Euro 2012 - Official Discussion Thread

[Keystone Phil]

Well, this makes things very interesting...

[argentarius]

France-4
Ukraine/Sweden-3
England-1

That would be one hell of a last day.

[Keystone Phil]

A bullet!

[argentarius]

Game of the tournament.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

DANM IT!!!

[Phony Moderate]

Nice to see England actually scoring a few goals too.

[Keystone Phil]

Balotelli loses starting spot!

[argentarius]

Balotelli loses starting spot!

I actually think Ireland is the one team he would shine against.

[Franzl]

Balotelli loses starting spot!

Even for Italian football standards (), he's quite an unlikeable person.

[Lief 🗽]

I feel sorry for Sweden. I was rooting for you guys.

[Lief 🗽]

Lief, do you already have a gif from the scene in which the referee got the ball kicked into his balls ?

Ask and you shall receive:

[Јas]

Ibrahimović can't possibly be as lazy as he was last night when playing at Milan, can he?

[Gustaf]

Well, I had low hopes before the tournament and it turned out to go even worse than I anticipated.

At least they gave a strong performance against England and with a little more luck things could have gone our way. I guess I should be happy about that.

Jas: Ibrahimovic has always been a bit of a lazy player in his style but it was unusually bad towards the end yesterday. He is hampered by being too far above the rest of the team in skill though.

[politicus]

As expected, cynicism has swept across Italy: it seems like an overwhelming majority believe Italy will be knocked out, regardless of what they do against Ireland, because Spain and Croatia will agree to draw 2-2. It would be 2004 all over again.  
I'm not sure what to think. At first, I'm inclined to agree but then I think Croatia will want to play for the win in order to claim top spot in the group (a draw means Spain remain in first). That will force Spain to play, too, and likely win. It would be hilarious if Croatia fought for the win at the very end, got it and we see Spain eliminated assuming Italy beats Ireland. That's why Spain can't just let Croatia do whatever they want. They should be almost as concerned as the Italians.

Of course, none of this matters if we lose or draw with the Irish which is also a worry of mine. This could be the exact same ending as 2010: two opening matches ending 1-1 and then a surprise defeat. The Irish are playing for pride and they have Trap. He'd love to make a statement against us. Plus, we tend to screw up games we should win...

Bottom line: Monday is going to be a real headache.

This is a myth. The 2004 2-2 game between Denmark and Sweden was fought very hard and both teams did their best to win. Noone who saw the game with unbiased eyes could say otherwise.
There is a lot of prestige in beating the neighbours in a DK/Sweden game and neither team would play for a tie in such a match.

[Gustaf]

I think Lewis is saying that a 3-2 win for Denmark would see both teams through (well, he said 4-3, but still).

And I remember watching that Sweden-Denmark game and it never felt particularly rigged.

[minionofmidas]

I think Lewis is saying that a 3-2 win for Denmark would see both teams through (well, he said 4-3, but still).

And I remember watching that Sweden-Denmark game and it never felt particularly rigged.

To be precise: My recollection is that the game was played seriously, and was in fact a very good game, until the needed score happened to happen anyways, at which point all the players visibly ceased to care. (There was a single scoring opportunity after that and the player who wasted it pretty much tripped over laughing.) That, however, was in I think the 88th minute. This is what happens when a game is not rigged in advance but there exists an outcome that everybody likes. In the notorious case of Germany vs Austria, Gijón 1982, the needed score (Austrian win by one goal) came to be after 8 minutes...
Anyways, Italy played very badly against Bulgaria at the same time and only won 2-1, and actually would have been eliminated under normal rules as well. Though whether they would have played like that if they knew they needed to win by three - the normal rules - is a matter of conjecture, and is somewhat unlikely.


Denmark-Germany 3-2
Portugal-Netherlands 2-0

Denmark 6
Germany 6
Portugal 6
Netherlands 0

Spain-Croatia 2-2
Italy-Ireland ∞-0

Spain 5
Italy 5
Croatia 5
Ireland 0

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3 all, no decision; 2 all, no decision

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0 all, no decision; 0 all, no decision

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Denmark 5 and group winner, Germany 3, Portugal 3 - no decision between those two; Spain 3, Croatia 3 - no decision between those two, Italy 2 and eliminated

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Portugal +2, Germany +1. Germany eliminated. Spain +4, Croatia +2, Spain group winner.

[minionofmidas]

Haha, I just found it. There's some kind of circular by the UEFA, dated may 21st, on how it will interprete the rule, and that indeed states that the earlier steps are to be repeated if there's a partially-broken tie after step three. So 3-2 for Denmark would indeed see Germany through.

[GMantis]

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d) superior goal difference in all the group matches

Portugal +2, Germany +1. Germany eliminated. Spain +4, Croatia +2, Spain group winner.
[/quote]
Since at this point only Portugal and Germany are being compared, "a" would have to be applied first, eliminating Portugal. It makes no sense to apply different criteria to them, even if they were previously tied.

[Keystone Phil]

Greece score right before half time!

[Franzl]

LOL

[Lief 🗽]

If results hold then Russia and Greece will qualify for the quarterfinals. And if that happens and Germany wins Group B (which is likely), then the second quarterfinal will be between... Germany and Greece. Things will be lit on fire.

[Keystone Phil]

Yeah, I'm hoping my prediction is wrong this time and the Greeks make it out of the group instead of the Czechs.

[Keystone Phil]

Everything has been turned on its head now!

[Lief 🗽]

SUDDENLY, the Czechs and Greece are the two teams advancing hahahah

[Lief 🗽]

Greece advancing from the group should be a pretty big boost to SYRIZA don't you folks think?