Euro 2012 - How do people think the hosts will do??

samcooke91

How much does home advantage actually count?? Ukraine have Yarmolenko and this'll be Shevchenko's swan-song whereas Poland have Lewandowski and generally a pretty good side. Written a blog on the issue, also not sure if many of you are into social betting (no cash betting but with prizes instead) Oddslife have started a Euro 2012 Predictor game, you can win a signed Gazza England shirt !

http://blog.oddslife.com/2012/05/hope-for-the-hosts-polandukraines-chances-at-euro-2012/

Fiiiiiish

Nice blog.

I think both teams are capable of sneaking 2nd spot in their groups. Would be surprised if they managed any further however.

Apart from the stain of Chelsea on his career, i've always enjoyed watching Shevchenko especially during his Serie A days. Would be great to see him go out in style.

Indigo Joe

Yes good blog. Poland's group A is the only one which is so wide open it's impossible to predict. Russia and Poland for me with both going out in the next round. If Ukraine get past England, France and Sweden in Group D then I'd be amazed.

Callumcafc

Ukraine on home soil will do very well. Can see it being between them and ourselves for second spot behind France in Group D.

Addickted4life

Ukraine will draw with us, lose to Sweden and France. As for Poland there group is wide open as others have said.

Lincsaddick

Unless the match officials are under instructions to get one of the host teams through to the next round (as in the Japan/Korea world cup), both should get nil points .. just a bit worse than Eagleperch Romperplink

samcooke91

Yeah most people seem to be writing off Ukraine, arguably fair enough considering their ridiculous lack of goalkeepers but then Yarmolenko can easily change games , they should provide more of a threat than Sweden for us for sure.

Addickted

All the best Polish players are in the German squad.

sam3110

Yeah most people seem to be writing off Ukraine, arguably fair enough considering their ridiculous lack of goalkeepers but then Yarmolenko can easily change games , they should provide more of a threat than Sweden for us for sure.

Really? All Sweden need is Ibrahimovic to pick up the ball 20 yards out and him to remember he has the ability to break the net, and we're behind. Larsson can play a bit as well, and Kallstrom has a mean left foot.

Truth is, when it comes to a small competition like this there is no easy game, and all the teams are there on merit. Ukraine and Poland may be the hosts, but they are hardly Andorra and San Marino are they?

Woodsywood

I think ukraine will win all the fights

se9addick

All the best Polish players are in the German squad.

Germany do have some of the better Poles (either born in Poland or of direct Polish descent) but Poland still have the Dortmund trip (not even going to try and spell their names on an iPhone !) and their group is pretty easy by comparison, I think they'll qualify (with Russia).

Ukraine is a different matter , apart from Tomyshek and Yamolenko (sp) I don't know much about them, and I think France, Sweden and to a lessor extent England could be too strong for them even with home advantage - they really could end up with 0 points

se9addick

*Dortmund trio

MattD

Home advantage works quite well well the fans are ready to kill people coming into the country.

Ukraine will be weak
Sweden will be good

jdsd42

Looking forward to all the new diving and cheating tactics - sure we can learn a lot and Young will capivate with his new dives and twist .......

As for the Hosts nations will cheat and kick thier way into the next rounds --then bottle it.

colthe3rd

Having only seen bits of Yarmelenko and Tymoschuk I can't comment on much else about Ukraine, however their recent results haven't been too bad
Israel 2 - 3 Ukraine
Ukraine 2 - 1 Austria
Ukraine 3 - 3 Germany
Estonia 0 - 2 Ukraine
Ukraine 3 - 0 Bulgaria

Fair enough before those recent games they lost 4 on the bounce, but it looks like they have a bit of form going into this tournament.

se9addick

I think there has been some criticism in Ukraine that they chose "soft" games for their final two warm ups. That result v Germany is impressive though, hadn't seen that.

samcooke91

Yeah most people seem to be writing off Ukraine, arguably fair enough considering their ridiculous lack of goalkeepers but then Yarmolenko can easily change games , they should provide more of a threat than Sweden for us for sure.

Really? All Sweden need is Ibrahimovic to pick up the ball 20 yards out and him to remember he has the ability to break the net, and we're behind. Larsson can play a bit as well, and Kallstrom has a mean left foot.

Truth is, when it comes to a small competition like this there is no easy game, and all the teams are there on merit. Ukraine and Poland may be the hosts, but they are hardly Andorra and San Marino are they?

He often doesn't remember he has the ability to break the net though, he's been pretty inconsistent for Sweden and they're definitely not as dangerous as when they had Henrik Larsson. Granted Larsson and Kallstrom are both good players but they essentially have to rely on Ibrahimovic to have a good game to pose any real threat.

charlton_hero

Anyone see Panorama, the host nations are an absolute disgrace and should not be hosting this at all. Very worrying.

MOBY DUCK

Having joint host nations for major competitions is a joke. If a country doesn't have the stadia and infrastructure to host a major competition on it's own, then they don't deserve a free place in the finals, (let alone 2). Develop your country and come back in 30 years when you actually have something to offer the rest of the world. Who else can we give a free pass to the finals next? Latvia & Estonia? Albania & Montenegro? Scotland & Wales?