[abhithehobbit]

I also thought Czech republic should have lost - But I feel for Switzerland when I think of Alexander Frei being injured - what little cutting edge they had in front of goal went with that, I feel.

Btw, My take for the winners are Italy, Germany and Spain in that order - Portugal are a force , but as rightly pointed out they lack striking options - I mean,Pepe is a defender! - and they have him scoring goals.

[Jok3r]

I think it might be quite close between turkey & czech republic...

even the Swiss managed to harass the czechs a lot...portugal might manage to score against them...(why was quaresma not played?...i bet he'd be better than simao...atleast give him a run as a sub)

& koller looks out of sorts without baros to support him...sionko was the only one who looked another attacking threat...

hopefully they will improve...turkey dnt look great shakes either...

my predictions are similar for today's games...hope all the players of croatia & germany that i've picked for my fantasy teams score a lot of goals & both teams dnt concede a goal
im already lagging behind with only 1 day's matches gone...

[evilblood86]

Can I get the invitation for the fantasy league on soccernet.com

or the League Name and Password ???

[deep_agrawal]

Frei out for the whole of Euro

Frei ruled out of Euro 2008 - World Soccer - Yahoo! Sports

A disappointing and a premature end to what promised to be a great tournament for him and the Swiss.

PS: Thanks jok3r for pointing out my mistake in posting on the wrong thread .

[C.Ronaldo7]

Originally Posted by Jok3r

(why was quaresma not played?...i bet he'd be better than simao...atleast give him a run as a sub)

For the same reasons as he was not picked up for world cup 2006.
He has improved a lot since then, so he'll get a chance.
Still then main wingers will be Ronaldo and Simao.

[abhithehobbit]

Simao actually did reasonably well - and darn,should have picked Lucas Podolski yesterday!

Anyway, France,Italy and the Netherlands today! - and Robben's out for the Netherlands...should make things interesting!

[evilblood86]

opcorn:
Germany 2 - 0 Poland

The second goal was lucky in the build up and is not indicative of Germanys quality, despite the finish being excellent on Pod's weaker foot. Germany controlled the game in the centre of midfield and played very well as a unit. They are very well organised as always. I think in attack however Gomez and Klose were poor over all. Podolski was making great runs all night, his ball control wasnt great and this can be put down to his lack of match pratice over the past season, it didnt seem to effect his finishing though. Poland played well but were outclassed by Germany who definately deserved to win it. It was the first game so despite some somewhat weak performances individually in attack and defence they will build every game and im sure the Germans are going to go far in this tournament. Ballack and Frings were quality and have built quite a partnership over the years.

I think the Germans looked much more fluid with sweinsteiger and hitzelsperger on the park, adding more advanced wide options. Fritz played well but unless Germany plays against great attacking sides such as Portugal, Netherlands, France or SPain i think they can afford to switch him for a more attacking option for next game. Lahm was only played on the right to overlap on Fritz, who sits deeper.
I dont think that was necessary tonight and wont be against the croats either, in fact the Germans should look to make the Croation midfield sit back deep and disconnect them from their forward line, as seen in the latter 65mins of the Austria game tonight. So the attacking option should come in on both wings, replacing one of the three forwards. The 4-4-2 suited the Germans much more, there is no need to play both Gomez and Klose.

[swagatsinha]

Going by the current trend of matches, Germany and Portugal are hands-on favourites to top their groups. For the second spots though, there is lots of uncertainty right now. Till
yesterday, I was willing to put my money on the Swiss, but with Frei out, their campaign has come unstuck. Croatia should take the second spot in Group B. It's a tight fight between the Swiss and the Czechs for the second spot in Group A.

[fire_kris]

Originally Posted by swagatsinha

Going by the current trend of matches, Germany and Portugal are hands-on favourites to top their groups. For the second spots though, there is lots of uncertainty right now. Till
yesterday, I was willing to put my money on the Swiss, but with Frei out, their campaign has come unstuck. Croatia should take the second spot in Group B. It's a tight fight between the Swiss and the Czechs for the second spot in Group A.

Swiss

For Swiss to qualify, they will have to definetly get something against Portugal which seem highly unlikely. I think a draw for them against turkey would be a good result

Swiss are almost down and out after losing to Czechs.. only hope is Turkey giving Czechs some fight...

@abhi: I also think Simao did well... Quarsema has fight on his hands to feature in starting 11

[Jok3r]

Originally Posted by evilblood86

Can I get the invitation for the fantasy league on soccernet.com

or the League Name and Password ???

League Name : PG Football League
Password : pagalguy

You're only allowed to join if you've already not scored more than me, I already feel bad for giving abhithehobbit the password