DEUTSCHLAND DEUTSCHLAND DEUTSCHLAND

[GrantG]

I have the Euro-fever and i am throwing my lot in with my (kinda) home-from-home.

Apparently the big screen is up in the centre of Hannover for all the games complete with 4000 seat biergarten. Gerry is getting well excited about the whole thing (perhaps Poland should be concerned!)

Quite looking forward to getting back to catch it all.

Anyway. Here's the squad of Champions:

Jens Lehman (Arsenal, though he's apparently about to sign for Stuttgart)

Marcell Jansen (Bayern)
Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)
Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen)
Heiko Westermann (Schalke)
Phillipp Lahm (Bayern)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid)

Simon Rolfes (Leverkusen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern)
Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)
Michael Ballack (Chelsea)
Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)
Thomas Hitzelsperger (Stuttgart)
Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen)
David Odonkor (Betis)

Mario Gomez (Stuttgart)
Kevin Kuryani (Schalke)
Lukas Podolski (Bayern)
Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
TOP SCORER IN WAITING Miroslav Klose (Bayern)

[GrantG]

Plus points:

- That cock Kahn is nowhere to be seen.

- Check how many play in the Bundesliga. For a league that doesnt pay well (though VW are pumping a stack of cash into Wolfsburg this summer) that's a healthy proportion of the side playing at home.

- Klose, Ballack, Lahm and Schweinsteiger are the class acts.

- They beat England. A lot. Always.

Negative:

- Too many Werder Bremen players in my opinion. Shown up this season to be not as great a club side as the Deutsche press would have them be.

- A knock to (or loss of form of) Klose and/or Ballack could take the rug out from under them.

[GrantG]

Klose most likely to be partnered by Gomez.

Goals galore.

Cant wait to see the pair of them stick a few past fat Artur in the Polish goal.

[dave lamport]

grant, i am deeply disappointed in you for being a nazi-lover. haven't you ever been on a holiday to spain and went to get a deck chair or towel from the beach only to find that some german schiester was up at 4am to get everything?? the gerries need to fuck off. they will make the semi finals before being knocked out.

[Talkaldinho]

Well, they're not Nazis, Dave, though I cannot vouch for them not having taken your spot at the seaside.

[GrantG]

That would entail me going to what i believe is often referred to as a 'holiday resort'.

Wild horses couldnt drag me to a 'holiday resort' in any of the usual suspect Med shitholes.

Anyway, Gerry is alright. They are possibly the worst dressed nation on the planet (80s mullet and 'tache combo still de rigeur amongst 80% of the male populace), but generally they seem to have the right idea.

[GrantG]

A steady enough opener for Gerry.

Should've been 3-0 up in 20 mins, and a slightly more ruthless Klose would've opened his account for sure.

Frings had a good game. I saw him playing against Hannover last year and failed to see what the fuss was - anonymous.

[GrantG]

JESUS CHRIST AND THE BABY ORPHANS!!!!

WTF was all that about with against those Balkans peasants?

And Schweinsteiger repays my faith in him by getting himself a red-bastarding-card.

MUST DO BETTER.

[Talkaldinho]

I was sad ... I transferred Schweinsteiger yesterday, Grant. Now he's sure to start and score against TPW's home team ... in which case, all will be forgiven!

[GrantG]

Never a truer word spoken.

Good to see the Portuguese peasants get a well deserved drubbing.

It's still Gerry to win for me.

[GrantG]

Last night was Schweinsteiger through and through. Enigmatic doesn't even cover it.

As for Klose - cometh the hour, cometh the man. There is no classier forward in the tournament.

Mario Gomez has been disappointing after a very good season with Stuttgart.

As ever, Gerry is reaching the bar when required.

[Talkaldinho]

The cream always rises to the top in these things, I think. Certain teams just have quarter- or seimfinalist at best written all over them. Portugal (2004 notwithstanding) is one of those teams. England is another. They just hit that glass ceiling and that's them.

Germany and Italy, however ... they just persevere.

Looks like our pick's still for the good, GG.

[England are out. Again.]

Typical English ass-kissing by Mike. The recent run by the Portuguese is better than England have ever produced. A semi-final appearance in Euro00, finalists in Euro04 and semi-finalists in WC06. England have managed a semi-final performance in WC90 and only a semi-final appearance ever in Euros (of course, they one they hosted where they "beat" the Spanish with very "creative" refereeing). Even Dave will not argue against that. We all saw the game and saw how Spain were robbed.

As for the current crop of players, England would wish they had the Portuguese talent.

[Talkaldinho]

Portugal (as usual) were weighed, measured, and (once again) found wanting.

[England are out. Again.]

Yes, but they did much better than England.

[GrantG]

OI!!!!!

Will you 2 ladies please stop hijacking my Germany tribute thread.

Now, back to the topic.

Is there a nation that has produced more comedy footballing names than our sausage eating semi-finalist friends?

Wolfsburg's ex coach Wolfgang Wolf.
Wolfsburg's ex general manager Peter Pander.
Uwe Fuchs.
Stefan Kuntz.

There was a guy called Ducksbacker but i think he might've been Austrian.

Manny Bender of Bayern Munich.

Ralph Minge.

A top country full of top people.

[Talkaldinho]

What can I say? The man only knows how to bleat in one note.

Was there really a Minge? Classic.

[Talkaldinho]

I'm still sticking to my pick that Jerry will take the tournament.

[GrantG]

Its a stick-on.

Apparently they're flying England out for a one-off penalty shootout with Germany at the end so England can put one over the bar and one straight at the keeper, thereby ensuring Euro 08 conforms to the standard patent of international footy comps.

[Talkaldinho]

Excellent stuff. Those Italian penalties were pretty woeful. Apparently, the Germans lost in a shootout to Holland (maybe in 1978?) and haven't lost in one since. Never count them out, my friend ...