Euro 2012

[surfer]

Good to see you back D.A.! I would have messaged you but I honestly thought you had quit the site. Also, it looks like Mr. Pinnell has made an appearance as well. That makes 11 for the pool.

Since this kicktipp website is new to me and at least half in German, I'd caution everyone to make their "Matchday 1" as well as "Matchday 2" and "3" picks by Friday, just to be safe. I'm pretty sure you only have to make the Matchday 1 picks by Friday morning, but I'd hate to have anyone locked out. You should be able to change the "2" and "3" picks right up until those matches start. The "Questions" need to be in by Friday though.

Good luck.

[Antoine]

Yes, you can make your picks for Matchday 2 until 12.06.2012 17:55

[surfer]

I'm surprised I'm the only one who picked the top goal scorer to come from Poland.

(Lewandowski, 1)

[Richard Pinnell]

I'm surprised I'm the only one who picked the top goal scorer to come from Poland.

Lewandowski is a good call, he was on my list but I went for Van Persie. Hard to choose anyone else after the year he had, against all the odds at Arsenal. The Pole could be on his way to Man Utd after the Euros if you believe the usual rumour mills.

The opening game was dire. Two poor performances by two pretty bad teams. I can't see either escaping their groups if that match is anything to go by, and I hope the tournament only gets better from here.

Also, let's hope the refereeing improves. The two cards for the sending off were laughable.

I picked the Germans for the tournament, but it really could go any of four or five ways, not easy to call this time around. One thing is for certain, England go into this one without a cat's chance in hell.

Oh, and 'ello, thanks for the invite

[bedouin]

it wasn't as bad as i expected.
the greeks started the game only after the red card. there was another clear penalty (handball on the first half) not given, and the disallowed goal was a mystery. probably a fair result (got it right on kicktipp ), as it could have been over after the first 30mins. but bitter taste at the end.

strong feeling here that greeks will qualify with the Russians.
Poland on the 2nd half was very flat.
i think Czechs are not what they were used to be.

[surfer]

I'm surprised I'm the only one who picked the top goal scorer to come from Poland.

Lewandowski is a good call, he was on my list but I went for Van Persie. Hard to choose anyone else after the year he had, against all the odds at Arsenal. The Pole could be on his way to Man Utd after the Euros if you believe the usual rumour mills.

The opening game was dire. Two poor performances by two pretty bad teams. I can't see either escaping their groups if that match is anything to go by, and I hope the tournament only gets better from here.

Also, let's hope the refereeing improves. The two cards for the sending off were laughable.

I picked the Germans for the tournament, but it really could go any of four or five ways, not easy to call this time around. One thing is for certain, England go into this one without a cat's chance in hell.

Oh, and 'ello, thanks for the invite

Glad to see you here Richard . It'd be terrible to see Lewandowski go to United. I like the guy and it'd be a shame to have to start hating him and wishing bodily harm to him. I didnt think the first match was that bad, the Greeks showed some initiative and forward thinking, rather impressive actually. They showed they have more to offer than defense and set pieces, and physical play (ie Stoke City). After the first red (a bullshit second yellow, I'll give you that) I thought it was going to be all Poland, but they seemed to lose their focus, and the Greeks started to find the gaps in the midfield. Not convinced there was intent with the handball in the box imo, sorry bedouin. Good drama anyways. Is Szczesny out for the second match? I've still tapped the Poles to go through to the second round with Russia. That match, despite an illusory scoreline, was the more boring I thought, despite the Russians showing some clinical finishing. Yeah, the Czechs dont seem to have much, even Cech had a poor match, the 3rd (iirc) was one I think he should have done better on.

Mixed bag, hope tomorrow is better. Just glad the matches have started!

[Antoine]

Mixing Euro & Random Pics' topic

[Antoine]

Chemical foul play in EURO 2012 football shirts
In a few short 3 days, Europe’s best football players kick-off the European football championship in jerseys containing harmful and toxic substances new findings by BEUC members1 reveal.
Having tested 9 official EURO 2012 shirts, all were found to have worrying levels of chemical content. Lead, a heavy metal, is found in 62 out of 9 tested shirts. In kits from Spain and Germany, lead exceeds recommended levels for children products. Ronaldo, van Persie and their teammates from Portugal and the Netherlands will play in shirts containing nickel. Host country Poland’s shirt should be banned outright from shops as it contains an organotin compound (used to prevent sweat odour) in higher doses than legal limit. Organotin can be toxic to the nervous system. Nonylphenol – which can disrupt the endocrine system and is banned from wastewater because of its harmful effect on the environment – was found in Spain and Italy shirts.
Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC, commented:
“Football fans pay up to €90 for the shirt of their favourite team. The least they should expect is to have a quality and safe product. It is inexplicable that heavy metals are used in mass consumer products. It is clearly foul play by manufacturers to use substances harmful to both people and the environment.”
“Our members’ test results are a sad reminder that Europe’s chemicals legislation is unfit for the purpose of banning dangerous substances from consumer products. The upcoming review of REACH, Europe’s chemicals legislation, efforts to deal with ‘chemical cocktail’ effects and plans to deal with endocrine disrupting chemicals give the EU ample opportunity to be on the offensive against harmful chemicals.”

beuc.org

[jon abbey]

well, that's one final four pick in huge trouble after one game.

[bedouin]

CCCP 4-1 CZE
at times the russians play like barca (sans messi)

NED 0-1 DEN
textbook football beats the talented but rather indifferent dutch

GER 0-0 POR (half time)
fell asleep on this one just woke up by the ads. doesn't look like i've missed much. hope germans score 3 to get my kicktipp thingie back on track.

[Richard Pinnell]

CCCP 4-1 CZE
at times the russians play like barca (sans messi)

Not really. They were seriously flattered by a way below par Czech side. Its a good job the Czech team didn't bother attacking at all as Arshavin clearly had no intention of defending at any point. Russia should walk this group now but I really don't see them getting anywhere further once they come up against a team that offers more of a threat.

NED 0-1 DEN
textbook football beats the talented but rather indifferent dutch

I didn't watch this game, but a bit of a shock. For anyone that saw it, how was Christian Eriksen? There's one class young man there that would be a decent fit to the Premier League.

GER 0-0 POR (half time)
fell asleep on this one just woke up by the ads. doesn't look like i've missed much. hope germans score 3 to get my kicktipp thingie back on track.

Ended, predictably 1-0 to Germany. A decent header from Gomez, who otherwise played with all the mobility of a snail wearing concrete boots. The classiest moment of the game though came at about the hour mark, when Jerome Boateng pulled off what might the the defensive play of the tournament with that block to stop Ronaldo. The Portugese didn't deserve to win playing that way. It seems strange to me that when you have one of the greatest players ever to grace the game up front that you set up to play for a draw. Mind you, Ronaldo and Nani can dazzle as much as they like if they only have Helder Postiga in the middle to finish things off. Remember him Darren?!

[Antoine]

Quite a cruel defeat for Portugal, I thought a nil was OK on this one.
Really enjoyed Coentrão's match (didn't expect him at this level).

[bedouin]

it is true we need to see the russians playing a stronger team but they do read each other very well (which i guess it is mostly because 7 of their first team players come from the same team and won the UEFA cup a year ago). Watched them on a friendly against the Greekies 2 months ago and they really played us off the park (not that it's much of a benchmark I know, but still).

Eriksen didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Mats Hummels (the German number 5) is a class act. 1-0 is a fair result.

[MRS]

Mats Hummels (the German number 5) is a class act.

fucking anchor

[surfer]

Mind you, Ronaldo and Nani can dazzle as much as they like if they only have Helder Postiga in the middle to finish things off. Remember him Darren?!

Alas (luckily) my Spurs fandom only dates to 2008, when they signed Modric. However on two different Spurs message boards I frequent, Postiga "won" their decade in review poll back in '10 as the worst Spurs player of the past 10 years! Serhiy Rebrov came in a close second.

Oh and idemo Vatreni.

[DarkAttraktor]

Good to see you back D.A.! I would have messaged you but I honestly thought you had quit the site. Also, it looks like Mr. Pinnell has made an appearance as well. That makes 11 for the pool.

Yeah, I was rarely around lately, but how could I break such a lovely tradition of commenting WC's and Euros with fellow IHM-ers, a third or fourth time in a row.

re:Russia-Czech rep. Czechs are pushovers, a team that used up all of their fortunes in two legs against Montenegro in the playoffs can consider themselves super-lucky to be here, so this is no surprise IMO.

re:Netherlands defeat. Netherlands did lose to Bulgaria in one of their last friendlies before the Euro and I thought that was strange at the time, but obviously something is not functioning there.

re today:Lets hope Vatreni will not hamper their 1/4 final chances by drawing the weakest team in the group.

[surfer]

[bedouin]

ESP 1-1 ITA
Was that a 4-6-0 from del Bosque?
Well, not surprising if Torres is the only forward in the squad.

CRO 3-1 IRL
No contest really, though Irish fighting spirit was remarkable.
Trap was managing Juventus when I was a kid. This must make him at least 150 yrs old!
With Jelavic (the Everton forward) in top form, I have strong feeling that Croatia will beat the talent-less Italy who rely solely on power and Boufon.

[surfer]

ESP 1-1 ITA
Was that a 4-6-0 from del Bosque?
Well, not surprising if Torres is the only forward in the squad.

CRO 3-1 IRL
No contest really, though Irish fighting spirit was remarkable.
Trap was managing Juventus when I was a kid. This must make him at least 150 yrs old!
With Jelavic (the Everton forward) in top form, I have strong feeling that Croatia will beat the talent-less Italy who rely solely on power and Boufon.

Yeah, not a great weekend for European (or should I say EPL) strikers: RvP had by his standards an awful game, Balotelli got his expected yellow and froze on a 2 on 1 breakaway, and Spain went strikerless rather than start Torres. Gomez played only OK.

Its hard to tell how good Croatia actually was because the Irish (Shay Given) were very sloppy. 2 of the 3 were soft goals, and a missed pen for Keane. Despite that Croatia still looked very dangerous and controlled play throughout almost the entire match. Mad Mandzukic, Perisic, Rakitic all looked great. Jelavic got a lucky deflection but his touch is impeccable and he does the most with his chances. Modric controlled the tempo and did pirouettes all over the midfield. Their backline is as bad as I feared though, Corluka (who I thought would at least be passable) was the worst player on the pitch other than Given, and Shildenfeld was poor too. Corluka was constantly committing clumsy challenges and poorly positioned. If they can patch up the defense, they could be very dangerous. IMO, the most impressive possession based attack of all of the teams to play so far, even if it was against the possibly worst team in the tournament.

[surfer]

Here comes Andy Carroll to save the day!