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

[Locke]

Originally Posted by KTown

Scotland vs. Czechs in a key matchup this week.

If the Czech lose they can almost throw there qualifier hopes out the window.

Is this the day Jan Koller gets the call?

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by NBC

^ And Capello named Kevin Davies for being a dirty PoS. It all balances out.

that just makes no sense to me, especially when Andy Carroll wasn't called up to the u21's I expected him here

Kevin Davies is a fine striker for Bolton but Bolton play a certain style, and I don't expect England to become a bunch of long ball merchants against Montenegro

Capello is just messing around at this point, only reason for Davies, SWP, and Terry being involved at this point

[KTown]

Originally Posted by Locke

Is this the day Jan Koller gets the call?

One can only dream that Koller and Nedved where still young enough to play.

The youth movement is in full effect for the Czechs.

"Teenage striker Václav Kadlec has been called into the Czech Republic squad in place of the injured Milan Baroš for the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers at home to Scotland and away to Liechtenstein."

[Nuje]

Can't wait for that. Tickets for the tournament go on sale in Spring. I have enough family in Poland to not worry about paying for a place to sleep.

[Locke]

Another matchday is upon us, and just in time too for us split footie/hockey fans, hopefully we'll have some positive results to looks forward to today!

Matches:

Armenia vs. Slovakia
Kazakhstan vs. Belgium
Hungary vs.San Marino
Andorra vs. Macedonia
Georgia vs. Malta
Cyprus vs. Norway
Czech Republic vs. Scotland
Luxembourg vs. Belarus
Montenegro vs. Switzerland
Serbia vs. Estonia
Austria vs. Azerbaijan
Wales vs. Bulgaria
Moldova vs. Netherlands
Albania vs. Bosnia-Herzogovina
Slovenia vs. Faroe Islands
Northern Ireland vs. Italy
Germany vs. Turkey
Republic of Ireland vs. Russia
Greece vs. Latvia
Portugal vs. Denmark
Spain vs. Lithuania

Games to watch:

Northern Ireland vs. Italy - The Italians should be mindful of the Irish, in my mind this is a very even match, the Irish have been putting up steady results lately and Italy is a pretty fragile team at the moment after underperforming badly at the World Cup. Regardless, this should be a fairly straightforward Italian win, but you never know, the same could have been said about Italy playing against New Zealand.

Czech Republic vs. Scotland - 10 years ago you'd have penciled in a Czech win and moved along. Not so anymore, the Czech form has been round if anything earmarked by sloppy defending and a complete inability to score goals. The youth movement is in full swing for the Czechs but will be enough to get past Scotland who are in pretty decent form earning 4 points from 2 games to top the group for the moment. I'm looking at a draw here or a Scottish win.

Germany vs. Turkey - Normally you'd say that this is a German win as the big German machine rolls over the rest of Europe now as they did in WC qualifying. Its still an important match as Germany and Turkey are the favourites to win the group and they are level on points at the moment. This is the clash between group favourites, so how the points get spread here is going to affect how the rest of the group matches unfold. I expect a German win here, a Turkish win would be a surprise but with Low's tendency to experiment lately its not out of the question. Ballack is still injured until after the New Year.

Republic of Ireland vs. Russia - Oh the potential that would exist if the two halves of Ireland could patch up their differences and make one team. This is the 'good' Ireland in regards to having some of the bigger named players on it like Robbie Keane. This could be the most even game of the bunch, Russia's form is coughing and weezing like a Lada in its prime only scoring 2 goals in 2 matches to Ireland's 4. The Irish currently top their group and the Russians are rated to be the runner's up if not the most serious contenders to win the Group.

Portugal vs. Denmark - Now, this is a big game. The Portuguese have a serious problem with this Danish squad that was a thorn in their side all through WC qualifying both losing and drawing but never beating this Danish team. Couple that with a surprisingly goal filled draw against minnows Cyprus and a loss to Norway means that Portugal's Euro qualifying hopes are in dire straights. This is a huge game for them, and they need a win just to get back up the table.

[Locke]

And, I dont think Portugal are going to get it, I could see a draw, but I could just as easily see an in-form Denmark take the victory over Portugal on Paulo Bento's first match in charge.

[chris_yk]

Canada is leading Ukraine 2-0 after half an hour in a friendly in Ukraine which also happens to be Andriy Shevchenko's 100th cap.. goals by Simeon Jackson and Atiba Hutchison

[Locke]

Oh God, how does Germany get the inimitable Howard Webb?

[Locke]

Nice goal for the Germans, I hate Turkey, such a whiny team. I particularly dislike their goalkeeper Volkan so it was nice that his error led directly to the goal, and in true fashion, he whined about it to the ref.

5 extra minutes in the first half alone? Are you HIGH Howard Webb? WTF is that? This isnt Manchester United here Webb, Sir Alex wont give you a beej in the tunnel for the extra time....

[d_phaneuf]

good effort from ireland

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

good effort from ireland

Which one? Haha! No, you mean Northern, I know that.

[Locke]

Wow. Jorge Low just blasted a ball into the crows out of frustration over a Podolski miss. Wow. I wonder if hes going to get fined or suspended for that.

I wish the camera guy had followed the ball, because the whole crowd would be looking at the end of the field and some guy probably just got totally brained with a shot that he wasnt expecting.

"I was watching the ball, its way over there, where the f*&^ did THAT shot come from?"

Hahaha!

[Locke]

Republic of Ireland making a comeback from down 3-0 to Russia now 3-2.

Portugal up 2-0 from 2 quick Nani goals.

Germany up to 2-0 now with a goal from Ozil.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

Which one? Haha! No, you mean Northern, I know that.

haha ya it was Northern

although the republic's possible comeback from 3-0 down is good as well

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

haha ya it was Northern

although the republic's possible comeback from 3-0 down is good as well

No kidding. Thats impressive. And Klose capitalizes on a poor clearance by Volkan, and then megs him for Germany's third. 3-0 to the good.

[SuperMatt18]

Italy played well but were extremely wasteful against Northern Ireland, a tough place to go to and win though so I will take the draw.

Especially since Serbia was upset by Estonia 3-1 and dropped major points.

With Italy not in the best form, having three world cup teams in the group (Italy, Serbia, Slovenia) plus what looks to be a stronger Northern Ireland squad and an Estonia team who seem to no longer be an easy walkover, this group looks like it will be pretty wide open and could be a difficult group to qualify out of.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Finally a positive result for Portugal. 3-1 final!

It's nice for Bento to get his first win in charge. I'm not going to say there was a HUGE difference between Queroz and Bento's teams, but it seemed the team was having fun out there. And even when Carvalho conceded the own goal, Portugal didn't panic and a couple minutes later, Ronaldo scored the insurance marker.

Portugal's first two games put them in a huge hole and there still not out of it yet. They pretty much need to run the table to have a chance to win the group or get that second spot. Away to Iceland next, a match they should win. But I thought the same when they were at home to Cyprus, so anything is possible with this team.

[Locke]

Pretty typical Italian result, they're still having trouble scoring.

Portugal finally earned some points, and thats a huge game as Denmark were one of the bigger teams in that group.

Germany had little to no trouble with Turkey, their quality has gone downhill. I was pretty pleased, 2 brutal mistakes by Volkan in conjunction with 2 passes of pure quality by Philip Lahm, the BEST wing-back defender in the world on both sides! That was a great Germany game to watch, but Podolski is going to have to start producing a little more. Nice to see Klose keeping a lot of that World Cup form going.

[KTown]

Czechs get a much needed win to put them right back in the thick of things. A lost or tie today would have been an almost impossible hole to climb out of.

[Mango]

I might be the only one watching...but Croatia and Israel are about to get under way.