Euro 2012 - Official Discussion Thread

[Franzl]

LOL

[Franzl]

Germany vs. Greece is now extremely likely

[Franzl]

Shouldn't Russia be advancing with a better goal difference?

No.

[Franzl]

Beating Greece would be quite amusing

[Franzl]

Beating Greece would be quite amusing

Greece beating Germany would be even more amusing.

Yes. And all of non-German Europe would be cheering for the Greeks.

Since when is Greek popular in Northern Europe?

[Franzl]

Beating Greece would be quite amusing

Greece beating Germany would be even more amusing.

Yes. And all of non-German Europe would be cheering for the Greeks.

No they wouldn't...

Yeah, I think most people here in the North would support Germany both politically and in the football sense.

Sympathy for the underdogs + historical animosity towards Germany = pro Greece, even if you don't like the way they play football or their politics.

Sweden is probably not typical in this matter because you have never been occupied by/at war with  the Germans like most other European nations.

To be honest, I doubt the war has much to do with modern football sympathies, lol.

Think it has more to do with wanting a primary competitor to be gone.

[Franzl]

Apart from drunken Ingerland fans.

Do they come any other way?

[Franzl]

Beating Greece would be quite amusing

Greece beating Germany would be even more amusing.

Yes. And all of non-German Europe would be cheering for the Greeks.

No they wouldn't...

Yeah, I think most people here in the North would support Germany both politically and in the football sense.

Sympathy for the underdogs + historical animosity towards Germany = pro Greece, even if you don't like the way they play football or their politics.

Sweden is probably not typical in this matter because you have never been occupied by/at war with  the Germans like most other European nations.

To be honest, I doubt the war has much to do with modern football sympathies, lol.

Think it has more to do with wanting a primary competitor to be gone.

Thats a bit naive. WW2 is a root cause of a strong underlying (but rarely openly expressed) anti-German feeling in many European countries, and that sentiment obviously influneces the way you preceive football matches. The "anybody but Germany" sentiment is quite strong and is not just about sports rivalry.

You'll notice that Germany's popularity in other countries is quite high, equal to other European nations at least. See various opinion polls, at least ones not conducted in Greece.

I'm sure there are still some bigots out there, but I seriously doubt, based on statistics and my own experiences, that this is a major problem or occurance.

[Franzl]

I have no clue how it is, but a French journalist covering the Germany-Netherlands match for France Info (French public news radio) said that Nazi occupation during WW2 remained a significant enough explanation to the kind of traditional 'hatred' there could be between the 2 countries on football matches.

There is a historic hatred in football between us and Holland, but it seems to have seriously died down over the years.

A good deal of people I know...and I...were for the Dutch against the Spanish 2 years ago, actually.

Helps, of course, that the Dutch players don't seem to be spitting on peopke anymore, of course.

[Franzl]

Germany just can't get its act together.

[Franzl]

Germany just can't get its act together.

Really? From the little I saw from their match, it was mostly played in front of the Danish goal.

I have high standards..

[Franzl]

Happy with the end result, still say it was a poor German performance, though.

[Franzl]

Yeah, I keep thinking none of these German performances are that great, but on the other hand they have beaten three teams that are either very strong on paper (Holland) or have been among the best performers in the tournament (Portugal, Denmark).

That's the old German way. Smuggle your way through somehow without playing very well. Think we got too used to 2010 style German football.

[Franzl]

I feel better about what I called a poor German performance after seeing Spain tonight. They sure got lucky.

[Franzl]

These last 2 days have really featured rather poor football, even if the England game is somewhat entertaining.

[Franzl]

I don't really believe we can lose to Greece. (Although I could be proven wrong...)

So I believe the semis will likely be:

Germany - Italy
Spain - Portugal

What happens then?

I imagine Italy beats us. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. But who knows. Germany is a Turniermannschaft.

Think Portugal would actually beat Spain and has a chance of beating both Germany and Italy in the final.

[Franzl]

Today will be an especially long and boring day. Our first day without Euro action since June 7th.

How bad are things going to be on July 2?

[Franzl]

I really can't stand Ronaldo.

[Franzl]

God I hate this nervousness on German game days...

[Franzl]

God I hate this nervousness on German game days...

If we're lucky you won't have to bother about that anymore after tonight:)

(Though if Germany wins tonight I'd be fine with them taking the tournament)

On second thought, I'll take the nervousness!

[Franzl]

Again not happy with our performance, but we're really clearly dominating (up till now at least).

[Franzl]

Not bad. Our powerhouse showed itself in the 2nd half. Stupid penalty though.

We need to work on not missing so many opportunities.

Anyway: Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland!

[Franzl]

Spain should be able to easily defeat France...but will they?

[Franzl]

I don't like to mix politics with sport..but I'm pretty sure Greece would be even worse if they had been victorious. And it's pretty amusing

[Franzl]

Spain might be effective...but their games can be really boring. That was a quarterfinal? Think the fans in the stadium must have fallen asleep too.