Euro 2012 is a round the corner and hopefully another great football tournament for us all to enjoy. Who do IORRers think will win this time?

I'll throw my hat in now and predict, perhaps obviously, that Germany or Spain will win it. However Holland will be a tough team to beat if they can get the best out of all their players. And France could be a dark horse.
It's a shame that Belgian aren't there as they have a great emerging team with the likes of Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini, Thomas Vermaelen, all class footballers.

Who'll win? Not us, Silver Dagger. Our goalkeeping situation is a concern as is our striker selection. Rooney suspended for the first two games, leaving us with the likes of Defoe and that pony-tailed donkey, Carroll. Oh how I long for a return of the Euro '96 days when we boasted the likes of Shearer and Sheringham.

I reckon it'll be either Spain, Germany or Holland.

Denmark could be a surprise. I support Germany, but there are lots of great teams around.

Quote
Big Al
Who'll win? Not us, Silver Dagger. Our goalkeeping situation is a concern as is our striker selection. Rooney suspended for the first two games, leaving us with the likes of Defoe and that pony-tailed donkey, Carroll. Oh how I long for a return of the Euro '96 days when we boasted the likes of Shearer and Sheringham.

I reckon it'll be either Spain, Germany or Holland.

Big Al - the best thing is not to expect a lot. In the past England has always expected but under-performed. This time there is no expectation whatsoever and that can only be a good thing. Germany have looked very strong coming through but got caned with an experiemntal team last night, losing 5-3 to Switzerland. Holland also lost 1-0 to Bulgaria. And Spain won't have Villa and Puyol - two big losses. But don't bet against any of those.

I'm French but I really don't see France being a good surprise in this tournament.
Our team is too confuse, mentally fragile.
I agree with some of you, we should look between Spain, Germany and Netherlands.

Quote
jpasc95
I'm French but I really don't see France being a good surprise in this tournament.
Our team is too confuse, mentally fragile.
I agree with some of you, we should look between Spain, Germany and Netherlands.

Don't write the French off. This time they are like England - a dark horse with not much expected from them and these teams can always surprise you.

Spain ...Germany as always.........Dutch team has a lot of great players....hope they have a some great days when needed

I was hoping John Guidetti could've joined the swedish squad but at stated earlier, no-one expects England to do any good but they haven't had such a humble ENGLISH manager that Hodgson is since Venables.

Having said that I reckon the words of Lineker always is a law, especially now since Bayern threw away tht CL win: "Footy is a simple game, you play for 120 mins, strike some penalties and then the germans win."

But if Sweden can't win it, I hope for Gli Azzurri.

This is without doubt the worst England squad i can remember in over 30 years watching the national side with a mixture of players either past their best or not good enough to begin with. A midfield containing Barry,Parker and Milner is simply depressing and i personally wouldn't play Gerrard anywhere other than behind the striker.

That said Hodgson is clearly going to set us up not to lose so who knows how far in the tournament we can bore ourselves to.

In reality though, you can't look further than Germany, Spain and maybe the Netherlands and out of those i would say Germany to win it.

Quote
MadMax
I was hoping John Guidetti could've joined the swedish squad but at stated earlier, no-one expects England to do any good but they haven't had such a humble ENGLISH manager that Hodgson is since Venables.

Having said that I reckon the words of Lineker always is a law, especially now since Bayern threw away tht CL win: "Footy is a simple game, you play for 120 mins, strike some penalties and then the germans win."

Who knows how psychological that penalty shoot defeat was for the Germans. Bastien Schweinsteiger was one of the Bayern players who missed too! You could see by his dramatic reaction immediately afterwards just how it affected him. But you'd be a fool to bet against the Germans finishing in the top 3.

Spain.

England won't win anything for at least another 30 years.

Quote
Big Al
Who'll win? Not us, Silver Dagger. Our goalkeeping situation is a concern as is our striker selection. Rooney suspended for the first two games, leaving us with the likes of Defoe and that pony-tailed donkey, Carroll. Oh how I long for a return of the Euro '96 days when we boasted the likes of Shearer and Sheringham.

I reckon it'll be either Spain, Germany or Holland.

Joe Hart arguably best in the world.

Quote
Paul Kersey

Quote
Big Al
Who'll win? Not us, Silver Dagger. Our goalkeeping situation is a concern as is our striker selection. Rooney suspended for the first two games, leaving us with the likes of Defoe and that pony-tailed donkey, Carroll. Oh how I long for a return of the Euro '96 days when we boasted the likes of Shearer and Sheringham.

I reckon it'll be either Spain, Germany or Holland.

Joe Hart arguably best in the world.

As a City fan I heartily agree. The good thing with Joe is he's still so young and looks like wearing the England green jersey for many years. Stability in a goalkeeper is the point from which all great teams grow. Look at Spain.

Quote
Silver Dagger

As a City fan I heartily agree. The good thing with Joe is he's still so young and looks like wearing the England green jersey for many years. Stability in a goalkeeper is the point from which all great teams grow. Look at Spain.

I like Joe Hart, but when you hear that Spain's 4th choice in United's David De Gea, it highlights our woes. I hadn't even heard of a couple of our selections.

Didn't someone from IORR start some sort of pool for the World championship 2010 ? Would be nice to do the same for the Euro 2012.

Keep On Rolling

I think Germany will get the cup, but i am sure, there will be some surprises: pay attention on: Poland, denmark, Croatia

One of the big talking-points here in the UK is Poland and the Ukraine's far-right movement and their hated of non-whites, homosexuals and non-Christians. It's a pretty awful scenario when the Foreign Office warns the families of black English footballers to stay at home. Are there any Eastern Europeans, here? Are things really that awful?

Quote
tomcasagranda
Spain.

England won't win anything for at least another 30 years.

Im English and couldn't agree more!

Quote
Big Al

Quote
Silver Dagger

As a City fan I heartily agree. The good thing with Joe is he's still so young and looks like wearing the England green jersey for many years. Stability in a goalkeeper is the point from which all great teams grow. Look at Spain.

I like Joe Hart, but when you hear that Spain's 4th choice in United's David De Gea, it highlights our woes. I hadn't even heard of a couple of our selections.

Let's hope Hart stays fit then. He is a wondeful keeper and has the potential to be one of the all time greats; he could be England keeper for another 15 years.

As a passionate England supporter it saddens me to see such a paucity of talent; I guess we're now paying the price of 15 years of imported talent in the premier league.

I think that we'll struggle to get out of our group and expect the Dutch and the Spanish to reach the final.

Here's to a good tournament!

England will do one of their best tournements---and loose VS germany by penalty shooting in the final..

No matter who will win for those, who will go to Ukraine....

Guys, be aware! There is a group of absolutely crazy chicks!

[femen.org]
[plus.google.com]
[www.facebook.com]
[twitter.com]

You never know what they can do to you. They are crazy at the best.

they are mainly feminists so you'd better not mess with them or you're gonna regret what they can do to you !

Another scandal in Italy for soccer.
The precedents was in 1982 (italy champion) and in 2006 (italy champion).
I belive in tradition:-)
Sici

Where is Carlitos Baez? No football thread is complete without his enthusiam for the Spanish team. Come on Carlitos - where are you?

Italy.
Remember Paolo Rossi led Italy to win the world cup in 1982 after he was suspected of being fixed.

Quote
Big Al
One of the big talking-points here in the UK is Poland and the Ukraine's far-right movement and their hated of non-whites, homosexuals and non-Christians. It's a pretty awful scenario when the Foreign Office warns the families of black English footballers to stay at home. Are there any Eastern Europeans, here? Are things really that awful?

This is a hot topic for UK tabloids, so English people should start thinking or check out informations instead of repeating lies. I live in Poland and it's completely normal country. Of course gang wars and far-right movement exist but it is marginal phenomenon. I live in Wroclaw and comparing to London riots and crime level it is ten times safer place to live and visit. You should worry about safety at Olympic Games and about your famous hooligan groups visiting Euro than expatiate disgusting and unchecked stories about other countries.

Quote
szef

Quote
Big Al
One of the big talking-points here in the UK is Poland and the Ukraine's far-right movement and their hated of non-whites, homosexuals and non-Christians. It's a pretty awful scenario when the Foreign Office warns the families of black English footballers to stay at home. Are there any Eastern Europeans, here? Are things really that awful?

This is a hot topic for UK tabloids, so English people should start thinking or check out informations instead of repeating lies. I live in Poland and it's completely normal country. Of course gang wars and far-right movement exist but it is marginal phenomenon. I live in Wroclaw and comparing to London riots and crime level it is ten times safer place to live and visit. You should worry about safety at Olympic Games and about your famous hooligan groups visiting Euro than expatiate disgusting and unchecked stories about other countries.

Well, do you know what the Poles and Ukrainians did to the Jews during world war 2 until they were slaughtered themselves by the German army and SS? All three countries have a horrible history. It also didn't happen that long ago.

To put things into the just proportion: all western capitalist countries have their own extreme right wing problem, though they aren't violent here in Holland. Not because we are better than the rest (maybe just a tiny little bit), but because our social-economic situation is not that very bad (yet).

Back to football! Too difficult to say who will win. Didn't the very modest Greek team win some years ago? Miracles do happen on the green grass sometimes.

Quote
kleermaker
Well, do you know what the Poles and Ukrainians did to the Jews during world war 2 until they were slaughtered themselves by the German army and SS? All three countries have a horrible history. It also didn't happen that long ago.

Yes i do know - they were saving their jewish neighbours and friends risking their own lives. For example -[en.wikipedia.org] "It is estimated by one study that hundreds of thousands of Poles concealed and aided hundreds of thousands of their Polish-Jewish neighbors."
You just proved yourself as historic ignorant, but i blame west european and american low educational level not you. I know that there were incidents like Jedwabne but we should talk about cofirmed and general events. In general Poles didn't oppress Jews, they were helping them! Thinking other way is like blaming Holland for Holocaust because of Nederlandsche SS.


Backing to football Germany and Spain have the strogest teams, but my vote goes to Germany, because i don't like Spanish style of playing.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-05-28 17:07 by szef.

Szef,
we also have historic books in the bad and wicked western countries and we don't consider Poles and Ukrainians people as Nazis.
For instance, lots of us know that Jewish Poles were badly treated mainly by Nazis and Soviets