EURO 2012

If only their best strikers didn't keep playing for Germany

Lewandowski is pretty handy tho. The Guardian podcast tipped him as a decent outside bet for top scorer

Poland should be p good with their all Dortmund right hand side + Lewandowski. Excited.

I love Eastern European footballers, since USA 94 I've gone into pretty much every tournament hoping for a new Stoitchkov and Hagi and I've usually been disappointed. Any decent Ukranians out there who could have an impact?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriy_Yarmolenko

rafal wolski at legia warsaw's meant to be handy on the left too, dortmund are trying to do a deal

konoplyanka at dnipro

yarmolenko is a paaar n pace epl type

hrvatska

can't imagine supporting poland, too maudlin, too boring

Slawomir Peszko (Cologne)

The winger won't be going to Poland and Ukraine after being dropped following a drink-fuelled incident with a taxi driver but his experience reveals plenty about Smuda and his relationship with his players. (Also, the Cologne player has four kidneys, which was only discovered when he joined the Bundesliga team in 2011. His mum reportedly said about her son: he just "goes to the bathroom more than most people".)

He swallowed his twin brother when he was 3 iirc

Igor Denisov

He is, without a doubt, the Russian Mark van Bommel. The Zenit St Petersburg midfielder has been involved in a series of incidents on and off the pitch, including: a brawl with the Spartak coach, Valery Karpin; a refusal to join the national team before Euro 2008; a fight with a team-mate, as well as with a driving instructor and several security officers. He is a really good chess player, which may surprise some considering his tough-guy image. He has two South African pitbulls. Never gives an interview.

what's not to love!

2       Russia 	DF 	Aleksandr Anyukov
3 	Portugal 	DF 	Bruno Alves
4 	Italy 	DF 	Domenico Criscito
6 	Belgium 	DF 	Nicolas Lombaerts
8 	Serbia 	FW 	Danko Lazović
9 	Russia 	FW 	Aleksandr Bukharov
10 	Portugal 	MF 	Danny
11 	Russia 	FW 	Aleksandr Kerzhakov
14 	Slovakia 	DF 	Tomáš Hubočan
15 	Russia 	MF 	Roman Shirokov
16 	Russia 	GK 	Vyacheslav Malafeev (captain)
17 	Italy 	MF 	Alessandro Rosina
		
No. 		Position 	Player
18 	Russia 	MF 	Konstantin Zyryanov (1st vice-captain)
20 	Russia 	MF 	Viktor Fayzulin
22 	Russia 	GK 	Dmitri Borodin
23 	Hungary 	MF 	Szabolcs Huszti
24 	Serbia 	DF 	Aleksandar Luković
25 	Russia 	MF 	Sergei Semak (2nd vice-captain)
27 	Russia 	MF 	Igor Denisov
29 	Russia 	FW 	Andrei Arshavin (on loan from Arsenal)
30 	Belarus 	GK 	Yuri Zhevnov
34 	Russia 	MF 	Vladimir Bystrov
63 	Russia 	DF 	Denis Terentyev
99 	Russia 	FW 	Maksim Kanunnikov

bruno alves looks like a departure from their traditional 'no blacks' policy

Also, the Cologne player has four kidneys

oh of course.

WHAT?

Nikica Jelavic

The Everton striker's colourful uncle, also called Nikica Jelavic and nicknamed "The Boxer", is said to be "the uncrowned king of Zagreb". He has been linked to several high-profile incidents, one including a failed assassination attempt using a handheld rocket launcher in the city centre, when a passer-by was blown up in 1999. Each time he was cleared of all charges by the court. "He helped me a lot in my career because he loves me, and our relationship is strictly family," says Jelavic the footballer.

Think the CM for Russia, Shirokov, once faked a broken leg or smthg like that.

russia should surely have a bunch of sub-standard brazilians in their squad these days, c'mon let's diversify.

Evhen Khacheridi. Not so long ago Oleksandr Aliev called his Dynamo Kyiv team-mate "The woodpecker". Khacheridi was known for his stupid behaviour on the pitch, which saw him sent off several times, but he has now matured and is playing his best football. He is a cool, collected and reliable operator.

http://en.euro2012fantasy.uefa.com/my-leagues/67725/join/?autojoin-code=13714-677

anyone interested?

Yes. It doesn't seem to be mobile-accessible, but I'll have a look shortly.

Poland's passionate coach Franciszek Smuda is so excited by the prospect of Euro 2012 that, according to assistant Jacek Zielinski, he's behaving like a feral animal.

"Smuda? He's like a wild fox in a cage," champions Zielinski. "He just wants to waste them all. He can't wait."

knew that would be a bullshit translation, and so it proved

waste dem wastermen

Heiko Wastemann (born 14 August 1983 in Alzenau, West Germany) is a German footballer who plays as defender for German Bundesliga club Hamburger SV and the German national team.

http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2012/06/06/possession-jon-harley-amp-foreign-coaches-henry-winter-s-blueprint-for-a-better-england.aspx

lulz

Did McManaman ever actually play for England after that? I'm struggling to remember.

http://en.euro2012fantasy.uefa.com/my-leagues/67725/join/?autojoin-code=13714-677

anyone interested?

i'm in.

mcmanaman never got a decent go for england, ludicrous.

You could cast him in with Hoddle, Le Tiss, Rio, etc. as too suspiciously foreign for England. He did play in the 4-1 Holland game I'm sure, but seemed to fade out of the reckoning as he got more accomplished.

england's mythical left winger, too good for them imo

was "no way no way, mcmanaman" ever a chant?

hard 'ch'?

not today

don't get fresh with me

lol

http://i.imgur.com/BC0Eh.gif

great country by country previews at zonal marking: http://www.zonalmarking.net/category/euro-2012/

yeah been reading them, good stuff.

Wait are Italy really playing Cassano and Balotelli upfront these days? Ohboy.

has cassano even been playing regularly for milan or are they merely seeking lols?

mcmananaman had the starts but never really did it for england in my recollection

rarely failed to underwhelm throughout his whole career tbh, hindsight be kind to him

hes been sick for most of last year

in any case he is 29 and is fairly sensible these days

balotelli, provided he has no defensive responsibilities, is less of a problem than the great british public's ardently expressed need for an angry black hate figure would have you believe

knew i shouldve just typed macca xp

mac mañana mañana mañana man

tbf to the great british public for a change that is not quite the need they have of mario is it, it's more the carrot/stick gazza loony angle

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/banana1.jpg

balotelli could be a love figure but insists on being a cunt so idk i'm giving the great british public a free pass on this one regardless of his colour

i dunno if the actively decorous mercy thing in footer really rings true tbh, it's just a natural gestalt subconscious fluctuation in desire

like the final on sunday spain were alright with seeing it out and then the wind suddenly changed for a bit and it was all wahey

'Only' the one nine, isn't it? (v Ipswich in 95)

Ipswich totally deserved that stuffing after the misery of the 6-0 defeat they dished out to Man Utd in 1980 iirc.

Anyhow, what's this about England rising to #4 in the FIFA rankings?

i can't work that out, there must be a bunch of teams who consistently place higher than us in tournaments, assume the rankings are based on some kind of Sensi Soccer pool in FIFA HQ or sumpn

Australia vs Samoa was a circus partly because there was visa trouble which kept all but one of Samoa's original team out, and their under-20 team was doing exams. They had to draft in their youth team - the average age of their 11 was 18.

Mind you, the previous record was Australia 22-0 Tonga, two days before.

i think pretty much all the teams that played in the euros went up in rank. if you didn't play competitively this year then you go down, e.g. brazil

you know i'm obliged to do an "England did not play competitively this year" line now, right?

there was some complaint in italy when roma scored seven vs someone crap a few years ago (when they were playing the og 460)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvk-M2KPG1U

oh yeah well i'll believe anything with italian's bizarro honour/corruption confection

i do quite like prandelli's code of conduct thing although he'd probs get sued or something doing that in england

what was the reaction when united gubbed roma that time, fair dos theyre foreign savages or this is just not cricket?

"Last night was an epochal beating that Italian football has never previously suffered at the hands of the English," says Roma fan and columnist Candido Cannavò. "Now I run to father Dante to find out what circle of Hell my beloved Roma has fallen into: maybe that of the proud and vainglorious. Conceding three goals in eight minutes could only have happened to a squad that thought it was divine."

conceding three goals in eight minutes is forgiveable, conceding a goal to alan smith (who hasn't scored in any of the five following seasons iirc) will besmirch their name for eternity

actually he scored two whole goals on his loan spell at mk dons last season, no word on which teams were responsible though

sheff utd of course

Wow, I'd forgotten Alan Smith existed.

For many it felt like a necessary game too, one that not only closed a unique cycle, of Euros-World Cup-Euros, but closed the debate too. Amid the criticism and accusation, the final felt like the kind of performance Spain needed.

XA: No, no, no. We were secure and calm, confident in what we were doing, confident that we were doing things the right way. I thought a lot of [the criticism] was demagogic. I laughed at a lot of what I read.

You read it? Footballers always say they don't read the papers

XA: No, I read things. I read things, but I don't change my mind because of them. I am very clear in my own mind. I knew what was being written in 'X' country or the other country. I laughed a lot. A lot.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jul/03/spain-euro-2012-xabi-alonso

awes quotes

I'm watching the final now. I was in a pub with a non-football-liking person on Sunday night and saw bits out the corner of my eye, knew the score etc. but didn't get to fully appreciate it. At half time now. I think Jordi Alba's goal is gott if only because the run he made was oh so very spectacular in a way you never really see. It is things like that which should make Spain a lovable team and it is a shame they were much more reserved in the France and Portugal games.

This Spain isn't the best international team of all time. The Spain of 2008 is imo. If only because 2012 Spain have two positions not playing to ABSOLUTELY-PERFECT-STANDINGS as Cesc just isn't a v good false 9 and they do not, now or ever, actually need XA AND SB when they could have someone provide width. But these seem like such minute details regarding what is 9/10ths of the same team. Oh and I've obviously not seen those Hungary or Uruguay or Brazil teams to compare.

Spain 08-12 basically counts as the same team. Villa and Puyol would have been in there had they not been injured.

Marcos Senna, how quickly we forget

Capdevilla and Torres rip

This sort of thread is why I Love Football exists. It is ILX's version of the pub where endless footie conversations take place every single day and night of the week.

***---> Endless! Footie! Conversations! <---***

When such a heaven exists, why would anyone not want to go to heaven?

One day, eventually, we will run out

one day we will tog out, you mean

'Only' the one nine, isn't it? (v Ipswich in 95)

Ipswich totally deserved that stuffing after the misery of the 6-0 defeat they dished out to Man Utd in 1980 iirc.

― gonna send him to outer space, to hug another face (NickB), Wednesday, July 4, 2012 1:31 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally deserved. as an ipswich fan living in manchester i'm not sure where to start with that sort of one-eyed nonsense.

haha. reading about that cruyff testimonial. pretty funny in a cruel kind of way.

Actually the real best thing about the Cruyff testimonial is Cruyff unashamedly having a fag in the middle of the game.

are there any good articles on it

Is that real, Matt?! Awesome.

Tiny bit in The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/22/least-successful-testimonial-match-ever):

And take Johan Cruyff's farewell fixture for Ajax against Bayern Munich. You might think the result doesn't matter in a testimonial and, by and large, you'd be right, but what about when the team you invite turn up and give you a proper shoeing?

"The German champions wanted to show their Dutch counterparts something after earlier defeats and not being welcomed at Schiphol Airport," writes Dave G Boham. "They even had to sleep at a sub-par hotel. After jeers from the crowd, they showed their hosts something. Three goals were disallowed during the 8-0 hammering dished out by the Bavarians. The Ajax players just wanted to have a good time. In 2006, Bayern apologised."

I didn't get to watch much of the tournament (combo of working when games were on/not actually being fussed about it at all), but did I get any predictions right? http://noisey.vice.com/blog/euro-2012s-most-predictable-soundtrack--cliches

The Song They'll Probably Use: "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO. It works on two levels, one for the actual sexy shots of buxom Swedish girls picked out by pervy camermen (no doubt on the behest of Lineker) and for ironic purposes when juxtaposed against some beer-bellied brute from Dagenham doing the Macarena.

I feel like this was done at some point.

The song at least; I can't remember the setting.

England's exit got a cover of 'In The End' by Linkin Park. I don't think anyone could summon the enthusiasm for a Torres montage, but his kids were cute.

who did the horrible cover of "thriller" after the final?

Imogen Heap.

Zonal Marking's TOTT http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/07/04/zms-team-of-euro-2012/

---------------------------Casillas--------------------------
--Pereira-----------Pepe----------Ramos-------------Alba-----
---------------------------Pirlo-----------------------------
--------------------Khedira-------Mountinho------------------
-------Jiracek-------------------------------Iniesta---------
---------------------------Fabregas--------------------------

Jiracek?

where did rooney go?

went to grab lunch