EC 2012 Poland/Ukraine

posted on June 1st, 2012, 12:19 pm

lol you wish. you only held out so long in the world cup final because you had an english ref who desperately wanted the match to finish 11 a side, and even then johnny heitinga still managed to get sent off. Nigel de jong definitely should have gone for his fusion of football and mixed martial arts.

if that match had a ref from a mainland european country, the match would have ended after 90 minutes with 8 dutch players and 10 spanish players. If the players behaved that way in a champions league match it would have been abandoned after half an hour because there'd be less than 7 dutch players.

Disgruntle much because England got booted early ?

The Netherlands beat Brazil and a number of strong countries. Nigel de Jong was his controversial self, but i have to admit i would have rather not have seen him at all on the team.

We'll see how the EC goes though especially since the Netherlands are probably in the toughest group to start in:  Group B (Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Portugal).
Survive in that group and you're likely to go semi finals/finals.

posted on June 1st, 2012, 12:39 pm

With 7 days to go before the start of the European Championship 2012 in Poland/Ukraine let's start ranting about your favorite and who's going to win.

Considering I'm from the Netherlands it should be obvious that the Netherlands are my favorite.

We'll see how the EC goes though especially since the Netherlands are probably in the toughest group to start in:  Group B (Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Portugal).
Survive in that group and you're likely to go semi finals/finals.

Group A will probably be Czech Republic (1st) and Russia (2nd).

Group B it's any body's guess.

Group C goes with Spain (1st) and Italy (2nd)

Group D enters England and France. Probably england 1st with France as runner-up.

This EC will be sweeeeet!

posted on June 1st, 2012, 12:39 pm

Disgruntle much because England got booted early ?

that makes no sense at all, germany knocked us out, not the dutch, why would i have grudges against netherlands or spain?

now i do hold a grudge against fifa (not really the germans, any keeper would have done what neuer did, no keeper would confess the ball crossed the line, they care about winning too much, and they'd be hated in their country if they did it) for that shameful display of officiating. fifa has become political, and just as corrupt as regular politics, sepp blatter is a shambles. it's disgusting seeing football managed by corrupt politicians. cricket and tennis are absolutely laughing at world football for the ridiculous resistance to technology and replays. football is worth so much more money and entertainment to the world, yet fifa drags its feet year after year. /end rant

Personally i don't think the spanish played their usual attractive football in that final, they played a bit like you did, negatively. it was a boring final. neither team put on a good show. They definitely deserved it more than you, though, the dutch display was awful to watch. your team has star players like sneijder, robben and van persie who shouldn't be playing football as crappy as in that match.

you indeed got put in the group of death for euro 2012, but football is sometimes funny, those matches will be entertaining.

germany just got spanked 5-3 by the swiss, so anything can happen with some luck. also key german players just got beat in the champions league final. and the way they got beat was significant as well, germans are notorious for being robots when it comes to taking penalties, yet a german team playing in front of german fans got beat at home by an english team with a record of getting beaten on penalties. the germans maybe won't have full confidence, especially taking penalties.

also robben missed a penalty in extra time of that match, so he might still be kicking himself. I never understood that, a team full of german robots were playing and they let the dutch guy take the penalty?! absolute mishegas.

posted on June 1st, 2012, 12:42 pm

I started a new topic about the EC so we can keep/get this topic back on topic again.

posted on June 1st, 2012, 12:48 pm

don't count out france, they are class, and england have a habit of underperforming, even when expectations are already low, i could see france topping our group and england squeaking through in second.

also spain have really bad injuries, david villa (I think he's underrated), puyol too. torres is a wild card, if he turns up he's good, but he's lost his mojo recently, he could play 90 minutes like a romulan, completely invisible. Same with david silva, he isn't consistent either. llorente shows promise, but his concern will be handling the pressure.

I could see italy doing well against spain if their defence can shackle lacklustre/underperforming spanish strikers. i still think they'll both make it out, but who comes first/second isn't clear cut to me.

[Anonymous]

posted on June 1st, 2012, 1:00 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on June 1st, 2012, 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Quote from another thread, gonna move this discussion here, this post belongs at the top

I live in the country which will win the EC in the Ukraine this summer.

I'll give you folks a sneak peek: Netherlands (a.k.a. Holland)

lol you wish. you only held out so long in the world cup final because you had an english ref who desperately wanted the match to finish 11 a side, and even then johnny heitinga still managed to get sent off. Nigel de jong definitely should have gone for his fusion of football and mixed martial arts.

if that match had a ref from a mainland european country, the match would have ended after 90 minutes with 8 dutch players and 10 spanish players. If the players behaved that way in a champions league match it would have been abandoned after half an hour because there'd be less than 7 dutch players.

posted on June 1st, 2012, 8:33 pm

welp after that split the posts are out of sequence, with the OP being in reply to reply 5.

posted on June 9th, 2012, 4:52 pm

For crying out loud!!! Put Huntelaar on the field.

1-0 behind against Denmark at rest.

Edit: crap crap and double, no triple crap. How did we lose this game.
Two possible hands in the first half, penalty not given last quarter and too many near misses to count.

We (The Netherlands) better humiliate Germany and Portugal in the next matches.

This whole match annoyed me from start to finish.

posted on June 9th, 2012, 9:53 pm

1-0 behind against Denmark

lol indeed how did you lose that match? robben, sneijder and van persie are about as dangerous as attacking players get, they all bottled it. even before the goal you should have been 2 goals up, even when their goalie handed you possession and you were 4 attackers vs 3 defenders, you still contrived to miss.

van persie embarrassed himself in the second half, he won the premier league golden boot this season, he looked like he was wearing boots made of gold today, he had no control over the ball and looked like he was drowning.

that's happened to several good players, they are brilliant for club, but fail internationally. arsenal's keeper wojciech szczęsny had an awful time yesterday, petr cech (chelsea's keeper) didn't look great either. Yet andrei arshavin and roman pavlyuchenko were crap for club, and stunning for Russia.

oh yeah, they put huntelaar on the field, he obviously didn't want to show up his team mates so he missed an easy chance too.

that was supposed to be the banker result, the one you were almost certain to win. draws against germany and portugal aren't gonna be enough any more, germany already have 3 points, if portugal beat denmark they will have 3 points, 2 points probably won't be enough. you have to go out and get wins.

This tournament is looking lively, I don't think anyone is beyond getting beaten.

posted on June 9th, 2012, 10:56 pm

I have to admit that the Netherlands played horribly today.

You know Denmark plays defensive with counters so you have to keep the pressure up and cash in every chance.
Had we cashed in 25% then it would have been 4-1. The team better shape up fast because Germany and Portugal are a lot more dangerous than Denmark.

If they don't win they don't deserve to go on. Period.
On the bright side, when that should happen then at least some of the more annoying players (esp. van Bommel) will get the boot.

posted on June 9th, 2012, 11:15 pm

yeah you let them defend, but you also let them have the ball too much. if the other team's gonna park the bus, at international level you have to make them forget what the ball looks like, keep it until the defence gets bored and falls asleep.

posted on June 10th, 2012, 10:36 am

yeah you let them defend, but you also let them have the ball too much. if the other team's gonna park the bus, at international level you have to make them forget what the ball looks like, keep it until the defence gets bored and falls asleep.

Preaching to the choir here. I agree that there were far too many screw-ups. The whole match annoyed me.
Losing is one thing, but the way they played seriously pissed me off.

It's easy to be an armchair general, but come on.. those things were painfully obvious.

posted on June 10th, 2012, 11:31 am

I know one thing, I'm gonna make sure I catch the next netherlands games. should be spicy now you need to go for it. no playing for draws.

next up is the little matter of spain/italy.

posted on June 10th, 2012, 11:35 am

That's for sure. A grudge match between Holland and Germany. We need serious payback for 8 years ago.

posted on June 10th, 2012, 3:28 pm

lol spain would rather play with no strikers than risk putting torres on.

i don't see it being a huge problem, players like fabregas, silva and iniesta are skilled enough to score, and spain's strength has always been good midfield passing. flodding the midfield might just work for them.

then again, barca couldn't get past 10 man chelsea (without their best defender) in the champions league. and that's chelsea's defence, italians are notoriously stingy in defence.

torres was a flop for club, so by this tournament's logic he should be brilliant in international play.

EDIT AFTER MATCH: lol so much for torres shining, they didn't give him long but he managed to fail at least 3 times. no confidence left in him. his value was 50 mil at purchase, now chelsea would be lucky to get 20 mil for him.

it's sad to see such a skilled player fail repeatedly, he's already proved in previous times that he's talented. he's not fighting against defenders/keepers, he's fighting against his own psychological demons, and he's getting his arse kicked.

I think a draw's fair for the match, one team plays boring possession football in a 4-6-0 formation without a recognised striker, and italy are italy, a team whose strength is defending.