THE NAME OF THE GAME ....FOOTBALL!

[Hans]

OH MY GOD! Check those groups of DEATH! (mainly group B)

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal
Group C: Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia
Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England

ok this is going to be a TOUGH Euro and an interesting one.
Go Mannschaft!!

!!! of course I'm interested most in group B. And I think Holland and Deutschland will make it. But this constellation has one advantage. In the quarter final will be alleged easier teams

[Aslan]

It is a day of mourning here as every game in the UK will have a minute silence to Gary Speed.....the Welsh coach who was found dead at his home last Sunday.....

Hi Kathy,

but isn't his always the case? I remember for example in 1996 when the uefa euro was in england, the evening before the match england - scottland, the scottish team watched the movie Braveheart.

And do you remember the words of Brathu (from Wales). He said last year he likes the team of Wales and every team that wins against england

Sorry Hans....I did not know you had replied to me....but yes you are correct....Scotland also has the same way of thinking as Wales.....that they will always go with the team that is playing against England.....however now the English fans are upset as they are only allowed 5000 tickets for the Euro games.....however the English team will have loads of air miles as their training camp is in Poland....and after the World Cup behaviour of the likes of Rooney I am not holding my breath for England to make it out of the group stages.....my support is with the Rep of Ireland.....

But I do wonder what the game with France will be like.....could be interesting as the French also had problems at the World Cup.....off the pitch.....

[Hans]

Sorry Hans....I did not know you had replied to me....

Hi Kathy, no problem. And about the teams I would say this could become interesting. France had its problems in the world cup 2010, yes, but that was because of the coach. Even some players like Zidane, who didn't play anymore for france, said that this is no real coach, just a person who says which players will play. I guess this has changed now. But france isn't really good in the moment.

Interesting will be the matches of ireland. Spain, which is without doubt one of the top favourites of the tournamen, has problems with teams that play like italy. And ireland has the most italian coach as italian as a coach can be, Mr. Trappatoni. In german TV one of the experts is Mehmet Scholl (maybe you have heard about him) played under Trappatoni in munich. And he loves this coach and always tells nice and funny stories about him. So he explained once Trappatoni loves the catenaccio. His favourite result was 0:0, with this result he made everything right. So group C isn't easy for spain and I am really curious how it will be, with the irish team

[Gość]

I'M SO HAPPY!
It is exactly what we wanted! Can you believe? We were predicting exactly these teams in our group, we said: Czech Republic or Republic of Ireland, Greece and Russia, you can imagine our reaction
Firts of all I'm happy the Spanish team will play in Poland.

I was so nervous during last days, I even had a stomach ache
Ok, the first team for us - Czech Rep. OK. They got A4 so the last group game will be against them, fine. There was applause.
The next one - Greece, WOW! We just wanted them! Joyful shouts.
I was so stressed then! My body was shaking and heart was ready to jump out
I'd put my hands on the face and said: I feel it will be Germany. And what? Russia! That was like a miracle, impassible! Euphoria!

HAPPY!

[Hans]

I just added the fifa world cup rankings:

Group A: Poland (66), Greece (14), Russia (12), Czech Republic (33)
Group B: Netherlands (2), Denmark (11), Germany (3), Portugal (7)
Group C: Spain (1), Italy (9), Republic of Ireland (21), Croatia (8)
Group D: Ukraine (55), Sweden (18), France (15), England (5)

what a difference between group A and B (the best team of group A is #12 in the world, the worst team of group B is #11)

[Hans]

I'M SO HAPPY!
It is exactly what we wanted! Can you believe? We were predicting exactly these teams in our group, we said: Czech Republic or Republic of Ireland, Greece and Russia, you can imagine our reaction
Firts of all I'm happy the Spanish team will play in Poland.

I was so nervous during last days, I even had a stomach ache
Ok, the first team for us - Czech Rep. OK. They got A4 so the last group game will be against them, fine. There was applause.
The next one - Greece, WOW! We just wanted them! Joyful shouts.
I was so stressed then! My body was shaking and heart was ready to jump out
I'd put my hands on the face and said: I feel it will be Germany. And what? Russia! That was like a miracle, impassible! Euphoria!

HAPPY!

In this group you have a realistic chance to reach the knockout stage. But in the quarter final for sure a very hard opponent will wait for you

[Aslan]

My quote button has gone into witness protection.....

Ireland should have gone into the World Cup but instead had to deal with the "Hand of God" part two with Thierry Henry.....what I thought to be the best part of the World Cup was when the USA was at the top of the group with England and England came in second.....you should have heard the English fans having a go at the team because they had hotel and tickets for the next round in which they THOUGHT England would be playing.....very upset English Fans....

Capello needs to let John Terry, Frank Lampard, and possibly Ashley Cole go and let the younger ones take their place.....

I am very happy with the Irish side and I am over the moon that Trapattoni never did not pick Jermaine Pennant from Stoke to play for the Irish....

[Hans]

Capello needs to let John Terry, Frank Lampard, and possibly Ashley Cole go and let the younger ones take their place.....

oh yes. Hienry and his assist with the hand. Even Hienry was a good and fair player, this cost him a lot of sympathy in the german speaking part of the world (germany, switzerland, austria)

and concerning the english national team: In general I agree with you, but in the moment you cannot change the team, there's only one match left before the euro, that's not enough to form a team. But england has in general a problem (or better said two). First: There's too much money in the Premier League. Instead of forming / educating new young players they simply buy players from outside england. We had a very similar problem here in germany. The low point was the euro 2000 in portugal. After this tournament every Bundesliga Team had to build up centres for the youth. And now more and more talents come up and are already real stars (Özil, Khedira, Götze, Reuss, Kroos, ...)
Second: the clubs in england have to play too many matches over the year. Btw. when here in germany a team has to play saturday - wednesday - saturday, we call it an english week. The players if not tired but at least not as fit as the players from other teams when they come to an international tournament.

[Aslan]

Capello needs to let John Terry, Frank Lampard, and possibly Ashley Cole go and let the younger ones take their place.....

oh yes. Hienry and his assist with the hand. Even Hienry was a good and fair player, this cost him a lot of sympathy in the german speaking part of the world (germany, switzerland, austria)

He was dropped with Tiger Woods in adverts here....he was in a catch 22....if he had yes I touched the ball with my hand during the game....I don't think he would have walked out off the pitch in one piece....if he acted like nothing happened then he has to deal with the rest of the world disliking him....he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.... ....I think between this and his age is why he went to the states.....the French didn't even use him much in the World Cup......

and concerning the english national team: In general I agree with you, but in the moment you cannot change the team, there's only one match left before the euro, that's not enough to form a team. But england has in general a problem (or better said two).

We have more then 2 problems but not enough room on this forum to discuss them......

First: There's too much money in the Premier League. Instead of forming / educating new young players they simply buy players from outside england. We had a very similar problem here in germany. The low point was the euro 2000 in portugal. After this tournament every Bundesliga Team had to build up centres for the youth. And now more and more talents come up and are already real stars (Özil, Khedira, Götze, Reuss, Kroos, ...)

It is a silly amount of money within the Premier League....and every year it is the same clubs in the top 5.....and it is boring for me.....if you look at the Premier League table this morning....of the top 5 clubs.....4 are in the control of foreigners.....I follow two teams.....Leeds United and Preston North End....and that is all.....as one would need a degree in "Football" to be able to keep track of everything that goes on.....however I did find this story about a 5 year that was placed with Man United....cute kid....

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/8 ... ty-loyalty

Second: the clubs in england have to play too many matches over the year. Btw. when here in germany a team has to play saturday - wednesday - saturday, we call it an english week. The players if not tired but at least not as fit as the players from other teams when they come to an international tournament.

As a fan....there is no really build up to the next season as they are only off to maybe 1-2 months....however in England I have noticed that there are sports that never end....Cricket is one....possible one of the most boring sports in the world....but there are two season and three different forms of this sport so it never ends because when it is winter here.....the English Cricket teams travel and play in warmer areas.....so it is a 12 month sport.....much like football.....which goes on and on and on.....

But back to football.....Cups up for grabs with in England:
Football League....as known as the Carling Cup
Football Association Challenge Cup...or FA Cup
Football League Trophy....currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy....for league one and two only....

Then you have Europa and the Champions League Cups.....and top that off with every two years there is either a World Cup or a Euro competition.....

And so this is why I follow the 2 teams I do....Preston North End fell out of the Championship League to League One last year.....thanks to the spawn of Satan....would you like to take a guess on who this might be....and when this son of a Premier Football Coach plays Leeds in the next few months....I will there....and hope that Leeds wipe the floor with his new team.....this coach left Preston about Dec 2010 when the damage was done.....he went to a team he had coached before who were in League One....this team got promoted as Preston got demoted....someone was NOT happy and new swear words were created....

[Hans]

And so this is why I follow the 2 teams I do....Preston North End fell out of the Championship League to League One last year.....thanks to the spawn of Satan....would you like to take a guess on who this might be....and when this son of a Premier Football Coach plays Leeds in the next few months....I will there....and hope that Leeds wipe the floor with his new team.....this coach left Preston about Dec 2010 when the damage was done.....he went to a team he had coached before who were in League One....this team got promoted as Preston got demoted....someone was NOT happy and new swear words were created....

uuups, I feel really honoured you might think I'm such an expert in english football. But from now on I will look also for your teams when I check the weekly football results. But maybe you want to continue with your story and who this spawn of satan is. Now I'm curious

[Leb Yellow Butterfly]

I just added the fifa world cup rankings:

Group A: Poland (66), Greece (14), Russia (12), Czech Republic (33)
Group B: Netherlands (2), Denmark (11), Germany (3), Portugal (7)
Group C: Spain (1), Italy (9), Republic of Ireland (21), Croatia (8)
Group D: Ukraine (55), Sweden (18), France (15), England (5)

what a difference between group A and B (the best team of group A is #12 in the world, the worst team of group B is #11)

yeah with the rankings it looks even weirder...

I hope the Germans will finally make it this year... I mean we're tired of always reaching the very last end and failing just there! (thats wuts been happening recently with the Mannschaft)...everything shows how fantastic the team is now with very great results and a lot of goals scoring..time to hit the target: win the Euro!

[Aslan]

I will have to tell that story later....just wanted to post this.....but I will give you a hint....his father is the coach of a team that has a little devil on their emblem.....

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,20876_7351928,0.html

RIP Socrates.....

[Leb Yellow Butterfly]

hard luck for Dortmund yesterday, tragic turnover of the game for them!!

[Hans]

hard luck for Dortmund yesterday, tragic turnover of the game for them!!

really, that was bad luck for Dortmund. And when you see them every in the Bundesliga every weekend you know they can do much better (nearly like the 1st half yesterday). But don't mind, this year in an european tournament was better than last year and sooner or later this young team will mature into the champions league

[Adrian]

last champions league round tonight

[Gość]

... and Man United was eliminated!
Poor Red Devils

[Adrian]

... and Man United was eliminated!
Poor Red Devils

yes incredible!!!!!!
well.....both Manchester teams are relegated in europa league now....

[YNWA]

... and Man United was eliminated!
Poor Red Devils

yes incredible!!!!!!

happy...

[YNWA]

... and Man United was eliminated!
Poor Red Devils

yes incredible!!!!!!

happy...

[Adrian]

... and Man United was eliminated!
Poor Red Devils

yes incredible!!!!!!

happy...

don't you like Manchester?