It's almost time for this summer's highlight so I decied to create a topic dedicated to the tournament.

Personally I think one of the usual suspects (Germany, France, Italy) will win yet again. Spain, Portugal (who I'm cheering on) and Croatia are my outsiders.

So, who are your favorites? Any players you think will stand out?

Is the Euro 2008 like the World Cup, but only for European teams?
How are teams determined?
How are the match ups decided?
I will certainly be watching and can't wait for June 7th!

It's basically the World Cup (minus Brazil & Argentina). There are four groups with four teams in each, the top two from each group goes trough to the quarterfinals.

Group A: Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, Switzerland (hosts)
Group B: Germany, Croatia, Austria (hosts), Poland
Group C: France, Italy, Holland, Romania - Group of death!
Group D: Spain, Greece (defending champions), Russia, Sweden

What do you mean by group of death

and wow, I can't believe Greece is defending champs. I never thought they were very good

Group of death means it will be the toughest group to get out off, all good teams.

Greece weren't that good, just played good enough at the right time, & had right players for their system

Oh...that's what I thought!


Oh...didn't think they were that good

I think the best teams are Spain,Portugal and Italy.
I want to win Spain and if not is possible our neighbors Portugueses

I think that Spain (and I tell this with a lot of respect) doesn't have what it takes to win it; they have great players, but they lack that plus that is needed to win decisive gams. It happened to them against France in the last World Cup.
I think France and Portugal are contenders; I would have said England but we all know what happened!

is your opinion, for me Spain is the best team of Europe in this moment

Spain can go far but they always seem to blow it when it matters. Their lineup has some fantastic names (Casillas, Ramos, Iniesta, Silva, Villa, Torres etc.) but their central defence is gonna let them down this time IMO

Puyol is bad??

Casillas,Sergio Ramos,Puyol,Xabi Alonso,Cesc Fabregas,Iniesta,Xavi,Silva,Torres,Villa

I don't think he's in the same class as he was a couple of years ago. The other central defenders, Pablo and Juanito, are both average players at this level. A possible scenario could be to play Sergio Ramos in the middle but then the team will lose it's power down the right flank.

Results of some of the last matches of Spain:

Spain 2 Argentina 1

England 0 Spain 1

Denmark 1 Spain 3

Spain 3 Sweden 0

Spain 1 France 0

Spain 1 Italy 0

the other central is Marchena

Italy will win it all!

Again, an average player

These were all friendlies! I'm saying that when there are important games, Spain always loses! They have done nothing to deny my hypothesis during all football history. They never won a World Cup or Euro (if I'm not wrong)

yes, 9 super players and 2 average players

You're missing a couple of players over there!
As Preben said, the central defense might be the weakest point in the team, but they have a couple of great players, but no one who can take the team alone to the Finals.

do you know about soccer???? Spain have one Eurocup

No real leaders, which are highly needed. Someone who can take the team in his back and win the game. I know it's a team sport, but players like Maradona, Pele are needed. They transmit their energy to the rest of the team.

ahahahhahahah
No real leaders???? loooooool Cesc Fabregas leader of Arsenal can take the team in his back and win the game, Torres leader of Liverpool can take the team in his back and win the game, Villa leader of Valencia can take the team in his back and win the game, Iniesta and Xavi leaders of Barcelona with messi can take the team in his back and win the game.want more???

Maradona and Pele in the current soccer does not make anything

We should discuss about what we call leaders or not. I think Riquelme, Veron are leaders in their respective teams. It's a player in which they can rely when the game is tough and difficult; they will find a way to get there and win it. Of course, they can't do it in every match ,but they'll at least try to.

No, I know about football That's why I said I didn't know perfectly about Euros, I don't follow them much.

Riquelme and veron ...

for you only the argentinian players are goods...

Torres = 24 Goals in premier league, Tevez = 14

and messi only 10 goals in la liga!!! and 4 of penalty kick!!!

No, I talked about Pele also. I told Riquelme and Veron (even though I don't like Riquelme much) because they are the first that came into my mind and because I knew you would recognize them easily. Name one Spanish player with the quality of Veron, you won't find any. Maybe is the most similar because he takes the ball and tries to distribute it, but I don't know.

you only know Argentine players and pele (a player of the prehistory).

veron is a average player, i can say 30 or 40 spanish players betters than veron

I won't start discussing whether I know more about football or not with you, but I definitely know about it, don't worry. I'm not saying he's the best player in the world, it's just that in his team (Estudiantes de La Plata, currently 1st in the Argentine league) he's the leader. Why would Inter want to get him back even though he's old?

Well, I see you're the kind of people who measure players by the quantity of goals.. that's not very good. It's like saying that Drogba is better then Gerrard or Lampard because they have more goals scored.

As regards to Torres and Tevez, who won both titles this year?

GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what is the important in a striker? if you are the striker of the team you must score a big quantity of goals

Since when Tevez and Messi are strikers??!! I know Ronaldo isn't striker and he was the leading scorer, but Tevez and Messi aren't supposed to be the leading scorers in their respective teams. Eto'O and Ronaldo do.

Messi no,tevez yes... can you see in the official web of Manchester United

http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid=...458&bioid=92819

Birthdate: 05 Feb 1984
Birthplace: Ciudadela, Buenos Aires
Position: Striker
Appearances: 48
Goals: 19


buffff only 19 goals in 48 match

They don't have the same attributes, that's what I'm refering to. You should compare him to Crespo, Batistuta or one of those.

some players it takes a year to acclimatise to the english style

But Tevez doesn't characterize himself as a high scorer, he can contribute a lot to the team by generating plays and goals, but he's not a striker as Torres or Ibrahimovic for example.

Have Spain the talent to win it?? Without a doubt. Will they?? who knows. They've not won a trophy since 64 & always find a way to throw away/get robbed.

I don't doubt about their talent, but for some reason they can' translate that into victories in World Cups or important tournaments.

I agree. Spain always seems to be touted to do well, and then never seem to live up to it! Maybe they will change things around this time!! During the half time analysis of the USA-England game, Alan Shearer, Lee Dixon etc where saying that they believe Spain to be this year's England. Loads of hype and hope for them, but then they fail to deliver when it matters!! Who knows!

It all depends on them, it also depends on how healthy players reach the Eurocup after a long, tiring season in their respective teams.

Starts tomorrow....


GO GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did some bets today. Portugal to win the tournament and David Villa to become topscorer. For tomorrows games I put my money on Portugal (again) and the Czech Republic.

You have an account on BWin or another of those websites?

The site I play at is called bet365

will head to the bookies tomorrow

I use the football365.com website for all my soccer news, stats and rumours. I think the two websites are one and the same. I've never tried betting myself before, but my local bookies has F.Torres as top competition scorer at 9/1! They seem like pritty good odds to me!!