel kicked it all off last time iirc, he could be sorely missed.

@Ismael Klata, Sunday, June 17, 2012 7:45 PM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I saw the footage again last night. The images of Van Bronckhorst, Bouhlarouz and Deco, all sitting next to each other having been sent off, is so beautiful.

Heartwarming stuff. I just had a look again there, van Bommel was indeed booked first, but Boulahrouz's foul on Ronaldo a few minutes later is the real beauty.

Heh, I remember being outraged at the refereeing at the time. I think I'd be happier tonight if we do get a repeat.

Not sure how VdVaart and De Jong are going to stop the three midfielders of Portugal though. Robben and Sneijder are notoriously lazy when it comes to their defending tasks.

100th cap for Podolski today

some kind of landmark in my life to see someone younger than me get 100 caps.

There's still time. And it'd be easier for you.