Euro 2012 finals general thread

[-V-]

I think Germany are going to disappoint everyone, they have a decent squad on paper but have their weaknesses defensively. Also they are too attacking at times and it leaves them vulnerable on the counter.

Italy barely score more than 1 goal a game and might manage to get to the semis with a bit of luck but defo dont have a good enough team to win.

France are so poor, all flair but no teamwork or fight.

England have Roy.

Portugal are rubbish.
The rest are rubbish too.

Spain will win it,

Ok so the Italians have made it one step further than I expected but still thats a pretty fair prediction of this tournament so far

[dww]

I think Italy and Portugal are both very good teams actually. I've been surprised by how well the Italian team have done. I think both sides more technical and tactically aware approaches are something that England should aspire to in the mid-term, rather than dreaming of being another Spain.

Both proved to be very capable defensively by crucially allied it to a threat on the counter and an ability to hold the ball if given the opportunity. A pretty strong case can be made that, except for Germany, the semifinalists were the best sides defensively in the tournament.

[Shaggy]

Italy have surprised me too. Better than I thought.

I tipped Spain too. Hardly going out on a limb there.

[Darkon]

Italy have played much better than I thought they would all things considered, i.e. match fixing scandal, poor display's in pre-matches and all.

Pirlo is just a magnificient player

[paulg]

They always do well when under a match fixing cloud, hmmmm...

[Chazza]

tariq panja @tariqpanja
On the way to downtown Kiev from airport my taxi driver Igor decided to buy himself a cat! pic.twitter.com/4V9knVHJ

[Lee]

As you do!

[saj]

Prick reminds me of Brad Pitt in Ingolrious *******s

[Shaggy]

Great stat this:

Opta Sports @OptaJoe
58 - Number of passes per shot made by Spain at Euro 2012 compared to 44 at the 2010 World Cup and 33 at Euro 2008. Progressing.

[colin85]

How about a player of the tournament/ team of the tournament and top 11 players(team) thread.

[-V-]

I think Italy and Portugal are both very good teams actually. I've been surprised by how well the Italian team have done. I think both sides more technical and tactically aware approaches are something that England should aspire to in the mid-term, rather than dreaming of being another Spain.

Both proved to be very capable defensively by crucially allied it to a threat on the counter and an ability to hold the ball if given the opportunity. A pretty strong case can be made that, except for Germany, the semifinalists were the best sides defensively in the tournament.

Italy and Prandelli have surprised me with how well they have attacked. I knew they were good defensively but I didn't think they had much creativity in their midfield apart from Pirlo. Tactically and technically they have been very good

Portugal- Although they are well organized, their only real attacking threat is Ronaldo on the counter. For me thats not the mark of a good team

[ChesterDave]

Euro 2012: Krzystof Pohorecki says tournament a big success


Euro 2012 executive director Krzystof Pohorecki says Poland and Ukraine have proved the doubters wrong by hosting a successful tournament.

Concerns had been raised over readiness of the two countries to co-host the competition amid threats of fan violence and racism.

But in a BBC Sport interview, Pohorecki said Euro 2012 had been a big success.

"We feel pride because a lot of people didn't really believe we could make it and we did," said Pohorecki.

Clashes between rival Russian and and Polish football fans in the Polish capital Warsaw marred a Euro 2012 tie between the two teams on 12 June.

But while admitting lessons had been learned, Pohorecki played down both that incident and also isolated cases of racial abuse from supporters.

"From all the specific reports I have, there is always something you can do a little bit better for the next tournament," added Pohorecki.

"And the next tournament is in France so we will pass our knowledge on to them."

He added he had been "surprised" by the BBC Panorama programme days before the tournament which asked whether Uefa should have chosen Poland and Ukraine to co-host the event after revealing evidence of racist violence at football matches in both countries.

"I was surprised by it [Panorama] because in every country you can make this kind of programme," insisted Pohorecki.

"You can make it in England, you can make it in the Netherlands... this kind of message I think you can make in any country.

"At this kind of event, the size of the event, by definition and statistics there will always bring issues.

"But if you have riots in Warsaw and then after you have a report from the medical side which shows six people in hospital... six people in hospital is a normal day.

"A regular wedding in Poland is usually six people in hospital! So everything is about how you want to show it."

Pohorecki backed Uefa president Michel Platini, who said the 2020 European Championship could be spread across various cities in Europe, rather than having a single host.

"Why not? Is it a crazy idea? We will see," he said.

"Never say anything is impossible because everything is possible."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18666006

WTF is this halfwit wittering on about

[Shaggy]

Iniesta rightly wins player of the tournament. Love that guy.

[Shaggy]

No place for Agger in UEFA's 23 man 'squad of the tournament'. Gerrard in.

[Bender]

UEFA Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament in full:

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Italy), Casillas (Spain), Neuer (Germany)

Defenders: Pique (Spain), Coentrao (Portugal), Lahm (Germany), Pepe (Portugal), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Jordi Alba (Spain)

Midfielders: De Rossi (Italy), Gerrard (England), Xavi (Spain), Iniesta (Spain), Khedira (Germany), Busquets (Spain), Ozil (Germany), Pirlo (Italy), Xabi Alonso (Spain)

Attackers: Balotelli (Italy), Fabregas (Spain), Ronaldo (Portugal), Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Silva (Spain).