Euro 2012 Draw - Discussion Thread

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

Its live on BBC2 now.
The path to the finals begins now, what will be your team's route to the final?

Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

Group C
Spain
Italy
Rep of Ireland
Croatia

Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

[Guest]

I think thats what Cappello would go for.

[Crimey]

Take away Barry and Lampard please!

Replace with a hopefully fit Gerrard and Sturridge.

[Guest]

-------------Hart-----

---Walker---Terry---Cahill---Cole

---Walcott----Jones---Barry----Milner

-------------Sturridge----Bent---

[Guest]

This is Cappello we are talking about though. For some reason he rates Lamps.

[Irish Curry]

[quote="cricketfan90"]you are optimstic irish curry lol [/quote]

I have to be! Especsally in this colony of the EU/IMF, sport is the only restbit

[Feckless Rogue]

Don't care who we're playing. Can't wait.

Remember this?

[Irish Curry]

Unfortunaitly I wasn't even born then
Bring it on though!

[super_realist]

Very tough draw for England.
None of those teams are any better than each other and any 2 of the four could go through.

[Beer]

Very tough draw for England.
None of those teams are any better than each other and any 2 of the four could go through.

I think same could be said about all the groups mate.

Ireland have a very good chance. They could spring a surprise. Lets not forget Greece in 2004.

[westisbest]

Feckless

Give it a lash Jack great song, great memories to.

Lets get it on

[oneday12]

Should be a good and close group. Looking forward to watching it!

[cherriesfna]

england to feck it up as usual

France 1 - 0 England
Ukraine 1-1 Sweden

Ukraine 0 - 0 England
France 3 - 1 Sweden

Sweden 0 - 0 England
Ukraine 1-1 France

France 7
Ukraine 3
England 2
Sweden 2

if that happens ill give myself a pat on the back

[dummy_half]

What a joke system UEFA managed to come up with by seeding both host nations into the first pot - was inevitably going to create a big disparity between the groups headed by Poland and Ukrine and those headed by Spain and the Netherlands.

England's draw is pretty fair - easy team from pot 1, possibly the toughtest team from Pot 4 (but one we recently beat) and one of the better teams from Pot 3. We at least jave a good chance of progressing from the group stage, more likely as runners up to France.

As for the England teams suggested above - who's going to pass the ball accurately from the back or midfield? We need at least a couple of guys who can play a bit of possession football otherwise we'll just be chasing and hoping for the lucky break as happened afaisnt Spain the other week.

[AberdeenSteve]

I have every faith in England completely bombing at this years finals.

France; Beaten you already this year and are one of the teams in this competition I would class as serious dark horses. Laurent Blanc has done a stellar job in rebuilding a nation shamed by their performance at the last World Cup and has a squad full of very talented players both young and experienced.

Ukraine; Not a team you'd associate with being a threat but they will stubborn side with home support and I certainly see you struggling against them.

Sweden; possibly your only hope of a win but again, this is England we are speaking about.

[monty junior]

People are very dismissive of Ukraine, they were in the world cup quarter finals only 5 years ago and regularly beat the bigger teams whilst usually being ranked around the 20 mark, especially at home, far from a walk in the park.

[Duty281]

Groups will finish like this:

Group A
Russia
Greece
Czech
Poland

Group B
Holland
Germany
Portugal
Denmark

Group C
Spain
Italy
Rep of Ireland
Croatia

Group D
England
France
Sweden
Ukraine

Quarter Finals

Germany 3-1 Russia (AET)
Spain 2-0 France
Holland 4-1 Greece
England 1-0 Italy (AET)

Semi Finals

Germany 0-1 Spain
England 2-1 Holland

Then in the final, a heroic English side catch the Spanish on the break. Steven Gerrard sweeps it home to end 46 years of hurt as England win Euro 2012! Or something like that anyway.

[Guest]

Should qualify. IIRC we play Ukraine last so we need at least 4pts from France and Sweden, which is very doable. Obviously we need to start very well against France and grind out a draw.

But I think if we qualify from the group, the quarters will be the furthest we go.

[Guest]

england to feck it up as usual

France 1 - 0 England
Ukraine 1-1 Sweden

Ukraine 0 - 0 England
France 3 - 1 Sweden

Sweden 0 - 0 England
Ukraine 1-1 France

France 7
Ukraine 3
England 2
Sweden 2

if that happens ill give myself a pat on the back

or your an insider at FIFA cherries

[GG]

Everyone picking England teams seems to have forgotten Wilshere

[super_realist]

Should qualify. IIRC we play Ukraine last so we need at least 4pts from France and Sweden, which is very doable. Obviously we need to start very well against France and grind out a draw.

But I think if we qualify from the group, the quarters will be the furthest we go.

France battered England a year ago with a younger team and England haven't beaten Sweden (who are every bit as good as England) in competitive football for about 50 years, then they have one of the host nations at home!

I would think 2 points from the first two games is far more realistic.
It's a very tough group and almost impossible to pick who'll qualify, possibly goal difference.

Agree though, QF is the absolute furthest they'll get, and they'll be doing very well to get that far

[Guest]

Super, considering that these players played against France: Foster, Gibbs, Warnock, Ferdinand, Henderson, Crouch, Carroll and Bothroyd- it's going to be a compeltely different game. No point talking about that France game when our team for the opening game will be completely different.

[super_realist]

Still think that it's a coin toss getting out of that group, especially considering that England never play as a team regardless who plays in it.

Glad that no one is saying that England can win the Euro's though, there seems to be a bit more realism these days.

[Guest]

I think if we have our best squad all fit for the France game and Sweden game then we should qualify.

[Feckless Rogue]

England will want to top the group though. Finish 2nd and they'll probably meet Spain in the quarters.

Unless Ireland have already sent them packing.

[Irish Curry]

I want England to win their group so it would set up a Ireland vs England 1/8 (Unless we some how finish top)

Now that would be special

[tilton_zulu]

I was just looking at the fixture list for the tournament and does anyone else think it's stupid that the team who go into the 4th quater final tie (potentially England or Ireland!!!) would have to play 3 games in 8 days to win the tournament?

[super_realist]

I was just looking at the fixture list for the tournament and does anyone else think it's stupid that the team who go into the 4th quater final tie (potentially England or Ireland!!!) would have to play 3 games in 8 days to win the tournament?

Boo bloody hoo, Why would that be stupid? They often play more regularly than that in domestic football. e.g. Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday and even if the other teams have say 9 days, it shouldn't make a blind bit of difference, in fact playing more regularly might actually help them.

3 Games only constitutes 4 and a half hours of play, with a 15 minute break in each game (and substitutions). Big deal. These guys are supposed to be professional athletes for heavens sake. A tennis player might have a match that long in one afternoon, and then he might have to do it again two days later. If you can't play 3 games in 8 days without thinking you are at a disadvantage physically then you aren't training hard enough.

Footballers are so soft but it would be typical for them to use it an excuse for yet another dismal tournament.

[Guest]

its a major tournament, if they want to win it, then the fixture list really shouldnt bother them.

[westisbest]

super realist

Have been saying the same thing for ages.

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