Originally posted by Ragnorak I forgot you now lived in England and spoke the Queen's English.
Does "I suppose one writes off Italy at one's peril" clarify my forecast which sees Italy go out at the group stages?
D
I wasn't being a grammar nazi, I just really didn't understand it. But moving on...
Group A:
It would be false modesty to say we aren't favourites of the group, but the truth is that this group is not as easy as some of my fellow countrymen think it is. Especially because the style of play of the teams isn't ideal for Portugal. In paper, I'd say that Switzerland, Czech Rep and Turkey are at a similar level. They're not candidates to win, but they're all solid teams that you need to be careful with. The Swiss have a young up and coming team, the Czechs don't seem to be what they used to be, but they're still no pushovers and Turkey also has some interesting young talents like Arda Turan. It's wide open, to be honest.
Originally posted by Palynka I wasn't being a grammar nazi, I just really didn't understand it. But moving on...
Group A:
It would be false modesty to say we aren't favourites of the group, but the truth is that this group is not as easy as some of my fellow countrymen think it is. Especially because the style of play of the teams isn't ideal for Portugal. In paper, I'd say that Swi ...[text shortened]... s like Arda Turan. It's wide open, to be honest.
Portugal and Switzerland to pass.
The Czech team will be there or there abouts, make no mistake.
They only conceded 5 goals in qualifying.... they're a lot more defensive minded than they used to be, but still have a major threat going forward... historically this is a good competition for them.
wow, i'm not that optimistic, i wouldn't be that optimistic with eduardo on board who is practically half of the team, especially in this kind of tournament where you get only few chances to score - and i'm a hardcore croatian!
Originally posted by darvlay 3 of those 6 teams appear to be in Group C, so it looks like there will be some good chances for underdogs in the knockout rounds. 2004 saw plenty of upsets and I imagine this year will be no different.
Any potential dark horses?
you can check my euro 2008 picks from facebook for the objective and final truth. 🙂
although despite my picks, italy is the most likely champ, but I hate their style so I always put them last.
actually, I agree with everything palynka has said so far. although I think romania can easily upset holland, and croatia might do surprisingly well also.
Originally posted by Crowley Is there no fantasy league where we can all play?
You can set up a league here, and invite us...
http://en.fantasy.euro2008.uefa.com/
I normally don't bother, because of the unlimited transfers that you can do. It devalues it in my opinion.
If people are interested in sticking with our initial picks for the entire comp, then I'm on for picking a team. At least then, you need to try to predict all the way to the final, instead of dumping your entire team after the group stages after they all got knocked out in round 1.
Originally posted by jacko13 My prediction: Germany or Spain to win
I think Portugal will have a good tournament but they don't have a good enough pairing up front to breajk through even the German's leaky defence.
Do you guys really believe Spain is going for the title? Of course, they have a good team... but they always lose, something is always missing for them to reach the final. I rather put my money in Germany or Italy, it doesn't matter if they are playing well or not, they are always teams that improve in the decisive moments.