Poland
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Don’t mock the Plock
It’s not easy being a football fan sometimes. When you’re one of the better teams, you get the joy of winning most weeks, but even the best sides come unstuck from time-to-time, and suddenly you’re the ones on the other end of a heavy defeat.
Well, in Poland, the remedy is simple: don’t drink your woes away… just use your fists instead!
This past weekend, Polish First League (really their 2nd-tier division) high-fliers Flota Swinoujscie welcomed struggling Wisla Plock to town for a league fixture. As expected, Flota won the match comfortably, 4-1, and while the home crowd celebrated the beatdown, the small cadre of disgruntled Plock fans decided to vent their frustrations by hopping the fences and assaulting the Flota supporters. Makes sense, right?
Check the videos below: the first is mostly match highlights (flip to the last 35 seconds or so to see the trouble brew and unfold in full), whereas the second is the news report. All us UFers find it incredible that the visiting fans could have beat down the home fans like that!
Perhaps for Flock’s next match, the fans should wear the kits and the players should take a rest in the stands. It might help them greatly.
5 goals, several punches, 27 arrested, and one hilarious story.
Written by Darkvader on September 30th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Lingering Bursitis and Poland and fan violence and hooliganism.
This post, my friends is going to be a mess. As long as you know that going in, we'll all be okay. Inside, we will break down each competing country's home and away jersey and file it into the categories Good, Bad and WTF. Pretty simple, huh?
For ease of my poorly HTMLing soul, I will only provide links to each shirt instead of trying to force them all into the Blogger template. Trust me, if you've seen how Blogger can
mangle posts by screwing up pictures, this is a good thing.
Onwards and upwards, my friends. Here we go.
Group A
Switzerland Home Away Switzerland wear Puma jerseys. In what will quickly become a theme in this post, Puma jerseys all look cookie-cutter. They have a template, switch colors where necessary, and affix the necessary badges. Boring. What I like about the Swiss shirt is the badge. That kind of artsy rendering of their national association where they also fit in the white cross. However, these are Puma jerseys, so the verdict is:
Home and Away: Bad
Czech Republic Home Away Plain. Boring. Go home. I do like the blue piping on the home shirt, and the Czech badge is one of the more interesting entries, full of history, for those into that. But it is simply not enough to overcome the crappiness of being a Puma shirt.
Home and Away: Bad
Portugal Home Away There is something wrong with the Portugal home shirt. We here at UF could not quite put our finger on it, but we hate it. It could be the wrong hue, or it could just be the too tight fit. We hated it all the same. On the other hand, we were much more sympathetic to the white shirt. It looks a lot better, but, in the end, we found it a little plain.
Home and Away: Bad
Turkey Home Away Now we're talking. It may still be a hangover from their unbelievable victory over the Czechs on Sunday, but these are both very nice shirts. The home shirt can look a little like a 'Boro effort, I'm sure, but it dazzles nonetheless. And that away shirt, my goodness. Two teams made solid use of baby blue accents this tournament, and Turkey is one of them.
Home and Away: Good
Group B
Austria Home Away A mixed bag. Once again, we are stuck with Puma templates, but Austria does something a little right here. It's not in the home shirt, really, though it should rate a "meh" instead of its final grade. The winner here is the away shirt. Menacingly black with a little flag flair thrown in at the collar.
Home: Bad; Away: Good
Croatia Home Away Did we even get to see the all-checkerboard shirt yet? I don't recall. You have to give them respect for sticking with such and irritating-to-the-eyes shirt for all of these years. As for the blue away shirt, man, I don't know. And for that, it perfectly fits the WTF category. Safe to say I would not want to sport either one of these walking around my town.
Home and Away: WTF?
Germany Home Away Poor Germany. Forever saddled with a white shirt that they are not entirely happy with, so they fuck around with it. This year's entry feels unbalanced. Too much black in the striping, not enough red or yellow. At least it keeps us away from the away shirt. Seriously, this is not a look for top tier international football. This is a training top. Even though I kind of like the gold stitching on the black background, I hope they never have to wear it.
Home: Bad; Away: WTF?
Poland Home Away Poland, the home of unattractive football. They never looked good playing in the Euros, and these shirts did not help. Blandest of them all.
Home and Away: Bad
Group C
Romania Home Away Romania's shirts this year felt like a throwback to USA '94. Sadly, the team did not perform in the same manner. The worst part of it all is that they totally rip off the New York Cosmos badge. Anyway, 14 years is too soon to do a throwback jersey. Well, I write that, but I can't hate on the home jersey. I like it.
Home: Good; Away: Bad
France Home Away I am not a fan of the extra crap going across the middle of the French home shirt. They do, however, get credit with me by having their flag pop up inside the adidas stripes on the arms. Throw in that nice, newish badge of the rooster and you have a winner. God help me, I like the garish red away shirt as well. Two winners.
Home and Away: Good
Netherlands Home Away The Dutch are always hard to figure out. They have to use that bright orange which pays homage to a royal family line that no one likes. Sometimes they pull it off, and sometimes it is painful. This tournament, they pulled it off, sometimes. The Dutch were the second team to tastefully use Nike's new baby blue accent by pairing the orange shirt with baby blue socks. And it totally worked. However, when they reverted to orange socks yesterday, it all looked horrible. Also, nice try, but you can't work in your flag on the collar without it looking like you won First Grade attendance medals. As for the away shirt, it divides us. But, I'm the one writing here, and I hate it. So, there you go. We do seem to be unified in liking the cyborg numbering though.
Home: Good, with qualifications; Away: WTF?
Italy Home Away Italy stick with the basics. Once again, this is a Puma top, but it's not quite as bad as the red and white ones. This gets a passing grade for the gold at the neck. The away jersey, though, is run of the mill and boring.
Home: Good; Away: Bad
Group D
Spain Home Away I think we were a bit undecided by these. The home jersey is nothing out of the ordinary, but it works well. That light gold away shirt, though, is rather atrocious. Hopefully, Spain will not be required to trot it out on their way to winning this year's tournament.
Home: Good; Away: WTF?
Russia Home Away These had potential, especially the away shirt, but the execution is off. I am all for integrating you nation's flag into the shirt. I don't like it when doing so means that I have to fill in the blanks for you. The white shirt loses the top stripe of the flag and the red shirt loses the bottom stripe of the flag. Why not go with a blue away shirt so that one can easily make out the flag running across the torso? Nike FAIL.
Home: Bad; Away: WTF?
Greece Home Away Thanks for coming and bringing the same kit from 2004. Did you think that would work? Okay, the sublimated flag print on the away shirt is nice, but no dice.
Home and Away: Bad
Sweden Home Away It's always tough to deal with the Swedish shirts. The combo of yellow and blue is a nice one, but they just use too much yellow sometimes. If only I could get a reason to really like a bunch of yellow Swedish shirts. Oh, here's one. The away shirt is a tough one. In some pictures, it looks black, which would be a bold move, but in others it looks navy, which is kind of boring. Still, since Swedish girls will wear them and get pictured in them, they are both winners.
Home and Away: Good
Written by Darkvader on June 18th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Czech Republic and Euro 2008 and Germany and Greece and Netherlands and Poland and Romania and Russia and Spain and Sweden and Switzerland and The Good The Bad The WTF and Turkey and france and italy and portugal and ü75.
Germany 1-0 Austria
It wasn’t exactly an inspiring victory, but Germany have booked their place in the quarter-finals with this win. They’ve made hard work of what should have been an easy group, but now it’s time for them to really get their act together for the knock-out stages. They did at least look much more solid defensively here, although that’s kind of hard to judge against a team as goal-shy as Austria. Joachim Low juggled the back four a bit, bringing in Arne Friedrich at right-back and moving Philipp Lahm to the left in place of Marcell Jansen (supposedly injured, but I wouldn’t be so sure).
The German midfield still looks a bit out of sorts, though, and their strikers are also having problems. Particularly Mario Gomez, who wasted three good chances in the first 10 minutes — including an absolute sitter that he ballooned over the bar from about a yard out. Unbelievable. I’m not really sure how he keeps getting picked, because he’s been equally useless in all three games so far. I think they might want to move Lukas Podolski up front with Miroslav Klose for the next game, and bring in Bastian Schweinsteiger on the left of midfield. At least Podolski has proved that he knows how to find the net.
Oh, right, I’m supposed to be talking about this game. Not a whole lot to say about the first half, really. Austria tried hard, but they just don’t know what to do once they get into the penalty box. The closest they came was an extremely weak penalty shout, when Erwin Hoffer backed into Christoph Metzelder. But generally the Germans looked in control without creating much themselves either.
The main incident of the first half wasn’t even on the pitch but on the sidelines, when both managers were rather bizarrely banished to the stands just before halftime for a bit of nothing. I don’t know if they got into it with the fourth official, or each other, or what, but it seemed like an overly harsh reaction from the ref — Phil Scolari would be very disappointed; nobody even took a swing at anybody. Actually, if anyone was going to be sent off, it should have been Rene Aufhauser earlier in the half, for pushing Podolski in the face. But he was luckier than Schweinsteiger was against Croatia, because the referee didn’t see it and didn’t even book him.
The key moment of the game was right at the beginning of the second half, when Germany were awarded a free kick just outside the box for Andreas Ivanschitz’s foul on Lahm. Michael Ballack stepped up to take it and smashed the ball past the wall and into the net. Best free kick of the tournament. He’s been admitted that he’s been underperforming so far, but he redeemed himself with that goal. The rest of his team seemed to take confidence from the goal, although they weren’t able to extend their lead over Austria. They’ll have to do better than that against Portugal.
Croatia 1-0 Poland
I swear I watched this, but none of it really registered with me. It wasn’t an entirely meaningless game, since Poland still had a chance to go through depending on what happened in the other match, but Michael Ballack’s goal for Germany put an end to that.
The game got off to a fairly even start, but Croatia became more dominant as the first half went on. That continued after half-tim, with Ivan Klasnic scoring the only goal in the 52nd minute, from Daniel Pranjic’s cutback. (Klasnic, incidentally, has made an amazing comeback after not one but two kidney transplants — he apparently wears a fibreglass shield to protect himself on the pitch.)
That goal basically killed off any remaining hope for Poland, and Croatia were happy to just pass the ball around and wait for the clock to tick down the remaining half an hour. Anyway, Slaven Bilic should be happy with his team, as he made a slew of changes to the lineup but still won pretty easily, making Croatia the first team into the quarter-finals with a perfect 3-0 record.
Next up: Germany play Portugal on Thursday, in a replay of their bronze medal match from the last World Cup, while group winners Croatia face Turkey on Friday
Bad hair of the day award: Vedran Runje, Croatia’s backup keeper, who made his first — and probably only — appearance at the tournament with a half-ponytail and lime-green scrunchie. (Sadly I cannot find a good picture of said scrunchie.)
Written by Jen on June 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Euro 2008 and Germany and Poland.
Croatia 2-1 Germany
So much for Germany’s status as tournament favourites. I don’t know if they just collapsed under the weight of expectations after their first game or what, but if so, Dear boys: You are not Spain. Stop being all neurotic. Love, me.
The first sign that maybe it wasn’t going to be Germany’s day came about 20 minutes in, after a relatively quiet start by both teams, as Mario Gomez put the ball into the net only for it to be (correctly) ruled out for offside. A few minutes later, it was Croatia who took the lead with a cross from the left wing that was poked into the net by Dario Srna, who’d got in behind Marcell Jansen. The Germans had several chances to equalize before halftime, but nothing came of it: a miss by Gomez, Michael Ballack’s free kick parried by the keeper, a header over the bar by Christoph Metzelder, another goal ruled out for a spurious foul by Gomez…
Croatia also had chances to extend their lead — Niko Kranjcar wasted a couple of shots — with the German defence looking decidedly shaky and Jens Lehmann being his usual nutty self. (I think I actually saw him biting the ball at one point. The hell?) Slaven Bilic had changed things after the game against Austria, putting an extra man in midfield, and he had his team fired up, passing well, pressing forward to support their lone striker, and closing Germany down quickly to deny them opportunities.
Joachim Low reshuffled his lineup at halftime, bringing David Odonkor on in place of the hapless Jansen, but they all just looked out of sorts — as if the entire team was cranky from missing their afternoon nap. And the changes didn’t have much impact, as Croatia scored again in the 62nd minute, a long shot from Ivan Rakitic on the right wing deflecting off Lukas Podolski and rebounding off the post for Ivica Olic to bury the rebound, with Jens Lehmann scrambling (and incidentally, I think he reacted late to the first goal too).
Bastien Schweinsteiger came on a bit later for Gomez (who’s been mediocre in both games so far and needs to be benched), and although he had a shot tipped just wide, his main impact on the game was getting sent off in stoppage time for a brainless shove on Jerko Leko. Podolski finally scored for Germany in the 78th minute, volleying home his shot after Ballack had knocked down Philipp Lahm’s cross from the left wing. Podolski and Lahm, by the way, are probably the only two German players who came out of this game with much credit. Ballack, who’s supposed to lead by example, mostly just stormed around and pouted — plus of course he got booked for a petulant tackle late on. Anyway, you would’ve expected Germany to really go for it after they made it 2-1, but Croatia still had way too much of the ball. They all just looked stunned when the final whistle blew, while the Croatians — especially Bilic — were going crazy celebrating an excellent win.
Austria 1-1 Poland
Austria, in constrast to their German cousins, played spirited attacking football, as if they were completely free of expectations of any kind. The only thing they were missing, sadly, was the ability to put the ball in the back of the net. Three times in the first 15 minutes they had clear chances on net, only to be stymied by a combination of terrible finishing and excellent goalkeeping by Artur Boruc. Possibly they were jinxed, or possibly Boruc had put high-powered magnets in both his socks and the ball. You never know.
Poland hadn’t played very well to start, but they got the opening goal against the run of play after half an hour: A cross from Ebi Smolarek, a shot by Marek Saganowski, and Roger Guerreiro scoring the rebound. But they couldn’t capitalize on that and extend their lead in the second half, with Jurgen Macho making a series of good saves. Instead, Austria were gifted a lifeline in stoppage time, with a penalty awarded after Mariusz Lewandowski dragged Sebastian Prodl down in the box while defending a free kick. Ivica Vastic stepped up to take it and took it well — he apparently won himself free beer for life in the process, by the way — to keep his team in the tournament for now.
What this all means is that Croatia are into the quarter-finals as group winners, while all three of the other teams are still alive depending on various permutations. If Austria beat Germany in their final game — which is not so out of the realm of probability as it once seemed — then the hosts will go through. You have to expect that Germany will get the win they need, but then they’ll have to face Portugal in the quarters; they likely would’ve had to meet them at some point anyway, but it’s still not a pleasant prospect for the Germans.
Next up in Group B: Austria v. Germany and Croatia v. Poland, both at 2:30 pm (ET) on Monday
Bad hair of the day award: Bastian Schweinsteiger and his platinum blonde monstrosity. Annie Lennox wants her hair back, Schweini. (I am also dubious about Lukas Podolski’s patchy hair colour, but I’ll give him a pass because at least he was useful, whereas Schweinsteiger gets points deducted for being sent off.)
Written by Jen on June 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Euro 2008 and Germany and Poland.
Euro 2008, Group B match
Poland Vs Croatia - 12th matchWith co-hosts Switzerland out of the tournament, hosts Austria managed to get some hosts remain for themselves after a Injury time penalty goal from Ivica Vastic. The Croatian born Austrian player also qualified his birthplace with his goal and too became the oldest scorer n the history of European football championship.
Video highlights of
Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Euro 2008 and Poland and euro-cup 2008.
Lucas Podolski scored one goal each in the first and second half as the favorites Germany won against Poland 2-0 in Group B match of Euro 2008. German goal strikers Podolski and Miroslav Klose who were both born in Poland showed no mercy for their motherland as one scored two goals and the next assisted in both of the two goals. Despite remaining on the back in second half, Germany defeated their
Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Germany and Lucas Podolski and Poland and euro-cup 2008.
Croatia 1 - Austria 0Add Croatians to the list of people not to invite over. For the second day in a row a former communist country showed up as a guest to the Euro party and started to steal shit from the host. And by "shit" I mean "match." Heavy favorites Croatia got a debatably gift penalty call (see what we did there... who doesn't love a party theme?) inside of 5 minutes then held on for the three points.
A bit reckless on the contact? Yes. Penalty? Maybe. Yellow card? No way (turns out the card was given to Emanuel Pogatetz for the protest, not to Rene Aufhauser for the challlenge). But Luka Modric converted, and the single goal held up.
The 90-something ranked Austrians probably deserved better, save for the critical fact that they neglected to score but, silver lining, they disposed of the notion that they would embarrass themselves as they flat outplayed Croatia in the second half.
Croatia, who often will just punch a team in the face until they relent found that the Austrians were happy to punch right back. In fact it was while Pogatetz was carrying the yellow and still pulled at [I think] Olic's shoulder not once but twice before clubbing him across the face with his forearm—should have been a second yellow and an ejection—at about the 30th minute that Croatia realized they might have to win on skill alone. And somewhat surprisingly, they didn't seem like they had enough of it (I know Eduardo led the qualifying group in scoring but is he really that important?).
Austria peppered keeper Pletikosa with chances, but failed to get a couple of headers down that might have netted the equalizer. My $.02, this was the most exciting match of the tourney so far. It was far from pretty, buy fuck if these two teams didn't run at each other for 90 straight.
Germany 2 - Poland 0
The really sad part about this is that with each successive encounter, Poland seems more convinced that they are going to beat Germany. Today's 2-0 quasi-methodical defeat brings Germany's running record to 12-0-4. Lukas Podolski had a brace off a fortuitous bounce and a couple of good looks at a hatty (Oh wait, the really, really sad part about this is that Podolski was born in Poland).
I didn't see the second goal live because my ESPN2 went out (along with ESPN, but Classic was still raging, strange). Was that national?
Anyway, Poland created some chances, but keeping with the letimotif of all teams having been shut-out, couldn't finish. I think that might be a tautology.
Too bad Johnnie Cochran is dead or he could have made a killer pre-game pep talk. "If Lehmann is in goal, you must score if you're a Pole." Yeah, shit that rhymes is always true.
Despite Jens showing in the first minute (ah, shades of the EPL opener against Fulham) that he was apt to blunder, Poland couldn't take advantage. They actually outshot Germany 11-9 (with a good number of the German shots coming late) but didn't make Jens have to handle enough of them.
Germany looks like a lock to advance, but given the other three teams' performances, Group B's bridesmaid derby is wideopen.
Linkage:
Looks like Spain won't be having any Cesc on the field. Not for starters anyway. I don't have the coaching credentials of Aragones (I'm also not quite as racist either) but this seems like a very bad idea.
Shocker. People drinking at the Euro.
Didier Drogba can't stand not being the center of attention.
If I weren't such a HTML 'tard I would have given the two photos cutlines of "My name is Luka" and "My name is Lukas" respectively. Go ahead, laugh. That shit is funny.
Written by Darkvader on June 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Euro 2008 and Euro Trash and Germany and Poland and Precious Roy.
ESPN's leadup to the Germany-Poland match is bound to have many WWII references. It's easy. I've done it and everybody else will as well. Plus, I don't think either country will forget. The fans have already
caused trouble, clashing last night with 7 arrested in Klagenfurt, Austria as the opposing fans got a bit rowdy.
As ESPN's Andy Gray, astutely pointed out, there really isn't much of a football rivalry between the two countries. Germany is better and manages to steal Poland's best players (see Klose, Miroslav; Podolski, Lucas). That said, Poland is bound to put up a good fight.
Lineups after the jump...plus some pictures...
Interesting note, there are 13 Polish players starting this match.
Poland
Germany's Stolen Poles
(G) Artur Boruc 1
(D) Jacek Bak 6
(D) Michal Zewlakow 14
(D) M. Wasilewski 13
(D) Pawel Golanski 4
(M) Jacek Krzynowek 8
(M) Maciej Zurawski 9
(M) M. Lewandowski 18
(M) Dariusz Dudka 5
(M) W. Lobodzinski 17
(F) Ebi Smolarek 7
Germany
Noch ein Bier, bitte.
1 Jens Lehmann (G)
21 C. Metzelder (D)
16 Philip Lahm (D)
4 Clemens Fritz (D)
17 Per Mertesacker (D)
2 Marcell Jansen (D)
8 Torsten Frings (M)
13 Michael Ballack (M)
11 Miroslav Klose (F)
20 Lukas Podolski (F)
9 Mario Gomez (F)
___________________________________________________________
Full Time Podolski proves too much for Poland as the only German Forward who can put the ball on frame. Klose and Gomez had their chances as well, but could not shoot. Lehmann, who had his gaffes, kept everything in front of him today.
72.00 Goal Yes, Podolski scored. Poland fails to clear, Klose whiffs, Podolski knocks it top corner. Game over. Germany 2-0
72.00Podolski scored? ESPN's feed is horrible.
64.00 Schweinsteiger, showing off his "Guy from Everclear" look, gets a Yellow card. My wife says the Polish guy flopped.
60.00 I was right about someone going after Podolski. Lewandowski takes a yellow card for the effort
51.00 Going to be less active this half--family obligations and what not.
46.00 Second half starts.
Half-Time Germany are deservedly in the lead, and should have at least one more in their total. Poland looked much better over the last ten minutes, pushing the Germans back into their own half. Lehmann looks so very rusty, and Boruc has yet to screw anything up. Hopefully, there will be a lively second half to look forward to.
45 +1 Podolski takes a hard foul, runs at the defender to yell at him, gets told by the ref to quit it, walks away, and falls down. Tosser.
45.00 1 minute of added time to came.
43.00 Poland are playing with possession right now, but are not pressing the German back line.
41.00 Trooper, you can come back. I was just kidding.
39.00 Yellow Card Smolarek receives a scare after the ref initially takes out the red card for him. Hard foul on Mertesacker the reason.
37.00 Beenhakker looks like he's right out of Poltergeist. Oh, and Germany miss another good chance by not putting the ball on frame.
35.00 Poland are brightening up and starting to play. Zurawski had an open shot from 15 after Lobodzinski squirmed free on the right, but he duffed it.
33.00 Game really being played in midfield for the last few minutes.
30.00 Germany are choking off the game in the back, content with the game as it stands.
28.00 Decent attempt form the right for Poland. Lobodzinski's shot smothered by Lehmann.
26.00 Germany stream forward, and Fritz's cross gets tipped out for a corner. Podolski takes the corner and kicks to no one.
24.00 Yes, PR, me too.
23.00 Thanks to Trooper for doing my job in the comments.
20.00 GOAL As I was writing that the game had slowed, Germany does a mirror image of Gomez's miss. Klose gets in behind again, and passes to Podolski for the easy tap-in. 1-0 Germany
14.00 Lehmann really looks out of it, doesn't he?
13.00 Yes, Germany's looking pretty strong. I'm surprised there haven't been more hard fouls from Poland. The Poles look rather meek out there.
10.00 Podolski dives, looking for a free kick right outside the box. Why wasn't his head in that photo?
09.00 Polish cross not met correctly in front of the net. Good chance goes begging.
08.00 Poland are playing a really high line, and Germany are attacking it with both Forwards and Midfielders looking for long balls through. That does not bode well for the Poles.
06.00 Gomez was offside the whole time. The question is whether the ref would have called it.
04.00 Mario Gomez misses an open net on a pass from Klose. Poland's defense was nowhere to be found.
03.00 Poland look bright early, but Germany's defense isn't allowing any breakthroughs. And then a couple of hard Polish fouls on Germany.
1.00 Krzynowek just went over from 18 after Jens spilled the ball. Really trying to make Wenger miss him, huh?
Kick-off 4-5-1 for the Poles. Not much chance that they are really trying to outscore Germany tonight.
Kick-off Croatia did not look that good today, did they? England fans have to feel even worse after that display. Oh, and to The Fan's Attic, that is my favorite German picture ever. Thank you.
-05.00 ü75 here, UF's resident Polack to guide you through this game for as long as I can hold out. Being at the beach will put a crimp in how long I can go, but until then, here I am.
Written by Darkvader on June 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Germany and Live Blogs and Open Thread and Poland and The Fan's Attic and ü75.
There may be some lingering animosity between Poland and Germany. The two nations open their Euro 2008 title chase against each other on Sunday. The two met in 2006 World Cup with the Krauts again prevailing over the Poles 1:0 in group play. Poland has revenge on its mind. Revenge for WWII, for the World Cup and for taking the Papacy.
Which explains
this:
The polish rag Super Express is asking the squad to bring back the heads of captain Michael Ballack and manager Joachim Low.
So the question is, how many Poles does it take to behead two Germans?
Written by Darkvader on June 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Beheadings and Euro 2008 and Germany and Poland and The Fan's Attic.
Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland
Germany couldn’t have asked for a better group, really. They should go through easily –possibly all the way to the final, what with having the easier side of the draw and (practically) home field advantage. I expect Croatia to be the team to join them in the quarter-finals. Poland did very well in qualifying, but I don’t think they can keep it up in the tournament. Australia will just be hoping that they can manage to pick up a point or two.
AUSTRIA
FIFA rank: 101
Odds of winning: 100-1
Coach: Josef Hickersberger
How they got here: Qualified automatically as co-hosts
Past record: This is their first ever appearance in at a European championship, and their last World Cup was 1998, when they were eliminated at the group stage
Questions to ask:
- Will their own fans get behind them, seeing as they were circulating a petition before the tournament trying to get the team to drop out?
- Captain Andreas Ivanschitz is supposedly known as the Austrian David Beckham: is that a good thing or not?
- How bad is it when the only name on the roster I recognize is Middlesbrough’s Emanuel Pogatetz?
Why to cheer for them: You feel like the home team ought to win at least one game.
CROATIA
FIFA rank: 13
Odds of winning: 12-1
Coach: Slaven Bilic
How they got here: Qualified top of their group, ahead of Russia and England
Past record: Finished third in their group at Euro 2004; also eliminated at the group stage in the 2006 World Cup
Questions to ask:
- How will they cope without Eduardo up front?
- Will playmaker Luka Modric prove that he was worth all the money Tottenham just paid for him?
- Just how cool is Slaven Bilic?
Why to cheer for them: They’re the official dark horse candidates of the tournament.
GERMANY
FIFA rank: 5
Odds of winning: 4-1
Coach: Joachim Low
How they got here: Qualified easily, but – perhaps intentionally – slipped to second in their group behind the Czech Republic
Past record: Finished third in their group at Euro 2004 (they haven’t won a game at the Euros since 1996!); third place in the 2006 World Cup
Questions to ask:
- How will Jens Lehmann perform, after spending most of the year on the Arsenal bench? And will he start a fight with anyone?
- Michael Ballack, now in form for Chelsea, will be running the midfield, but which of their plethora of strikers will be providing the goals up front?
- Will Jogi Low (and his natty scarf) prove that he was really the brains behind their 2006 World Cup campaign?
Why to cheer for them: They actually know how to win on penalties.
POLAND
FIFA rank: 27
Odds of winning: 50-1
Coach: Leo Beenhakker
How they got here: Somewhat surprisingly, finished first in their group ahead of Portugal and Serbia
Past record: They’ve never qualified for a European championship before; went out at the group stage at the 2006 World Cup
Questions to ask:
- How *did* they manage to do so well in qualifying?
- Why does Poland seem to produce lots of good goalkeepers and not much else?
- They’re defensively disciplined, but do they have anybody who can grab a goal for them when they counter-attack?
Why to cheer for them: You like watching Artur Boruc taunt opposing fans.
Written by Jen on June 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Euro 2008 and Germany and Poland.
