[nikhilvohra2000]

good analysis!
few problems.
for france you forgot benzama..
for italy you forgot toni
anyway its a cool analysis!!

Originally Posted by getintoiimb

well it's my turn to post

Group A: Czech Republic • Portugal • Switzerland • Turkey
Group B: Austria • Croatia • Germany • Poland
Group C: France • Italy • Netherlands • Romania
Group D: Greece • Russia • Spain • Sweden

let me start with Group A

Czech Republic : well no nedved and rosicky..thats a huge disadvantage and its like an elbow broken for the czech team..but they have koller and baros..so anything is possible and they got a good backline with jankulovski and grygera.expecting them to go through with ease

portugal : well nani,ronaldo,deco,gomes,bosingwa,ricardo,petit,car valho do i need to say more???..expecting portugal to finish at the top of the table.

swiss : well they have the home advantage but difficult for them to go ahead unless they pull back upsets like how greece did last time..

turkey : they would definitely miss hakan sukur..again they would be the underdogs compared to portugal and czech..
will be interesting because portugal should easily qualify..the second spot will be a battle between czech and turkey

Group B

austria : again home advantage but havent too much class football here..should go out in the first round most probably..

Croatia : again very unpredictable but with players like Dario simic,Ivica Olic,Ivan Rakitic expecting them to go through

Germany : well star studded as usual..might miss the services or schneider..but i think with the majority of the wc 2006 players still in the squad they should make it with ease..

Poland : underdogs of this group..should defeat crotia if they want to qualify..defeating germany will be a mammoth task..

expecting croatia and germany to go through..


Group C

Aaah my favourite group
Group of Death

France : hmmm without zidane they still have a great midfield..ribery,malouda,flamini in midfiled..henry in front and thuram,evra in defence..should be great to watch them..onlt concern for france is they havent had a good goalie for sometime..i dotn count barthez as a great goalie they had!

Italy : here we come ..totti's presence will not be missed as they have his junior de rossi(not comparing totti and de rossi here) ..expecting pirlo to continue his magic ..pirlo,de rossi,gattusso and camoronessi in mid..cannavaro and panucci at center back..zambortta in LB/RB and grosso/materazzi at RB/LB..should be great..forwards are in form..toni,del piero and cassano..no worries and of course we have gianlugi buffon to make the god level saves ..every department is in place!!

netherlands : the most unluckiest team i should say..their mid and forwards are their greatest strenghts..van batsen will find it tough on whom to start with in the strikers department..again star studded so have to wait and see..

romania : certainly the underdogs of the group..but got to watch out..anything can happen in football..

expecting Italy and France to go through

Group D

Greece : well euro 04 is history and its time for euro 08 ..come on spain show them the door..though they are euro 04 champs dont expect them to qualify..might try to play the euro 04 way..get an early goal and pressurise the opponents

russia : have seen them defeating england in the qualifiers :(..but dont expect them to progress here..not too many world class players to take away the match..

Spain : gosh!!!one of the most star studded teams ive seen in euro!!the only team capable of beating Italy..yeah im expecting an Italy vs Spain final..look at their forwards..torres,villa,garcia..midfield have fabregas,xavi,xabi alonso,joaquin and iniesta..defence have ramos,puyol,marchena and arbeloa..keeper casillas..they have everything in them to win it ..but unfortunately the biggest chokers in the history of football..but they should ease through the group stage!

Sweden : larrson should be a good bonus here..ibrahimovic is in good touch after winning the scudetto for inter..should be easy for sweden except the encounter they have with spain..

so expecting spain and sweden to go through..

so 8 teams should qualify hopefully

Portugal
Czech republic
Germany
croatia
Italy
France
Spain
Sweden

and last but not the least expecting ITALY to clinch the title
jus this one remaning..go on ITALIA..FORZA AZZURRIS !!!!!!



P.S : sorry couldnt come up with a better analysis

[getintoiimb]

Originally Posted by nikhilvohra2000

good analysis!
few problems.
for france you forgot benzama..
for italy you forgot toni
anyway its a cool analysis!!

hey yeah i forgot benzema and nasri but i didnt forget toni..see my post again
the worst thing i dont want to see happening is greece pulling an upset by beating spain

[ankitknp]

I am going for Holland. Cmon u Oranje.....

Also Turkey whld be my underdog team..

[rockball]

4 pages already!!
Pls make this sticky mods till the tournament lasts

[td31]

Hi,

Even i am rooting for the Dutch
They have under-achieved at a national level but they are a really talented side
As getintoiimb pointed out, they initiated Total Football and it can be a treat to watch them play when in full flow

Getting down to an analysis for the Dutch Side

Strikers --> They have two potent strikers in Klaas Jan Huntelaar ( hope he comes to Man Utd) and Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Huntelaar has been talked about as the most promising and upcoming dutch Player
Huntelaar has also been in terrific form in the friendlies and i m hoping he carries the form in the finals
They also have Robin Van Persie and Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel as subs

Midfielders --> Wesley Sneijder , Van Der Vaart and Arjen Robben complete an equally potent Mid Line.
Robben can play on the wings and brings tremendous pace with himself
Van Bronckhorst can also play as a Defensive Midfielder or as a Left Back

Defenders --> John Heitinga as a Central Defender or Right back is expected to be the pillar of the defence

Goalkeeper --> Van Der Saar should be on a high after winning the UCL in the penalty shootouts!
However,i do feel that he has been a little out of form lately
Hoping that he clears all the balls well [:cool1:


The Concern for the Oranje is that they are in a group of death and the first two games they play in Euro 2008 is against France & Italy
I expect them to sneak through against France

[rockball]

Originally Posted by blazingvenom911

dude....i told ya i was wrong....they r not in the team....

i jus said they were called in the qualifiers but not in the 1st team. u can rave about the the three lions if you want....follow em to Mallorca.



dude....even i'm rooting for Portugal. i hope they win euro cup this time being unlucky 2 b defeated in the 2004 edition. well look who do we have here ...the Ronnie boy...pride of the DEVILS!! they have lotzz of players who can play in the midfield as well as fwd like nani, ronaldo, quaresma. defence is jus fine with pepe, fereira and carvalho. but the proper midfield players are less quality and mostly from the clubs in Portugal. only deco is the one star from Barca. lets hope scolari, the mastermind, does enuff to mix the regular midfielders with some like ronaldo and quaresma in the midfield. hope Nuno Gomes fires in the forward line.

dunno why Pauleta retired so soon. a good season in france with PSG and winning the French Ligue 1 he must have not retired!! he was even the top scorer in Ligue 1 in the 2006-07 season.

Its been a while since Pauleta retired and if you recall how ineffective he was in the last Euro.
And in midfield they have Deco, Veloso, Moutinho along with the star wingers. So its not a weak midfield really. Though its surprising they left out Maniche and Tiago. Scolari has chosen those who have been playing regularly.

How far they go, will depend a lot on Quaresma and their formation. Their forward line isn't great so I suspect they could employ a lone striker in Gomes or Postiga with Ronaldo, Quaresma behind him.
Quaresma has been brilliant for the past two seasons after having a bad time in Barca. Seeing Ronaldo hasn't done great at this level and all the pressure will be on him, Quaresma could really step up here.

But I don't think they will reach too far this time.

[joel1702]

I'll be rooting for Portugal

Semi Finalists in Euro 2000, runners up in 2004...Hoping they go 1 better this time

Pauleta may have retired..but lets not forget they reached the semis of WC 2006 without any contribution from him...Ronaldo is scoring loads of goals at the moment..lets hope it continues!!

[sir roy keane]

since england aint part of the tourney this time around , i'd be rooting for the dutch!

they 've been the perrenial under-achievers. with the qaulity that they boast , they should be right up there.

hoping van the man comes good.

for a change , i wont mind rooting for dirk kuyt!

go orange!

[coolroy]

Good to see the insanity spread. Good that we'll be back to football again. Am so sick of watching cricket daily.

My teams : No one.

But I'd be watching every single match of the Euros, but I seriously think Germany, Spain and Portugal start as the favourites.

Regards.

[vishal_9feb]

Moi team for tournament is Spain.

• Goalkeepers
• Andrés Palop » Iker Casillas » Pepe Reina »

Defenders

• Raúl Albiol » Álvaro Arbeloa » Joan Capdevila » Juanito » Carlos Marchena » Navarro Fernando » Carles Puyol » Sergio Ramos »

• Midfielders

• Santi Cazorla » Xabi Alonso » Rubén De la Red » Cesc Fábregas » Xavi » Andrés Iniesta » Marcos Senna »

• Forwards

Sergio García » Daniel Güiza » David Silva » Fernando Torres » David Villa »

Luis Aragonés
Known as 'The Wise Man of Hortaleza', Luis Aragonés is one of Spain's most famous coaches after leading a plethora of club sides prior to the national team.

They will hard back to 1964 vintage.

Go Spain Go.