Reply With QuoteSurprised they didn't call up Giovinco.Originally Posted by TheWhale
TFC bias aside, I thought for sure he would be in the 18.
Re: Euro Cup
This is my absolute favourite international tournament. A couple of thoughts on teams already mentioned in this thread
1) England has a very intriguing team and has finally decided to go young. They will make noise but ultimately not good enough yet.
2) Germany isn't just starting, they have been absolutely dominant in international tournaments since forever. They are the smart bet but.....
3) I think Belgium is more than good enough to win this whole thing. On paper, they might have the best squad this year. Only thing that could derail them is Germany in the Quarters but I'm still betting Belgium.
4) Italy has an unreal D but absolutely pitiful offensive threats. I don't think they make it through the group phase
5) France has a great squad and should also be around later in this one
My dark horse and surprise of the Euro's will be Austria as a semi finalist
Re: Euro Cup
Surprised they didn't call up Giovinco.
TFC bias aside, I thought for sure he would be in the 18.
Re: Euro Cup
I guess I should be excited and root for the Swiss. Hey we even have a guy with a real Swiss family name on our squad, which is probably one guy more than the French have guys with real French roots. Guess we should have made a run for those colonies, too back in the day...
I don't mind where a guy originates from, but in soccer these days way too many countries are pulling off a Nigel-Dawes-to-Kazakhstan (yes, he played for Kazakhstan at the Worlds as did Brandon Bochenski and Dustin Boyd...). It's pathetic.
But I probably won't watch too much of it anyway: The older I get, the less I can stand soccer players as role models. If a guy dives in hockey, everyone is reaaally pissed, but in soccer it's more and more the usual behavior. And don't get me started about respecting the refs...
I know, I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but I'm a college teacher and see it way too often how the kids copy their soccer "heroes". Should I be proud if I can keep them from spitting on the floor during my P.E. lessons? Or am I a bad person if I mock them when - before a free kick - they stand like Ronaldo in an effort to look like they have huge balls and can't put their legs together any more?
Don't get me wrong, they're good kids all in all, but if they start copying the "virtues" they see on TV during soccer matches, I sometimes am at a loss and can't enjoy the show any more.
Sorry, a bit off topic I guess, but I had to air this rant someplace at some point
BTW: Dida is about 6'5 and a real tough guy for a soccer player...
24 team H2H dynasty, fantasy points, no cap
Skaters: G 4.5 (5 for Ds), A 3, PPG 1.5 (2 for Ds), PPA 1 (1.5 for Ds), SHP 2, Ft 2, HIT 0.6, BLK 0.6, SOG 0.3 (0.4 for Ds), FW 0.1, Tk 0.5 // Gv -0.3
Goalies: W 3.5, SHO 5, SV 0.5, A 3 // GA -3, L -1.5
4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 4BN, 4IR
C: McDavid, MacKinnon, Hischier
LW: B.Tkachuk, Ovechkin, Paul(C), Jankowski(C)
LW/RW: Meier, Fiala, Giroux(C), Niederreiter
RW: Reinhart, Anderson, Armia
D: Josi, Matheson, Durzi, Moser, Cernak, Zadorov, Siegenthaler
G: Daccord, Merzlikins, Vanecek, Pickard
44 minors; most noteables: A.Schmid, E.Andrae, M.Kesselring, S.Malinski, B.Pachal, L.Stanley, L.Bichsel, E.Soderblom,...
Re: Euro Cup
Germany lost the captain in Lahm due to retirement from the national team. The defense is supspect so are the strikers. I heavily bet against us.
Commish of UNFFHL, dangered species being the sole Panthers fan on Dobber.
Re: Euro Cup
You're joking right. Strikers in gotze gomez Mueller ozil is arguably best in the world. That's not even counting draxler and or sane
Re: Euro Cup
Özil, Draxler and Sane are midfielders, Mueller is a tweener give you that. Gomez has declined a lot and s only playing in a subpar turkish divsion. Götze has a season of being benched at Bayern behind him and they want him gone.
So yeah you bascially got a tweener an old guy on the decline and a guy that played like crap since his title winning goal.
Commish of UNFFHL, dangered species being the sole Panthers fan on Dobber.
Re: Euro Cup
Valid points indeed. How far do you see them making it? Quarters, semis?
Re: Euro Cup
Spain proved you don't need old time strikers to win anymore.
Germany won the 2014 World Cup with pretty much the exact same roster minus Klose. I think and they are favourite to do it again without Klose.
Re: Euro Cup
I see them going into the quarters maybe semi-finals. And the main part still is losing Lahm, which will hurt more than most realize.
Commish of UNFFHL, dangered species being the sole Panthers fan on Dobber.
Re: Euro Cup
Just 24 hrs until the first disappointing outing for England. So excited!
/S
~ I'm not a sociopath, it's just that my magnetic personality keeps throwing off my moral compass.~
Victoria DH
C(3): Athanasiou, Sissons, Zibanejad
LW(3): Lehkonen, Burakovsky, Hymen
RW(3): Bjorkstrand, Smith, Palmieri
F(3): Stepan (C), Bjork (LW), Poehling (C)
D(6): Carlson, Heiskanen, Bogosian, Edler, Hakanpaa, Fleury
G(1): Talbot, Sorokin, Varlamov
Bench: Parise (LW), Motte (C), Richardson (C), Hagg (D)
IR: Wood, Henrique, Johnson, Dvorak
Prospects: (F) Barre-Boulet, Khovanov, Beckman, Greig, N. Robertson, Fagemo, Tuomalaa, (D) Ceulemans, Hughes, Schneider, Zboril
Re: Euro Cup
Man did I ever call this one! A 92nd minute tying goal for a thoroughly underwhelming Russian squad and England blows what is probably the most winnable game in their group stage.
I'm not saying Hodgson is bad at his job, but when you pick a front 3 where 2 of the three are NOT reliable goal-scorers and a back 4 where 50% have only a passing acquaintance with defence these things are to be expected. Lots of possession and 'attacking play', no goals. Man, when having Rooney play as a midfielder is one of your better ideas...
/S
~ I'm not a sociopath, it's just that my magnetic personality keeps throwing off my moral compass.~
Victoria DH
C(3): Athanasiou, Sissons, Zibanejad
LW(3): Lehkonen, Burakovsky, Hymen
RW(3): Bjorkstrand, Smith, Palmieri
F(3): Stepan (C), Bjork (LW), Poehling (C)
D(6): Carlson, Heiskanen, Bogosian, Edler, Hakanpaa, Fleury
G(1): Talbot, Sorokin, Varlamov
Bench: Parise (LW), Motte (C), Richardson (C), Hagg (D)
IR: Wood, Henrique, Johnson, Dvorak
Prospects: (F) Barre-Boulet, Khovanov, Beckman, Greig, N. Robertson, Fagemo, Tuomalaa, (D) Ceulemans, Hughes, Schneider, Zboril
Re: Euro Cup
I've missed all the games expect the opener so far.
And watching Italy Belgium right now.
Put some money on a Portugal England finals. (great odds)
Re: Euro Cup
Viva Espańa!! I don't speak Spanish very well, but my GF's family is from Spain and I've come to cheer for this team ''religiously'' for the past 10 years (i.e. ever since I've been with her). Coincidentally, they have been owning the soccer world for that period of time; hmmm I guess I'm Spain's rally monkey
Jokes aside, I too think Spain and Germany are the favourites (duh!) but England has a special squad this year and could surprise a few...
Keeper league 14 teams (H2H, 20 active players keep 16 NHLers, 16 minors)
Scoring Cats: G-A-PTS-PPG-PPA-(+/-)-HITS-BLK-SHP-SOG-FOW-GWG / W-L-SVS-SV%-GAA-SO
C- Crosby, Barzal, Bennett, Schmaltz, Novak
W- Forsberg, Batherson, Nichuskin, Tuch, Konecny, Maccelli, Sharangovich, Bertuzzi, Kaliyev, Neighbours, Reichel
D- Carlson, Rielly, Klingberg
G- Hellebuyck, Demko, Merzlikins, Vejmelka
Minors:
F: Fantilli, Cooley, Bourgault, Perreault, Cowan, Ohgren, N. Foote, Goyette, Iskhakov, Denisenko, Tracey
D: Simashev, Willander, Lambos
G: Schmidt, Rodrigue, DiPietro, Gaudreau, McKay
Re: Euro Cup
Belgium is funny. Everbody's favourite non-power pick to win/trip to the finals. But major tournaments, their stars disappear (mainly Lukaku)...ok Hazzard played ok and de Boyne was pretty good. And as proven by Italy yesterday, Belgium doesn't have the defense in this tournament to go deep enough to challenge. Their coach also doesn't realize that you need to use tactics to win games and can't just trot out 11 skilled players and expect to roll over the competition.
Re: Euro Cup
That Hungary Austria game was the best game I've watched so far this tourny.
End to end action.
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