[Archived] euro12 thread

[philipl]

The Euros have a habit of throwing up completely unexpected winners.

The England plans are further disrupted by the sad news of Defoe's Dad's death and Defoe leaving the squad for the time being.

Meanwhilst the Economist are slagging off the BBC for their programme: http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/06/ugly-spectre

Any England fans going to Ukraine be prepared to be ripped off. My girl friend happens to need to be in Kharkov in Ukraine during Euro 2012 for non-football reasons and has found the train tickets have gone up 600%.

[Tom]

Holland players have been racially abused (monkey chants) at an open training session tonight

This doesn't bode well

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Pure scum the people who did that. And apparently there were a fair few of them. As bad as Poland/Ukraine will be I think the next World Cup in Russia will be worse, not just for the fact there will be African teams entirely composed of Black players.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/hollands-black-players-racially-abused-867125

[EWOODACE1]

if they think its bad in poland/ukraine for racism then think what it will be like in russia when there will be all black teams from africa. fifa and uefa have made some bad decisions here which i suppose everyone already knew

[thenodrog]

Is it just me or are the English media trying their best to belittle the tournament?

So far I've seen plenty of stuff on how the host countries are backward, the kit is toxic, the manager has no idea, the team is bad. It doesn't seem like the usual tactics of unearthing scandal.

My money is on the Dutch, with my usual lost cause England.

Like me they must see the English squad as the weakest in living memory and are diverting national attention toward the colour prejudice issue which apparently is still quite widespread in eastern Europe.

[Steve Moss]

Unlike the English media and sulky Rio who should STFU.

+1

[Mattyblue]

It's about time the media were realistic. England are an average side.

Now if Hodgson can get them organised so their inability to string three passes together becomes less of an issue, good on him.

[Stuart]

if they think its bad in poland/ukraine for racism then think what it will be like in russia when there will be all black teams from africa. fifa and uefa have made some bad decisions here which i suppose everyone already knew

Incidents like the ones regularly eminating from these countries should be included as part of the selection criteria for hosting tournements, for both UEFA and FIFA. It's no good having anti-racism campaigns and then rewarding countries who allow this to happen.

Having said that, how do you educate ignorant people about different cultures without exposing them to each other? We'll have to see how they get on, and importantly how the authorities react. Not taking action should be punished financially and severely - but I suspect it won't. There's too much money involved for those who turn a blind eye.

I can see there being at least one pitch walk off, maybe more.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

It's about time the media were realistic. England are an average side.

Now if Hodgson can get them organised so their inability to string three passes together becomes less of an issue, good on him.

Average teams can be successful. Look at Greece in 2004. England now are much better than Greece were then, even with Gooney etc out.

[Ralfinho]

I have created a Rovers Euro 2012 Fantasy football league that is free. The link is below. There has been a decent amount of interest

Rovers Euro 2012 Fantasy Footy League

[Makey11]

I have created a Rovers Euro 2012 Fantasy football league that is free. The link is below. There has been a decent amount of interest

Rovers Euro 2012 Fantasy Footy League

quite a few teams in now. This is the hardest fantasy footy ive been on only being able to have 2 players from each team! When ive got a rovers player and a failed ex rovers player in my team you know im not going to be doing well :/

[Ralfinho]

quite a few teams in now. This is the hardest fantasy footy ive been on only being able to have 2 players from each team! When ive got a rovers player and a failed ex rovers player in my team you know im not going to be doing well :/

Ive just changed my formation to 2-5-3 to try and maximise scoring

[Makey11]

Ive just changed my formation to 2-5-3 to try and maximise scoring

wow now thats attacking haha love it!

[RibbleValleyRover]

So Poland v Greece about to kick off. Poland will want to impress in front of their home crowd but Greece might stifle them with their defensive play. Lewandowski the player to watch you would think.

Will probably watch the first half and if it's any good watch the second. Tommorow's games interest me a lot more tbh.

[Audax]

Poland is playing well and with enthusiasm and I don't doubt most of their supporters are good folk. It's really a shame a few ignoramuses spoil things. I will not spoil the game for those who might watch a replay but this has been a good game.

[K-Hod]

So Poland v Greece about to kick off. Poland will want to impress in front of their home crowd but Greece might stifle them with their defensive play. Lewandowski the player to watch you would think.

Will probably watch the first half and if it's any good watch the second. Tommorow's games interest me a lot more tbh.

Lewandowski banged a header in, class.

Reminds me a lot of Dzeko at City in the way he plays.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Well if that's going to be the standard of refereeing this tournament then it's going to be a shocker.

[ABBEY]

WOWSERS ..theres going to 5 a side games if thats what yellows are.

[The Rover of Finland]

Greeks tactics must be from Kean´s tactical brain!!!

Well if that's going to be the standard of refereeing this tournament then it's going to be a shocker.

Last game for the ref..

[RibbleValleyRover]

Will probably watch the first half and if it's any good watch the second. Tommorow's games interest me a lot more tbh.

Far more entertaining game than I thought it would be...

[K-Hod]

Far more entertaining game than I thought it would be...

Ditto. Very enjoyable indeed, quite a good side on the sly are Poland.

[Tom]

As an aside just how bad is mark bright?

Shocking

[RibbleValleyRover]

ITV's coverage has Keane and Vieira sitting next to each other...

[adopted scouser]

Looking at that opening ceremony I'm sure Venky's played a part in it.

Talk about amateur night

[cn174]

Had a brill first day in Poland. We've just got back from Russia vs Czech, their fans dont really like each other! Though i do think i now know 'youre so ###### its unbelievable' in russian!

All very well organised and they've not hiked beer prices up massively, which is nice.

Only saw first half of Polands game but thay red card was just bad!