Irish Fans Invade Poznan

russia completely DESTROYED czech republic. 4-1. the poland vs greece game was a bit boring the first half, but the second half made up for it. so much drama. a red card for a goalkeeper, a miss penalty, and a game tying goal.

The Czechs did not defend well at all, but Russia's movement up front was quite good.

Apparently this will be the smallest away contingent of England fans for Euro.

Petr Cech was terrible, his back line didnt help his performance much either.

First upset of the tournament as the great Danes pull off the upset 1-0 over the Dutch.

Group of death completely discredited and gave no chance to the Danes. They played a great game and showed this group will be beyond the group of death. Perhaps Apocolypse group would be better

Credit the Danes on being clinical on their chances and defending well enough. The Dutch wasted so many opportunities then started to get selfish and finally just ran out of gas. The Danes were lucky with the late handball though.

I'd like to know what happened to the gorgeous football the Germans were playing in the last world cup. Eked out a 1-0 win over Portugal, but geez! Portugal missed 3 or 4 glorious opportunities. Deutschland needs to pick it up or a lot of people's predictions are going to look awfully silly.

valleywhitecaps said: I> Chris said:

I'd like to know what happened to the gorgeous football the Germans were playing in the last world cup. Eked out a 1-0 win over Portugal, but geez! Portugal missed 3 or 4 glorious opportunities. Deutschland needs to pick it up or a lot of people's predictions are going to look awfully silly.

I agree. They looked fairly average ... as did Portugal. That is Germany though ... typically they start out slow, but over the tournament they are usually so clinical. They'll be in the mix at the end again.

Considering that the Portugeese were attempting a more attacking minded lineup I was surprised on how flat the match was. 3 point is 3 points for the Germans, can't help but get better from there.

However if the German's don't kick it up a notch Denmark has now tasted blood and wants more. The red and white have a huge confidence boost now.

I believe the final shot total was 27-8. Shots on target were 8-8.

cannonboom said:

krisaug5 said: They played a great game....

Have to disagree... thought the Danes were lucky the Dutch shit the bed

This!

Everyone keeps telling me how nobody does the "mexican" wave in Europe but this is the 3rd match I've seen it and during play.

Nice game to watch this morning. Didn't like Spain's starting XI, and I thought that Prandelli made some nice subs. Really could foresee a second yellow for Balotelli. Thought that was a really nice sub. If Spain and Italy play like this for their next 2 games this afternoon's game is for 3rd in the pool.

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/matchorganisation/disciplinary/news/newsid=1813629.html

Looks like the German fans are in a bit of trouble, and so's the Portuguese team...

danimal said: Robben and van Persie are sure selfish buggers. Try passing the ball sometimes, eh. The D knew exactly how to force them into sailing shots high. Van de Vaart and Huntelaar are better selections imo.

RvP had 37 goals and 17 assists in 48 games. Seems to know how to pass well, and of all the players on the Dutch team, he should be the one shooting. I've never been too impressed with how the Dutch attack as a team, though. Sneijder was finally passing to RvP and Robben at least.

I never thought I would be quoting Sports Illustrated as champions of Soccer Culture and the fan experience but here goes :

Fans are both neglected and patronized. The attitude of the football authorities toward fans is baffling. On one hand, they treat them like heroic adventurers, almost like great explorers of the early modern age, able to find vast resources and travel to alien environments. Upon arriving, however, they're expected to negotiate baffling train and bus networks and find places to sleep in overcrowded towns. For the first time since the mid-'90s boom, that resulted in England fans failing to use their full allocation of tickets. There were swathes of empty seats at Donbass Arena -- something that would have seemed unthinkable just five years ago.

Admittedly, the economic climate has hurt budgets, and fans' disposable incomes may have been used for London Olympics tickets rather than for cross-Europe treks to watch an England side that had the lowest expectations in 30 years. But still, England fans went to Japan. They went to South Africa. They travel in vast numbers to watch cricket and rugby in India, Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. If they're not going to Ukraine, only a little more than three hours away, there's a problem. Namely: For all of the delights of Ukraine's football stadiums, the tournament never should have been hosted there, particularly given the expense and logistical difficulties of the country. Once again, fans are forced to pay the price for the misguided policy of football's administration.

There has been disorganization all over the place. The England fans' band has been a constant at matches for 18 years. Many find it irritating and would prefer that it wasn't present, but what happened in Donetsk is a disgrace: The band had permission from UEFA to enter the stadium, but Ukrainian security confiscated their instruments. It's not clear yet whether they will even be returned or not.

It's also not possible to take a Polish hire car across the border into Ukraine, making it nearly impossible for foreigners to travel from Warsaw to games in Lviv. The train takes a minimum of 11 hours because of the need to change the gauge of the wheels at the border, and essentially, the only way to attend the matches is to fly to Kiev and out again, something both time consuming and costly. This is almost certainly the most irrational football tournament ever staged in Europe.

Worse yet, once fans get into the stadium, they're treated like children with attention deficit disorders (and sponsor-appropriate credit cards). Throbbing music makes conversation impossible. Embarrassing cheerleaders attempt to whip the crowd into a frenzy with some terrible version of how they think fans act or talk. (Does any England fan really need a Ukrainian with a microphone shouting "1966" at them?) Then there's the most egregious innovation for this tournament: a countdown to kickoff.

Put simply, it's embarrassing. It's not New Year's Eve -- it's a football match that, for 149 years, has happily been started by the elegant simplicity of a referee's whistle. The authorities should have put the effort and money into making the hour before kickoff eye-wateringly annoying into thinking about basic logistics instead.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jonathan_wilson/06/11/euro2012.england.france/index.html#ixzz1xaWXDfHQ

Bad_Gones said: I was going to comment on the "countdown" but wasn't sure what I was hearing. Not a game-stopper, but pretty silly.

Beyond silly. Speaking of which, I think the "Gooooallll" from the loudspeakers when the Caps score is lame. I think I've heard it in other places also.

Boxing_Day_Massacre said: I never thought I would be quoting Sports Illustrated as champions of Soccer Culture and the fan experience but here goes :

It's Jonathan Wilson. Quote away.

DISGRACEFUL

danimal said: Holy Tifo! How did that get past security?

You're talking about Russia right?

Who's going to Doolin's? I'm just leaving.

Tough one for Denmark. I'm crushed.

Despite everything, NED still very alive in the tourney.

Neeskens1974 said:

I would say they're on life support personally.

If they can't figure out how to win balls back, they are toast.

A German win over Denmark and a 2 goal or better win vs Portugal wouldn't be much of a shock to me.