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Going to start this upcoming weekend.... hopefully Italy isn't going to suck like in 2008 and 2010.

Anyways excited about this going on?

(hopefully vuvuzelas have been banned)

Eh. It's football. 90 minutes of people running behind a ball, then the Germans win.

There's a soccer tag?

England supporter here.

I intend to start drowning my sorrows early, like 48 hours before the tournament starts.

As a Dutchman, I'm probably the only one in my country who does not really care about soccer. If they make it to the quarter finals (unlikely, given that we have to go against Germany and Portugal) I might watch, but otherwise I'll just check the scores whenever the game is done.

I like watching many countries beyond Italy. I used to be a big fan of Portugal back in the day with Figo. I like Spain and Crotia as well. The only team that should eat dirt IMO are the dirty French.

I just think it's funny that everybody and their granddaughter agrees the Belgian team is bollocks (we aren't even in Euro 2012), but voted best player in the Dutch, English and Italian competitions were all Belgians. You'd think we'd be able to at least do *something* with all that talent, but nooooo.

That's what happens when all the good players play for the big clubs. That player's nation always suffers.

It's not like they're actually that good. I still don't understand how they actually got voted up there - I think they were all, like Van Rompuy in politics, choices of least resistance. Nobdoy minded them because, well, they're Belgian

Steve Gerrard, Gerrard, he'll pass the ball fourty yaaaaards

Bubble181 said:

It's not like they're actually that good. I still don't understand how they actually got voted up there - I think they were all, like Van Rompuy in politics, choices of least resistance. Nobdoy minded them because, well, they're Belgian

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Uhhhhhh Kompany and Hazard are VERY good.

Okay, let's do this foosball thing!

"That was like a 25 dollar bit!"

Chippy said:

Uhhhhhh Kompany and Hazard are VERY good.

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Admittedly, but the best players in their respective leagues? I mean, those ARE amongst the top-5 or top-10 most important leagues in the world. I'm not saying they aren't great players and, well, perhaps I stated it too boldly - fine by me that they get the title of "best player"....But would you REALLY say they're the very best? If you had to pickthe World Wide Dream Team, would you have 4 Belgians in there?

For some reason I dont have high hopes for the german team. I'm thinking Spain will win this.

Bubble181 said:

Admittedly, but the best players in their respective leagues? I mean, those ARE amongst the top-5 or top-10 most important leagues in the world. I'm not saying they aren't great players and, well, perhaps I stated it too boldly - fine by me that they get the title of "best player"....But would you REALLY say they're the very best? If you had to pickthe World Wide Dream Team, would you have 4 Belgians in there?

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Fair enough, but I still hold that Kompany is one of the best CB's in the world right now. Dude is a massive force. Hazard is more of "one for the future."

But back to the Euro's, that was an exciting first match. I had both Poland and Greece failing to qualify from groups in my bracket, so that was an acceptable result on my end.

Side note: Every time I see Germany's midfield lineup I have an orgasm.

Chippy said:

Every time I see Germany's midfield lineup I have an orgasm.

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Odd, I thought that was restricted to Beach Volley

Kompany IS great though, sure enough. I had a couple of classes with him years ago, officially, though I've never seen him in a classroom (that I remember. He wasn't as famous a few years back).

Also, Poland-Greece? Yawn. Wake me when it's Dutchies vs Jerries

Oh man that russian goal. Dat attacking move. Pretty bad defending, but still. Very pretty.

Was anyone else not expecting such fluid through balls from Russia? Christ.

I haven't seen Russia dominate the Czech Republic like this since the Cold War.

Agger's performance against the Dutch just adds to the reasons why my next Liverpool Jersey will have his name on the back.

Ronaldo is being a whiney drama queen.As usual.
http://sports.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201206/88083.php

LordRendar said:

Ronaldo is being a whiney drama queen.As usual.
http://sports.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201206/88083.php

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He's just saying it was "unfair" because he believed they played well, which made the loss hard to take. Ronaldo's matured a lot since he moved to Madrid.

I am of the opinion that by avoiding a heavy defeat against the French and managing to draw against them, England's supporters will start to have vastly inflated expectations again.

More drinks please.

No, they're still complaining about Henderson, Downing, Kelly, and Carroll making it into the squad.

Because they think the England squad should be filled with TALENT! Every single player should be able to command ONE BILLION POUNDS on the transfer market, be able to win each game SINGLE HANDEDLY while BLINDFOLDED and SIMULTANEOUSLY PERFORMING OPEN HEART SURGERY.

Not realizing that, yes, in fact, Henderson, Downing, Kelly and Carroll are the best England have to offer.

I mean, yes England fans usually have WAY too high of expectations, I think now that the "Golden Generation" (Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, etc) are getting older, and after seeing how poorly they have performed, the expectations for this tournament have dropped.

And they aren't the best England has to offer.

Downing is the only person of them you would consider a starter for England. Even then, you could argue that Adam Johnson could play his left wing role, or Ashley Young if you took him out of that central role and brought someone else up. And after a string of good performances from The Ox, I wouldn't be surprised if he lost his spot to him.

All the others were brought into the squad to be subs or after injuries.

Carroll was picked for backup while Rooney was suspended.
Henderson was picked after Lampard got injured. Barry or Wilshere would have been picked over him if they weren't injured. Carrick too, if he didn't "retire" when he found out he wasn't in Hodgson's first squad. He'll just be used to back up Gerrard and Parker, as he should be.
Kelly was picked after Cahill got injured, and is the only one of the four I don't entirely agree with the choice to select. I think Micah Richards should have been in the first team in the first place, or even Walker. I like Kelly, I think he's a great young talent with a lot of potential, but Richards should have got the call.

When I say they're the best England have to offer, I don't mean they're automatic starters for the national team, but rather that's the standard of player England supporters can expect for their national team. England don't have a Messi or a Ronaldo or an Ozil or a Fabregas or a Ribery or a Van Persie.

And yes, I agree, Micah Richards should've been picked ahead of Kelly.

Me after Dat Walcott goal.

Way to under perform and fuck up my bracket, Netherlands.

Chippy said:

Way to under perform and fuck up my bracket, Netherlands.

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In other words, there's now a national crisis as people can't figure out soon enough what to do with all the Euro2012 related crap that has been purchased in the inevitable hype that always leads up to any championship. Every time I think they learn, but then last time they made it to the semi's and everyone was all hyped up again.