:(( ---> Infinity

Sadly Germany have been losing finals and semis since a long time to the eventual champions. I am sad to say but they seem like the South Africans of Football. Chokers :(

WC2002- Lose finals to Brazil
WC2006 - Lose semis to Italy
Euro2008 - Lose finals to Spain
WC2010 - Lose semis to Spain
Euro2012 - Lose semis to Italy

Going by this rate players like sweinsteiger and Lahm wont win anything in their lives. Like Ballack !!

My prediction for today:

Germany 2 Italy 1

Will be a tricky test for Germany today as they have never beaten Italy in a competitive game so far. (However, it was the same story for England vs Sweden till these Euros and we know how that ended).

I too am hoping for a Germany-Spain final. Would be an amazing tactical contest between Spain's tiki-taka and Germany's more direct approach. (In a way, it would be a Barcelona vs Bayern Munich contest, which we would have loved to see in the Champions League!!!)

It will be ''GERMANY Vs SPAIN'' in the finals.....

I would love to see Germany lifting the cup

If not Germany, then it should be Italy :grin::grin::grin:


Spain :nono::nono::nono:

Was a clash of two contrasting styles and eventually, required the lottery of a penalty shoot-out to separate them. Feel sorry for Portugal, who really gave it their all, sometimes overdoing it (witness their high number of bookings). 2nd Euro in a row where Spain have progressed on penalties (They beat Italy in the same manner in 2008 ).

Both sides played their heart out.
In the end, Spain won

Repeat of euro 2008 final is on the cards.
Last time, i was supporting Germany in the final and Spain won.:sneaky:
This time i am supporting Spain:biggrin: and hope that they don't disappoint me with too much 'tiki-taka'. They need to be bit unpredictable and make direct forward passes too.


Alos, what do you guys think of pepe's back pass to patriciao.....it was intentional block and pass though it would have killed portugal instantly.

Each of the defender of both teams gave it their all.

the Dream Final still on...Spain V/S Germany.....:D

Let's see if Italy can hold out to Germany..like Portugal did today...brave defending by the way

Feel bad for Portugal. I think they took to fight to Spain. At penalties Spain were always going to win because of Saint Iker and their experience.

Hopefully Germany extract revenge for 2006 WC semis loss to Italy tomorrow and 2008 Euro/ 2010 WC loss to Spain in the finals.

spain won it and they were deserving winners

frm the second half it was all spain but still portugal defended well............

SPAIN win...........

SPAIN - ITALY final........

cristiano ronaldo wasted in the penalty shootout....portuguese r a bunch of morons......

portugal played better in 1st half thanks the animal pepe and co in defence.........

spain had more posesion as they have always ! but portugal had better of the chances...........

Spain:3 Portugal:1

my first attempt at being baba octopus....

Portugal 1-0 et goal.

My semifinal prediction:

Portugal 1 Spain 2

Portugal 2-1 SPain

it will be a tie in full time + extra time

finally ronaldo hits the post in shoot outs

------Prediction frm a messi fan

Not many of my predictions have come right but just cant resist posting again :biggrin:

Spain 1-0 Portugal

going by midfield every one knows who is great

but if portugal scores first and with animal in pepe turns on ( hope cards are barred:sneaky:) we have great match in our hands as spain lacks something upfront .............

We have heard and seen many a trolls on Facebook and ed at them.
But I was blessed by Thy God of Sarcasm by one such incident!


While travelling from home to office, I heard a couple of co-passengers in my bus discussing football. Naturally I started eavesdropping as soon as I heard the word Goal.

This guy in his REEKOB sweatshirt (YES, it was REEKOB , and it also was a SWEATSHIRT in Mumbai, in such a hot weather!) was gyaan-feking his friend who was donning an iPhone (I couldn't confirm whether it was a REAL one or a one just like his beloved friend's REEKOB)

Sweaty-shirt lad: Dude did you just see how well that guy played for Italy! Amazing player he is! I am not able to remember his name, but its something like Contra. He has this tendency to get Red-carded so easily, and plays for Manchester City. (TROLL 1 -He was talking about Mario Balotelli)

iPhone dewd: Ahaan!! But yaar I toh only watch Brazil and Argentina matches only! What players Pele and Maradona were! Anyways these days even Sergio is playing great!!!

Sweaty-shirt lad: Sergio? Who? (TROLL number 2 - And I thought he was a ManCity fan!)

iPhone dewd: Arre wohi, lambe baalon wala! Sergio Ramos!!! He plays for Real Madrid! You know he scored 56 goals this season!!!! (TROLL number 3 and this one was EPIC)

I ALMOST DIED!!!!

hahahaha.......

We have heard and seen many a trolls on Facebook and ed at them.
But I was blessed by Thy God of Sarcasm by one such incident!


While travelling from home to office, I heard a couple of co-passengers in my bus discussing football. Naturally I started eavesdropping as soon as I heard the word Goal.

This guy in his REEKOB sweatshirt (YES, it was REEKOB , and it also was a SWEATSHIRT in Mumbai, in such a hot weather!) was gyaan-feking his friend who was donning an iPhone (I couldn't confirm whether it was a REAL one or a one just like his beloved friend's REEKOB)

Sweaty-shirt lad: Dude did you just see how well that guy played for Italy! Amazing player he is! I am not able to remember his name, but its something like Contra. He has this tendency to get Red-carded so easily, and plays for Manchester City. (TROLL 1 -He was talking about Mario Balotelli)

iPhone dewd: Ahaan!! But yaar I toh only watch Brazil and Argentina matches only! What players Pele and Maradona were! Anyways these days even Sergio is playing great!!!

Sweaty-shirt lad: Sergio? Who? (TROLL number 2 - And I thought he was a ManCity fan!)

iPhone dewd: Arre wohi, lambe baalon wala! Sergio Ramos!!! He plays for Real Madrid! You know he scored 56 goals this season!!!! (TROLL number 3 and this one was EPIC)

I ALMOST DIED!!!!

EURO 2012 champions: ITALY....

Interestingly Real Madrid have 9 players in the semis all of whom play in the first team.

Casillas, Ramos, Alberloa, Alonso - Spain
Ronaldo, Contrerao, Pepe- Portugal
Ozil, Khedira - Germany

I think none of the teams have 9 first team players left in the competition.

They have Albiol too....so 9 out of 10 play in first team.

Bayern and Barca have a fair bit....I'm counting em' off my head so I might have missed some...

Bayern - Swcheni, Badstuber,Lahm, Neuer, Gomez, Muller, Kroos

Interestingly Real Madrid have 9 players in the semis all of whom play in the first team.

Casillas, Ramos, Alberloa, Alonso - Spain
Ronaldo, Contrerao, Pepe- Portugal
Ozil, Khedira - Germany

I think none of the teams have 9 first team players left in the competition.

The only part of Spain I like is Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas.

I am a loyal Madrid fan, but I would leave Ramos out of that list....atleast for now. He is a decent player and I rate his defensive skills very highly but his frequent lashing out at opponents is quite unnecesary and tarnishes his reputation as a top defender....he doesn't quite display Pepe levels of retardation though....who's pure defence skills are even better than Ramos imho.

The player I love to watch in Spain is Iniesta....the way he glides past players is unique and effortless. The top attacking midfielder in the world along with Ozil (Ozil being better at making the final pass and Iniesta slightly better at ball possession).

Saying that....Spain is a very boring team to watch. It is almost as though they keep passing among themselves in the midfield while looking for Messi to pass to, but they never find him....so they keep passing and passing and pas....well, you get the picture.

Rooting for Portugal today and 'gel boy' to take them to the final. Ozil vs Ronaldo....couldn't be better for a RM fan .

Meanwhile...its been a few days but...twitter fight over Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo's paramour Irina Shayk has hit back after Israeli model Bar Refaeli criticised the Portugal star's hairstyle on Twitter.
"The only thing I can think of when I watch Ronaldo is that hair gel should really be outlawed," said Refaeli on her Twitter account, where she has some 220,000 followers.
A furious Shayk hit back on her account, saying: "Being a hater is not a cute look. Learn to love."



Off Topic: Irina Shayk is so fine

man_05 Says

Iberian derby tonight!!! For Portugal to have any chance, they need the Cristiano Ronaldo of the Netherlands and Czech Republic games to turn up. Spain clearly have the greater strength in depth of the two squads.

I feel that Spain will sail through quite comfortably. They have enough depth to crush the One Man Show Portugal quite easily.

I was a big Portugal fan when the players like Maniche, Figo, Deco, were still up and high! CR7 is a brilliant player, but not a good team leader.

I have always hated Spain the only reason being the acting and diving tactics by some of their players. :nono:

The only part of Spain I like is Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas.

Hoping to see Italy/Germany lift the Cup as my 3 beloved teams (Holland, England, Ireland) have bowed out.

Iberian derby tonight!!! For Portugal to have any chance, they need the Cristiano Ronaldo of the Netherlands and Czech Republic games to turn up. Spain clearly have the greater strength in depth of the two squads.

ITALY will beat GERMANY in the semifinal......UEFA EURO 2012 final will be played b/w SPAIN and ITALY.........

My predictions

Spain 1 -Portugal 0

Germany -Italy 1-0

My Predictions for the semis :

Spain to win against Portugal 2-1 and Germany to win against Italy 3-1.

even at 33 pirlo is still a champion!

this time there was no unwanted hype like last time but still same result getting out in quarters, english need a play maker in midfield who could suppourt some athletic forwards which they have upfront............


match btw italy and germany wud be interesting , only concern fr me is the fitness of shweinstiger................

ps: i wnt germany to lift the cup and one more thing best team won in all quarters including italians.......

skctee Says

So today it's CR7 vs tiki-taka...this is the golden chance for CR7 to wash away all the criticisms that has been hurled at him for years that he can't reciprocate his club form when he represents his country...

Today??? :nono:

Its on the 28th!

So today it's CR7 vs tiki-taka...this is the golden chance for CR7 to wash away all the criticisms that has been hurled at him for years that he can't reciprocate his club form when he represents his country...

A major reason why England got dominated in midfield was the lack of genuine cover for Gerrard and Scott Parker (no Lampard, Carrick, Gareth Barry), forcing Hodgson to play them long minutes in every game, which meant they were almost out of gas for the Italy game.

Mid Field was the key we presumed, Mid Field was the key it turned out to be

Technically astute, creative and fluent was Italian Midfield led by Pirlo
Defending and clearing the ball was the English Midfield led by Gerard

Italian strikers if better could have settled the game very early, but English strike force had a few and far between, so it would be unfair to criticize the English forwards,

except for the time span between 5-20 mins where English created a few chances nothing bothered Buffon, Glen Johnson was the best English player and Pirlo with almost having a say in almost every 3rd pass for Italy was the Best in the game..

Italy showed that why they are the dark horses of this years Euro..the performance that Italy displayed yesterday ,although will not help them against the Germans ,but Italy has all my respect for putting up such a tough fight..however the match rolled on till the ET because of the lack of good strikers in either side,none of who could capitalise the opportunities that they got..but have to say that Italy deserved to be in the semis with the performance that they put up yesterday in comparison with England's performace ...

England tried the old Chelsea tactics of parking the team bus in front of goal and it worked for them till they came up against their nemesis (penalty shoot-out). Pirlo's performance in yesterday's game was the best individual performance in these Euros by any player, in my opinion. That audacious chip to beat Hart was extraordinary.

Finally, my prediction was close to the actual result of the match

England and Italy have similar tales in Penalties..though italians won the 2006 WC on penalties..
England havent beaten anyone on penalties since 1996 ..quarter final against spain...that match english were outplayed but yet hung on..and won on penalties...i can see a similar tale of events tonite..

0-0 or 1-1 at the max...england to win 4-2 on penalties..

the exact opposite happened there my friend..

Winning my head to head by 8 points ...after trailing by 17 points before the last game day. The penalty points didn't count in wc10 game, didn't read the rules but hope the same applies :

My prediction for today:
England 1 Italy 1 (Italy to win on penalties)

Spain made a mockery of the French yesterday (inspite of playing without a real striker)!!! They look really daunting for the competition right now.

England and Italy have similar tales in Penalties..though italians won the 2006 WC on penalties..
England havent beaten anyone on penalties since 1996 ..quarter final against spain...that match english were outplayed but yet hung on..and won on penalties...i can see a similar tale of events tonite..

0-0 or 1-1 at the max...england to win 4-2 on penalties..

Possibly the most evenly poised match of the Quarter Finals, England vs Italy

England the Italy of Old vs the new Italy

No Favorites no underdogs

A lot depends on the Midfields of both the team,

Not a lot of goals in prospect

Prediction: England win on Penalties after 1-1 draw...
(the English would break their penalty jinx)

England faces one of the most daunting match today in the Euro '12 till date. All eyes will be on Stevie G & Rooney. With Motta being a doubt for today's encounter England can go ahead & shackle their defensive line. Hoping for semi-final showdown with Germany!

This in interesting

Euro 2012: Chennai fish Chanakya scores 7 in a row, predicts France win - The Times of India

Total waste of a prediction. No one can emulate Paul the Octopus. Seems it will be very difficult to stop Spain if they continue playing like this.

If Italy wins we will probably have the best 4 teams of the Euros in semis.

This in interesting

Euro 2012: Chennai fish Chanakya scores 7 in a row, predicts France win - The Times of India

If it comes out to be true then only one of the semifinals will be worth watching and other one would turn out to be like czech-portugal match.

Also, we will miss the opportunity of Spain vs Germany final which would be a cracker.

Bhai logo ye kaise-kaise team news aa rahi hai....no torres, no nasri and no diarra.Is matchday main to meri fantasy ka score average ke half chal rha hai aur aise news se to use par karne ki koi umeed hi nahi hai.Yeh kya ho rha hai meri team ke saath.

Maine Quarter pe ke quarterfinal ki team select nahi ki thi.Kisi player ko to khila lo kamino national team ke managers

ps:2 saal pehle,first time premier league fantasy kehle thi,tab bhi aise jhatke nahi lage the.
Uske baad ab kheli hai, sahi chal rahi thi gaadi ki achanak kahan se bhookamp,aandhi,toofan,tsunami aur pata ni kya kya aa gya hai aur 15 player main se 11 bhi nahi khel rahe hain:sneaky:

I feel like ....abhi tak vishwas hi nahi ho rha ki aisa bhi ho jata hai kya

This in interesting

Euro 2012: Chennai fish Chanakya scores 7 in a row, predicts France win - The Times of India

it wud have been gud if russia had qualified fr quarters portugal were not spectacular, but they had only timid czech to deal with........

another unlucky team to miss out was crotia who played well against heavy weights italy and spain ...........

Probably the most awaited matches of the tournament so far. France have been very good and they got beaten after a long time. Spain as usual are the team to beat. It suites France that they are the underdogs in the tie.
Although there are many Madrid players in the Spanish side, hoping for a French win. That will suit Germany.

My prediction for today:

France 2 Spain 3 (After Extra Time)

Germany has once again made it to the semis of a major tournament. Their consistency must be applauded. Tore Greece (the last of the underdogs) apart. Only the elite teams are left in the competition. Each remaining match will be a mouth-watering clash.:)

Today's match happens to fall on Zizou's 40th birthday. It remains to be seen what sort of gift the French team has planned for him.

hoping spain to pull off their tiki-taka act with aplomb today...les blues shall feel the fury of LA FURIA ROJA....

ribery nasri has to come up with some zizou type performance to beat this spanish side.........

may be we can see some rougher side of french football today to chalk out paths ........

btw last championship match which i watched between these two teams was back in 2006 (world cup)with my favourite zidane creating magic in field to make french team to come from behind to win the match.............

in my view those generation of zidane , brazilian "R" 's esp ronaldinho cud dwarf messi or c ronaldo of today.....................

saurabh100 Says

spain 2-1 france.........david silva(2),menez(1)

Ghee shakkar muh me bhai :grin:

Changed my captain to Gomez long before the match last night as I was having a roller coaster week and could not follow football

Hopefully today's captain will do something good :|

My prediction 3-1 to spain

spain 2-1 france.........david silva(2),menez(1)

Hoping for the spanish armada to steam roll the les blues tonite..The french have been in the news off late for all the wrong reasons and looks like their conquest is falling apart.

nayas Says

Yay Germany through to the semis. Hopefully we meet England and not Italy. For some reason German teams have very bad record against the Italians.

The only team i fear with germany is Italy..
Germany has never beaten italy ever in a competitive match...thats why all the germans fan including me would be praying for an english win whether penalties or not..win dirty but win against those italians..

Coming to tonites contest..i cant see the possibility of penalties tonight for simple reason both teams have a weak defence but casillas saves spain more than hugo lloris..spain to edge this 2-1

Spain also havent beaten france ever in Euros or World Cup..time to set the stats right..