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

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Germany beat Israel 2-0 today. Mario Gomez scored which is good

[Reneeee]

The only pool player on England should be Gerrard, why not call Scholes or Carrick, heck i'm sure Joey Barton or Shaun Wright Phillips can do a better job than Henderson. Wasted selection in my opinion.

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by Reneeee

The only pool player on England should be Gerrard, why not call Scholes or Carrick, heck i'm sure Joey Barton or Shaun Wright Phillips can do a better job than Henderson. Wasted selection in my opinion.

Who would you have over Carroll?

[d_phaneuf]

Grant Holt

[The Big Chill]

Carrick said no. SWP is a different position. The options at CM are pretty limited, but Henderson isn't nearly as bad as people are saying. He looked so terrible this year in large part to playing out of his natural position. Plus, he won't see the field anyway.

[d_phaneuf]

Swp!?!??!?!!?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Wow.

The #### may have hit the fan now. There is talk that Italy may skip Euro (however unlikely I think that may be).

Italian Premier Mario Monti went so far on Tuesday to suggest that Italian football should be suspended for two to three years.

“If you told us that for the good of football the national team should not go to the Euros, it wouldn’t be a problem for me,” Prandelli said on Friday in an interview with RaiSport in Zurich. “There are things which I consider more important.

Financial police have examined the banking records of Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on suspicion he made large bets but news reports say he has been cleared of wrongdoing.

“How is Buffon? You’ll have to ask him,” Prandelli said. “He is very strong, with a great personality. He manages to hide uncomfortable moments, but despite this, even a person like him can suffer in a difficult moment like this. Even the strongest people can be so sensitive.”

http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer...use-of-scandal

[Cecil Terwilliger]

"I don’t support premature and ill-considered drastic measures,” Cesare Prandelli, Italy’s coach, told Rai Sport channel. “I hate to be talking about such things, instead of football. But, if necessary, the Italian team is ready to withdraw from the European Championship.”

http://www.rt.com/sport/football/ita...ch-fixing-793/

[Locke]

Something has to be done, this has happened before and unless something drastic is done it will continue to happen.

Once again involving Juventus. Who is surprised?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Locke

Something has to be done, this has happened before and unless something drastic is done it will continue to happen.

Once again involving Juventus. Who is surprised?

Actually I don't believe Juve is involved at all.

They aren't one of the 22 clubs being investigated and any players/managers associated with Juve being investigated are because of their previous teams.

Conte is under investigation but that's from when he was at Sienna. And I believe Bonucci is under investigation from when he was with Bari.

I don't think Juve's title this year is under any real scrutiny.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Italian football is sounding really sketchy. I wonder if it's maphia stuff?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

Italian football is sounding really sketchy. I wonder if it's maphia stuff?

Stangely enough it is a a guy from Singapore, some Hungarian Gypsies and a Bosnian criminal that are at the forefront. No suprise though that most of the teams implicated appear to be from southern Italy.

And the money trail in the saga of Italian football's compromised matches can be traced back to Singapore and alleged match-fixing financier Dan Tan Seet Eng, who is believed to have fixed matches in the country since 2008.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%...29-349215.html

His [Criscito] alleged involvement relates to a meeting he had in May last year, when playing for Genoa, with two of the clubs "ultra" fans, then team-mate Giuseppe Sculli and a Bosnian with a criminal record.

The Calcioscommesse affair is believed to involve a group of Hungarians, a group of "Zingari" -- Gypsies in Italy -- and the heads of the crime syndicate in Singapore.

Two Hungarians were arrested on Monday while three others were already behind bars, one of whom has been co-operating with police.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/criscit...2923--sow.html



This article has details on actual parts of the scandals:

Andrea Masiello, now with Atalanta, admitted to receiving 50,000 euros for scoring an own goal in Bari's 2-0 home defeat to Lecce last season.

Masiello and Bari's involvement took place once the southerners were almost certain to be relegated from Serie A, with a group of Ultra fans allegedly approaching players and telling them to lose certain matches.

http://www.sportpulse.net/content/it...r-scandal-3618

[North East Goon]

anyone know of a good canadian site to buy soccer jersey's?

[Locke]

Speaking of Italy, Russia just put the boots to them 3-0.

[Phaneufenstein]

Originally Posted by Locke

Speaking of Italy, Russia just put the boots to them 3-0.

Watched the match and both teams looked so out of it...

Hopefully they were dogging it because it's a friendly a week away from the real thing, otherwise neither of these teams has a chance to get out of their group...

[Notorious Honey Badger]

I think as long as Italy shows up they have a very good chance. Croatia and Ireland are likely not long for the tourney. Makes me sad for the Hrvat in me.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

anyone know of a good canadian site to buy soccer jersey's?

I usually buy from subside.us.com. They are US based but I seem to remember shipping being reasonable and if you check the special offers section you can often find past seasons jerseys for great prices.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Hey arsenal hows the ukrainian side looking? is sheva playing?

[Arsenal14]

Sheva is on the team but I don't think he'll have too big of a role. More of a super-sub. Milevskyi and Voronin will likely be the main threats. Ukraine's big problem right now is that their top three goalkeepers are unavailable (one suspended and two injured) so they are digging pretty deep into their depth chart there. With the group they're in my expectations are low. They'll be lucky to get a point.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

anyone know of a good canadian site to buy soccer jersey's?

I got my Italy jersey from worldsoccershop.com. Expensive but legit, quick shipping and they actually do authentic lettering which is seemingly impossible to find in Canada.

If you just want a blank jersey you're better off buying local.

Note: you have to pay customs on their orders. They have deals in old jerseys but no authentic customization.