Group A Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic Group B Germany Netherlands Denmark Portugal Group C Spain Italy Ireland Croatia Group D France England Ukraine Sweden
Provisional Germany Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Borussia Monchengladbach), Tim Wiese (SV Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96). Defence: Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund). Midfielders: Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Schalke), Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund), Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Marco Reus (Borussia Monchengladbach), Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich). Forwards: Cacau (Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio).
Ireland squad: Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall); John O'Shea (Sunderland), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Leicester), Darren O'Dea (Leeds), Kevin Foley (Wolves); Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Keith Andrews (West Brom), Keith Fahey (Birmingham), Darron Gibson (Everton), Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves), James McClean (Sunderland); Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long, Simon Cox (both West Brom), Jon Walters (Stoke). Stand-by: Darren Randolph (Motherwell), Paul McShane (Crystal Palace), Paul Green (Unattached), Seamus Coleman (Everton), Andy Keogh (Millwall).
French squad so far Defenders: Gael Clichy (Manchester City), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Philippe Mexes (AC Milan), Adil Rami (Valencia) Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle United), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Samir Nasri (Manchester City) Forwards: Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)
Groups B, C, and D are more interesting to me than every non group of death World Cup group. With ya on Croatia. They're my sleeper team of the tourney.
Damn France is 12? I know they have had some issues and shit the bed at WC2010, but i'm surprised to see them ranked below squads like Ireland and Greece. That team is stacked.
If you did a financial valuation of each team's roster of 23 at the Euro's in the club market, France would have to be in the top 3. Only teams I could foresee being higher are Spain and Germany.
provisional dutch selection: Keepers:Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Michel Vorm (Swansea City), Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Erwin Mulder (Feyenoord). Defense: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Wilfred Bouma (PSV), Alexander Büttner (Vitesse), John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (Málaga), Nick Viergever (AZ), Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax), Jetro Willems (PSV). Midfield: Ibrahim Afellay (Barcelona), Vurnon Anita (Ajax), Mark van Bommel (AC Milan), Urby Emanuelson (AC Milan), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Siem de Jong (Ajax), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia), Adam Maher (AZ), Stijn Schaars (Sporting Portugal), Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale), Kevin Strootman (PSV), Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV). Forwards: Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Ola John (FC Twente), Luuk de Jong (FC Twente), Dirk Kuijt (Liverpool), Jeremain Lens (PSV), Luciano Narsingh (sc Heerenveen), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Bayern München) in bold my best guess for final 23, keep in mind that some of the midfielders will end up playing in the back 4, those with that potential are underlined. Best guess for the final lineup GK: Stekelenburg LB: Emmanuelson CB: Heitinga CB: Matthijsen RB: van der Wiel DM1: van Bommel DM2: Strootman LWM/LF: Afellay CAM: Sneijder RWM/RF: Robben ST: van Persie
how does the knockout round orientate? winner of a and c on one side with 2nd place from b and d winner of b and d on one side with 2nd place from a and c?
Group A plays Group B Group C plays Group D In the quarters you get winner of A and C playing each other and winner of B against winner of D. So you could have a Germany or Holland vs France or England matchup in the semis. Also likely that runner up of B (Portugal, Germany, or Holland) plays Spain in the semis.
Wicket, you've got to find a way to start Huntelaar. He was the leading scorer in all of Euro Qualifying, led the Bundesliga in scoring this year, and led Europa League in scoring. Dude is on fire right now. So is Van Persie, but you've got to find a way to start both. Especially with such a weak defense.
Why are you surprised by Ireland? France was the last team into the WC and they cheated their way in.
Yeah but that game was nearly 3 years ago. Like i said, they were a mess around WC2010, but have since gone through an overhaul and gotten a new manager. Based on talent alone (see the preliminary roster Gunners posted), it just surprises me they are still ranked that low.
Yea they could be a dark horse to make a semi-final or final run if they can gel. They will still add Lloris, and Mandanda at GK, Debuchy and Sakho on D, Menez, Valbuena, MVila, Diarra, and Martin at M, and Giroud, Remy, and Gameiro at F. That is a lot of talent.
could be a v dangerous group for espagna if they dont find a way to score goals you know ireland is gonna turtle like a motherfucker and wait for set pieces italy is gonna italy croatia the wildcard
I don't think a lot of those players are gonna start. Rami-Mexes is their #1 central partnership and Blanc said Koscielny is 3rd now. Debuchy will play RB definitely with Sagna out and Evra LB. Think Nasri, M'Vila, Benzema, and Ribery are pretty much locks to start.
I'd go with this if I were France. --Benzema- --Ribery--Nasri--Ben Arfa --Diarra--M'Vila That or take off Ben Arfa for Cabaye maybe and put in Giroud or Remy.
man if im ireland and italy i work every set piece angle i can against spain with no puyol you neutralize pique and how do they defend aerially
pretty sure he hasnt gotten much action at juve, maybe it was due to fitness and not getting enough game time
Elia was absolute garbage at Hamburg the year after the WC. Shocked that Juve paid so much for him. He's just not very good anymore, but not sure why. Gunner, Menez and Valbuena might also be in the mix to start at winger. Menez has had a good year at PSG and you have to think Blanc will want to start at least one player from PSG. Valbuena is also really good and is in the form of his life.
You need a rotation at winger and they will feature. Their team is pretty good, just don't really see them as contenders. A bunch of good players but not enough difference makers and haven't proven to work well together recently.
Really glad that it looks like the best first group games are on the weekend, still not sure how I'm going to swing trying to watch the weekday matches at work. I can at least catch half the noon games during lunch break.
No ish. the second, third and fourth ranked european team in the same group is flat out unfair. Im really anxious about us even getting out of the group.
Croatia squad Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Rostov), Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Ivan Kelava (Dinamo Zagreb), Goran Blazevic (Hajduk Split) Defenders: Domogoj Vida (Dinamo Zagreb), Vedran Corluka (Bayer Leverkusen), Josip Simunic (Dinamo Zagreb), Dejan Lovren (Lyon), Sime Vrsaljko (Dinamo Zagreb), Gordon Schildenfeld (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ivan Strinic (Dnipro), Danijel Pranjic (Bayern Munich), Jurica Buljat (Maccabi Haifa) Midfielders: Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Tomislav Dujmovic (Real Zaragoza), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kiev), Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla), Luka Modric (Tottenham), Ivan Perisic (Borussia Dortmund), Niko Kranjcar (Tottenham), Milan Badelj (Dinamo Zagreb), Ivo Ilicevic (Hamburg) Forwards: Ivica Olic (Bayern Munich), Nikica Jelavic (Everton), Mario Mandzukic (Wolfsburg), Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk), Nikola Kalinic (Dnipro)
the winner of germany - netherlands will have the cleanest path. they can focus on beating denmark and avoid losing to portugal the loser is going to have to try and chase the win against portugal, making it an open game where anything can happen with ronaldo. all this being said with denmark not an easy team to beat
I honestly see a draw in the NL-Germany game where ze germans outplay us but we manage to hang on due to superior efficiency (oh my how things have changed)
depending on personel it could be more of a cdm-cm-lwm-cam-rwm-st kinda deal with strootman playing somewhat in front of van bommel but yeah, the 2 holding midfielders are a permanent feature for any team coached by van marwijk
leftback is gonna be a clusterfuck, thats for sure, I dont think there is a big miss in the selection though, just really mediocre personel
leftback will be a clusterfuck for germany too the options are either a cb, boateng or howedes, or schmelzer - who isnt ready for this level imo
Can't Lahm play left and put Boateng on the right where he is much more comfortable? Guess I'm hoping for a draw in the Germany/Dutch game. Would be really disappointed if either were knocked out first round although I think both are good enough to take out Portugal and Denmark without too much of a problem.
all options id prefer over what we have. But as last tournament show we do defend quite well schematically and Gio wasnt exactly a star defender either so i guess were gonna be fine defensive. Basically ive been worried about the defense since the 1998 tournament and since then weve reached the semis in 98, 00, 04 and 10, all of which with good defensive play so im worried but not that worried