Euro 2012 (Soccer) Draw is over . . . Predictions? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Euro 2012 (Soccer) Draw is over . . . Predictions?

Kdawg954

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http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/991300/euro-2012-draw:-irish-handed-horror-draw?cc=5901

Man Group B is just a sick azz group. I know the Germans handled the Dutch a few weeks ago, but they were playing w/o Robben and Van Persie . . . that is gonna be an epic group stage match. Portugal with Nani/Ronaldo couldn't even beat Denmark in the Qualifying, they got dealt a terrible draw being placed in the Group of Death.

The Spanish have a fairly easy route, ducking the Dutch and the Germans potentially until the Semis. They still are the horse to beat in this race, though the Germans are more youthful and extremely talented. Could definitely see that rematch from 4 years ago.

England is just overrated. Love watching Rooney play, but I think he is out the group stages anyways . . . they may not survive . . . even in that pie group they luckily got placed in. Still enjoy the passion of their fans . . . if you guys ever wanna see passioniate fans, head out to an English pub here in the States, 9 a.m. (when these matches probably will be taking place) and just observe. It is hilarious.

Can't wait until June to see this all play out.
 
Man Group B is just a sick azz group. I know the Germans handled the Dutch a few weeks ago, but they were playing w/o Robben and Van Persie . . . that is gonna be an epic group stage match. Portugal with Nani/Ronaldo couldn't even beat Denmark in the Qualifying, they got dealt a terrible draw being placed in the Group of Death.

Don't bet against any of the teams in that group, even Denmark have a chance. At every major tournament there is always at least one of the more fancied teams that doesn't get out of the blocks quick enough. The Dutch are a dangerous dangerous side, they are the best in the world behind Spain. The Germans always play well in the big tournaments, they are a threat to beat anybody on their day. Portugal just don't have the quality over the pitch to compete with the top teams. Yes they have the second best player on the planet and the best who'll be in the tournament in Ronaldo but other than him and Nani they are mediocre. They've never recovered from when the golden era of Portuguese talent retired (Figo, Costa et al.) and I don't see them getting too far in the tournament.

The Spanish have a fairly easy route, ducking the Dutch and the Germans potentially until the Semis. They still are the horse to beat in this race, though the Germans are more youthful and extremely talented. Could definitely see that rematch from 4 years ago.

Spain are the best team in the world at international level. Spain are the holders of the EURO's and the world cup for the simple reason they are best there is. They are effectively Barcelona without Messi (although they do have Torres, Mata, Ramos, Silva etc). They will be the team to beat and ultimately will win it IMO. A Spain to win/Villa to be top scorer is always a nice bet to have.


England is just overrated. Love watching Rooney play, but I think he is out the group stages anyways . . . they may not survive . . . even in that pie group they luckily got placed in. Still enjoy the passion of their fans . . . if you guys ever wanna see passioniate fans, head out to an English pub here in the States, 9 a.m. (when these matches probably will be taking place) and just observe. It is hilarious.

The media over here build it up so much that the expectation level rises to anything but winning every major tournament they enter is a failure. Rooney is Englands best player but suspended for the group stages. They'll still take him. I expect they'll lose to France and squeeze wins against the other two teams and then go out to Germany like always. They'll need their young guns like Jack Wilshire to shine if they have any chance. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are getting old now and have both lost a step, same for John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. Your not wrong about the passion from the fans. Its week in and week out at club level. I wouldn't call it hilarious, its just a way of life!
 
My thoughts on the groups:

Group A: Russia for me are a damn good team on their day. Play some very nice football and have the ability to tear teams apart with their passing, but my main concern with them is that they dont have the strikers to put away teams and also they can be a tad unpredictable. They would be my tip to top that group. As for the other teams, its very had to call. Greece are good at what they do. They're not the most talented side, but are very committed and disciplined and topped a group that included Croatia. Poland with home advantage will really be up for this tournament and that momentum may take them out of the group. The Czech's are not as good as they once were. They're still a dangerous side,but I'd be surprised if they came out of the group.

Group B: This group is very tough to call and will really come down to what the Dutch, Germans and Portuguese do against each other. All of those teams have top talent, with the Germans probably having the best overall side (but barely over the Dutch). Portugal have great talent in the likes of Nani, Ronaldo, Meireles, Moutinho, Pepe and Coentrao and on their day they can beat anyone. But for some reason they seem to struggle putting it all together at times. Denmark have an awful lot to do to qualify, but even though they dont have many big named players,they do play well as a team and will be tough to break down. If they can upset one of the sides, they could capitalize on the other teams taking points off each other.

Group C: This group is not as straight forward as it may seem. Spain should still qualify top of the group as they simply have the most complete side in the world at the moment, but they can be upset (remember they lose to Switzerland in the first game of the World Cup last year). The fight for second will be very close and will be very hard to call. Italy are a better side than they were two years ago, but still struggle to score goals and certainly dont have near the best squad in the competition. Croatia are technically excellent, they are a joy to watch at times, but can still be gotten at as I'm not sold on they defensively. As for Ireland, they known both Croatia and Italy very well and havn't lost to either in friendlies or competitive games since Trappatoni took charge. Ireland are also very, very good at the back (having gone 9 games without conceding a goal before the Armenia game in October) and Trap has that team very organized & disciplined. Ireland however dont play a good brand of football and dont keep the ball well enough at time (which could be their downfall). However they will love the under-dog tag going into the tournament and will raise their game.

Group D: I dont think both England and France come out of this group. England tend to flop at major tournaments and are heavily built up by the media. No Rooney for the first three also is a huge concern. But if Capello can manager to get the team chemistry right (and by that I mean not playing both Lampard and Gerrard in midfield together), then they can certainly do well in this competition. Also Jack Wilshere could light up the tournament. France dont have the same talent they had ten years ago and are certainly beatable. But they still possess some very good talent in the squad and could be dark horses. I not convinced by their strikers, but they could do well if they play as a team and Blanc can get them to gel. Either Sweden or Ukraine I think will nip second in this group. Ukraine, like Poland dont have a great squad, but being at home will be tough to beat. Sweden usually do well at big tournaments and breezed through their group. Very consistent side.

One factor however that we cant judge at the moment that will hugely affect everything is injuries.
 
Go Ireland!!! Represent boys!!!

They probably had the worst draw, but I'm gonna be rooting for em. There are gonna be 2 surprise. One is gonna be a home country making it . . . the other is gonna be a team like Ireland labeled with an underdog tag upsetting one of the big nations and qualifying in the next round.
 
Group B, man that's going to be a ****ing slaughter. In the end, I think my team (Germany) comes out of there.
 
They probably had the worst draw, but I'm gonna be rooting for em. There are gonna be 2 surprise. One is gonna be a home country making it . . . the other is gonna be a team like Ireland labeled with an underdog tag upsetting one of the big nations and qualifying in the next round.

I'd say Denmark easily got the worst draw imo.
 
Group B, man that's going to be a ****ing slaughter. In the end, I think my team (Germany) comes out of there.

I think you could certainly see a repeat of the '08 final. I dont think there's that much between Spain and Germany this time though, as Germany have some very good technical players this time around, couple that with their history in big competitions and fantastic attitude, they have a great shot at winning it.
 
They probably had the worst draw, but I'm gonna be rooting for em. There are gonna be 2 surprise. One is gonna be a home country making it . . . the other is gonna be a team like Ireland labeled with an underdog tag upsetting one of the big nations and qualifying in the next round.

Could happen, but I dont expect it. Best thing for Ireland would be Spain having a clean sweep of the group, draw with Croatia and then beat Italy in the last game.

Personally I think Sweden will surprise a few people.
 
I think you could certainly see a repeat of the '08 final. I dont think there's that much between Spain and Germany this time though, as Germany have some very good technical players this time around, couple that with their history in big competitions and fantastic attitude, they have a great shot at winning it.

Germany is loaded, especially on the offensive end. Hopefully Phillip Lahm and my favorite player, Bastian Schweinsteiger make the final squad as well, though I'm sure they will.
 
I think Ireland has a better shot than people are giving them. I'm not all that sold on Italy.
 
They probably had the worst draw, but I'm gonna be rooting for em. There are gonna be 2 surprise. One is gonna be a home country making it . . . the other is gonna be a team like Ireland labeled with an underdog tag upsetting one of the big nations and qualifying in the next round.

They play hard and defintely are going to surprise a few people.
 
Germany is loaded, especially on the offensive end. Hopefully Phillip Lahm and my favorite player, Bastian Schweinsteiger make the final squad as well, though I'm sure they will.

Klose has been playing some solid ball since the move to the Serie A. Always thought he has been underrated, even when it was him and Ballack (mainly because he has never been elite on the club scene), tho he is one of the all time great scorers in World Cup history. Dude is absolutely world class in front of the net.

And Ozil is like a poor mans Messi . . . which is an absolute compliment. Dude is small as hell, but man he is a magician with the ball, and still young as hell. He is probably Germany's best player.

SchweinStagger brings everything together, he is a vital piece to the Germans success. Mueller and Gomez are both very, very skilled players (Super Mario is a goal scoring machine tho he hasn't done it on the big international stage yet). Podolski brings it on the World/Euro stage everytime. Seriously up front, Germany is LOADED.

And lets not forget Neuer is in goal . . . I'm gonna go out on the limb and say he is the BEST Keeper in the world, when you factor in how young he is.

The man to watch this World Cup is Boateng tho. Where the Germans have been weak since Klinsman was the Coach in 2006 has been on the backline. Lahm is as solid of a LB that you will find, but he isn't the enforcer on defense that Germany has been missing. Boateng is the guy. He was young in 2010, but now he has gotten some solid International Experience and he starts w/ Bayern . . . he is gonna be the missing key in finally beating a team like Spain.

Spain still has another good chance to take this thing . . . but there is no doubt in my mind there will not be a better team in the world come 2014, in Brazil, than Germany.
 
Scweinsteiger is the best midfielder in the world as far as I'm concerned. Easily the most complete. He does it all. Bayern hasn't really been the same since his injury, dropping 2 games. I agree with you on Neuer. I don't know about best, but top 5 no doubt. But when you factor in age, I can see where you're coming from. All the others you'd expect in a top 5, like Iker Casillas, Julio Cesar, Victor Valdes, Gianluigi Buffon, etc. are all 29+.

Boateng has been a good player for Bayern this year. Germany should be fine this year with he, Lahm, and Mertesacker. But defense will definitely be the question for Germany, because there's no questions about our offense with names like Gomez, Klose, Gotze, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Kroos, Ozil, Khedira, Cacau, etc. Absolutely stacked.
 
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