EURO 2008 predictions and supporter draw!

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Paddiano Ronaldo' post='1371939' date='May 27 2008, 12.59']Anyone up for being randomly assigned teams to support like for the World Cup?
It was so much fun two years ago :)[/quote]

I'm in. Hopefully I'll get someone better than Costa Rica.

[cteresa]

As a non participant if there is need of a draw, and if excel´s random number generation thingie still works, I can do it. 16 participants required?

List of participants

1 Paddiano Ronaldo
2 JonAS
3 Calibandar
4 mormont
5 Ran
6 Sir Thursday
7 Eefa(?)
8 Xray(?)
9 The Inquisitor
10 Mr X
11 Maltaran
12 kiko
13 john
14 dalThor
15 Kutz
16 The Iceman of the North
17 Filippa Eilhart

forgetting somebody?

[Edited by Ran: Helping cteresa out by adding the names that have come in since last update. :)]

[kiko]

I'm in. I hope I don't get England

[cteresa]

[quote name='kiko' post='1372496' date='May 27 2008, 19.11']I'm in. I hope I don't get England[/quote]

you won´t.

[The Inquisitor]

[quote name='cteresa' post='1372514' date='May 27 2008, 20.24']you won´t.[/quote]

Come on T! Join the madness!!

who knows, you might even draw Italy... ;) Cannavaro, Totti, Toni, Del Piero... Mamma Mia! some handsome lads... plus they get bonus points for style (supposedly)

:P

ETA:

Have you guys seen Totti's wife? Boy, some people have all the luck in the world... she's an italian actress named Ilary Blasy.

Although my beloved Figo and Karembeu can't complain too much. ;)

[cteresa]

[quote name='The Inquisitor' post='1372527' date='May 27 2008, 19.37']who knows, you might even draw Italy... ;) Cannavaro, Totti, Toni, Del Piero... Mamma Mia! some handsome lads... plus they get bonus points for style (supposedly)[/quote]

Well, I saw the Portugal-Italy in February and the cheekbones and hair on both sides, wow.. Portugal not bad either must be said ( portuguese football is just not the same since the golden generation, just check any photos of Portugal teams from the 80s :stunned: )

And I am not in, last time I got Holland, remember the Portugal-Holland of last world cup?!? Yeah, I bet everybody does. not tempting any supernatural entities with weird senses of humor.

PS - you sort of forgot Gattuso. And Paulo Ferreira.

[john]

I'd like to be assigned a random team to support too. I'm neutral at the moment.

[dalThor]

Being a football n00b I predict I won't have much of anything relevant to say but I am excited about the tourney.

The first ever pay-per-view event I ever forked out dough for was the last final on July 4th while in the States. After Greece won I promptly hung the Greek flag outside (which would have been there prior to, but my American one up due to the fact that it was Independence day there).

My neighbors were baffled...

Count me in for a team if you need some more people. Maybe Mashiara'll take one...

If they play the same way they did in last week's lackluster friendly loss there isn't much hope for a Greek repeat.

[The Man Who]

Can I get a team?

[The Iceman of the North]

OK, put me on the list. Any team is good for me as long as I don't get Belgium.

[Filippa Eilhart]

me too, me too!

[cteresa]

And I think we got 17 people now -

1 Paddiano Ronaldo
2 JonAS
3 Calibandar
4 mormont
5 Ran
6 Sir Thursday
7 Eefa(?)
8 Xray(?)
9 The Inquisitor
10 Mr X
11 Maltaran
12 kiko
13 john
14 dalthor
15 Kutz
16 Iceman
17 Filippa

oh, well one more, surely two can share a country - and if there is still more, a second draw when new volunteers hit 16. Draw, shall I?

Guys, getting England, Belgium or Angola ( not that would be a problem. Mantorras!!) is not going to happen. OTOH there is actually Austria, but I got a gut feeling about them, that they are not actually *that* bad or at least that Linz is quite better than people realize and might give them some points.

[Padraig]

I tried to post yesterday and the board crashed. :wideeyed:

But never fail, i'm still interested if you do a 2nd round.

Otherwise i'll support the Saudis again! :thumbsup:

[cteresa]

Ok, I did the draw, just repeated numbers 1 and 2 for 17 and 18 ( any newcomers, I will save and do another draw when we got enough) and voilá.

1 Paddiano Ronaldo Switzerland
2 JonAS France
3 Calibandar Spain
4 mormont Greece
5 Ran Romania
6 Sir Thursday Germany
7 Eefa(?) Czech Republic
8 Xray(?) Russia
9 The Inquisitor Sweden
10 Mr X Italy
11 Maltaran Croatia
12 kiko Netherlands
13 john Poland
14 dalthor Turkey
15 Kutz Austria
16 Iceman Portugal
17 Filippa Switzerland
18 Pod France

[Dark Wolf]

Well after 8 years without participation in the major tournaments my team qualified, finally. It get the toughest group of all: France, Italy and Holland, but I'm happy. At least if we fall we fall from the big horses. And I will enjoy 3 tough matches. I know the Romanian team, being so close to the Romanian football, and I say that if we make 2 points it will be good. In my country the media, the players and the supporters all got wild, they talk only about winning the Championship. Let's be serious, what are the chances for that. Especially after the big teams are in guard following the Greece's success 4 years ago. I just hope we will play some good football, because of the bad one I'm tired (that's the Romanian National Championship).
As favorites I see Spain this year even if they tend to make rather poor tournaments and Italy who always have a tough team to beat.

[Padraig]

Maybe we need another thread for actual Euro 2008 comments though. :P

Group A
1. Portugal
2. Switzerland
3. Turkey
4. Czech Rep

Its not that I want the Swiss to qualify but I think they will be very difficult to beat at home. At least they'll feel more obliged to attack (hopefully) compared to the WC. Turkey could sneak through but one has to select Portugal. Czech's will likely dissappoint.

Group B:
1. Germany
2. Croatia
3. Poland
4. Austria.

Germany and whoever wins Group C will be favourites for the Cup. This draw is a nice start for the Germans. Decent opposition but not scary. Poland seem to have improved since the WC but Croatia seem to have progressed even more. Pity they are missing Eduardo though.

Group C:
1. France
2. Italy
3. Holland
4. Roumania

Its almost impossible to guess who'll come through this group. I'm going for France because I think vengence against Italy could inspire them. France often seem to be lethargic but they can't be in this group. At the same time, France still has a scattering of old players and i'm not sure are they overdependent on them. Italy have potentially improved since the WC with De Rossi emerging and Toni improving his strike rate but it's always difficult to repeat success. Holland may have improved since the qualifiers but I just think Italy and France have shown more up to now. But still, impossible to be sure here. Romania could even sneak through.

Group D:
1. Spain
2. Greece
3. Russia
4. Sweden

Spain can't fail to get through this group. From what I have heard, Greece are probably a better team now than they were. I just hope they are a bit more attacking. :)

[Hereward]

I'll pretend this is real long enough to be randomly allocated a country to support, if you don't mind.

[The Iceman of the North]

Group A
1. Portugal
2. Not Portugal
3. Not Portugal
4. Not Portugal

Group B:
1. Germany
2. Croatia
3. Austria
4. Poland

Although Austria is a crap team, home advantage might see them avoiding the bottom spot.

Group C:
1. France
2. Italy
3. Romania
4. Holland

This is a though group, and for all I know we might end up with the reverse order in the end.

Group D:
1. Spain
2. Sweden
3. Russia
4. Greece

Sooner or later Spain must succeed at something...

[cteresa]

Got it, Hereward. Anybody else? I would do another draw when we get to 14.

oh, regarding predictions, oh, I never know these things, 16 countries I only follow a little bit a few of them. A point, I think you are all underestimating Russia. Particularly in regards to Spain and Greece. Spain IMO has problems, their midfield is very highly rated but looks like they all are basically effective when occupying the very same area ( and nobody on the laterals), their defense is frankly short, Casillas is brilliant but not invulnerable to crosses (and penalty kicks). Torres is on a high, but his record with Spain is not brilliant and might prevent Villa ( who has proved more effective) of playing. Plus Aragones, sorry guys but Hiddink is better at everything IMO, and von rehhagel quite capable of getting their number ( IMo corners and free kicks. just like Portugal but shorter defenders and a better goalkeeper). Sweden I don´t know how good or bad they really are, so no comments. So just saying Spain´s group is not looking that settled to me - they can make it, but thinking it is easy can backfire.

Regarding group A, Portugal has a chance and IMO Deco is the key. Cristiano Ronaldo is looking very tired having played IIRC 57 games for Manchester United this year. Portugal is not going to play 433, speculation is that Scolari is choosing one of those other fancier formations ( 4-1-3-2, but I am no good at it) and the paralell is that C Ronaldo will have a similar role to Zidane´s in 2006 France (no headbutts please), involving him less in the game demanding less physically but having ready to improvise and pounce at any opportunity. Deco is reportedly in great form in training. the central defenders are good, right defender we got choices, left side is ( always, ever) a problem. And if Nuno Gomes is fit, he has scored some pretty important goals and mixes very well with the rest.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Pfft. Puny Portugal will have no hope against the might of Bruckner's Boys in Blue. (Okay, red and white. But blue legwarmers. Sometimes. :P) We invented Pilsner - we rule the world!

Are we doing Paint avatars again, or just any other stereotypical image to represent our adopted land? :lol: