The 2012 UEFA European Championship - Poland/Ukraine - The Thread!

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Yes because these countries need the big boys to come to their home park to generate interest and attendance. Or else nobody would go and these teams would dissolve.

So? They will never be more than fodder, and a waste of time. Put them in a "B" Pool. The IIHF does not invite Luxembourg or Mongolia to the World Hockey Championships.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by troutman

So? They will never be more than fodder, and a waste of time. Put them in a "B" Pool. The IIHF does not invite Luxembourg or Mongolia to the World Hockey Championships.

Interesting that this came up, this is in the Daily Mail today:

Europe's leading clubs have called for the chaotic international fixture list to be slashed.

The European Club Association are demanding that the current fixture list is cut in half from 12 to six games.

The group's members include Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, Newcastle and Tottenham, as well as a string of European heavyweights.

They are putting pressure on FIFA and UEFA to dramatically reduce the number of matches each year in the latest twist in the club v country conflict.

'When I played in the European Championships in the 1980s there were eight teams, now it is 16 and in 2016 it will be 24.

'The World Cup is similar, from 16 teams to 32 now. Everything in the international calendar is balanced in favour of national teams.

'[Qualifying groups for international tournaments] used to have groups of four, now it is six or seven. It has to be stopped that we release players for nonsense dates.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz1XBooflVk

[d_phaneuf]

Lampard gets back in with Parker being rested because of a suspension situation with him being needed for the game in Montenegro and not against team Ramsey/Bale/Fodder

[d_phaneuf]

oh god

"Bale can pretty much win a game on his own as we saw at the San Siro last year"

Final score of that game Inter 4 Spurs 3

[Locke]

England up 1-0 to the shock and surprise of absolutely no one.

Goal by Young, even though Downing did all the hard work.

[d_phaneuf]

England are playing bad, Capello is playing Rooney up all alone

Lampard is playing as an Anchor man basically

you don't need to play defensive against Wales ffs

[valo403]

Originally Posted by troutman

So? They will never be more than fodder, and a waste of time. Put them in a "B" Pool. The IIHF does not invite Luxembourg or Mongolia to the World Hockey Championships.

The thing is there are only a handful of teams that are truly uncompetitive in Europe. Outside of San Marino, Malta and Andorra even the lesser nations are able to compete most of the time. There are a few teams that are unlikely to ever qualify for a major tournament, but they aren't a laughing stock in the qualifiers either. They're good enough to deserve a shot. A team like Iceland is nearly always bottom of their group, but the scores are typically tight and having seen them play live I can tell you that nobody is excited to make the trip to Reykjavik, those aren't easy points to take.

The hockey comparison doesn't make sense. You're comparing the teams invited to the finals with teams competing in qualifiers. UEFA doesn't invite Luxembourg to the Euro's, but they are a part of the qualification process. It may be a good idea to have the bottom 2 or so teams from each group placed into some prelim qualifying groups, but that's not going to change things all that much.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

England are playing bad, Capello is playing Rooney up all alone

Lampard is playing as an Anchor man basically

you don't need to play defensive against Wales ffs

Actually, this is exactly how they played for most of the run up to the last World Cup. Its almost identical, just a few changed players here and there.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

Actually, this is exactly how they played for most of the run up to the last World Cup. Its almost identical, just a few changed players here and there.

they actually played 4-4-2 for the entire world cup and the qualification for it to the detriment of the team

this is rooney as a lone striker

this is the equivalent of Man United hosting Stevenage and throwing out a lineup with 2 DM's

[d_phaneuf]

lol

'4th in the world, you're havin a laugh'

[Mango]

Phew. Huge win for Croatia, while Latvia does them a favor.

[d_phaneuf]

A Welsh man in his 40's is dead of a head injury and 6 people are being held in custody after a fight outside Wembley

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

A Welsh man in his 40's is dead of a head injury and 6 people are being held in custody after a fight outside Wembley

Apparently it was Welsh fans too, and people are speculating it was a Cardiff/Swansea thing. Either way, it's an absolute shame.

[Locke]

Torres snubbed from Spain:

Fernando Torres' stuttering career suffered another setback when he was axed from the Spain squad on Tuesday night.

The £50million Chelsea striker did not even earn a place on the bench as his country sealed qualification for Euro 2012 by thrashing Liechtenstein 6-0.

Torres has flopped at Stamford Bridge since arriving in a British record deal from Liverpool in the January transfer window.

Manager Andres Villas-Boas has persevered with the striker but he is now longer receiving the same patience at international level.

In a thinly-veiled swipe, Spain boss Vicente del Bosque said: 'He is an important player but the people selected for the national team are those who do well for their clubs, not the other way round.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz1XHNusI8r

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Big day for EURO qualifying.

Greece v Croatia will be huge with first place on the line
Turkey v Germany-Turkey needs a result as Belgium is right on their heels for 2nd place and playing Kazakstan today

Group B is a bit of a mess right now. Armenia just won to temporarily go on top with 17 points on 9 games. Russia(17 on 8), Ireland(15 on 8), Slovakia(14 on 8) are in the mix. Russia is away to Slovakia, and the Irish are in Andorra. This group will look a lot different in a couple hours.

Denmark and Portugal both have soft matches(at Cyprus and home toIceland respectively) leading up to their showdown in Denmark for first place on Tuesday. Portugal is beat up a little with Pepe and Coentrao down to injuries. Two important pieces missed ever more with Carvalho's sudden bitch fest and retirement.


Should be a fun day today.

[Locke]

Martin Atkinson gives a penalty to Germany against Turkey, just as the game was getting interesting.

I will say though, in this instance, he got the call right.

[d_phaneuf]

Rooney's dad had him to be booked...

[d_phaneuf]

wow a red....

that suspension carries over to the tournament then

its only 1 game right not 3?

[Mango]

2-0 Greece over Croatia.

Off to cry now.

[Locke]

How are England drawing Montenegro?