 2008-06-08
For begining let's go in group D to see what we can expect, 2 days before first match.
Greece
Although they were champions in EURO 2004 and they qualified with 31 points on EURO 2008, I think they will not get to quarterfinals. Greeks are very hard working team, but they don't have any creativity. But we must say, that the situation was same in EURO 2004, and they became champions. Otto Rehhagel, which has signed contract with Greeks to year 2010, have almost a half team from EURO 2004 in new team. Greeks are on 10th place in world rankings. One of the most talented players in Greek team is Vassilis Torosidis, which will celebrate his 23th birthday in match against Sweden, as his precursor Panagiotis Fyssas did 4 years ago. This is maybe a sign of another Greek surprise.
Sweden
Swedish team is well known for order and discipline in the game. Their 5th time placing in the row, confirm that they are on right way. They have amazing Zlatan Ibrahimovič, who can decide the result of match with any of his masterpieces, what he has showed in last season of Italian league. He has good help in attack in the players Johan Elmander and veteran Marcus Allbäck. Coach Lars Lagerbäck managed to persuade Henrik Larsson to play on EURO. Larsson has been selected as the best football player of Sweden in last 50 years. The biggest weaknes in Swedish team is oldness of some key players. Beside Henrik Larsson here are Frederk Ljundberg , Olof Mellberg, Petter Hansson and Anders Svensson. Lagerbäcks additional worry is goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson who didn't play much for his team Manchester City. Swedish biggest success was 1992 on finals of EURO and they lost against Germany.
Spain
One of the most voiceful team in group D is Spain. But still I think that's hard to say that they will qualified between 8 best teams. Alonso, Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta are virtuoses with ball. If we look at the attackers we can see some quality as there are Daniel Guizo (first striker of Spanish championship with 27 goals), David Villa (18 goals in Spanish championship) and Fernando Torres (24 goals in English league) so we can say that the net of opponents won't stand still. Before each big competition they put Spain between favourites, but they always disappoint, so they got a nickname »always defeated«. This is their 8th time at EURO 2008. Spain has done some big mistakes in the past and we will see this year if they learned something.
Russia
One of the biggest surprisess was Russian Zenit, which has easy sweeped away his contestants in UEFA cup. They play amazing football in their team likewise Russian team. Coach of Russian team is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Guus Hiddink has got new nickname »Wizard«, because he made fascinating results with different teams. In EURO 2008 he reached on young strengths. Amazing strikers are Andrej Aršavin (He won't play in first 2 games because of red card) Dimitrij Sičev and Roman Pavljučenko. One of the biggest discoveries in this year season was striker from Zenit Pavel Pogrebnjak , which was with Luco Toni with 10 goals the best striker in UEFA cup.
This is a short report of group D. First matches beggins on 10.06.2008, so you can count on new predictions for this group. Here are my expectations in this group and results.
Group D
Spain: Russia 1:1
Greece: Sweden 0:1
Sweden: Spain 1:2
Greece: Russia 1:2
Greece: Spain 0:2
Russia: Sweden 1:0
Group D:
1. Spain
2. Russia
Author: SLY
|
Archive
02/2012
01/2012
12/2011
11/2011
10/2011
09/2011
08/2011
07/2011
06/2011
05/2011
04/2011
03/2011
02/2011
01/2011
12/2010
11/2010
10/2010
09/2010
08/2010
07/2010
06/2010
05/2010
04/2010
03/2010
02/2010
01/2010
12/2009
11/2009
10/2009
09/2009
08/2009
07/2009
06/2009
05/2009
04/2009
03/2009
02/2009
01/2009
12/2008
11/2008
10/2008
09/2008
08/2008
07/2008
06/2008
05/2008
04/2008
03/2008
02/2008
01/2008
01/2000
|
