UEFA EURO 2012

[frederic38]

althought a black scored the last goal for portugal, this is what i was expecting
i put portugal 1st of the group and denmark 2nd in my predictions
now denmark needs to beat germany to qualify, which they can do i believe (that's why i was having them 2nd of the group ahead of germany and netherlands)

bendtner proved how good he is, something i was hoping he would do
i said before the tournament that he was one of the best european strikers
i wish that these goals draw attention from a big club like barcelona, who needs a striker (and bendtner is young too)

it was a fun match

Yeah, that was horrible. The last thing we needed is the AA black sub scoring for Portugal.

the black players playing for portugal are less affirmative action moves than the blacks playing in denmark, sweden, germany or other countries with small black populations (czech republic also)
varela is an annoying winger who is overshadowed by the others brazilian/south american wingers in his local club (fc porto) but he sort of deserves to be here based only on his performances (based on skin color ofcourse, he shouldn't be here)
he should still be on the bench for the next match
in my opinion the blacks playing for portugal are the only ones in this competition who are not hugely over-rated , the other ones shouldn't have been called for this competition

the black full backs that you see appearing in every white national team, however, come out of nowhere and shouldn't be in the team if you choose the players for their talent

however, portugal won't go far with cristiano ronaldo playing like that

 

[Freethinker]

I will be rooting for a decisive German win by at least 2 or even better 3 goals. This way if the Dutch beat Portugal and the Danish beat Germany both Germany and Denmark can advance. I know this is asking for alot but it seems the only way these 2 can advance now.

As for the game at hand, the Dutch coach is stubbornly starting the game again with Huntelaar on the bench. He should start over Afellay. A similar argument could be made to play Van der Vaart over the defensive minded De Jong. I hope the Dutch attack struggles mightily.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Gomez with a nice goal off of a Schweinsteiger pass!!
Boateng has got beat a couple of times, from what I've seen. When he actually stopped Van Persie, the announcer predictably said: "Van Persie stopped by the very muscular Boateng.":icon_rolleyes:



I get what you mean, fredric, but I was just frustrated at the fact that he got the game winning goal like that.

 

[Arend]

Fantastic game by Mario Gomez ! 2-0

 

[Jack Lambert]

The Netherlands are falling apart!! Gomez with another easy goal on a great pass!! 2-0 Germany!


The Netherlands left back Jetro Willems is getting toasted this game.

 

[Freethinker]

The Netherlands are falling apart!! Gomez with another easy goal on a great pass!! 2-0 Germany!


The Netherlands left back Jetro Willems is getting toasted this game.

Willems is getting beaten like a drum He has no right to be on the pitch.

Huntelaar is warming up. By the time they put him in this game maybe out of reach.

 

[Liverlips]

Am hoping Netherlands will beat Portugal and Denmark can get a tie with Germany.

 

[Matra2]

For the all the talk of how good the second Gomez goal was - the commentators are drooling about it - I thought the goalie, Stekelenburg, dived too soon. It was a good shot but if the goalie had stood his ground he might have saved it. Maybe the first goal was the same - though I did not see a replay of it.

 

[Jack Lambert]

For the all the talk of how good the second Gomez goal was - the commentators are drooling about it - I thought the goalie, Stekelenburg, dived too soon. It was a good shot but if the goalie had stood his ground he might have saved it. Maybe the first goal was the same - though I did not see a replay of it.

No, the first goal wasn't Stekelenberg diving too soon. The first goal was a better effort, but still easy for Gomez on a great ball from Schweinsteiger.

Boateng just got his 2nd yellow, so he'll miss the game against Denmark!!

 

[Matra2]

I've just watched them again. Not much Stekelenburg could've done on the first one unless he'd guessed the right way but that's asking a bit much when an unmarked player is only a few metres from the goal line and shooting hard on target. But on the second goal Stekelenburg's outstretched arms were falling fast as the ball was arriving. He seemed to be out of position - too close to his post to his left and the goal line - giving Gomez a lot to shoot at.

 

[Freethinker]

Good win for Germany. Gomez, Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Hummels and Podolski played especially well. Neuer, as usual, was strong in goal. Like Liverlips said, a tie against Denmark would be ideal from a CF perspective.

As for Holland, they looked like an entirely different team in the 2nd half with Huntelaar and Van der Vaart. So much more dangerous. If those 2 start next game along with a benching of the over-matched Jetro Willems, I see them beating Portugal.

 

[Europe]

iIt looks like Arsenal is getting close to signing Giroud.

 

[MilanClass]

Why is Netherlands starting an 18 year old negro left back in a major tournament with only 2 previous caps? That's absurd. Fine, you can experiment in friendlies but you don't fool around like this in a major tournament. That would be like the U.S. starting Onyewu in the World Cup when everyone knows he's in over his head. I used to enjoy cheering for Holland but I'm glad they lost both games.

That was a fantastic goal by Gomez. Pure class to spin away from the defender like that.

 

[Giles Daldanus]

It has been an excellent tournament so far (the games involving the two host nations have offered a lot of excitement). There hasn’t really been a single team looking out of place. Big thumbs up for Poland and Ukraine, as they have really put on a show and there aren’t any major organizational issues. The only blot on the landscape has to do with the reports of serious fights involving different groups of supporters (some people take the Poland vs. Russia rivalry very serious and there are plenty of agent provocateurs). Some of my friends were joking that choosing a German to referee the Poland vs. Russia match was inappropriate.

I hope that the two host nations will advance to the next round. Tough luck for Greece, they have been very unlucky with some refereeing decisions (I don’t believe it has anything to do with conspiracies), but they shouldn’t give up hope and try to do their best against the Russians, who are almost certain to reach the elimination phase. It’s shame that there isn’t a chance that three teams could advance from this group.
A Euro 2012 final involving Ukraine and Russia or Poland vs. Russia would be the cherry on top of a spectacular tournament. Russia and Croatia have impressed me quite a bit, I hope that the spirited Irish will be in top shape against Spain and Italy.

I was very happy for Ukraine; I read an interview with Shevchenko in which he stated that “he felt like a little kid once again [when he scored these two goals]â€. It’s almost as if he has rediscovered his AC Milan form and derives much joy from the game. He will cement his legend status in Ukraine and the team spirit within the Ukrainian camp is to be envied.

Blaszykowski’s strike for Poland may become the goal of the tournament, fantastic skill!
England and France appeared really competent from a tactical standpoint, they will be hard to beat. Denmark impressed me as well despite the naïve loss against Portugal; they are still in with a chance and may get a draw vs the Germans. Portugal’s current squad appears to be stronger than the one that featured during the 2010 World Cup and the Germans are serious contenders to win the tournament (as always). I expected more from the Netherlands, I guess the new faces in defense will need more time to gel with their teammates. Kuyt & Van der Vaart should be starters for them.


Just to add my two cents with regard to a number of the footballers with disputed ancestry:

I didn’t know about Jolebas, he indeed has interesting facial features…I think that the other player in the Greece squad who could be considered non-white is Kostas Mitroglou (he probably has Turkish roots judging by his family name and looks - @Zeus or someone else will correct me if I am mistaken).

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/teams/player=103218/index.html

Bruno Alves (half Brazilian) reminds me a bit of the Brad Garrett character from “Everybody loves Raymond†show (who played an Italian-American)…we already discussed his case. He has been well-received by the Zenit supporters.

Milan Baros – he does somewhat stand out in the Czech team, but I don’t think that there are any indications that he has Gypsy heritage. Baros is from Moravia and could simply be a more Mediterranean-looking Czech.

Peter Hlinka (Slovakia) is another example of a Central European with a slightly exotic look…however, there is no reliable evidence of foreign ancestry in his case as well.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2012/clubs/player=34151/index.html

Rafael van der Vaart – he is half Dutch and half Spanish (it has also been mentioned that he could be of Traveller descent on his Spanish side). I am not completely sure, but I think that the terms “Traveller†and “Romani†are not interchangeable – Travellers are white nomads (related to Irish people) and are rather different from ethnic Romani/gitanos.

Here is a controversial youtube video (some footballers like Ricardo Quaresma and Dani Guiza have documented Romani heritage), but I am quite suspicious of the claims in relation to other players like Cantona, Stoichkov, Gheorghe Hagi and Ibrahimovich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZYGX2BTNe4

Some nationalists have their own agendas and try to deliberately inflate the number of players of Romani descent.

What’s also confusing is that Gypsies (like Arabs) may differ a lot in their physical appearance…..some are quite Indian-looking (Banel Nikolita) while a minority of them could pass for ordinary Europeans (Jesus Navas).

@Frederic, you mentioned that Giroud and Debuchy are very French names…does the same apply to Lloris, Roux and Mexes (from my perspective as a foreigner these names have a rather French ring to them as well)?

Here is the official Euro 2012 song (“Endless Summer†by Oceana):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EVhiBGvVFc

Igor Denisov is now on Paris SG’s radar according to some reports I read…..however, it will be difficult to tempt him away from Zenit.

 

[frederic38]

Milan Baros – he does somewhat stand out in the Czech team, but I don’t think that there are any indications that he has Gypsy heritage. Baros is from Moravia and could simply be a more Mediterranean-looking Czech.

he played in france, at lyon, and at one point he was involved in a racist incident:

[video=youtube_share;bbY2cLbEl7A]http://youtu.be/bbY2cLbEl7A[/video]

then he said that he was not racist, that he has been a victim of racism when he was younger in czech republic (they called "black" because of his dark skin, and he says that they call romani people this way)

Here is a controversial youtube video (some footballers like Ricardo Quaresma and Dani Guiza have documented Romani heritage), but I am quite suspicious of the claims in relation to other players like Cantona, Stoichkov, Gheorghe Hagi and Ibrahimovich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZYGX2BTNe4

Some nationalists have their own agendas and try to deliberately inflate the number of players of Romani descent.

israeli jews do the same also, there are countless players who are rumored to be jewish

@Frederic, you mentioned that Giroud and Debuchy are very French names…does the same apply to Lloris, Roux and Mexes (from my perspective as a foreigner these names have a rather French ring to them as well)?

lloris seems to be catalan, like most names that start with 2 "L"
mexes is not french
roux is one of the most common french names
the names that sound the most french to me are the ones ending with -ard or -bert, for example bernard (2nd most common name in france, for example alain bernard the swimmer), robert (5th most common), richard (6th most common), lambert
in my region they are the most common french names
"-bert" is close to "bright" in english and meant the same
"-ard" is close to "hard" in english and meant the same too
giroud is one of the most frequent names in my region too, which is not surprising since giroud come from the same city as me
it comes from "gerwald" in the language of our ancestors

Igor Denisov is now on Paris SG’s radar according to some reports I read…..however, it will be difficult to tempt him away from Zenit.

i try not to report the transfert rumors regarding paris saint germain because litterally every player is rumored to sign for them
currently they are trying to sign ibrahimovitch, thiago silva (almost done) lavezzy (done) , higuain...in addition to all the players they already bought last year (lugano, pastore, alex from chelsea, maxwell...)
they will be dangerous next year at the champions league

 

[frederic38]

italy-croatia: balotelli starts the match once again
i'm rooting for croatia!

speaking of players who are rumored to be gipsies, dario srna plays for croatia
but since he looks pretty white, i don't really care if the rumor is true or not, my guess would be that he is not a gipsy

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Italy looks to have caught a break early against Croatia, as it appeared that the Italian defender pulled down a Croatian player inside the penalty area as he was going for the ball. the ref said to play on ...

it's been an entertaining match so far, though. and i like how Balotelli gets whistled mightily by the crowd every time he touches the ball. ha! i'm sure FIFA is crying ...

 

[Matra2]

Italy looks to have caught a break early against Croatia, as it appeared that the Italian defender pulled down a Croatian player inside the penalty area as he was going for the ball. the ref said to play on ...

If you are referring to the incident I think you are it was worse than that; the English referee actually gave Italy a free kick.

So Di Natale's reward for scoring (as soon as he came on!) an important goal against Spain is to be a bench-warmer yet again as Ballotelli gets the nod. He's only about 34 so I doubt stamina has anything to do with it. Even if it was about stamina would it not be better to start Di Natale and if he starts to struggle in the second half then substitute him?

 

[Matra2]

Di Natale just ruined a scoring chance for Italy. Oh well, so much for me defending him.

 

[Matra2]

I see Croatia has a non-white - Eduardo.

BTW I think Srna is Croatian for black.:eyebrows: But, yes, he looks white to me.

 

[backrow]

so that was Torres' plan all along! dont get too tired with Chelsea so he can be fresh for Euro!

we're onto you, Fernando... :llama:

 

[Liverlips]

Balotelli went 0-for-5 today. I wonder if they finally sit this quota? If not, it will serve them right to miss the semi-finals.

 

[frederic38]

Di Natale just ruined a scoring chance for Italy. Oh well, so much for me defending him.

you were right to defend him, so far he has 1 goal in 55 minutes while balotelli has 0 goals in 125 minutes
di natale might be a player who is just good enough for serie a but balotelli makes him look like a world-beater

the best italian striker might be maxi lopez, but he's not italian enough, unlike mario barwuah balotelli

[video=youtube_share;qMvSpiPIsr0]http://youtu.be/qMvSpiPIsr0[/video]

http://youtu.be/68of3v073Y0

and he is racist, so it's not good for prandelli who is trying to change the italian mentality
he is also homophobic, so how would he do with the 4 gay players who currently play for the italian national team thanks to prandelli?

 

[Zeus]

I didn’t know about Jolebas, he indeed has interesting facial features…I think that the other player in the Greece squad who could be considered non-white is Kostas Mitroglou (he probably has Turkish roots judging by his family name and looks - @Zeus or someone else will correct me if I am mistaken).

Holebas claims having a Greek grandfather (maternal side) and that he has Greek, Spanish and German in him..........I, too agree that he obviously has Indigenous blood in him and in my opinion I do not understand why he even plays in the Greek team. If you notice, all the 3 goals Greece has received have been from the left side where Holebas competes.

LOL@Mitroglou being Turkish......mate he wouldn't play in the Greek team if he was Turkish, trust me on this one, but you are right he's not (what I consider) "pure" white, even though he's a Caucasoid, Mitroglou is a pure 100% GYPSY AND great observation mate

 

[frederic38]

iIt looks like Arsenal is getting close to signing Giroud.

what do you think about it?
do you feel like arsenal is going in the good direction?
or do you always liked the club?
do you like the player?
it all went so fast, at the beginning of the season i created a thread about white goal scorers to talk about him, it was just his first season in 1st division
back then when he didn't scored i was affraid that he might go on the bench and than end up in 3rd division again
he was in grenoble just before the euro champs, a friend of mine took a picture of him in a night club
a really funny guy


http://rutube.ru/tracks/5694838.html

if he plays at arsenal he will be more likely to play for the national team