Euro 2008

[dutchfire]

It's getting close! Some nations have already published their squads. I especially like Spain's team, though I fear they won't do as well as they usually do.

Now, I'm just waiting to see the English squad announcement.

 

[Joe Harker]

Now, I'm just waiting to see the English squad announcement.

Let the English teasing begin!

Honestly, it should be quite nice to watch football without having to hide behind the sofa of once!

 

[TheLastOne36]

Since poland nationalized the Brazilian Roger guy for our team, we've been waiting for UEFA to announce that he's allow him for the euro.

Till then, i don't think we'll be seeing the official polish squad.

 

[kalif]

the dfb anounced the squad for the euro today:

lehmann, enke, adler - metzelder, mertesacker, lahm, jansen, a. friedrich, fritz, westermann - frings, ballack, schweinsteiger, hitzlsperger, borowski, odonkor, rolfes, jones, trochowski, marin - gomez, klose, podolski, kuranyi, neuville, helmes

so, 26 players will go to the training camp in mallorca and 3 players of them will be deleted from the line up. big surprises over here are the nominations of marin and adler, both with 0 caps for the team and the exception of hildebrand as 2nd gk.

my tip for the ones who will be left at home are trochowski, westermann and helmes.

Let the English teasing begin!

thanks for this invitation, i was waiting for it:

whats the quickest way out of the wembley stadium?
the southgate!

and of course the old school one: whats the difference between a teabag and the english team?
the teabag stays longer in the cup!

i think i stop here, because deep down in my football loving heart, i know that a cup without england cant be the real deal...

 

[TheLastOne36]

the dfb anounced the squad for the euro today:

lehmann, enke, adler - metzelder, mertesacker, lahm, jansen, a. friedrich, fritz, westermann - frings, ballack, schweinsteiger, hitzlsperger, borowski, odonkor, rolfes, jones, trochowski, marin - gomez, klose, podolski, kuranyi, neuville, helmes

so, 26 players will go to the training camp in mallorca and 3 players of them will be deleted from the line up. big surprises over here are the nominations of marin and adler, both with 0 caps for the team and the exception of hildebrand as 2nd gk.

my tip for the ones who will be left at home are trochowski, westermann and helmes.

Don't think your youngsters will make it? (well 2 of your youngsters, and one of our youngsters that you've adopted) Also happy to see Mertesacker in there, i think he's a great talent. (along with another one of ours, Podolski)

 

[kalif]

Don't think your youngsters will make it? (well 2 of your youngsters, and one of our youngsters that you've adopted) Also happy to see Mertesacker in there, i think he's a great talent. (along with another one of ours, Podolski)

oh, those 3 players i tipped to be sent home are all 24 years. and thus older than 7 of the other players. so still a good balance between young and old. marin is the youngest with 19 years and i think he will make it to austria, because he adds something to the team, that no one of the others excells in. a good dribbler, pacey and no other team will reckon him, just like odonkor in the last wc. something like the ace in the hole that adds a momentum for tactical surprises...

maybe odonkor stays at home instead of westermann, who can play all positions in the defence. helmes hast to fight for his place with neuville, who has a better lobby in the team and more experience than helmes. he is a quiet and decent person aswell, so he wont be a stress factor for the team, if he wont play.
trochowski, on the other hand, didnt turn out to be the talent taht i thought he is. he has great shooting abilities and a fine ball control/technique, but other than that, he didnt make it into hsv's first team very often and is warming the bench most of the time. want him back?

mertesacker has a guaranteed spot in the starting line up for every match.

pics:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,31494,00.html

 

[TheLastOne36]

oh, those 3 players i tipped to be sent home are all 24 years. and thus older than 7 of the other players. so still a good balance between young and old. marin is the youngest with 19 years and i think he will make it to austria, because he adds something to the team, that no one of the others excells in. a good dribbler, pacey and no other team will reckon him, just like odonkor in the last wc. something like the ace in the hole that adds a momentum for tactical surprises...

maybe odonkor stays at home instead of westermann, who can play all positions in the defence. helmes hast to fight for his place with neuville, who has a better lobby in the team and more experience than helmes. he is a quiet and decent person aswell, so he wont be a stress factor for the team, if he wont play.
trochowski, on the other hand, didnt turn out to be the talent taht i thought he is. he has great shooting abilities and a fine ball control/technique, but other than that, he didnt make it into hsv's first team very often and is warming the bench most of the time. want him back?

1st of all, please don't remind me of the last wc...

Also we'd gladly take back Trochowski. He'd be playing more in Poland then in Germany anyway. Also we need more goalscorers. Krzynowek and Zurawski are getting old, our other strikers aren't the best, and smolerek is a midfielder. and extra attacking midfielder can certeinly not hurt.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I don't know how this got by me:

Poland Euro 2008 Goalkeeper:
Artur Boruc
Lukasz Fabianski
Tomasz Kuszczak

Poland Euro 2008 Defenders:
Jacek Bak
Grzegorz Bronowicki
Pawel Golanski
Mariusz Jop
Adam Kokoszka
Marcin Wasilewski
Jakub Wawrzyniak
Michal Zewlakow

Poland Euro 2008 Midfielders:
Jakub Blaszczykowski
Dariusz Dudka
Lukasz Gargula
Roger Guereirro
Jacek Krzynowek
Mariusz Lewandowski
Radoslaw Majewski
Rafal Murawski
Michal Pazdan

Poland Euro 2008 Forwards:
Wojciech Lobodzinski
Radoslaw Matusiak
Marek Saganowski
Euzebiusz Smolarek
Tomasz Zahorski
Maciej Zurawski
Dawid Janczyk

32 players, so that means that it will be trimmed down.

 

[warpus]

Whoa, 4 Polish guys on the German team.

Good to see Janczyk on the Polish team, finally.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Rumor has it, that he won't make it, and that if he does, he'll only play against Austria.
Also i noticed another thing: Dudek isn't playing anymore. I think it's the end of his international career.

 

[kalif]

tbh, i dont know many players of the poland squad. boruc is obviously an exceptionally gifted keeper, who might save poland in some matches. apart from him, i know smolarek, lewandowski, bak and blaszczykowski (kuba for us germans here - too hard to remember otherwise ) who all got what it takes to lead a team to success.

what about wichniarek as a forward? had a decent season in the bundesliga, but he isnt young either.

 

[kalif]

Whoa, 4 Polish guys on the German team.

ey, quit the crap borowski is as german as an oak one of the descendants of the "ruhr poles" whose grand-grnad-grand parents moved to ger sometime in the 19th century.

 

[TheLastOne36]

So you know 4 people in the polish squad and 4 polish people playing in the german squad.

Wichniarek is old, and isn't that amazing, and after a quick check on wiki, he has only played 17 times for Poland, in his career, and he's 31. Adding to that, Poland is in a big need for strikers, and if he hasn't been playing much for poland, then he isn't that good.

edit:

ey, quit the crap borowski is as german as an oak one of the descendants of the "ruhr poles" whose grand-grnad-grand parents moved to ger sometime in the 19th century.

I still consider the Polish Brazilians to be polish even though they moved there in like the 19th century. Infact i consider all who have -ski at the end of there name to be polish.

 

[kalif]

oh, i also know krzynowek form when he played in leverkusen, the other keepers, wasilewski from the bayern vs anderlecht match and zurawski (from somewhere in england?) but hey, if i boast around with that knowledge, you might think i am a poland supporter. ...maybe i will become one, but only after the 8th of june...

 

[REDY]

Czech Republic nomination on friendlies (should be quite changed on euro). Radek Širl(Zenith) most probably.

GK:
Jaromír Blažek Nuremberg
Petr Čech Chelsea
Daniel Zítka Anderlecht

Defenders
Zdeněk Grygera Juventus
Marek Jankulovski AC Milan
Michal Kadlec Sparta Praha
Radoslav Kováč Spartak Moscow
Zdeněk Pospěch FC Kobenhavn
David Rozehnal Lazio
Tomáš Sivok Sparta Praha
Tomáš Ujfaluši Fiorentina

Midfielders:
Tomáš Galásek Nuremberk
David Jarolím Hamburg
Marek Matějovský Reading
Jaroslav Plašil Osasuna
Jan Polák Anderlecht
Daniel Pudil Slavia Praha
Libor Sionko FC Kobenhavn
Stanislav Vlček Anderlecht

Attackers:
Milan Baroš Portsmouth
Martin Fenin Frankfurt
Jan Koller Nuremberg
Václav Svěrkoš Baník Ostrava

Well we should only suprise.

 

[warpus]

Also i noticed another thing: Dudek isn't playing anymore. I think it's the end of his international career.

You can blame Rafa Benitez for that.

But hey, Dudek liked the money, he could have moved to a smaller team than REAL MADRID.. sheesh. After that move, it's his own damn fault he's not on the national team.

 

[kronic]

my tip for the ones who will be left at home are trochowski, westermann and helmes.

Not that I like him but I don't think Westermann will be sent home. That would leave the team with only 3 players able playing as center backs. That would be too risky.

But I sure hope Trochowski gets his ticket home. I have no clue why he got nominated in the first place or why he was ever allowed to play for Germany.

Don't care much for the others but I'd choose Neuville over Helmes. Don't think the latter adds anything to the team.

 

[Verbose]

The Swedish side:

And going by the coach's track-record, the first 11 numbered are most likely the starting line-up.
Pretty much as expected. The only real upset is that old Henrik Larsson, 36, is back, though probably not set to play from the start.

Goal
1. Andreas Isaksson, Manchester City
12. Rami Shaaban, Hammarby
13. Johan Wiland, Elfsborg

Defense
2. Mikael Nilsson, Panathinaikos
3. Olof Mellberg, Aston Villa
4. Petter Hansson, Rennes
5. Fredrik Stoor, Rosenborg
14. Daniel Majstorovic, Basel
15. Andreas Granqvist, Helsingborg
23. Mikael Dorsin, Cluj

Mid-field
6. Tobias Linderoth, Galatasaray
7. Niclas Alexandersson, Göteborg
8. Anders Svensson, Elfsborg
9. Fredrik Ljungberg, West Ham
16. Kim Källström, Lyon
18. Sebastian Larsson, Birmingham
19. Daniel Andersson, Malmö
21. Christian Wilhelmsson, Deportivo la Coruña

Offense:
10. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Inter
11. Johan Elmander, Toulouse
17. Henrik Larsson, Helsingborg
20. Marcus Allbäck, FC Köpenhamn
22. Markus Rosenberg, Werder Bremen

Kennedy Bakircioglü (Ajax), reserve for Tobias Linderoth (injured).

Me, I'm particularily unhappy about Erik Edman being injured. He's the only defender with a natural left foot and offensive qualities. Someone else can play defense, but his departure means the entire left wing is pretty much off limits for offensive operations for the Swedish side.

 

[REDY]

Henrik Larsson rule

 

[Hitti-Litti]

I think that Sweden and Switzerland will surprise. Sweden have one of the best attackers in Europe, Ibrahimovic and Larsson(if he's fit, he's still damn great). Switzerland has couple of promising youngsters, and also they get to play at home.