Sports Bar is open & Euro 2012! Introduction Article

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Sports Bar is open & Euro 2012
By: Davies


As you might have seen we have recently opened a new theme to our forum: The Sports Bar. In this place we are all allowed to talk and discuss a bit about sports, sport events, matches and so on. So get yourself a beer and start writing!

We’ve noticed sports is (besides gaming ofcourse ) one of the main subjects people like to talk and discuss about. This is why two strong forces (Flowerpower & Warren) came to the conclusion a Sports Bar was needed for our community. Also taking an eye on the upcoming events this year we have decided a place for Sports-talk is vital. I mean, how can you all NOT be excited about the Football Euro 2012 and the Olympic Games (starting at 8th of Juny and 27th of July)?

Since the European Football Championship has already started I thought it would be nice to get some opinions about the possible winners, the big losers and the underdogs. Predictions are given by our personal experts!

Heya guys,
Davies asked me to give my view on the upcomming European Championship.
My first answer would be to tell you all to just have fun, cheer for your country and enjoy everything around it.
However, for Prime Squadron i am willing to make a detailed analysis (my expectations ^^ )

Let's start with Group A:
My favourite here must be poland, they have a good and pretty young team, but with some awesome players like Blasczykowski and Lewandowski they are guarenteed to show some great skills.
Their defense however may be a bit on the unknown side, but it doesn't mean they won't be able to work together like a team, and even if the defense fails they will always have some great goalkeepers to secure the win with names like Fabianski and Szczesny.
The other team that will go trough will ofcourse be Russia, looking at their players and the players from Greece and the Czech team they should have no problem defeating them.
My prediction for this group is 1: Poland 2: Russia

Now to go on with the most interesting group, Group B:
This is without a doubt the most tough group to survive, with The Netherlands, Germany and Portugal they have 2 or maybe 3 of the big candidates for the title, not to mention the Danish team which has some young and incredible talents.
So for how far my predictions go, there is really not much to say, it all comes down to which shot will land on the inside of the post and which on the outside imo.
To give you my (hoped) outcome of this group:
the 2 teams that will be going on i hope to be The Netherlands (ofc) and Denmark.
The reason is that i expect netherlands to win their matches or maybe draw against germany, i also expect germany to draw against Portugal and with a surprising win over Portugal and maybe a draw vs Germany, Denmark might be the surprising second.
Lets just hope the match between The Netherlands and Portugal will be something like that from 2006 :

My prediction for this group is 1: The Netherlands 2: Denmark

Then continuing with Group C:
Group C is the group with the other big candidate winner and current EC and WC cupholders, Spain.
It's without a doubt that they will continue to the knockout stage so i won't pay much attention to them.
Italy is probably expected to take the 2nd place in the group however i doubt this will occur. They have a team ofcourse with awesome names and some great talents, however i sometimes doubt how much of a "team" it is, i'm afraid that the individual skills will be used to much and the teamplay too little.
Then there are 2 teams left in this group, to start with Ireland, A very experienced team with some good players, maybe not the biggest names but you only have to look at their results to see they aren't a team easy beaten.
They have only lost 1 match in the last 1.5 years and that was a 2-3 against the nr.3 of the previous WC, Uruguay.
Croatia is the team left, usually no great prestations eventhough they have had great players over the years, no different from now. Looking at names like Corluka, Modric, Rakitic, Kranjcar , Olic and Jelavic.
My prediction for this group is 1: Spain and 2: Ireland/Croatia

Last but not least is Group D:
A group with maybe not the best names, but also not with a clear winner.
Ukraine i don't expect much from, nonetheless they have some routiniers like Shevchenko, Voronin and Tymoschchuk who are bound to score a goal.
The 3 other countries are Sweden, England and France.
Sweden: a team with a surprisingly large number of players that play/have played in NL, so i know they have some good players, and ofcourse allstar Ibrahimovic. Not really sure what to expect from this team, but i'm sure they will play great soccer as almost everyone in their team is capable of great and unexpected things.
Then France: Big Big names in this team, but will they be able to make those big names work? They weren't able to show this in any way in the previous World Championship. But it's 2 years later, they haven't lost a single game in almost 2 years and even won their last Friendly against Germany.
The one thats left is England, a great team with great playes. Don't really know what else to say about it, GL to them.
My prediction for this group is 1: France 2: Sweden

I won't go in on the finalists or the winner atm since there is a chance i am totally wrong about this and i get with completely wrong winners

Good luck to all countries competing and may the odds be ever in your favor!

germany

I was thinking: what is an article without asking the experts? So here I am, writing down my own predictions!

Just like Death, I will start off with Group A.
1. Russia! Yes, the Russians will manage to win there group. Russia has shown they have a quality team and I personally think it’s very underrated. Also with a big boy as Igor Akinfeev it will be a great team who is gonna win this group with ease.
2. Poland for sure. Really determined to show what they’re worth in front of their own country. Players like Lewandowski and Blasczykowski are the once who can make a difference. They both are in form and I expect Poland to finish just behind Russia.
3. Czech Republic. Sorry Ckey, but your team sucks currently. In the early days (around 2000) the Czechs had a great team with the famous big lad Jan Koller as striker and one of worlds best player ever Pavel Nedved walking around, but these times are over for Czech. The only one who I can see performing top class is there goalie: Petr Cech.
4. Greece. Granted for last plays, unless Fetfatzidis gets to play every match. Just look at there top-players: Samaras, Papastathopoulos and Katsouranis. Samaras has failed almost everywhere, Papastathopoulos is nothing more then an average defender and Katsouranis is everything but special. I tell you, this little young talent ‘Fetfa’ can make a difference, but they’ll need lots of luck.

The group of death/Group B:
1. Germany. Das Mannschaft has proven its greatness. They will win the group because they will beat everyone.
2. Netherlands. Will go through in Group B with a second place. Beating everybody except Germany. We have strong side and should be able to beat the shit out of these Portugues nabs: REVANCHE.
3. Denmark. The Danish will beat Portugal, just like they did in the qualification. They have a surprisingly strong side which has only developed more after the World Cup in South-Africa.
4. Portugal. Nabs. Don’t deserve to win a single game. Only good player is Cristiano Ronaldo. Nani is a big show-off and only good on video-games. Same goes for Varela and Danny.

Group C now:
1. Spain, no need to say more.
2. Italy, though the nab-level is really high on this team, they will manage to go through. They are quiet lucky to get matched up with Rep. of Ireland.
3. Croatia. Sorry Darko, but they won’t be able to do this. I mean, Modric is great, but Srna has had his best times. Olic? No, just no.
4. Republic of Ireland. I don’t see miracles happen for them.

Group D:
1. Sweden. Yeeey! Big surprise in group D. Sweden will pull of an amazing performance, I’m sure. The Swedish attack is great, so is their midfield. Sweden has lots of hidden gems like Ola Toivonen (don’t laugh Death, I’m serious) and Rasmus Elm. They also have some veterans like Kallström. The defence might be weak, but it’s very solid on the other side, just like the Netherlands. Good chemistry in the team, they’ll be a surprise.
2. France. New manager, new style, new system, new chances. Expect them to go through with a big of luck. Ribery is a great attacker, also guys like Giroud and Menez had a good season. Not to mention how their defence has been improved: M’Vila + Sakho .
3. England. Oh, how much would I love to see this British nabs going home. This national team has 0.0 chemistry. It’s basicly nothing, they only have a great goalkeeper, big Joe Hart.
4. Ukraine. They playmakers are all over 30 years old, will be the last big tournament for a legend I guess: Andrei Shevchenko. Sadly for him, they won’t manage to go past the group stage.


Final:
Netherlands v Germany
Sunday, the 1st of July will be they day. In a swirling stadium in Kiev, in the 120 + 4 minute, Jetro Willems, 18 year old Dutch LB will run down the wing, receives the ball from around 35 yards away from the goal and decides to have a blast.. BOOM. Germans can do nothing more then staring. Manuel Neuer is making his way to the upper right corner. The crowd is silent, the players are silenced. As in a slowmotion this ball makes his way towards the goal. Neuer jumps for the ball, but it’s to late. At the time he reaches the balls position where it crossed the line it has already hit the back of the net. Netherlands, European Champions 2012. Revanche Germans!!! REVANCHE!

My favourite teams are Germany and Spain; Netherlands and England can fight for the title also, but with lower chances. France and Italy can be surprising as always, but they don't have such a great team this time. Coming to the hosting countries, Poland can use the boost given by playing at home to pass to quarters, but not to the semifinals. Ukraine is ridicolously low and will be 4th in his group imo.

So guys, don’t be shy to write down your own predictions in the aforementioned new part of our forums: The Sports Bar !