Euro 2012 Group A

Bounty Hunter

Group A

Team|Played|W|D|L|GF|GA|Pts
Russia|1|1|0|0|4|1|3|
Greece|1|0|1|0|1|1|1|
Poland|1|0|1|0|1|1|1|
Czech R|1|0|0|1|1|4|0|

8 June 2012

Poland Match 1 Greece
Russia Match 2 Czech Republic

12 June 2012

Greece Match 9 Czech Republic
Poland Match 10 Russia

16 June 2012

Czech Republic Match 17 Poland
Greece Match 18 Russia

---

Tournament starts here... the forum will be plasterd with Euro12 threads im sure so this can kinda act as the Group A superthread. Threads for the other groups will follow for overall talk ala the team superthreads but regards this group and obviously many (most id imagine) matches will have their own threads no matter what group were talking about.

So what do people think of Group A?

BKC

Russia to finish top comfortably, with Poland hopefully securing 2nd place.

~BKC~

Renn

Table format ftw!

ooPabsoo

I think Russia will just about top the group, with Greece in a close second. The Greeks were very solid defensively in the qualifiers, only conceding 5 goals, and topped their group which had Croatia in it.

eugeneious

I reckon Poland and Russia to get through without much trouble tbh. I'm actually looking foreword to it though, the likes of Dzagoev and the Dortmund trio for Poland should be interesting to watch and see how they get on.

Wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Kerzhakov or Lewandowski finish as top scorer in the €s if they can put the Greeks and Czechs to the sword.

ASOT

Russia and poland both to win tonight! (for my bets sake)

bren2001

Greece and Russia, Greece have only lost 1 match in their previous 21 (I think), hard to see them losing to anybody in the group.

kfallon

Poland to win tonight, Russia to draw. Think it will be very close between Poland, Russia and the Czechs by the end of the Group. Russia to miss out by a bees dick

G.K.

Russia/Poland to go through. Kershakov prolly won't be in the goals

Renn

Crazy how many are dismissing the Czechs. I'm expecting them to top the group with Baros being top scorer for the tournament.

Rekop dog

No great opinions in group A. I question how much people commenting have seen these team play over the last few years(Russia aside). Imagine the answer is very little in the vast majority of cases. Like Poland have a few Dortmund lads and home advantage seems to be the extent to most peoples analysis of them being good enough to qualify.

A_Sober_Paddy

Poland & Russia to get through...

But I don't understand all this talk of Kershakov getting al the goals, his scoring record is sporadic to say the least.

BKC

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

But I don't understand all this talk of Kershakov getting al the goals, his scoring record is sporadic to say the least.

He has been in excellent goalscoring form for Zenit this season. In his role in the Russian system, he is not expected to score as many goals as he is expected to hold the ball up and bring the two wide men into play.

~BKC~

A_Sober_Paddy

BKC wrote: »

He has been in excellent goalscoring form for Zenit this season. In his role in the Russian system, he is not expected to score as many goals as he is expected to hold the ball up and bring the two wide men into play.

~BKC~

I was referring to his scoring with the national team, not at club level.

G.K.

Kershakov's main role is to create space for Arshavin/Dzagoev/Shirokov

BKC

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

I was referring to his scoring with the national team, not at club level.

Fair enough. I was just pointing out he plays a different role for Russia which may explain his lack of goals.

~BKC~

IvySlayer

We using this as a match thread so?

Looking forward to both matches

A_Sober_Paddy

BKC wrote: »

Fair enough. I was just pointing out he plays a different role for Russia which may explain his lack of goals.

~BKC~

Ah yeah, I haven't seen much of him player at either level...

But gladly my brother is convinced he'll score a lot of goals and put him in his fantasy team:D

kitakyushu

bren2001 wrote: »

Greece and Russia, Greece have only lost 1 match in their previous 21 (I think), hard to see them losing to anybody in the group.

Agreed. Greece and Russia to get out of this group. Greece to win the group.

We know all about Russia. However whilst they are quality I think their level of dominance over us has only flattered to deceive. Greece are the top team here. They won a qualifying group over Croatia and did it undefeated.

_blank_

Greece not losing a match - is 3 points enough to get out of the group?

Similar enough to Ireland in that respect.

Also, table format for the table please.

kitakyushu

Des wrote: »

Greece not losing a match - is 3 points enough to get out of the group?

Probably not, tho mathematically you can get out of a 4 team group with just 2 pts.

Banjaxed82

Greece and Russia.

What are people basing Poland's chances on?

dfx-

Russia and Czech Rep to get out for me..Russia could be a dark horse for the tournament. Easy enough group to get out of and depending who gets second in Group B, could get Portugal or Denmark..

grohlisagod

Group A Preview.
http://cork.studenty.me/2012/06/05/euro-2012-group-a-preview/

Getting excited for the tournament now.

kryogen

Tonights prediction

Poland 1-0 Greece
Russia 1-0 Czech Rep

GavRedKing

I fancy Russia and Czech Rep to go through, in that order.

Russia could easily go far, if they top the group they face the 2nd place in Group D, which I reckon will be Sweden.

Czech's are a good team, better then some will give credit for I think they'll just edge out Poland and Greece but games between these 3 will be massive to decide who goes through as I cant see past a Russian victory in this group.

IvySlayer

Poland 2-0 Greece
Russia 3-2 Czech Republic

IvySlayer

Bounty here's a table, just take out the stars.

Team|Played|W|D|L|GF|GA|Pts
Poland||||||||
Greece||||||||
Russia||||||||
Czech R||||||||

[TABLE*]Team|Played|W|D|L|GF|GA|Pts
Poland||||||||
Greece||||||||
Russia||||||||
Czech R||||||||[/TABLE*]

You'll have you to bold everything you want separately.

GavRedKing

If Czech Rep have any ambitions to make it out of the group they have to hold Russia for a point tonight or at the very least keep them to a 1 goal lose.

Have drinks chilling and food at the ready for when I finish work at 4:30.

Cant wait for the Euro's to start. :pac:

GavRedKing

IvySlayer wrote: »

Bounty here's a table, just take out the stars.

Team|Played|W|D|L|GF|GA|Pts
Poland||||||||
Greece||||||||
Russia||||||||
Czech R||||||||

[TABLE*]Team|Played|W|D|L|GF|GA|Pts
Poland||||||||
Greece||||||||
Russia||||||||
Czech R||||||||[/TABLE*]

You'll have you to bold everything you want separately.

Edited on behalf of BH, as they table was annoying me too. :pac:

Well done Ivy

Nuri Sahin

Don't care about the other 3 teams, just hope Borussia Polonia get through to the knockout rounds.

Nuri Sahin

Greek journos are saying this is their line up today -

GREECE (4-3-3): Chalkias- Avram Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Torosidis, Holebas- Maniatis, Katsouranis, Karagounis- Ninis, Samaras, Gekas

IvySlayer

Bet the commentators are looking forward to those names

helimachoptor

A good mate of mine is Greek so will be following their games, hopefully they get out of their group.

TaosHum

Tough group to call. I think all the teams are of similar level, with the Russians being slightly better on paper due to their technical ability. Poland playing at home should be enough to get them out of the group, but it will be tight.

Nuri Sahin

Poland XI: Szczesny - Piszczek, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch - Polanski, Murawski - Blaszczykowski, Obraniak, Rybus - Lewandowski

Greece XI: Chalkias - Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Avraam, Holebas - Maniatis, Katsouranis, Karagounis - Ninis, Gekas, Samaras

Both are confirmed.

G.K.

Ninis plays. excellent.

Renn

RTE Player?

Jax Teller

So will this be pretty much the match thread?

Jax Teller

Renn wrote: »

RTE Player?

I imagine so ? Aertv also

missingtime

Drew Greece in the sweepstakes here in work...'mon Greece!

GavRedKing

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

So will this be pretty much the match thread?

I've no problem with people starting a match thread, similarly if you want to keep this as a Group A match thread for all Group A matches feel free to also.

_blank_

RTE player has a better pic quality than normal RTE.

Charisteas

Unfortunately I didn't make the Greece Euro 2012 squad but Santos is a great coach and knows what he's doing, Gekas and Samaras are both quality forwards. Karagounis and Katsouranis will pull the strings in midfield, more than 200 caps between them and the Polish won't be able to contain them.

Greece usually play 4-4-2 but tonight playing 3 forwards, going for broke against the weakest team in Group A.

Think Russia will win the group though, can see them winning all three group games.

My predictions for tonight-

Poland 0-1 Greece
Russia 2-1 Czech

Jax Teller

Eamo just said Buffon was involved in that match fixing scandal , is he drunk already ?

To Alcohol

Really looking forward to getting a good look at this guy Lewandowski. Have seen nothing of him yet.

Come on Poland. Wont be easy...

Bounty Hunter

gavredking wrote: »

Edited on behalf of BH, as they table was annoying me too. :pac:

Well done Ivy

Cheers GK & Ivy had been watching a movie. In this and any similar thread feel free fellow mods to edit away to update tables in the OP etc as considering how many the table annoyed before there were even stats to add to it maybe that might be a good idea.

I'd imagine big matches will get their own threads but that a lot of this groups (no disrespect but I cant imagine the demand for these games to be as big here) games might be commented on in this thread. The first match of the competition though may get a big enough response to warrant a thread of its own.

Paco Rodriguez

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Eamo just said Buffon was involved in that match fixing scandal , is he drunk already ?

I presume he means involved in questioning about it....as is Pepe.

Totally agree with what Brady has been saying.

Nuri Sahin

Tis a beautiful stadium.

C'mon Poland!

Mr Simpson

I'm going to say 2-0 Poland today.

I reckon tables going to finish like this

1. Russia
2. Poland
3. Czech Rep.
4. Greece

kitakyushu

-Ade- wrote: »

Tis a beautiful stadium.

C'mon Poland!

Agreed. I'm very envious of it! I'd love if that was Irelands national stadium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXLiyAZjqCA