Euro 2012

[SoCalJoe]

This should be filled w/a ton of great games. Get your predictions and rooting interests in;

Group A
Poland, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic

Group B
Holland, Denmark, Germany, Portugal

Group C
Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia

Group D
England, Ukraine, Sweden, France

I tend to root along heritage lines; Czech, Scottish, and a wee bit Irish thrown in. My Czechs can get out of the group (fingers crossed). The Irish have Duff/Kelly, but will be hard pressed to advance. While the Scots recently got worked by a team wearing candy-cane kits.

[nevzter]

Group B: Ouch. Group B matches are going to be fun...at least for the neutral.

Group C is no slouch either.

Basically, when the Euro finals come around, the majority of matches don't disappoint.

[DCHeather]

Yeah group b is one unbelievably tough group. Is it weird that I like both the Dutch and Germans? But if I had to chose between the two it's the krauts, since I am mostly of German ancestry. And I refuse to root for the French, English, or Irish teams (my other European family ancestry).

[VegasJustin]

Come on Ireland. I think I have some Irish there somewhere so I'm claiming that.

I read my ancestry thing and my family comes from Russia a few centuries ago. So let's go Russia!

All of the groups are good. Hopefully it's an exciting tournament.

[nevzter]

I'm supporting Roy. Up the England!

[Clevelandmo]

The Holland-Germany rivalry is intense so I look forward to that. I dont normally support the Netherlands, but due to the historic nature of the rivalry (WW2) I might make an exception.

Otherwise I'm Ireland, England, and Poland as far as each group. Croatia in group C is also of interest to me. The former Yugoslav nations could put together a nice team if they were still together.

[AggieMatt]

Like others, I root along heritage lines which are roughly 65/25/10 Irish, Scottish, mutt. So it's Ireland over all others for me, but I don't expect anything from them. I have connections with Croatia, Germany & Denmark, so I'll pull for them as well.

I don't root for England, Woy or no. Being a child of the 70's/80's, I still root against Russia. And Italy is despicable and pretty much represent everything that is wrong in football. The rest are neutral for me.

Who wins? I'm gonna say the French. The Dutch would probably be my second favorites to win it. Germany concedes too many goals, Spain is dinged up, England is still England and Italy is a mess. This tournament is usually good for a few surprises.

[DWAG]

Hello Fans of Fulham FC Supporters!

I'll admit it straight off that I'm writing from Fantasy League to let you know about our Euro 2012 Fantasy Football game where the first place winner gets £5,000 and a total of £10,000 to be won. It only cost £5 so sign up today!
http://www.fantasyleague.com/ClassicEuro/

If that doesn’t interest you we also are offering an auction based game where you and your friends can bid over the players in the Euro for free!

Enjoy the games!

[Clevelandmo]

My picks

A - Poland, Russia; B - Germany, Netherlands; C - Spain, Croatia; D - England, France

Neth def. Poland, France def. Spain, Ger def. Russia, England def. Croatia

France def Neth, Ger. def England

France defeats Germany

I just wasnt going to pick Spain, Germany or the Netherlands to win. Too easy

[SoCalJoe]

The two hosts have groups that they can get out of. This new stadium in Poland is sweet. I'll take the Germans to win the whole thing. The darkhorse team to win it all is Croatia.

[Clevelandmo]

Greece down a man and a goal at the half. They should have done their ref homework prior to the match?

[AggieMatt]

Really. 16 reds in 19 La Liga matches? Who picks these guys? The red on the Poland keeper wasn't bad, but there were numerous questionable calls.

Tough break for the Polish fans. They outplayed Greece in the first & had the man advantage for quite a while, but Greece outplayed a visibly fatigued Polish side in the 2nd and were probably unlucky not to get the win.

Wow, Cech and the Czechs laid an egg against Russia. They can still recover points off of Greece and Poland though from what we saw today.

I'm not digging Ballack in studio. Wonder how that one came to pass. Is he the next big Euro to MLS?

[jumpkutz]

Russians really handed the Czechs (and Cech) their lunch today. Didn't see Pog in there the few minutes I was able to watch. Anybody got the 411?

[VegasJustin]

He didn't play. He's the third choice forward behind Kerzakhov and Pavlyuchenko. Unfortunately for him, they play a lone forward up top so he's not gonna play much.

And my Russians are doing well! Let's go you Commies!

[jumpkutz]

The Dutch strips are just as cool on TV as they are in the literature...too bad they lost to the Danes in them! Shocking!