Euros 2012

Hello people. Just thought I'd start a simple thread to cover the European Championships now underway in Poland and Ukraine.

Others more gifted than I, and perhaps with more patience, may wish to post brief profiles of the four groups and the teams therein. Others still may wish to comment on the off-the-field issues surrounding this tournament - namely racism in football and the ongoing debate surrounding the inevitable introduction of technology used to assist the officiating.

Please feel welcome to chip in with whatever you feel like as the games come thick and fast...

For now, I think I'll make do with stating how much I enjoyed Greece's fightback in the opening game yesterday after an appalling 1st half versus the co-hosts Poland. The Greek defence was pretty abysmal, but the Poles failed to convert their several early chances and lead at half-time only 1-0. In the end 10 man Greece were rueing a missed penalty that would have seen them take all three points. The Spanish referee's bizarre double booking of Papastathopoulos was harsh, and I only hope that the standard of refereeing won't be as poor as it was in the opening fixture.

The second game of the opening day saw the quietly fancied Russia brush aside the Czechs 4-1. Some great goals, nice attacking play, and a bad day at the office for Chelsea's Petr Cech in the Czech goal. Will the Euro '96 runners up be able to come back from this early setback and get the results they'll need to progress, or will the Poles steal a march on their southwestern neighbours? Will Greece play on like the woeful side of the opening first half yesterday or will we see them fight with tenacity as we did in the second? Russia looking good for progressing from Group A.

Today sees Denmark v Netherlands and Germany v Portugal in Group B. Tasty?

GROUP B

Denmark 1
Netherlands 0

Some might say a surprise result, and the Dutch certainly dominated the possession, but all too readily squandered many a good chance to put the ball in the net. Robben was especially guilty I felt of not being composed enough when it counted and Van Persie had an awful match - not much going right for the striker who's just had a first class season for Arsenal. The Danes on the other hand were extremely well organised and kept their cool under the Dutch pressure. When they broke with the ball they were effective and took their chance when it counted. A little bit of late luck as well as they seemed to escape handballing in the penalty area... all part of the fun, unless you're Dutch of course...

Germany 1
Portugal 0

The Danish victory throws the group wide open, and the Portuguese certainly came close to adding to that as they fought hard in the late stages of yesterday's evening match to cancel out Germany's 2nd half goal. Group favourites (and pre-tourney co-favourites for the title) Germany looked competent as ever, but they never really threatened the Portuguese defence with a rather plodding and predictable attack. After the break when they did manage to up the tempo they had the Portuguese stretched, and it finally paid off with Gomez' well headed goal after very good work from young Thomas Muller down the right. Finally provoked into taking responsibility, the Portuguese led by Ronaldo and Nani, poured forward with attack after attack as they searched for the equaliser. Hitting the post, and then a 1966-like crossbar/touchline combo (which the referee sans technology managed to call correctly as no goal - perhapps assisted by the extra linesman behind the goal?), they certainly came close. German defender Hummels stood out as man of the match - nothing was going to beat him in this match. If only the Portuguesers had played like that from the start we might have had a truly memorable match on our hands...

Why the current trend for kits all in one colour? The Dutch wore all orange, the Danes all white, the Portuguese all red, the Russians too... etc. etc.

I prefer the national teams to wear their traditional colours, which in the cases above would be respectively orange with black shorts (occasionally white), red with white (or a second kit of white with red), red with green, and red with white. I include England, France and Italy in this trend of blandness as well - witness the recent fashion for England to wear all white (rather than with blue shorts), France in all blue or all white (rather than with a contrasting shorts colour) and the same for Italy. What happened to tradition?

Kit changes are always interesting. In the recent World Cup qualifiers the US has been wearing thick red and white horizontal striped shirts and I think blue shorts, which made me think of Victorian men's bathing costumes...

Perhaps some "sports specialist" has made a claim that it's order to follow/predict movements when they wear all one color or something. I can easily imagine some consultant pulling a bit of daftness like that out of thin air.

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Whatever the reason, these things are cyclical, and I see in today's Spain Italy match both sides wore traditionally coloured kits.

By the way I think that USA kit sounds alright - quite distinctive - would be better with stripes rather than hoops though, no? Mind you, that is precisely the kit of Paraguay and maybe the USA wanted theirs to be different.

Oh the US ones aren't bad, it just surprised me.

I just turned on Ireland v Croatia and am very unhappy to see the Croatians' uniforms (I loved the all-over check shirts of the 2006 World Cup).

Anyone else watch the Ireland-Croatia game?

Most teams I don't care much who wins or loses, I just want to see good soccer and this game fulfilled that. Ireland seemed a bit lost at times, or like maybe they were waiting for the ref to make a call that never came. I didn't enjoy watching this Croatian team as much as their 2006 World Cup team, as they were needlessly rough at times.

There was one amusing moment when an Irish player and a Croatian player were pretty obviously bollocking the ref to each other.

Very much looking forward to the England-France game tomorrow!

Croatia 3
Ireland 1

I watched Croatia v Ireland (Group C), and my impression was that although the Irish were clearly outplayed by the Croats, I think they were a little unlucky to lose 3-1. Shay Given in particular didn't have the luck that his nationality is supposed to bestow on him - wrong-footed by a nasty deflection for the 1st goal, a clear case of off side for the 2nd, and a truly unfortunate own goal off his head after the Croatian strike (forgive me I've forgotten the scorer's name) had hit the bar.

Inbetween, Ireland had huffed and puffed but were found uncharacteristically poor in defence when the Croats penetrated. The Croatians for their part passed the ball tidily and their forwards - notably Jelavic - and the creativity of Modric will clearly be a threat to any side.

Italy 1
Spain 1

I don't think that Spain can win this tournament playing with the formation they had yesterday for the first 70 minutes - strikerless. Their midfield passing and creativity is sublime, but without a forward making the runs and holding up play for them, it all too often resulted in a defendable long range effort. That said, the Italians defended with characteristic skill and tenacity, De Rossi especially had a good game as the libero.

The difference to me was that when Italy poured forward, they carried a genuine threat about them - particularly once Di Natale had replaced the languid Balotelli. Italy will I think go further than many predict, and Spain will undoubtedly improve. Will Del Bosque pick Torres or Llorente as a forward focal point for their well crafted attacks? We'll see. What odds these two meeting again in the final?

And glad to report that both Spain and Italy wore their traditional national colours. As for Croatia's blue outfit - I too prefered their wacky red and white checkerboard shirts of previous tournaments - perhaps we'll yet see them when they play the Azzuri next?

England v France next...
I've got a ready supply of Fullers' ESB, Bengal Lancer and London Pride for sustenance...

My final comment for the time being: England wearing all blue?? What's that about?

Their kits actually looked black to me (Wikipedia shows a similar kit that's definitely black).

It was an absolutely wonderful game. That first goal was just beautiful. England played more as cohesive team than I've seen them play in a long time. They definitely needed the win for self-esteem if nothing else, since Ukraine is a good team and that's nowhere near a 'guaranteed' (as far as that goes in football) win.

I would love for Sweden to beat France and Ukraine to beat England but with lots of goals so that England and Ukraine advanced, but that seems very unlikely.

I really wish Adrian Healey and Ian Darke would retire from commentating, or that I could find non-ESPN commentary still in English (sometimes I do switch over to Spanish, since I don't really care about pointless statistics or the names of players). More Steve McManaman would be brilliant.

Good observations on the England Sweden match. Yes, it was exciting (in the 2nd half) but I was frustrated really by how poorly I thought England played. Until Walcott came off the bench we had created precious little in terms of penetrating attacking play. Yes, the Carroll goal was beautifully taken, a great ball in from Gerrard, but that was about it. Our defence was poor for both Sweden's goals, and we know that unless there is great improvement we will be found out against the better teams. (I think England would have lost against the French side who beat Ukraine). Personally I'm dissappointed that Terry (& others more junior) was/were preferred to the steady head of Rio Ferdinand - who is contrary to certain media opinions far from past it, and of better fitness than the thuggish Terry.

Anyway. I sympathise with your dislike of the commentators on ESPN - I have a similar issue with those on ITV in the UK, and for that matter on BBC1. Luckily, when the games are on BBC (alternate fixtures at the moment) I have th eoption of listening at the same time to the far superior BBC Radio commentary.

I heard that McManaman was doing US commentary work - so he's doing alright is he?

I'm trying to not get wound up by the weird and untraditional kits some teams have worn. Just have to let go of it. But England have NEVER worn that kit before in a tournament - and I still don't yet understand why we're yet to see the traditional white/blue or red/white combos...

So Group A favourites Russia and the co -hosts Poland are both out. Strange. Russia beat the Czechs 4-1, but go out by virtue of losing to Greece by a single goal. The head-to-head result taking priority over goal-difference is something else weird that doesn't sit right with me. In World Cups or Euros past this wouldn't have happened, and there isn't a single domestic league of any note that has a similar prioritisation in the event that teams have equal points. So Germany will likely play Greece in the quarter-final instead of Russia. I know which team I think the Germans would rather play...Mmmm....

It's true there were issues with the England-Sweden match, but I look at it in that it's the second game and England often seems to warm up slowly to playing as a team. In regard to France-England game it's so hard to tell whether they were both off-form or just France was off-form. Likewise I don't think Ukraine were quite as 'on' in their game with France as they have been before. It's just hard to tell.

It does seem like English teams worship more at the altar of youth than they should, and more than a lot of the other teams in this cup. I'm wondering how the lineup and play will change for the next game, what with Rooney being able to play again.

Honestly though, given the extreme competitiveness of the Premiere League, the constant tabloid coverage of players, and the way they behave towards each other, I'm surprised England can ever muster a semi-good national team performance. Granted, I don't know why it would be different for England than it is for Germany or Italy or France, but it does seem to be different. I just think those factors cause a big handicap.

McManaman is easily the best ESPN commentator I've heard in ages. I think they should phase out the 'professional' commentators and just have former footballers doing it (or if they must have the professionals they should pair them with comedians - I think if Adrian Healey were joined by Sean Lock, I could be happy). Honestly they were weird and destructive in their England commentary. Immediately after the first goal they started prepping themselves for failure and trying to act like they hadn't been excited at all (this was Healey with Robbie Mustoe).

Group A was just insane... I hadn't caught either of the other games, and this time watched Poland's first half and Russia's second. Using head-to-head rather than goal differential is really bizarre, and I'm wondering who decided to make that switch (certainly not the larger, more-favoured countries, I would imagine).

Definitely looking forward to the Germany-Denmark game today. Portugal-Netherlands has the potential to be interesting, but I don't really like either team (definitely has the potential for a lot of fouls and cards...). I hate the simultaneous games, but luckily the UEFA website has SUCH a great online live match report (which I hope FIFA emulates in the next world cup).

If Germany ends up playing Greece I'm sure the Germans will think of some interesting economy/bailout based chants!

Oh, and do you know what they do in the event of a group points tie where the two teams also tied in their game against each other? Do they then take GD into consideration?

That outcome seems like a distinct possibility in this tournament!

Not sure, I'd like to think that GD will come into play and not some random drawing of lots or massed yodeling competition... We may well find out tonight!

Apparently goal differential only comes in terms of the match currently being played.

If Croatia and Spain tie 0-0 and Italy wins 1-0, apparently Italy still advances, despite the fact that they'll both have five points and Croatia has scored more goals overall. Apparently this is because the GD they're counting (in the event of group ties) is the one between Croatia and Spain and between Italy and Ireland.

This is SERIOUSLY screwed up and ridiculous.

I am following the Euros very closely, watching every game on Setanta which has the rights in Australia - this morning it means they are showing Ireland v Italy instead of Spain v Croatia, so I am waiting for the replay of the 2nd game before watching.

I am in a tipping competition with my two sons and their friends - coming 4th at the moment. Unlike Uefa, we are using a simple methodology in case of a tie - the best banter wins! The Uefa system is nuts with Russia going out instead of Greece in spite of a far superior GD. GD is a British thing. In La Liga, they use head to head results to resolve ties (eg, City would have still won the championship based on winning one and drawing their other game with United). In Italy, there would have been a play-off - how good would that be! We are all waiting for a situaiton, possibly tonight when the Uefa coefficent may come into play, which would mean Spain getting the nod as world and Euro champions.

The full UEFA rules are:

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied, in the order given; to determine the rankings:

a) higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question;

b) superior goal difference in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);

c) higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);

d) superior goal difference in all the group matches;

e) higher number of goals scored in all the group matches;

f) position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system (see Annex I, paragraph 1.2.2);

g) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);

h) drawing of lots.

Classic EU rubbish - they could not organise the proverbial!!!

I usually support the dutch in these competition - how woeful have they been? Their defence has been terrible - once Portugal got going it was one way traffic.

Thanks Rob for this very complete answer to the question: "Just how up their own backsides are the bosses at UEFA?" To which the answer is of course - about as far up as the same bosses are at FIFA, which is to say, a very long way indeed!

It's a joke. I wasn't aware that the British GD approach was not followed also in Spain or Italy, so you've educated me there. I know this isn't the first tournament that these rules have been in effect, but I can't remember them being quite so obtuse and annoying as this time! Russia were clearly unlucky to go out under these rules.

Meredith - I agree it is seriously screwed up, but there you go. I was fuming also at the goal in the Spain Croatia game yesterday (trying not to spoil anything just in case... sorry but WHAT was that light blue Spanish kit?!?) - until a couple of years ago that would have been clearly off side, but these days, apparently its okay to goal-hang as long as when you finally become 'active' (as if the rest of the time you're merely comatose on the grass or something!) you are on side. The law is ridiculous. Off side should be off side. This tournament is turning me into a right old curmudgeon. I think the team who lost were very unlucky to go out of the competition.

I shouldn't complain too much as overall so far I've enjoyed the football - loved it when Portugal counter-attacked so effectively against the Dutch - what a second goal that was - though I'm getting nervous now about the England team imploding around Rooney's feet this evening...

I loved the Dutch football of the 70s-90s, was there any finer in modern football? There's a debate... but yes, since the last World Cup I've been increasingly turned off by their dull and unimaginative stuff. I hope Rijkaard or Hiddink takes over the side, though I have no idea who hates who at the Dutch FA, so am not at all clued up on the possibilities.

And I hope that Trappatoni doesn't leave the Ireland job after their predicted exit from the competition. They did their best and were clearly not at the same level as the other teams in their group. Besides, I like being reminded of Lloyd Bridges in Airplane every time I see him on the touchline!

I'm afraid in football as in other sport I am an ABTP - though I want the United lads to do well - so for me England to lose 5-3 with goals to Rooney, Young and Welbeck!!

The games are at 445am here so it is a stretch to watch them live - mostly I watch them over breakfast.

If you haven't already done so, read David Winner's, Brilliant Orange - it goes through all the dressing room bust-ups which have marred most tournaments for the Dutch - makes you wonder how they have done as well as they have despite the amazing talent. I think they still have heaps of talent, but no defenders and still heaps of hubris. I rate Hiddink very highly (look what he did with the Socceroos - unlucky to lose to the eventual winners in 2006) but he had his own problems with the dressing room in his previous stint as Dutch coach.

^ I have that on the wishlist - looks great. I understand the ABTP thing and have no problem with it. Living in Wales I'm accustomed to actually preferring Wales when it comes to the rugby - but I draw the line at football.

Yesterday's games and the annoyingness of the group tie rules totally ruined my day. Yes, that Spanish goal had a lot to do with it! I was definitely born a curmudgeon (though luckily only about things which don't really impact daily life).

I tried to watch the second halves of both games simultaneously, one on the TV and one on the computer, which was fairly confusing. I enjoy a bit of ultra-fancy footwork, but I never enjoy watching the Italians play soccer. Why on earth wasn't Balotelli happy about his goal? I can't imagine being so annoyed that another player was trying to hold you back that you couldn't celebrate your own goal! I mean, that's the game, you have to expect it.

While it makes a little sense to go head-to-head when it's two teams in a tie, it's still not really any more fair than GD. The team that's played the best don't always win, we've all seen that.

Today's games are where I'm most depressed about them being on at the same time. It's not that I'm super attached to watching Sweden or France individually, but you never know when a team that has no chance of advancing will pull off an amazing win.

Help an uninformed, American gal out, what's an ABTP?

Anyone But The Poms

Poms being Aussie (and Kiwi?) slang for the British.

Ha, gotcha. In my youth, the only soccer you could see on TV with any regularity (other than the World Cup and eventually MLS games) were Premiere League games, so I think a lot of us support them because of that. Difficult to seriously support teams/players you've never seen play.

I'm impressed with your affinity for the game!

Ha, I grew up with it. My siblings are all quite a bit older than me (between 5 and 14 years older) and all played on youth and high school teams, so I spent tons of time from a toddler up at all their games. It's really the only sport I grew up watching, either in person or on TV, and still the only one I truly enjoy.

Is everyone caught up?

England-Ukraine was... interesting. I was screaming at the TV before half-time. If it's five minutes before the half, just take a long-range shot at goal when you have the chance (unless there is a good passing opportunity, but in these instances one player would get there way before anyone else). I'm not sure if they're told to avoid giving goal-kick opportunities that late but trying to for a shot when your teammate's arrive is just as likely to result in a goal kick or in the other team taking possession. What on earth are these coaches telling the players? Surely knowing when to shoot yourself and when to pass is a hallmark of football!

Thoughts on the Ukrainian uncounted goal? I had thought that maybe that was one one of the off-sides that wasn't called (in which case two incompetent/unobservant linesman come up with the same result that a competent team would), but I just had a look and I don't think it was. There are plenty of difficult calls in football, but that one seemed pretty obvious even before seeing it in a slow-motion replay.

Commentators were talking about "goal line technology" being a part of the next World Cup. Anyone know? I'm assuming they mean strictly for the goal and not for other aspects of the game. Using camera replays for off-sides seems like an okay thing to me, but less so for fouls which are just an opinion call anyway. My dad says that using camera replays has ruined American football, and while I know their refs will take ages to decide something, I'm not sure why that is (I don't actually know the rules of that game).

I watched a replay of Sweden-France today, even though I knew the score, just to watch France lose. Sweden certainly seemed to dominate for the entire 90 minutes (my 3 1/2 year old nephew was here with me, so I didn't watch it as closely as I might have otherwise). Looking at the stats though, France had way more attempts on goal and more possession. It totally didn't seem like that watching the game. I am surprised that there weren't more fouls and cards toward the end. It's been quite a clean tournament so far, which is refreshing after the last World Cup...

The quarter finals definitely offer some interesting (though seemingly predictable) match-ups.

Smash and grab raid?
Maybe...

Ah yes - The Italian Job - what a great film that is (the original of course)...

...or not.

The less said about England's exit with a whimper the better!

So the semi-finals are upon us:
Portugal v Spain and Germany v Italy. In all fairness these are surely the four teams best equipped to compete at this level in the current championships.

Most will agree that Germany should dispatch the Italians without too much difficulty, but you just never know - The Azzuri have a famous knack for pulling performances out of the bag when it matters most - but surely the Germans have been the most impressive team in the tournament so far?

Portugal v Spain is a more nuanced match-up I suspect. Ronaldo seems to finally have his mojo working now (he was excellent in the quarter final versus the Czechs) and together with the support of Nani, Moutinho, and the gang, will be a stern test for the reigning champions. I'm hoping for a cracking match that should see Portugal counter-attacking freely - provided they can get the ball off of the super Spanish midfield.

Congratulations to Spain and bad luck to Italy! It looked like we were halfway to a classic final, but were denied it by virtue of a combination of a manager's gamble and an unfortunate injury.

After an exciting 1st half Spain had delivered on their potential to play scintillating football and went in at the break two goals to the good. First David Silva and then Jordi Alba breached the otherwise well organised Italian defence with some wonderful attacking play - both goals assisted by Cesc Fabregas - the 'false number 9'. Italy to their credit were certainly trying to attack and did enjoy several phases of the game where they were putting Spain under real pressure. Up front though their strikers Cassano and Balotelli were misfiring compared to their wonderful displays in the semi-final against Germany. Shame that they spent so much effort on falling over and trying to 'win' free kicks instead of keeping on their feet to try and win a goal... Pirlo in midfield was allowed precious little time on the ball to create as he'd done so effectively in the quarter and semi-finals.

In the second half, it started brightly - Italy knew that they had no choice but to attack - and to score as early as possible to force the issue. After the 1st half injury to defender Chiellini, the manager Prandelli gambled and used his last two remaining subs fairly early after the restart, bringing on Di Natale for Cassano and Motta for Montolivo. Unluckily, Tiago Motta lasted barely five minutes and was stretchered off - leaving the Azzuri down to ten men against probably the worst team in the world you'd want to play against with only ten men. Sure enough - the difference was insurmountable and Spain controlled the game 100% from this point on. With still a good twenty minutes remaining it was very evident that Italy would not worry the Champions' defence too much. They weren't even really able to get a hold of the ball. Their body language said it all - they knew the game was up. Two late goals for substitutes Torres & Mata were cleverly taken, but the 4-0 scoreline was perhaps a little harsh on the defeated Italians.