October 24th, 2011
The Saudi Arabia coach, and former Dutch star Frank Rijkaard has said that the Dutch national team can go all the way in next year’s EURO 2012 because the team has all the ingredients of a winning team.
Rijkaard, was an important part of the Dutch team that won the European Championship in 1988 with the Netherland team. He thinks that the present Dutch team has the right players and more importantly the right mental strength, mind-set and team élan which make them capable of beating any team in the tournament.
In comments quoted on the official Fifa website he said he thinks the present Dutch team, with the likes of Robben, vd Vaart, van Persie, Huntelaar, Sneijder and Afellay could repeat the success from 1988.
For the full interview pls go to – http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1531071.html
The Netherlands, the 2010 World Cup finalists in South Africa finished top of Group E in qualifying Euro 2012.
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Tags: afellay, coach, dutch national team, dutch star, dutch team, euro 2012, fifa, frank rijkaard, huntelaar, mental strength, netherlands, saudi arabia, sneijder, south africa, star frank, van persie, vd, winning team, world cup finalists
Posted in E | No Comments »
October 14th, 2011
What we know for sure is that the following teams HAVE qualified – Spain
Germany, Russia, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Greece, England,Denmark and
the best 2nd place team Sweden.
Also both host nations – Poland and Ukraine – are by default participants.
What is yet to be decided are four places from what are being called the ‘play-off draw’ – which will be the winners of the following pairs which were loted yesterday:
Turkey vs Croatia
Estonia vs Republic of Ireland
Czech Republic vs Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Portugal
There will be a home and away games with the first matches to be held on the 11th and 12th of
November and the return matches on the 15th of November.
The final tournament draw will be held on the 2nd December in Kiev.
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Tags: bosnia and herzegovina, czech republic, denmark, euro 2012, greece, host nations, italy france, kiev, montenegro, netherlands, pairs, participants, poland, portugal, republic of ireland, russia, spain, team sweden, turkey, ukraine
Posted in Main Football Blog Euro 2012, Qualifying Groups | No Comments »
September 20th, 2011
World Champions Spain -now 2nd on the Fifa world rankings list after the Netherlands – have, as was expected, taken the maximum points after 6 perfect wins. They are now in first place. They have a very good team and have no problem putting goals in the net – 21 goals thus far in qualifying – the Netherlands 34 and Germany 25.
The 2nd place in this group is occupied by the Czech Republic who have 2 points more than the next team, Scotland.
Lithuania and Liechtenstein make up the other teams in the group and with 5 and 4 points respectively, dont have any chance of going through.
The Czechs have a better scoring record than the Scots and thus perhaps would be favorite to finish 2nd in the group.
However both teams still have to play the reigning world champions Spain and Scotland away to Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic also away in Lithuania.
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Tags: 20th september, czech republic, czechs, fifa world rankings, germany, lithuania, maximum points, netherlands, scotland, scots, spain, world champions
Posted in I | No Comments »
September 19th, 2011
The Danish home win against their former colony and northern neighbour Norway brought them both level along with the 3rd potential winning member of the group Portugal.
However Norway is burdened by only having a single game left while both Denmark and Portugal have 2 each so it means they can no longer win the group whichever way the chips fall.
And fall they will on the 7th of October when Portugal welcome Iceland in Lisbon and Denmark play away to Cyprus.
However, the mother-of-all-games in this group may well be the decider with Portugal’s trip to Denmark on the 11th October – the game is already ‘utsolgd’ or sold-out in Danish!
Portugal won the first game 3-1 so this promises to be a great game to look forward to – mark it in your calendar!
Denmark, a country with a very small population from which to continually bring forth great players seems yet again to being close to having a coherent team with which they move forward.
William Kvist Jørgensen, playing for the German Bundesliga club Stuttgart and Christian Eriksen playing for Ajax Amsterdam along with their great coach Morten Olsen.
Denmark have always played wonderful and entertaining football for the last decades and they definitely deserve to go through and we wish them the very best! Follow them on their website http://www.dbu.dk/
Portugal is also one of the teams from a small country who historically punch above their weight.
Another one of those very close groups this. Watch this space!
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Tags: 19th september, ajax amsterdam, chips, club stuttgart, cyprus, dbu dk, decades, decider, denmark, first game, german bundesliga club, great game, kvist, lisbon, northern neighbour, norway, olsen, portugal, promises, watch this space
Posted in H | No Comments »
September 18th, 2011
In this group England now have an almost unassailable 6 point lead over the 2nd place team Montenegro.
And even if they win their remaining two games – they have a game in hand over the British side – there is no real way left to expect them to become the leaders in this group.
But in fact the chess-computer actually could produce a first place …………if-if-if-if-if….yes you guessed it ‘if-pigs-could-fly’ or ‘if George W Bush could read’ then there is a mathematical chance they could surpass the English team – but probably not.
England will fly to Montenegro on 7th October for their last game and even a draw will then mean qualification for England.
If Montenegro do win this game and beat the pesky Swiss 4days later then the computer tells me they would be in first place.
But if these gritty Swiss do themselves beat Montenegro – presently only 3 points ahead of Switzerland, they could even end up in 2nd place.
So lots of things will be decided in this group in October. Watch this place!
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Tags: 18th september, chess, chess computer, england, fly, george w bush, last game, mathematical chance, montenegro, pigs, switzerland, two games
Posted in G | No Comments »
September 16th, 2011
Tuesday September 6th proved crucial in Group F as Croatia beat Israel 3-1 and moved one point in front of Greece. They in turn were held to a 1-1 draw in Riga by a spirited Latvian side.
This all now means Croatia will qualify as first in the group if they are successful with an away win in Greece on 7th October.
If it goes to the final day, Croatia welcome Latvia and Greece visit Georgia. Whatever happens, Croatia and Greece are the top two.
Yossi Benayoun is perhaps the greatest Israeli player these days and he is indeed an intelligent and popular striker star and Avram Grant, another Israeli, is a popular and respected coach in the UK.
With their presence Israeli football has made a very good introduction and name in Europe
However one would ask why Israel is part of this group – it is baffling. The country is nowhere near being a ‘European’ nation either geographically or certainly politically…. but it is perhaps culturally.
That it takes part in a European football championship is confusing indeed. Why not then extend it to Egypt who perhaps play the nicest football in northern Africa?
In a somewhat controversial move, UEFA has chosen Israel to host the Under-21 European Championships in 2013. UEFA has http://thesoccerroom.com/?p=21727
It is controversial and it is already running into some stiff opposistion.
http://www.foa.org.uk/campaigns/petition-stop-israel-hosting-uefa-u21s-championship
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Tags: avram grant, coach, controversial move, croatia, egypt, europe, foa, football championship, greece, israel, latvia, northern africa, petition, presence, qualifying group, riga, striker, uefa, uk campaigns, yossi benayoun
Posted in F | No Comments »
September 15th, 2011
The Netherlands are in EURO 2012 after having won all their 8 games by wide margins. See below – http://e-u-r-o-2012.com/2011/09/netherlands-in-euro-2012-final-%e2%80%93-now-mathematically-a-certainty/
If we leave it to the computers then they will tell you that yes, Sweden could still get to first place. They are presently 6 points behind the Netherlands and themselves being chased closely by Hungary who beat them in a very tight game recently. Read on this blog – http://e-u-r-o-2012.com/2011/09/hungary-beat-sweden-in-group-e-netherlands-give-san-marino-a-good-thrashing/
But the computer will also show that the remaining games are a shoe-in for the Netherlands because they are assured of being in the EURO 2012 while they are anything but for both Sweden and Hungary.
Sweden play their last qualifying game at home in the Råsundastadion in Solna against the Netherlands on the 11th October.
Whatever the result of this game, for Sweden to progress as first place they must hope & pray that the Dutch team – Fifa ranking number 1- will lose at home to Moldova – Fifa ranking 87.
Sweden must also hope & pray that they also beat Finland in Helsinki before meeting the Netherlands.
More interestingly Hungary are now level on points with Sweden, and have one more home game with Finland . However Sweden will secure the 2nd place in the group if it wins in Helsinki .
See also – http://www.soccerway.com/news/2011/September/07/euro-2012-qualifying-wrap-dutch-maintain-perfect-record/
the intellingent alternative to hotels in Berlin www.ota-berlin.de
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Tags: blog, dutch team, e2, euro 2012, finland, helsinki, home game, hungary, margins, netherlands, number 1, remaining games, san marino, solna, sweden, tight game
Posted in E | No Comments »
September 13th, 2011
After having drawn with Romania in a scoreless game, [boring!] France are just one point ahead of Bosnia & Herzegovina. France have a lot to do to regain their fans confidence and support after their scandolous exit from the World Cup in South Africa where there was lots of infighting between the French FA, the team members and the coach.
The French Football Association itself – a bunch of arrogant, overpaid and underworked bobos- were the guiltiest party of their team’s failure and as most guilty parties do, they tried to pass the blame to others namely the team players and the coach.
The former coach Raymond Domenech did not help matters much. After their game against South Africa he stupidly brought world cup football friendship to a new low when he arrogantly and gracelessly refused to shake hands with the South Africa coach.
The French team, or ‘Les Blues’ with their new coach, former player Laurent Blanc should win their group and show they can entertain and enthral the world with great entertaining football – which have done so often in the past. However is this the team and coach to do it?
They in turn beat Belarus two times in one month which ended any hope they may have had of participating in Euro 2012. This is a pity for all the football fans in Minsk who would have had to just cross the border into either Ukraine or Poland to have watched their team.
Romania, who do have some international sucess under their belts over the years are presently 4 points adrift of 2nd place Bosnia & Herzegovina – so this means they have a very slight chance to achieve 2nd place in the group. Luxembourg and Albania are the other two teams in the group however neither have any chance to progress.
However, these teams both will help determine who wins the group. Bosnia & Herzegovina will host Luxembourg on the 7th October – the same day when France meet Albania also at home.
Then on the 11th, just four days later, what could be the ‘mother of all matches’ in this group, namely the game to determine first place. Bosnia & Herzegovina play France in Paris.
Things could be very interesting here.
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Tags: albania, belts, bobos, bosnia herzegovina, euro 2012, football association, football fans, former coach, french football, french team, guilty parties, infighting, laurent blanc, minsk, raymond domenech, scoreless game, south africa coach, sucess, team members, world cup football
Posted in D | No Comments »
September 12th, 2011
Italy’s recent win over Slovenia has left them all alone in front of this group and means, as had been expected; they are now officially in the finals of EURO 2012.
The interesting part of this group is however not first place, but who will catch 2nd place and any number of things can happen so please get your chess-computer ready to try and figure out all the various computations!
Serbia presently find themselves just one point ahead of Estonia and having played one game less than both Estonia and Slovenia who are 3 points below and sort of out of contention – but never say never.
If, on 7th of October in fact Serbia beat Italy – which is probably not that likely – then they are assured of a 2nd place in the group.
Estonia will have to play Northern Ireland at home and this will be a must-win game for them.
If Italy does in fact beat Estonia then Slovenia can obtain a ‘runner up’ place ………..if they can then defeat Serbia on 11th October.
Did you get all of that? Well believe it or not – according to my calculations even Northern Ireland could get through by winning against both Estonia and Italy – however unlikely this may seem.
If you have figured this all out ………then please let us know!
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Tags: chess, chess computer, computations, contention, euro 2012, game, italy, northern ireland, slovenia
Posted in C | No Comments »
September 11th, 2011
As of today 4 teams remain in contention for a EURO 2012 finals spot. Russia presently lead the group with a 2 point lead over the Ireland with their recent tie match in Moscow.
In a surprise result Armenia won with 4 goals against Slovakia which means they are now level and both just one point behind Ireland.
On the 7th of October many things will become clearer- on that day Russia will take on Slovakia and Ireland play football-minnows Andorra.
Armenia will play Macedonia in confidence that a victory could leave them in 2nd place ahead of their last game away against Ireland in Dublin.
On the last day of qualifiers Russia play ‘Vatican-sized’ Andorra and Macedonia will play Slovakia.
Keep your eyes set on this exciting and very close group.
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Tags: 11th september, andorra, armenia, confidence, contention, dublin, euro 2012, ireland, last game, many things, match, minnows, moscow, russia, slovakia, surprise result, vatican, victory
Posted in B | No Comments »
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