Who will win the EURO 2012?

[Warped]

Obviously no goal for Ukraine well i am not a fan of them but this was just bullshit.

Too bad the good looking swedish guys are out, France (how boring can a team be) will be eaten by Spain now - that is going to be fun

[Larry B.]

Obviously no goal for Ukraine well i am not a fan of them but this was just bullshit.

Seriously, what THE FUCK is that stupid area referee for!? They've NEVER made a relevant call in 3 years!

Goal-line technology, NOW!

[krakle]

Seriously, what THE FUCK is that stupid area referee for!? They've NEVER made a relevant call in 3 years!

Goal-line technology, NOW!

what they really need is a referee in the director's room, who can view the replays from all angles.
or just that 5th guy with a telly; obviously the live action's too fast.

[krakle]

the fine is fine, and I think he should be out for the entire season. stupid fucker is lucky.

I was going to ask....... and I knew it!!! The Dutch and the religion of money and contracts..... You made US the way we are....... And I agree with you! The guy should have known better, he signed a contract for probably a shitload of money, he has to abide by it.......

hold your horses (and your assumptions and generalizing statements), we're not on the same line. I think the association with a gambling company is not done. I don't know anything about contracts in football.

[Japhy]

Please please please PLEASE let us get Germany in the semi-finals. It's been a long 2 years since they laughed at us over the goal that wasn't (do i feel bad for Ukraine? Only not one mother fucking little bit...)... the shittest England team in recent memory is gonna get our revenge. I call a 6-0 with hat-tricks for Lescott and Terry.

I thank you.

ps - there's a heavy dose of sarcasm cleverly hidden in the above text. But i would like Germany as it's a quality rivalry... it's just a shame that they're actually quite good.

[mockbee]

the fine is fine, and I think he should be out for the entire season. stupid fucker is lucky.

I was going to ask....... and I knew it!!! The Dutch and the religion of money and contracts..... You made US the way we are....... And I agree with you! The guy should have known better, he signed a contract for probably a shitload of money, he has to abide by it.......

hold your horses (and your assumptions and generalizing statements), we're not on the same line. I think the association with a gambling company is not done. I don't know anything about contracts in football.

Don't worry, all tongue-in-cheek on my part. I apologize if I offended you.

On an unrelated note I just learned that the Dutch traded New Amsterdam for Suriname with the British in 1667. wow.

[JOEinPHX]

Go Poland!

[krakle]

On an unrelated note I just learned that the Dutch traded New Amsterdam for Suriname with the British in 1667. wow.

pretty good trade, it got us lots of great football players.

[Larry B.]

What has to happen for English players to train penalty kicks? It's ridiculous.

IMO, Hart proved he can delivery in the big games. The most consistent Englishman throughout the tournament.

Italy sucks. Fuck them.

[LJF]

What has to happen for English players to train penalty kicks? It's ridiculous.

IMO, Hart proved he can delivery in the big games. The most consistent Englishman throughout the tournament.

Italy sucks. Fuck them.

Italy wins and made England look like they forgot how to play. So well, I guess fuck ---, fillin the blank however.

[Japhy]

What has to happen for English players to train penalty kicks? It's ridiculous.

IMO, Hart proved he can delivery in the big games. The most consistent Englishman throughout the tournament.

Italy sucks. Fuck them.

Italy wins and made England look like they forgot how tp play. So fuck you.

No mate, we forgot how to play years ago... roughly 20 when we decided to put our league football ahead of the national game. Italy destroyed us which is fair enough but it's the norm these days.

[LJF]

What has to happen for English players to train penalty kicks? It's ridiculous.

IMO, Hart proved he can delivery in the big games. The most consistent Englishman throughout the tournament.

Italy sucks. Fuck them.

Italy wins and made England look like they forgot how tp play. So fuck you.

No mate, we forgot how to play years ago... roughly 20 when we decided to put our league football ahead of the national game. Italy destroyed us which is fair enough but it's the norm these days.

How is that with the talent there? The game started well for both sides, then England couldn't put two passes together. I'm pulling for Italy, but if they don't learn how to finish their chances Germany will bury them.

[Larry B.]

I thought both teams were poor and wasteful. If Italy gets like 20+ attempts at goal it's because the other team sucked. The only real talent in Italy are Pirlo and Buffon, and they're like 40 years old. Unfortunately for England, there are no players qualified for the big stage. Hart might be the exception, maybe even Terry; everyone else plays a lot better for their clubs, it's ridiculous.

[Japhy]

How is that with the talent there? The game started well for both sides, then England couldn't put two passes together. I'm pulling for Italy, but if they don't learn how to finish their chances Germany will bury them.

Mix of things really... firstly, there isn't enough of that talent you mention - not enough challengers for positions in the team. Part of that is because too many of our teams don't bother with english players but rather fill them with fancy looking foreign stars. Our league completely proves that you reap what you sow. Short term entertainment domestically but long term nothingness on the world stage.

I'm gutted to not face Germany but it will be a good game between them and Italy now. It's still Spain all the way for me but i can't wait to see Ronaldo try and take them on single-handed.

[LJF]

How is that with the talent there? The game started well for both sides, then England couldn't put two passes together. I'm pulling for Italy, but if they don't learn how to finish their chances Germany will bury them.

Mix of things really... firstly, there isn't enough of that talent you mention - not enough challengers for positions in the team. Part of that is because too many of our teams don't bother with english players but rather fill them with fancy looking foreign stars. Our league completely proves that you reap what you sow. Short term entertainment domestically but long term nothingness on the world stage.

I'm gutted to not face Germany but it will be a good game between them and Italy now. It's still Spain all the way for me but i can't wait to see Ronaldo try and take them on single-handed.

When your league was the best in the world a few years back I guess that is what happens. All the top talent ends up there and then the league stops looking for home grown talent. It happened in Italy and we will see if that happens to Spain. Spain's are tops, but I'm an Azzurri fan, so Forza Italia.

[Artemis]

A satirical piece in The Globe and Mail.

Very funny..

Euro Cup 101: Traditions in post-hegemonic masculinity

MARK SCHATZKER
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jun. 22 2012, 7:17 PM EDT

As Euro Cup fever grips Toronto for the second week running, more and more residents are fed up with the non-stop honking, high-fiving and street partying that has paralyzed a number of neighbourhoods. But, as with so much European culture, what appears to some as idiotic celebration hides a continental tradition of profound intellectual inquiry .

“We probably look like a bunch of morons driving around the block for four hours,” says Mimo, who drove his Jeep Wrangler around the block for four hours on three separate evenings this week. “Through ritual action,” he explained, quoting Carl Jung, “attention and interest are led back to the inner sacred precinct.”

“Yeah, guy,” added his enthusiastic cousin, Nick, who was wearing a muscle shirt and pumping his fist in the air. “It’s like what Nietzsche said about the eternal recurrence of the same,” he said.

But while some see the Euro Cup as an opportunity to celebrate European philosophical notions, others favour a more forward-leaning continental analysis.

“I see it all as this raging post-feminist commentary on the defunct hegemonic tradition,” yelled Angela over the din of pounding bass in her white Hyundai Sonata, which was filled with four similarly festive girlfriends. “You’ve got these two extremely skilled teams who can’t score on one another, revealing the futility of so-called dominance in a post-postmodern value system.”

“I see it more as a study in changing gender narratives,” interjected her friend Sasha, who was simultaneously putting on lipstick and dancing in the back seat. “You have a field full of men embracing homoeroticism, displaying heightened levels of emotion, and exhibiting an almost comically low pain threshold – all traditionally feminine traits, quote-unquote.”

And to some fans, the Euro Cup isn’t isn’t so much about soccer as the European mathematical concepts the game sometimes portrays.

Following Monday’s match between Spain and Croatia, the 1-0 score reminded Mike, who took off his shirt to display his well-defined chest and biceps, of the binary algebraic system on which modern computing is based. “It’s called Boolean logic,” Mike said between beer belches, and then pointed out that the high-definition broadcast he and others watched at a sports bar was, fundamentally, just a stream of ones and zeroes.

As Mike reveled in cosmic meaning, nearby Alex was driving his Honda Civic and honking his horn incessantly. When Mike gave Alex the finger, Alex stopped the car and rolled down his tinted window. A crowd formed.

“What is honking,” Alex shouted out the window, paraphrasing Gustave Flaubert, “but a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to when we long to move the stars to tears?” Then he squealed his tires and drove off.

Several blocks north in Corso Italia, meanwhile, a fan named Sylvia saw the Euro Cup as an opportunity to engage in the existentially informed questioning of national identity that is as old as European nationalism itself.

“What is the meaning of ‘Italy’?” she implored a crowd of fans whose faces were painted like the Italian flag. “The north, an industrial giant that puts the Rhine Valley to shame, wants a divorce from the South, a feudal basket case. A single tiny village can’t even agree on the recipe for a ragu, let alone the entire so-called country.”

Her remarks were met by hooting and fist-pumping. The philosophically charged crowd then marched west on St. Clair licking gelato and obnoxiously chanting “Viva Italia!,” the irony lost on everyone but themselves.

[Warped]

I was really positively surprised by England for the first few minutes. They played really well. But then they simply refused to play....no clue what is going on there. I think they have some young ones who are promising like Walcott or Carroll and of course Joe Hart.

Italy i don't like them and i never will. They must have made it in the 90 minutes.
Funny and pathetic side note: De Rossi wore a shirt with one short sleeve and one long sleeve, the long sleeve covered his Teletubbie tattoo"...... which he did not want everybody else to see



Final: Spain vs Italy

[Bandit72]

How is that with the talent there? The game started well for both sides, then England couldn't put two passes together. I'm pulling for Italy, but if they don't learn how to finish their chances Germany will bury them.

Mix of things really... firstly, there isn't enough of that talent you mention - not enough challengers for positions in the team. Part of that is because too many of our teams don't bother with english players but rather fill them with fancy looking foreign stars. Our league completely proves that you reap what you sow. Short term entertainment domestically but long term nothingness on the world stage.

I'm gutted to not face Germany but it will be a good game between them and Italy now. It's still Spain all the way for me but i can't wait to see Ronaldo try and take them on single-handed.

Yeh, I'm supporting Spain too. What's really bizarre is that after every tournament, the "pundits" always bang on about the same thing. Change the style of play, better coaching at grass roots etc....errrr then why hasn't this happened? Ever since 1996 I've heard these same clichés. Euro '9 was probably the last tournament I really got into. Ask anyone our age and most would say the World Cups of '82. '86 and '90 were the best they've seen. Club over country every time for me, but I've mentioned that before I think.

[Mescal]

Why is there no mention of the Germans here?

It's pretty clear they're the best team on the tournament. Very, very consistent.

I don't understand the Spain and Italy love? Wasn't impressed by any of those two teams.

Portugal is playing really well these last two matches with Ronaldo being in top form.

So I'm going for Germany - Portugal, which will end up being a boring final game with the Germans winning it with 1 - 0, goal in the 80 th minute or something.

[Warped]

Why is there no mention of the Germans here?

It's pretty clear they're the best team on the tournament. Very, very consistent.

I don't understand the Spain and Italy love? Wasn't impressed by any of those two teams.

Portugal is playing really well these last two matches with Ronaldo being in top form.

So I'm going for Germany - Portugal, which will end up being a boring final game with the Germans winning it with 1 - 0, goal in the 80 th minute or something.

Simply because i don't like the German team, they do mainly consist of players of Bayern München which i totally dislike (for different reasons, it would take too long to mention all of them, to sum it up, they think they are better than any other team, they change rules to their advantage and stuff like that, the german press kisses their ass and so on....)

And that does not change just because they play in the national team. I admit the team was pretty good so far but i just can't like them. And i hope Italy buries them.

[Juana]

I still say Brasil but it will prolly be Spain they seem to be playing lights out. Still trying to get into soccer but its so boring, a bunch of running and no goals. Its like hockey without the violence

[LJF]

Look Germany clearly wins it. The other three countries will all need a bailout and Germany is the country writing the checks. Merkel is on the phones to these other countries saying look let us win and then we will think about writing those bailout checks, if not forget it.

This is an easy call to the Italians. Remember I'm an azzurri fan, but the call will go something like this:

Merkel: Hello yes about the game on Thursday, I looked into my crystal ball and saw the score was 2-1 us. Look you are Italians you know all about fixing matches, just make it happen. Then when you come to us for a bailout, you will lean towards yes. Thanks, Ciao.

Then repeat for the winner of Spain v Portugal.

[JOEinPHX]

Did Poland win yet?

[Larry B.]

Did Poland win yet?

Not yet. Poland and Brazil will be playing the Final of the Asian Cup this weekend. John Ramirez, President of Benin and the most important sports figure in this Asian nation, will be at the bat.

[Artemis]

I hope Italy doesn't win.

Only because the Italians in my city act like total idiots when Italy wins. They act more Italian than the Italians in Italy. It's kind of weird.