Euro 2012. The Groups

[Selerox]

Lescott's MASSIVE HEAD scares me...

How come everyone in the country and club managers can see this, but when it comes to England we'll get the same old slow, useless failures we've had before. Barry, Lampard and Gerrard in midfield. Terry and Ferdinand in defence. Again.

I'd love to see England play:

Hart
Walker Lescott Jagielka Cole
Rodwell
Wilshire Cleverly
Young Sturridge A. Johnson

Every single one of them has technique and pace...but they have little experience (which also translates as little history of failure)
I wouldn't expect them to win, but they'd certainly play decent football and start to build a team for the world cup.

Reserves

Not sure about the 2 keepers
Smalling Jones Cahill K. Gibbs
Palker
Milner Rooney
Walcott Welbeck Lennon

Aside from Lescott (who still makes me nervous), I'd say that's a pretty decent selection there :tup: Certainly a damn sight better than Capello can manage.

 

[Exus Tecius]

bloody croatians,kicked out turkey.no justice in this world.
go greece go.

 

[Big-Al]

bloody croatians,kicked out turkey.no justice in this world.
go greece go.

Turkey isn't in Europe

 

[tomcat ha]

i forgot that israel is.

 

[tomcat ha]

If the netherlands plays like the last WC or keeps up the thing they did last EC then they are a serious contender to win it... but we all know that.
The last few games have been kinda mediocre but that very well might just be a phase. We've prob the best attackers in the world.

 

[Zur]

Turkey isn't in Europe

Correct. It's in my plate.

 

[Selerox]

Eurovision's wrong as well. Although it's wrong about most things...

i forgot that israel is.

No it isn't. Forget what UEFA says. Israel isn't - nor will it ever be - part of Europe.

 

[Lruce Bee]

Amen to that brother.

 

[das_ben]

Which is a question that, nevermind the fact this is entirely off-topic, depends on your definition of "Europe".

 

[DarkEmperor]

geographicaly and ethnologicaly Turkey, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia do not belong in Europe. For political reasons they take part in most european contests (eurovision etc etc), but this topic is highly flammable.

 

[Selerox]

Less about culture, more about geography...

geographicaly and ethnologicaly Turkey, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia do not belong in Europe. For political reasons they take part in most european contests (eurovision etc etc), but this topic is highly flammable.

Turkey is partially within Europe. So as much as some people might kick off about it, they do at least have a claim on that one. The rest fall into the border states category, where they might share a border with Europe, they aren't necessarily in it. Israel has no claim whatsoever to having anything to do with Europe. I'd count Kazakhstan before I'd count Israel.

 

[DarkEmperor]

It is absurd and provocative, sure, but Israel rules the world (powerful lobbys, banks, religion...). What would you expect?

 

[tomcat ha]

geographicaly and ethnologicaly Turkey, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia do not belong in Europe. For political reasons they take part in most european contests (eurovision etc etc), but this topic is highly flammable.

If you go by continental plate then spain and italy dont belopng yet turkey, azerbeijan, kazakhstan, armenia and georgia do.

If we are talking about ethnicities. Well thats not that true either. Till a century ago a lot of balkans was ottoman turkish and turkic tribes like the kazakh's have been living in europe since the 4th century.

 

[DarkEmperor]

^^
That is the so called Eurasia continental plate which includes regions of Europe and Asia. That's something different. It is not geographical it is geological.

And people in the balkans or in Egypt, Libya, Tunesia etc, were living in the ottoman empire, they were not ottoman turks. Like in the USA where many ethinicities live together, or in any other big empire in the past.

 

[DSK]

I hope that England gets completely smashed by every team they play, and that Germany wins. Go, Germany!

 

[DarkEmperor]

I prefer the underdogs so I would say Denmark or Greece, two former champions . Besides, contrary to the past, that is no national team of Germany it is rather international... they have players that are coming from Brazil, Poland, Ghana, Turkey, lol. 80 Million people with such a tradition in football and they need 2nd generation immigrants for their national team.

 

[Plumb_Drumb]

GO BRONCOS!

 

[das_ben]

Besides, contrary to the past, that is no national team of Germany it is rather international... they have players that are coming from Brazil, Poland, Ghana, Turkey, lol. 80 Million people with such a tradition in football and they need 2nd generation immigrants for their national team.

Third and fourth generation, which is getting closer to the heart of the matter: They have been German since birth and in a lot of cases, even their parents have already been born and raised in Germany.

(This is not an attempt to defend Germany from... I don't even know what, but rather one that dismisses thinking along the lines of "ethnic Germans" vs. "immigrant Germans". Personally, I reject nations and nationalism as anachronistic and couldn't give less of a fuck about Germany, besides the fact that it's somewhat useful as a bureaucratic construct. Oh, and right now, the team of male German citizens plays a rather attractive football.)

That said, besides the fact that there are obvious reasons for the inclusion of Israel in UEFA and that the participation of countries like Israel or Armenia in Eurovision can be easily explained if anybody really cared to know rather than spread his or her beliefs about belonging, I'd prefer we wouldn't seriously debate "Europe's borders" based solely on geography, which is a) not the point and b) still a lot more complicated than, say, the case of Australia.

 

[Exus Tecius]

Besides, contrary to the past, that is no national team of Germany it is rather international... they have players that are coming from Brazil, Poland, Ghana, Turkey, lol. 80 Million people with such a tradition in football and they need 2nd generation immigrants for their national team.

heh?
what is it with england,france,holland..etc?
sorry but you sound like...dunno...wrong.

 

[DarkEmperor]

heh?
what is it with england,france,holland..etc?
sorry but you sound like...dunno...wrong.

England, France and Holland have people from their colonizations from 400 years ago, Germany's immigrants were post World War 2. And while the first ones are fully integrated, Germany's multi-culti-tutti-frutti has miserably failed, most of them are living in "social ghetto's" or in real ghettos like Kreutzberg/Berlin and do not feel german at all.

Third and fourth generation, which is getting closer to the heart of the matter: They have been German since birth and in a lot of cases, even their parents have already been born and raised in Germany.

You 're lying here. Ozil's parents are both from Turkey, Podolski's are both from Poland, (in fact I don't really remember if the guy can speak german at all), Klose's are also both from Poland, Cacau was born in Brazil and his parents are from there also. So that is more like transfers from other countries. Some countries do it, some others not. I prefer the latter.