EURO 2012

I guess that means one of the two semi-finals?

Looking forward to this anyway.

Apparently there are betting places in Europe that won't accept bets on this outcome.

TAB are paying out the shortest odds on this option by far. It's paying $6 and I think it would normally pay around $15.

I think it goes a lot deeper than that. Have read a bit about the fact that Van Bommel is the son-in-law of Van Marwijk.(the Dutch coach) . On paper they were one of the best sides.

Behind the scenes it seems to be a continuation of an old Dutch theme: a squad fractured by ego and internal dissent. After losing to the Danes, a game they should have easily won, whatever semblance of unity unravelled very quickly. In a playing sense, their achilles heel was their defence: guys like Heitinga aren't top drawer(this from an Evertonian!) and made the kind of mistakes that are punished at this level. Ronaldo must have loved the game this morning, as the Dutch pursuit of a two goal victory meant they were even more open than usual at the back; give the man time and space and he'll kill you...

Was very surprised by their performance v Germany: seemed to lack fight in a game versus a hated opponent; a dispiriting display all round...

Great finish from Balotelli! Forza Italia!

I only just heard about this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/18/uefa-2012-bendtner-fine-racism?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Bendtner gets 10 times the fine you get for being racist for the heinous crime of showing sponsored underwear... Seriously UEFA? WTF?

Ukraine going out of the tournament. Rooney will be a handful.  Bring on Spain/Italy !!!

England will surprise . !!!

That Ukraine team for tonight is... Awful.

They'll need either some severe choking from England, or the home support to be a 12th, 13th, 14th and 69th man.

So far that awful Ukraine team is going okay

Good result from the 'if in doubt just poke it near the goal and hope the entire defence misses it' approach

This thread has gone exceedingly quiet: some disappointed fans out there...?

Haven't really got truly behind Eng-gur-lund since the 1980s (never been overly nationalistic anyways).  And I really don't like this team and the presence of Terry F*ckwit.  However I did feel a bit pleased when they scraped through this morning.

That said I would like to see how Germany have developed since the WC.

Should I hand back my UK citizenship?

(PS - Good on Cameron for not stooping to the Argies PR stunt regarding the Falklands)

All the anti England people have probably cut their wrists.

They were a bit lucky but how many times have people on here said ' I don't care if it's ugly, 3 points' Just glad they got out of the group. Don't expect anything from here on in.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/euro2012/competition-summary (click on Knock out tab)

Germany-Greece should be good.  The Greeks are wondering if Merkel will be telling them how many goals they have to concede.

Well El Grap, having (sensibly) down-played our chances, I was one happy football fan this morning

and for as long as it has any meaning (i.e until whatever Monday morning brings) being able to mutter with a smile on my face "top of the group ... bloody hell ...top of the group" is a very nice feeling

Hahaha England has half combusted over Blatter. Outstanding.

https://twitter.com/SeppBlatter/status/215372031506657281

"After last night’s match ?#GLT? is no longer an alternative but a necessity."

Wait, what? England are advantaged and you do a 180? A COMPLETE 180?!

Pretty sure he said the same thing after it disadvantaged England though?

Pretty sure he said the same thing after it disadvantaged England though?

Find it pretty funny that hardly anyone mentions the Ukraine player being offside in the build-up to that non-goal.

Makes a complete mockery of the statement that two wrongs don't make a right.

Yeah the irony is, a lot of the people are saying we won't use it for offside. But if we had goal line technology for that play,people would be crying to use it for offside "we already stopped the game to check if it was over the line,we could also see it was offside,we may as well have checked that too'its a tragedy for the England team!"

also saw some guy on twitter calling platini an idiot because 'whether a ball went over a goal line is black and white - offside is not' face palm. 

Maybe he meant that goal line technology is black and white in terms of having a motion sensor that can give you a decisive answer in a second, without needing a replay. You could argue that an offside call isn't quite as black and white because you couldn't use a motion sensor, you'd need at least a replay. That could then entail a bit of a judgment call as to whether the player was involved in the play, played onside by the opposition etc. Mostly black and white, but potential for grey areas, unlike goal line technology, which would give you a clear yes or no answer, in an instant, 100% of the time.

GLT won't involve stopping the game to check for a goal, the technology being trialled sends a signal to the referee almost instantly.

Screw you guys for making sense haha. 

I actually do like it,but am very wary of the snowball effect that happens in every other sport that adopts technology. 

The situation i described would still have happened (minus the stopping play part) 

Careful - FIFA could get very angry with that potentially racist comment and talk to you sternly.

(But if you drop your shorts and show your branded daks they will send the stormtroopers in and stomp all over your nads for bringing the game into disrepute)

These are valid points, but imo FIFA shouldn't refuse to bring in technology that would greatly benefit one aspect of the game (GLT) just because there would still be other aspects of the game (offsides etc.) that still have problems. Those need to be two seperate debates.

I've had a genius idea. We create an underwear company, call it something hideously racist and offensive, and engage in a bit of ambush marketing. Next thing we know, FIFA gets upset, but since the racism is clearly more important, we only get fined $10,000 instead of $100,000. Ambush marketing disguised as racism could save us $90,000! Foolproof plan!

Probably the best comparison is to say that it works well in ice hockey. 

I think bringing in technology to help the fundamental basis of football will only benefit the game (if the ball is over the line, a goal is scored). It's far more important to tell if a goal is scored than if a player is offside, and when FIFA bring in the rule for technology, it needs to be limited only to the goal line, and no allowance for it's use anywhere else on the pitch.

That is always how it's intended though. Cricket was just for the clear cut runout. Then check for boundaries,because that's pretty clear cut. Eventually it became what it is now. 

Cricket is different though, because the breaks in play already existed before technology, and using the technology only made these breaks in play longer. In football, it would be creating the breaks in play, so therefore less likely for FIFA to approve?

Also the extension of technology in cricket only came about because the technology available drastically improved.

Twunty20?

Looks like Prime will be showing Germany-Greece on Sat and Spain-France on Sunday.

First quarter-final out of the way, Portugal deservedly through. Can't help thinking the Czechs overachieved quite a bit in this tournament, will get much tougher for the Portuguese from now on.