Pablo you are just a paranoid nationalist Spaniard this is getting boring: I just said (if you just paid attention) that I disagreed about non independent nations participating in international competitions. So this is even the contrary.

And stop dreaming, Spain is obviously out, I would bet this year on Germany or Netherlands or some random team such as Belgium or Russia, a new team that did not win yet the Euro, like Greece's victory in 2004 (against Portugal), that would be nice.

Anyway do not forget that Euro 2016 is hosted in France, so perhaps it would be cancelled (be ready for another terrorist attack soon...).

I'm not sure about Germany. Their qualifying campaign was rather disappointing.

Who will win? Here are some odds from one bookmaker:

France 4.21
Germany 4.21
Spain 6.75
Belgium 9.43
England 12.00
Italy 17.00
Portugal 26.00

Italy is heavily underrated imo. I'd put my money on them.

lol france is so overrated. Won't d0 that well. They have inconsistent strikers. Lacazette (has he even scored in ligue 1 this season) and Benzema can go cold at times.

Edited 12/8/2015 22:11:30

Benzema will never play again in the French national team (if you are aware of what happened lately). And yes Jai France is overrated

Nothing makes me happier than making Koala angry :P

If England and Scotland have their teams that way, let them be. I also think it is strange, but I just don't care.

And stop dreaming, Spain is obviously out

I don't remember how many times Frenchmen have said that, and then we win ;) If you think De Gea, Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Fàbregas, Isco, Morata, Diego Costa (just to name any random Spanish possible squad), all highest-level players, is not enough to win... You should think about it again. We have had even better squads, but when all those players are in top teams (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United and Juventus) it means something.

And to end... You made such a fail, man.

, I would bet this year on Netherlands

I am also sure Netherlands will win LOL I'm sad for them, but well, an enemy missing is not such a tragedy.

Belgium 9.43

Definitely, Belgium's current squad is one of the best throughout their history. But I'm not sure about if that will be enough to win the tourney.

France is so overrated

It is not favourite because of them being the best, it's just that hosting teams have proved many times they can do better at home.

Benzema will never play again in the French national team (if you are aware of what happened lately)

I think Benzema is just an unlucky man, I don't think he was going to do that for money if he is already rich... I think this is just a misunderstood, I hope this ends well for both Valbuena and Benzema...

I still dont get why non UK independent nations such as NI, Scotland or Wales have the right to play in international competitions whereas others got no recognition, you just dont let other independent and recognized nations to play UEFA (3 potential teams could play instead of these 3 British territories).

Not sure about those weird-sounding N. Irish guys, or those sheep-shagging Welsh, but Scotland completely deserves the right to have a team, as we are effectively independent.

Valbuena was wonderfully talented. One of the most gifted passers in Ligue 1 while at Marseilles. Was sad to see him leave France for Russian money.

Benzema wont ever play, because I know the current French Basque coach Didier Deschamps is a man of values (as most of the Basques are) and wont let it without being punished. We have the chance to have Didier who is among the best worldwide managers, as good as Aime Jacquet (the former manager during the 98 world cup) or Hidalgo, and he knows best what to do, people in France are bored of drama and childish players doing sutpid things, the less they play the ebst the French team will be. Benzema can stay in Real Madrid (he scored yesterday 3 times with Real 8-0) and stop playing with France I think this would not affect that much our team, we have plenty of young players waiting and certainly way more motivated than Benzema.

Valbuena is not that bad, but the thing is in France for years (after the golden generation under Zidane) we priviledgied players having great physical abilities (tall, fast, endurance and stamina) instead of players such as Zidane or Platini who were real Maestros not that good physically but incredibly talented (same thing applies for Maradona or Messi, most of them are rather small and not the best physically but they compensate with their talent).
I think the current recruiting staff did a great mistake, now things are changing since they recruit differently. Valbuena is among those talented players incredibly skilled but not a reference in physical standard, so is Ribery.

I hate Benzema and some of these players (Nasri also), totally arrogant and ruining our team because of their ego and stupid childish behavior, this must end... We miss you Master Zidane, you were so wise... oh well excepted when you insult his mother, then you get this:




Also Pablo about Spain, their golden generation is also completely gone, Iniesta is getting old, many retired, I would not be that confident if I was you, and yes sorry for the Netherlands I did not realized they werent participating this is crazy ahah. How can the Netherlands be out whereas Northern Ireland is qualified?? Anyway some things like the qulifying process need to be reformed for sure.

And Ox you got your own chance to have an independent Scotland last year, unfortunately the Scottish refused this chance, so no Scotland isnt "effectively independent", but it could have been though. Nevertheless the Scottish historically had good football teams, and legendary football clubs, they have a great potential, that's just sad Scotland is not an independent nation.

How can the Netherlands be out whereas Northern Ireland is qualified??

When you lose twice to Iceland you don't deserve to qualify, but if you finish top of your group you defiantly do.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/qualifiers/season=2016/standings/round=2000446/group=2002428/index.html
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/qualifiers/season=2016/standings/round=2000446/group=2002433/index.html

If you think De Gea, Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Fàbregas, Isco, Morata, Diego Costa If you think De Gea, Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Fàbregas, Isco, Morata, Diego Costa (just to name any random Spanish possible squad), all highest-level players

I would agree with you on most of them, Fabregas has been terrible this season and Chelsea has been playing Hazard, a winger who hasn't scored all season, up front ahead of Costa in their last few game. In fact, the entire Chelsea squad have been playing dreadful. Even we can beat them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgU6Ot8eeB8

We miss you Master Zidane, you were so wise... oh well excepted when you insult his mother, then you get this:
(gif of Zidane's head-butt)

Well, he cost you the World Cup, not that you would have been in the final without him, but he still cost you the final.

He cost us the 2006 world cup but without him France would have never reached the final (remember 2002 when Zidane was injuried and the poor results after he was removed from the team?), he also gave us one world cup (great final 3-0 against Brazil in 98) and another Euro in 2000. Zizane was definitely the best world player during this period, we were very lucky to have him.

Also funny Pablo to see that in your list almost half of them could play for the Catalonian team ahah, nevertheless your Spanish team did not proved to be as good as it used to be. For now I am very sceptical about the Spanish abilities to reach the final stages of the next Euro.

Edited 12/9/2015 13:07:51

I would agree with you on most of them, Fabregas has been terrible this season and Chelsea has been playing Hazard, a winger who hasn't scored all season, up front ahead of Costa in their last few game. In fact, the entire Chelsea squad have been playing dreadful

I know, Fabregas was much better at Arsenal and somewhat Barcelona (he lacked minutes due to a great midfield Barcelona level that time) but now it's not that good. Replace him by Silva, playing in Manchester City, I somehow forgot him. And Diego Costa is not that bad, but when he plays for Spain he is completely gone... But well, I won't complain about him because he played for my city's team for a year or two (Albacete Balompié, 2nd Tier). Anyway he is really aggressive, but well, you can always replace him by Alcácer (Valencia's newbie), Pedro (another Chelsea man) or Cazorla (Arsenal, he would be another midfielder). As you see, our biggest problem is the lack of top forwards, Villa was awesome but now he is really old, and Torres... Meh, he sucks right now. As long as our midfielder score goals, I hope we can deal with that.

Also funny Pablo to see that in your list almost half of them could play for the Catalonian team ahah, nevertheless your Spanish team did not proved to be as good as it used to be. For now I am very sceptical about the Spanish abilities to reach the final stages of the next Euro.

Yeah hahaha there are many good Catalans, yet it used to be more. And if I tell you the truth, we have had better times, but that is what people thought in 2012 and we scored a 4-0 to Italy in the final match. Also, at least now we have a young, better goalkeeper than Casillas... He has been the best in Spanish history, but damn now he is really clumsy, he made us lose in 2014 World Cup... Anyway, he is still the Captain, and we respect him for that. I hope we can succeed again in France this summer.

Oh and I didn't know Deschamps was Basque, he is a good trainer for France I think.

Yep, he is born in Bayonne (like me), a French Basque like Bixente Lizarazu or Philippe Bergeroo (goolkeeper of France during the Euro 84 victory), all of them also played once for the Basque Country National Football team (Euskal Selekzioa).

Spain could achieve their goal to the final stages, Germany seems weakened (for what I saw during their last game against France for example the very day terrrorists attacked in Paris), in the contrary England could also make some good scores, they played not that bad lately, but again it's been ages that England did not reach the final in international competitions.

in the contrary England could also make some good scores, they played not that bad lately, but again it's been ages that England did not reach the final in international competitions.

We won't win, our squad is no way near the finished article. There's lots of promising young players, but they're not good enough to reach a final of a major tournament yet.

We had our best chance in 2006, but Sven-Goran Eriksson was obsessed with playing 4-4-2, even when that meant playing loads of players out of position (Jamie Carragher at right back, Joe Cole on the left wing, Owen Hargreaves in every single position). That was the same problem in 2002 and 2004. In the qualifying for Euro2008, trying to work out the reasoning behind any of team selections, tactics, substitutions, etc was just nonsensical. In 2010, it didn't help that Fabio Capello could barely speak English, although even if his English was better, he shared many problems with Sven, obsessed with 4-4-2 and playing players out of position. I still for the life of me can't see what he saw in Emile Heskey. Euro2012 was a throw-away, given we didn't have a manager until 1 month before the tournament started. In 2014, we didn't have anyone at the peak of their career, only old players on their way down or young players with potential, but didn't have enough quality yet.

Since the World Cup, we've been playing better, especially with young players improving, but they still don't look like they've got enough quality. Reaching the semi-final is possible but unlikely. I think we'll go out in the quarter final.

Edited 12/9/2015 22:37:47

Well, I can't predict who will win, but I'm sure this year format will be interesting, I bet a "small" team like Belgium, Switzerland or Sweden could reach semifinals, at least.

It's the day of the draw :o

My picks to win the Euro are this, I'll also give a little bit of an explanation.
Belgium:Young, powerful team, supported by Hazard, De Bruyne and Kompany to name a few. If they can get Courtois back in time. Well you're quite shit out of luck. (I'm also a hardcore Chelsea supporter so, sorry.)

Germany:God damn, Do I have to say much more? Quite literally, this team as long as they're healthy, can win just about whatever they want.

Italy:If they can pull out of the group stages and continue through without injury, I can see them being a serious contender for the final spot.

France: (If they make it out of the groups) Losing Benzema (Probably gonna face jail time, for his actions.) Means they're gonna have to be a hell of a lot more patient, using players like Pogba a LOT more.


I didn't choose england for multiple reasons. 1) I highly doubt they'll play Rooney outside of the ST or CF position. If they play him as a CAM in a 4-1-2-1-2 and use Sterling, Kane, Sturridge and maybe Oxlade-Chamberlain? Maybe, just maybe they'll pull through out of the groups. Regardless, I don't see England using much more than a 4-3-3 (2 CM's and a CDM)

Spain has a lot of talent, but I haven't seen them use it effectively.


And I like Wales. If they used Bale.

Edited 12/12/2015 03:15:07

Group A
France
Romania
Albania
Switzerland

Group B
England
Russia
Wales
Slovakia

Group C
Germany
Ukraine
Poland
Northern Ireland

Group D
Spain
Czech Republic
Turkey
Croatia

Group E
Belgium
Italy
Ireland
Sweden

Group F
Portugal
Iceland
Austria
Hungary

It looks like group E is the group of death then.

Edited 12/12/2015 18:14:46

It looks like group E is the group of death then.

Group D also isn`t to bad.

Some groups are hard to predict imo.

This is how I would place them though:

Group A:
France
Switzerland
Romania
Albania

Group B: (England vs. Wales sounds like its going to be interesting...)
England
Russia
Slovakia
Wales

Group C:
Germany
Poland
Ukraine
N-Ireland

Group D:
Spain
Czech
Croatia
Turkey

Group E:
Belgium
Italy
Sweden
Ireland

Group F:
Portugal
Austria
Iceland
Hungary

Edited 12/13/2015 19:43:45