Euro 2012 finals general thread

[Corndog]

Same group aren't they? You'll get your wish.

o yeaaaaah , would have preffered them to meet in the knockout stages but i spose thats unlikely now!

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

o yeaaaaah , would have preffered them to meet in the knockout stages but i spose thats unlikely now!

Not sure how it works, I should though, feel a bit stupid! With them being on the same side of the draw, can the meet again in the semi's? Is that how it works? Will some captain obvious help me out

[Liverpel]

No Puyol for Spain

I read this earlier and told a Man United supporting girl in the office. I said it increases our (Ireland's) chances in the Euros, especially if Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, Piqué and Casillas also pull out. She replied - "yeah, and Messi too".

I hadn't the heart to tell her.

[Darkon]

Shame for Puyol, very likely his last international tournament (or should have been).

It will weaken Spain, but they have plenty to take from to keep a good team running.

[Exiled_red]

Just seen this:

Evra: Smalling blow good for France
Fri, 11 May 13:31:54 2012

Patrice Evra has quickly found the silver lining to the dark cloud of Chris Smalling's groin injury - it is good news for France.

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed Smalling is out of this summer's European Championships after he aggravated the injury during Sunday's Premier League win over Swansea. The former Fulham man is paying the price for not coming off as soon as the injury occurred, with Ferguson admitting "it is a bad one".

Full-back Evra accepts it is a setback for United, who head to Sunderland on Sunday still harbouring hopes of retaining their Premier League title. But France, who tackle England in their Group D opener at Euro 2012 in Donetsk on June 11, can rejoice at some good news. He said: "You always have to find the silver lining."

He added: "It's a huge blow for United. Chris is one of the strongest defenders in our squad. I'm really sad for him but, to be fair, I'm happy he won't play against me and France in the Euros.

"I have to be honest. When he told me he was injured and would miss the game against Sunderland I said: 'No, Chris, we need you'. And then he told me he'd also miss the Euros and I just said, 'Thanks! Well done'."

Ferguson was intending to bring Smalling off during the Swansea game, only for Rio Ferdinand to suffer a similar problem immediately afterwards. That Ferdinand is fit for Sunday's trip to the Stadium of Light, where he is likely to be partnered by Jonny Evans, just makes Smalling even more unfortunate.

"We tried to take him off but then Rio got a knock and Chris thought he could stay on," said Ferguson. "Now he is going to miss the European Championships with a torn groin muscle. We are assessing what to do with it at the moment but it is a bad injury."

Smalling was by no means certain to make Roy Hodgson's squad when it is unveiled on Wednesday. The 22-year-old earned the last of his three caps against Holland in February.

However, it was during that game that he suffered a nasty gash following a clash of heads with Klaas Jan Huntelaar, since when a series of minor problems have limited him to just six United appearances.

And Smalling was also held responsible for Vincent Kompany's crucial winner in last month's Manchester derby that looks set to send the Premier League title to the Etihad Stadium.

[Frenchie]

I so hope tha Ingurlaaand and the deluded **** that 'manages' them are embarrassed beyond cringeworthy belief.

Double digits would do it....

[paulc]

so who is going? my tickets arrived last week! off to ireland spain and ireland italy! cannot foooookking wait! had plans in 95 when i was in school to to go euro 96 to watch ireland, then france 98, was working in norway offshore in 02 so could not go, then had to wait 10 more years! cant wait!!

[Daniel 7]

Hope Ireland do well. Love their Euros song

[Darkon]

Czech republic initial squad:

GK's: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Jaroslav Drobny (Hamburger SV), Tomas Grigar (Teplice), Jan Lastuvka (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk)

Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Liberec), Roman Hubnik (Hertha Berlin), Michal Kadlec (Bayer Leverkusen), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Daniel Pudil (Cesena), Frantisek Rajtoral (Viktoria Plzen), Tomas Sivok (Besiktas), Marek Suchy (Spartak Moskva)

Midfielders: Tomas Hubschman (Shakhtar Donetsk), Petr Jiracek (Wolfsburg), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Milan Petrzela (Viktoria Plzen), Vaclav Pilar (Viktoria Plzen), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux), Jan Rezek (Anorthosis Famagusta), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal)

Strikers: Milan Baros (Galatasaray), David Lafata (Jablonec), Tomas Necid (CSKA Moskva), Tomas Pekhart (FC Nürnberg)

[Darkon]

Italiens bruttotrup til EM:

GK's: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Paris SG), Emiliano Viviano (Palermo)

Defenders: Abate (Milan), Davide Astori (Cagliari), Federico Balzaretti (Palermo), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Salvatore Bocchetti (Rubin Kazan), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgo Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Zenit), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Angelo Ogbonna (Torino), Andrea Ranocchia (Inter)

Mid's: Luca Cigarini (Atalanta), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Alessandro Diamanti (Bologna), Emmanuele Giaccherini (Juventus), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina/Milan), Thiago Motta (Paris SG), Antonio Nocerino (Milan), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Ezequiel Scheloto (Atalanta), Marco Verratti (Pescara)

Strikers: Mario Balotelli (Manchester City), Fabio Borini (Roma), Antonio Cassano (Milan), Mattia Destro (Siena), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Sebastian Giovinco (Parma)

[Chris]

Huge decline in quality in both their squads.

[Daffy Duck]

Two Serie B players in there.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Worse squad than they usually have, but will they be fielding a team that is really anyway worse than England?

[Kenneth]

It happened on Saturday, at a time when the Euro 2012 trophy was on display in Kiev. A well-known activist FEMEN, which fight against sex tourism in Ukraine, Mrs. Julia Kovpachik, got past security guards, in what appeared to be a simple picture with the trophy. The moment he would pose with the trophy dropped the shirt where you could see something like, "Fu @ # Euro-2012" at that time the security guards blocked her to continue with the show.

[ame]http://youtu.be/0ZZVTCzDF6I[/ame]

[Harv]

Italiens bruttotrup til EM:

GK's: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Paris SG), Emiliano Viviano (Palermo)

Defenders: Abate (Milan), Davide Astori (Cagliari), Federico Balzaretti (Palermo), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Salvatore Bocchetti (Rubin Kazan), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgo Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Zenit), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Angelo Ogbonna (Torino), Andrea Ranocchia (Inter)

Mid's: Luca Cigarini (Atalanta), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Alessandro Diamanti (Bologna), Emmanuele Giaccherini (Juventus), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina/Milan), Thiago Motta (Paris SG), Antonio Nocerino (Milan), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Ezequiel Scheloto (Atalanta), Marco Verratti (Pescara)

Strikers: Mario Balotelli (Manchester City), Fabio Borini (Roma), Antonio Cassano (Milan), Mattia Destro (Siena), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Sebastian Giovinco (Parma)

Verratti's only about 18 FFS. Pure class though.