Who wins euro 2024?

Have to say to hype around Spain is getting a little bit out of hand for my liking. Could be that they deserve all the praise that's being thrown their way but at this point in time, it is very hard to tell because we just don't know yet how competitive the respective groups were. Spain won 3:0 against Croatia which is pretty high but they were vulnerable at the back, allowed 16 shots against and Crotia actually had more xG than them in that game (2.01 to 2.38). And Croatia finished the group on 2 points. They won 1:0 against Italy who a bit later comfortably lost 0:2 against Switzerland. And then there are the wins against Albania and Georgia which are teams with comparatively very low player quality on average. Georgia's biggest feat this tournament was the win against a Portugal side that went to penalties against Slovenia, a nation with 2 million inhabitants.

I'm not saying they haven't been the best team in the tournament so far but it's not as sure of a bet as you might think by looking at the results.
 
Zehner said:
Have to say to hype around Spain is getting a little bit out of hand for my liking. Could be that they deserve all the praise that's being thrown their way but at this point in time, it is very hard to tell because we just don't know yet how competitive the respective groups were. Spain won 3:0 against Croatia which is pretty high but they were vulnerable at the back, allowed 16 shots against and Crotia actually had more xG than them in that game (2.01 to 2.38). They won 1:0 against Italy who a bit later comfortably lost 0:2 against Switzerland. And then there are the wins against Albania and Georgia which are teams with comparatively very low player quality on average. Georgia's biggest feat this tournament was the win against a Portugal side that went to penalties against Slovenia, a nation with 2 million inhabitants.

I'm not saying they haven't been the best team in the tournament so far but it's not as sure of a bet as you might think by looking at the results.
Click to expand...
The big test v you lot will tell us
 
Zehner said:
Have to say to hype around Spain is getting a little bit out of hand for my liking. Could be that they deserve all the praise that's being thrown their way but at this point in time, it is very hard to tell because we just don't know yet how competitive the respective groups were. Spain won 3:0 against Croatia which is pretty high but they were vulnerable at the back, allowed 16 shots against and Crotia actually had more xG than them in that game (2.01 to 2.38). And Croatia finished the group on 2 points. They won 1:0 against Italy who a bit later comfortably lost 0:2 against Switzerland. And then there are the wins against Albania and Georgia which are teams with comparatively very low player quality on average. Georgia's biggest feat this tournament was the win against a Portugal side that went to penalties against Slovenia, a nation with 2 million inhabitants.

I'm not saying they haven't been the best team in the tournament so far but it's not as sure of a bet as you might think by looking at the results.
Click to expand...
You're right. Germany is their biggest test so far. Even against Croatia who were really poor overall they conceded a lot of shots so we'll see how will they do against you lot. In the 1st half they looked vulnerable against Georgia counters. In attack though they're lovely to watch, especially after seeing England play.
 
Mike Smalling said:
I think Roy Keane said it pretty well after the last game. Something like: "If you think England are just going to have a few training sessions and suddenly play great, you're living in cuckoo land". Especially since Southgate doesn't seem to want to change the team. We should expect more of the same from England in terms of performance. They could still go through though, if they continue to keep it tight at the back. Bellingham, Kane, or someone else are always capable of nicking a goal.
Click to expand...

Yes , I thought he was bang on with that . A good England performance isn't going to look much different . France got slaughtered for their performance v Belgium . I'd be rejoicing if England played like that .
 
Here is my feeling:

This is a pure gut thing, but I can see Spain winning like 3-1 against Germany with all their offensive power and Germany is vulnerable at the back for quick direct passes (always have been last 10 years) and everybody is putting their money on that wonderteam Spain to win the whole thing now. Then they will meet France in the semis and will run against the French negative wall and lose 0-1.
It often happens. They will be matured in 2026 and will be a contender but everyone will be talking like "we are still a young and promising team"
 
Every team except Spain has been shite. The general quality has also been awful.

I miss the contrasting styles you'd get at international tournaments. Spain's tiki taka vs German organisation, etc. Every team is a clone of each other now and none of them are even particularly great at whatever it is they're trying to do.

Georgia were fun. Spain look like a proper team playing to their strengths. They should win but probably someone will fluke a 1-0 against them.

England's side of the draw is genuinely disgraceful for the latter stages of a Euros.
 
Fortitude said:
Still France.
Click to expand...

The depth is impressive, which might count now we are reaching the latter stages of the tournament.

The likes of Camavinga, Barcola, Zaire Emery or Ferland Mendy can be a big plus and are relatively fresh.
 
Holland's tournament to lose now. The only real quality opponent on our side of the bracket left is Switserland and they'll be reeling from all the fondue they'll eat after smashing Engrund. Then we'll face the Germans in the final and we have a 100% win rate against Germany when playing them in the Euro's in Germany, so that's a forgone conclusion.
 
If England, France and Portugal raise their game, the Euros might end in a blast.
I want Germany to win because of Florian mostly and Musiala.
Holland it's growing match after match.
 
KirkDuyt said:
Yeah, I remember almost not wanting to even watch the shootout as there was just no chance we would win it. Somehow the 1998 world cup defeat to Brazil hurt more. The victory over Argentina with that Bergkamp goal was just so glorious. Stupid shootouts :(

The 2010 world cup was actually very un Dutch. We had a rather cynical playstyle with Van Bommel and Nigel de Jong kicking at everyone.

Of course we also had Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder and Kuyt.
Click to expand...

2010 might have been un dutch in the sense that the football was often quite crude and one-dimensional, but the great 70s and Rijkaard/Van Basten/Gullit era Dutch teams were among the dirtier i've watched, even by the standards of their time, and especially in games against the Germans. the 94-04 teams were a departure from that and are a lot more likeable to me, but the dirty play returned in the second half of the 00s. I wasn't that surprised when before the 2018 WC one of the big twitter stats accounts showed that the Netherlands had committed the most recorded fouls in World Cup history.

For some reason I've often seen Netherlands fans online try and paint your historic teams as stoic noble gentlemen playing the game with honour and being cheated by the crafty, underhand South Americans and diving Italians/Iberians. It surfaced again at the last world cup, but it's a myth for the most part, same as when the English and Germans pull it out.
 
Think Spain are going to win it. I’ve predicted Portugal though and have them in a sweepstake at work.
 
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
 
drdoityourself said:
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
Click to expand...

Cheers Mick
 
drdoityourself said:
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
Click to expand...
This is the kind of insightful analysis I come to the CAF for. The man speaks gospel.
 
drdoityourself said:
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
Click to expand...
I tend to agree.

I believe the team that wins their next 3 matches in the competition would have an edge over their competition to put their hands on the cup, but anything can happen in football.
 
drdoityourself said:
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
Click to expand...

Do you think the team that wins the final has a chance to lift the trophy?
 
Completely wide open for me.

Spain have the most cohesion but I look at that defence and how they get cut apart relatively easy at times and I think that would be a concern against a team like France. So I make France slight favourites overall.

England's advantage is they might not need to do all that much to make a final. They'll still have to get over the line though which will require a big slice of luck on the day.
 
KirkDuyt said:
Holland's tournament to lose now. The only real quality opponent on our side of the bracket left is Switserland and they'll be reeling from all the fondue they'll eat after smashing Engrund. Then we'll face the Germans in the final and we have a 100% win rate against Germany when playing them in the Euro's in Germany, so that's a forgone conclusion.
Click to expand...
We only eat Fondue in autumn and winter so we will be ready for a potential semifinal.:)

But it's a long way to overcome England. As shit as they have been, they still have brilliant players and are hard to beat.
 
Nani Nana said:
Do you think the team that wins the final has a chance to lift the trophy?
Click to expand...

That is one scenario yes. But Denmark didn't even qualify for the Euro 92 and still won it. So I can't and shan't rule out any country of Europe at this early stage.
 
Swiss_Red89 said:
We only eat Fondue in autumn and winter so we will be ready for a potential semifinal.:)

But it's a long way to overcome England. As shit as they have been, they still have brilliant players and are hard to beat.
Click to expand...
I would eat fondue every day, it's amazing.
 
Ingerland Ingerland Ingerland.

We're going to shithouse it to the finals and then shithouse whoever is in the finals.
 
Demyanenko_square_jaw said:
2010 might have been un dutch in the sense that the football was often quite crude and one-dimensional, but the great 70s and Rijkaard/Van Basten/Gullit era Dutch teams were among the dirtier i've watched, even by the standards of their time, and especially in games against the Germans. the 94-04 teams were a departure from that and are a lot more likeable to me, but the dirty play returned in the second half of the 00s. I wasn't that surprised when before the 2018 WC one of the big twitter stats accounts showed that the Netherlands had committed the most recorded fouls in World Cup history.

For some reason I've often seen Netherlands fans online try and paint your historic teams as stoic noble gentlemen playing the game with honour and being cheated by the crafty, underhand South Americans and diving Italians/Iberians. It surfaced again at the last world cup, but it's a myth for the most part, same as when the English and Germans pull it out.
Click to expand...
The Dutch-German rivalry was a very hostile one until the early 90's. Don't think anyone disputes that.

We paint our historic 70s side as very good and playing a revolutionairy style of football, which they clearly did. They were also cnuts to some degree, again, hardly think anyone disputes that. Though South Americans (or Germans) can't really play the victim in that conversation. They made some atrocious fouls in '74 when we played them off the field. And in 78 it wasn't as much the on field stuff, but the intimidation by a murderous regime in the run-up to the final. Likewise the German definitely gave as good as they got. I also feel Argentina somehow care more about that last world cup match in 2022 than we do. We had a terrible team and were content to even get out of our group.

Bottom line the overwhelming consensus in The Netherlands is that we never win anything because we're really bad at penalties (especially '98 or 2000 could've been ours) and because we were to overconfident in '74 and Cruijff and Van Hanegem didn't feel like playing in '78. And our only real rival is Germany, no one really cares about Brazil and Argentina here. Maybe young people because Argentina beat us twice on penalties the last 10 years?
 
I think we could be on the cusp of another little golden era for Spain. Their team is so young too so they will probably be thereabouts at the World Cup too
 
KirkDuyt said:
I would eat fondue every day, it's amazing.
Click to expand...
I love Fondue but trust me mate, you wouldn't.:lol: It's the kind of menu you need a break from if you've had it 2-3 times in a row.

But anyway, I love the fact that I can talk about fondue on the Caf. Brilliant Times:cool::lol:
 
Swiss_Red89 said:
I love Fondue but trust me mate, you wouldn't.:lol: It's the kind of menu you need a break from if you've had it 2-3 times in a row.

But anyway, I love the fact that I can talk about fondue on the Caf. Brilliant Times:cool::lol:
Click to expand...
Yeah but you're also talking to a Dutch guy who probably has liquid cheese running thru his veins.
 
Real Name said:
Nagelsmann's obsession with Havertz starting is certainly strange.
Click to expand...
I have this idea in my mind of Havertz being one of those guys who is a golden god in practice/ training. He pulls off every single thing the manager can think off and managers overlook his overall match achievements
 
Spain or Germany probably are the best big teams so far and play nice stuff. I do think a team on the other side of the draw has a chance if they can get it together though, as facing several tough games from the QF onwards could take it out of the hard side of the draw.
 
France will grind out the results without ever looking spectacular
 
drdoityourself said:
It could be one of the eight remaining countries. You have your France's, your Germany's and your Spain's. Then you have your England's, your Portugal's and your Netherlands'. That's not counting out your Turkey's and your Switzerland's. I'm sure one of those will be the last one standing.
Click to expand...
Insightful
 
Think Spain will beat Germany in 90 mins but predicting France-Portugal to go to penalties.
 
Can see England losing against the Swiss, but still my prediction is a Spain - England final where England get turned over very easily. A weird discussion will follow in the media with some in meltdown about how crap England were throughout and how they've failed to win anything again but others pointing out how once again the tournament results under Southgate were better than anyone in the last 60 years.

Spain look by far the best side though. That game against Germany tomorrow is very interesting, if they win that I can't even see the French stopping them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.