European Championships 2012

[Paul Clement]

I thought I'd start a new thread for the European Championships, which start this Friday. So, who do you think will win? How will England fare at the tournament under the new guiding hand of Roy Hodgson? Who are you following if not England?

The groups are:

Group 1
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Group 2
Holland
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

Group 3
Spain
Italy
Rep. of Ireland
Croatia

Group 4
England
France
Sweden
Ukraine

[duncan]

We don't have a cat in hell's chance to be honest. I don't rate Roy Hodgson as a manager (my Fulham supporting colleague here at the office would disagree with me though) and along with all the injuries, I'll be surprised if we get through the group stages. I can only hope that France have another terrible tournament otherwise it should be them and Sweden that progress.

[Paul Clement]

Despite some of the sixteen countries being what is considered to be the powerhouses of European football, I still cannot see anyone other than Spain winning the tournament. Germany will be there or thereabouts as they are in almost every international tournament, but I wonder how much of a drain it will be for them getting out of the so called group of death. Italy qualified for the tournament unbeaten, but have since lost their last three friendlies. England's group, on paper at least, would suggest that England has a chance of progressing from the group stages. However, Ukraine being the co-hosts does make things a little harder.
Personally, I will be following Holland as I do in every international tournament. It's a tough group, but the same could have been said at the last Euro's when they were up against France and Italy, and they successfully managed that.

My own view is that Poland and Czech Republic will qualify from Group 1, with former surprise Champions Greece finishing bottom of the group with minimal points. I honestly believe, with also a great deal of hope, that Holland will negotiate their way out of the group stages, with Germany the other qualifiers. Spain and Italy are my bets for Group 3. Despite their recent run of poor results and the match fixing issues that are once again plaguing Italian football, I think come the tournament, they will manage to scrape through.
Group 4 is going to end up tough for England. Ukraine will be really fired up, and England have often had trouble with Sweden. I see England losing to France and drawing their other two games, and going out at the first stage, with Ukraine and France qualifying.

Spain to win, with Holland, Germany and France pushing for a final place. Although I'd hope for a reversal score wise and performance wise of the last World Cup final.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I drew Germany in the sweepstake at work last week so you can guess I'm now rooting for!

[Anthony Williams]

England are, of course, my first preference. After that, I'll be supporting the boys in orange...

[Dave Tudor]

I am looking forward to this tournament, though I do think it may be remembered for the wrong reasons, what with the controversy over possible racism - hell, it's even already reared its ugly head before a ball has been kicked, with the black Dutch player being abused. Disgusting.

However, I hope that it will be remembered for the football and I'm sure Spain at least will provide us with that. I'm not sure if they will win it, though, and personally I'd tip the Netherlands to win - I think they were unlucky to not win the World Cup, and this may be their opportunity to shine. Other than the 'Oranje', I will be rooting for Croatia, whom I have followed in tournaments since France '98, and who will have our star man, Nikica Jelavic, leading the line for them: if Croatia do well, Jelly has the potential to be the tournament's top scorer.

I'm not sure how England will fare, but I hope they do reasonably well, if only for Roy Hodgson's sake, as I like him and I just feel the 'fans' and the media are ready to pounce if the team does badly - I hope he proves them wrong. Also I think and hope that this is the ideal opportunity for the younger players to come to the fore. I said tafter their abysmal showing in the World Cup that the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Ferdinand, Terry and even Rooney were not good enough at international level and it was time for them to go - I still believe that, and now two of them have gone, with the others' positions not exactly secure, apart from perhaps the vastly overrated Ashley Cole's, rather inexplicably, in my opinion. Therefore, fresh, hungry, young players might give just give England the drive that they have so lacked in recent years.

[duncan]

It wasn't a bad start I suppose, but, I thought we looked tired, slow and we gave the ball away far too cheaply at times. Having said that, the Ref was against us in his decision making but that's not an excuse really.

Ukraine have just beaten Sweden which I find surprising. So England sit 2nd in the group and if we can beat Sweden as well, we stand a good chance of qualifying.

[Anthony Williams]

Well, Roy's boys had their first major game today - resulting in a draw. Do you feel that they did well, or that their game left a lot to be desired?

[Paul Clement]

The draw was a good result, but England themselves did not convince me that they had the ability to retain possession that they will need to have to win the tournament. Having said that, watching Sweden and Ukraine's match, I think England would have to hugely under perform not to get out of this group.

[Dirk Gently]

I'll be impressed if England make it out of the group.

If they do they'll probably lose the 1st knockout match....probably on penalties!

[duncan]

I'm shocked at how poor Sweden have been. I really expected them to walk this group.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Wow! England did it again! I shall clearly have to keep having rehearsals or read-throughs on nights when they're playing!

It would typical that the one time I have a vested financial interest in Germany actually winning a tournament if we managed to beat them!

[duncan]

Same old story. We couldn't keep the ball and would probably still be out there now trying to score. Italy had all the posession and chances but couldn't convert. So, the inevitable penalty kicks came into play and England fail yet again. WHat was going through Cole's head when he took that penalty was beyond me. If he had at least blasted it, it may have gone in but he didn't and we are out.

To be honest, it would have been a total injustice had we gone through at Italy's expense. If you can only muster one attempt on target in two hours of football, then you deserve to go home.

[Perry Vale]

I hope all the overpaid pundits who celebrated when we avoided Spain in the Quarter Finals are happy with themselves now...

[Jon Masters]

I hope all the overpaid pundits who celebrated when we avoided Spain in the Quarter Finals are happy with themselves now...

They should be - Spain would have slaughtered us !!

[Philipnet]

England vs. Penalties = #Fail!