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Euro 2016


killthenet

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It's finally here, and Euro 2016 gets under way tonight with France vs Romania!

 

It's the biggest European Championship tournament ever, expanded from 16 teams in 2012 to 24 this time around. The usual suspects are among the favourites for the crown, with France, Germany and Spain all expecting to go far in to competition. Thanks in part to the expanded format, it's also the first finals appearance for several nations, with Wales, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Albania and Slovakia having qualified for the first time.

 

The tournament promises to be an exciting festival of football, kicking off tonight at the Stade De France and culminating in the Final on July 10th in the same venue. Some of the worlds best players will be on show, with the likes of Ronaldo, Bale, Muller, Lewandowski, Iniesta, Griezmann, De Bruyne and Ibrahimovic all hoping to lead their country to glory.

 

There are also lots of interesting sub plots to the competition, not least the tournament taking place less than a year after the terrible atrocities that were committed across Paris in November. The French security forces will be doing all they can to ensure the safety of fans and members of the public and the French national team will have even more impetus to go on and win the tournament to honour the victims of the attacks.

 

These forums have a wide range of nationalities represented, who will you be supporting? How do you think the big guns will fare? And could one of the minnows cause an upset?

 

Allez Europe!

Edited by killthenet
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Can't wait for tonight : peace:

 

3 hours before the kick off the lady and I will go to a restaurant which has Japanese/Chinese/Mongolian buffets. It's my all you can eat dream. :D (really hope the food there is decent...never been to that restaurant).

 

And after that it's time to watch the opening match.

 

 

I'm obviously all for Germany winning the tournament : peace: Pretty sure that we'll see no surprises at all.

 

My preditctions for teams that will reach the final rounds:

 

France - proceed to quarter finals - proceed to semifinals

England - proceed to quarter finals

Germany - proceed to quarter finals - proceed to semifinals - proceed to final - Champion

Spain - proceed to quarter finals - proceed to semifinals - proceed to final

Belgium - proceed to quarter finals

Portugal - proceed to quarter finals - proceed to semifinals

Switzerland - proceed to quarter finals

Wales

Poland

Croatia

Italy

Austria - proceed to quarter finals

Russia

Turkey

Ukraine

Iceland

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Can't wait for this! My predictions:

 

1. France

2. Switzerland

3. Romania

4. Albania

 

 

1. England

2. Wales

3. Slovakia

4. Russia

 

 

1. Germany

2. Poland

3. Northern Ireland

4. Ukraine

 

 

1. Spain

2. Croatia

3. Turkey

4. Czech Republic

 

 

1. Belgium

2. Italy

3. Sweden

4. Ireland

 

 

1. Portugal

2. Iceland

3. Austria

4. Hungary

 

 

1. Austria (F)

2. Turkey (D)

3. Slovakia (B)

4. Sweden (E)

 

 

Winners in BOLD

Switzerland vs Poland

Spain vs Slovakia

England vs Turkey

Portugal vs Italy

Germany vs Austria

Belgium vs Croatia

France vs Sweden

Wales vs Iceland

 

 

Poland vs Spain

England vs Italy

Germany vs Belgium

France vs Wales

 

 

Spain vs Italy

Germany vs France

 

 

France have only beaten Spain twice in the last 10 years (last 7 fixtures), so poor picks (no Hatem Ben Arfa or Benzema) as well as injuries (Varane) will culminate in a Spanish revolution and French heartbreak.

 

Spain 2 - 0 France

 

Edited by Julius Caesar
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I stayed away from the sweepstakes because only 3 teams out of 24 have a chance of winning in my opinion (Germany, France and Spain).

 

I think Germany will win, their team is just too good. I've got £20 on Muller being top scorer too and I get a free bet every time he scores too.

 

France 3-0 Romania. They'll be far too strong for them and wanting to impress in their first match.

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I stayed away from the sweepstakes because only 3 teams out of 24 have a chance of winning in my opinion (Germany, France and Spain).

 

Well aren't you a bundle of fun.

 

I wish my office did sweepstakes, but no one gives a shit about football.

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Erm...has anyone else seen this news about DDG?! Looks like he's been involved in a sex scandal - looks quite serious as the girls are claiming that they were forced into it. Can't post a link from my phone as I'm in between meetings but...wow.

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Disappointing news that, why are footballers so often sexattackers or perverts?

 

My hope for the Euros is that the home nations teams can make it to the knockout stage, and I think they've all got a reasonable chance. England should make it into the top two, Wales will be primed to qualify if they can get a result against Slovakia and Northern Ireland are a well organised team who are tough to beat and have one or two players who can produce magic when it matters, like Steven Davis, so despite their tough group I think they'll at least come out of the tournament with their heads held high.

 

I think it will be a similar story for the Republic of Ireland too, with their first game against Sweden being the most important. Of the home nations teams, I think England are the least like an actual team. Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have squads that have played together consistently and have a real game plan, with each of them having stand out stars in Bale, Hoolahan and Davis who can pull a goal out of nothing. England have the better players on the whole, but Roy Hodgson clearly doesn't know his best team and the constant chopping and changing means there isn't a settled, comfortable side. I also don't think Hodgson has complete trust in his players, as was evidenced by the defensive shape he took against Portugal. I hope that England's young players can play without those shackles and play the exciting, attacking football we all crave, then I think England can go quite far in the competition.

 

As with others, I think France will do a professional job against Romania tonight, it would be a real shock if they don't.

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Erm...has anyone else seen this news about DDG?! Looks like he's been involved in a sex scandal - looks quite serious as the girls are claiming that they were forced into it. Can't post a link from my phone as I'm in between meetings but...wow.

 

I'm gutted and I'll be ruined if this turns out to be true. Hope to God that it's false...:(

 

I've joined this little competition with my school and have put in my predictions for the first round of games. I've put France down as winning 3-0 tonight. I've got a feeling they're going to get the competition off to a great start.

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Yeah, decent first half. I will say there were some questionable decisions in favour of France down the right side. Standard bias by the refs for the hosts. :D

 

Shame that early chance by Romania didn't go in. It would have really shaken the crowd up.

 

If that went in, I reckon France would begin the inevitable thrashing... Though I'm not too keen of the French forward.

 

Shout out to my boy RAT. :grin:

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Yeah, decent first half. I will say there were some questionable decisions in favour of France down the right side. Standard bias by the refs for the hosts. :D

 

Shame that early chance by Romania didn't go in. It would have really shaken the crowd up.

 

Yeah, reminded me immediately of Brazil's opening game 2 years back; some very questionable decisions in favour of the hosts there, too.

 

If that went in, I reckon France would begin the inevitable thrashing... Though I'm not too keen of the French forward.

 

Shout out to my boy RAT. :grin:

 

I'm not too sure about a thrashing, I think the cap on this one looks to be 2 goals. Yes, Romania's qualifying group wasn't the toughest, but it's still remarkable that they conceded only 2 goals in 10 games.

 

Also, there's reportedly an 87% chance that a team that draws their three games 0-0 will go through. Just an interesting little fact of the evening.

 

Well, there we go. Brilliant shot from Pogba (other than being straight down the middle), Payet has finally started tinkering away and that was a great header by Giroud.

 

Oh dear. That lead was awfully short lived.

 

France have shown a lot of quality tonight. If they can keep going, they should win it. What the hell was Evra thinking?

Edited by Julius Caesar
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Portugal is unlikely to win the whole thing, but if we manage to beat one of Spain, France or Germany, I'll be quite happy.

 

I'll be looking forward to see if a smaller team can surprise us. If The Netherlands can finish after Iceland, Turkey and the Czech Republic, anything can happen.

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