And now the competition proper starts....

The Equaliser · June 25, 2012

....with all the dead wood having gone. Except Russia FFS, but that's their own fault.

Spain v Portugal

Germany v Italy

A repeat of the 2008 final for me with this time the Deutscher getting their sweet revenge.

Rook · June 25, 2012

Think Portugal might get past them. This spain team, without Villa, is struggling to get good attempts on goal. They are mostly just shots outside the box and at this level you aren't getting a goal that way unless you could pull something out of your behind. 1-0 Portugal

Sweinsteiger is hurt and though the Germans can still win w/o him it should make life easier for Pirlo. Just by the law of averages Italy converts a couple of their chances. 3-2 Germany.

TheFinnFan · June 25, 2012

Would love to see Germany Portugal in final. Would get about 600â‚¬

teppic · June 25, 2012

There has been no surprise package this time which has been disappointing.

The quarter finals were really poor quality.

EFCNIK · June 25, 2012

The sentiment of the original post is clearly provocative and I hope it is dealt with harshly by The MoDz.

Dylan · June 25, 2012

Grow up Nik. All the deadwood is gone. I suggest stop looking for things that aren't there.

Allezfan · June 25, 2012

The fact that UEFA without the deadwood is a whole four teams is a bit worrying, surely.

Elong · June 25, 2012

Nice not so subtle dig I suppose. Spain to snore fest their way to victory, said it from day one (and earlier) and continue to believe it.

RFUS · June 25, 2012

Artetafan said:
The fact that UEFA without the deadwood is a whole four teams is a bit worrying, surely.

Well "without the deadwood" isn't the same as "with only the good teams".

Allezfan · June 25, 2012

RadioFriendlyUnitShifter said:
Well "without the deadwood" isn't the same as "with only the good teams".

There's only really Croatia you can say were hard done by, though. Maybe Denmark at a push. All the other teams really were deadwood.

davek · June 25, 2012

It will be a disaster for football in Europe if Spain win. Every sound thinking person have to throw their support now behind Portugal/Germany. The game will pass into the dark ages if Spain's brand of football without spectacle prevails.

Kurt. · June 25, 2012

EFCNIK said:
The sentiment of the original post is clearly provocative and I hope it is dealt with harshly by The MoDz.

[video=youtube_share;DksSPZTZES0]http://youtu.be/DksSPZTZES0[/video]

EFCNIK · June 25, 2012

THIS IS WOT DA ANTI ENGLANDERS R GONNA GET

[video=youtube;JJJxe5pmnfM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJJxe5pmnfM[/video]

RFUS · June 25, 2012

Artetafan said:
There's only really Croatia you can say were hard done by, though. Maybe Denmark at a push. All the other teams really were deadwood.

Croatia and Denmark were unlucky in their groups.

I'd say France had a tough draw in the QFs, when you consider that the Germans and Portuguese got to play teams out of their depth. The Dutch had a disastrous tournament but they're still one of the best sides in the world, surely?

bluejock · June 25, 2012

RadioFriendlyUnitShifter said:
Croatia and Denmark were unlucky in their groups.

I'd say France had a tough draw in the QFs, when you consider that the Germans and Portuguese got to play teams out of their depth. The Dutch had a disastrous tournament but they're still one of the best sides in the world, surely?

I'd add Russia to those two