Euro 2012

[jstar]

Jolie and myself are organizing a friendly bet for the upcoming European football/soccer championship.

We are here with an exciting breathtaking thrilling..., eh well okay, wager. Everlasting fame could be yours.

THERE ARE TWO PARTS, YOU ARE FREE TO PARTICIPATE IN BOTH*:
1. a 'basic' prediction of winner, runner-up and score of the final
2. a more 'advanced' prediction per game as of the Quarter Finals

*If you don't have time or don't like soccer, but still have a strong preference or opinion on who will become the next European Champion, you can participate in part 1 only.

Winning the first prediction will get you the title of '[FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=4]Ahli Sepak Bola[/SIZE][/FONT]'.
Winning the second prediction will make you '[SIZE=4][FONT=palatino linotype]Pristine Football Expert[/FONT][/SIZE]'.
Winning both is (almost) impossible[SIZE=4].[/SIZE]

In the next post, Jolie explains the Advanced Prediction. For the basic prediction, just enter the two teams and the final score (after overtime, penalties etc.).

E.g.: [SIZE=4][FONT=courier new]England (2) - France (1)[/FONT][/SIZE]

Deadline is Thursday, 21 June 2012. After that, no new entries allowed!!!

These are the teams:

Croatia Czech Republic Denmark England France Germany Greece Italy

Netherlands Poland (co-hosts) Portugal Republic of Ireland Russia Spain (defending champions) Sweden Ukraine (co-hosts)

And hereby some background info:

[COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Purple=Euro 2012 hosts – Poland & Ukraine
[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Light Blue=The defending champions[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Dark Blue=Qualified[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Red=Failed to qualify[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Grey=Country is not a UEFA member


[/FONT][/COLOR]

[JolieGal]

Okay, let's set the ground rules first:

1. One member can only submit one set of picks
2. Once submitted, s/he is not allowed to edit it anymore.
3. As the kickoff is on the 8th, Jstar (oh the pressure! hahaha) suggested that we start the poll from the quarter finals forward to give those interested to join plenty of time to submit their picks.
4. At first I thought that we would only pick the winner of each match from quarter finals on. But Jstar suggested we also give prediction for the score of each game for tiebreakers: the closest prediction to the actual score wins.
5. THE PRIZE: Bragging right.

For Example:

Prediction of Quarter Finals Match:
1. Czech vs. the Netherlands: the Netherlands (2-1)
2. Poland vs. Germany: Germany (3-1)
3. Spain vs. England: England (2-0) <--- hahaha
4. Italy vs. France: France (2-1)

There will be two days break before the semi finals, so we will submit our second set of picks:

1. Winner of SF (Semi Final)#1 Vs. Winner of SF#3
2. Winner of SF#2 vs. Winner of SF. 4

Another two days break before the final.

Then we will tally up who got the most right picks. The one who predict closest score of the final match wins it all.

PS: Ideas and suggestion please...

Here are the schedule of the match:
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Friday 8 June 2012[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]#1: POLAND vs. GREECE
#2: RUSSIA vs CZECH[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Saturday 9 June 2012
#3: THE NETHERLANDS vs DENMARK
#4: GERMANY vs PORTUGAL[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Sunday 10 June 2012
#5: SPAIN vs ITALY (!!!)
#6: IRELAND vs CROATIA[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Monday 11 June 2012
#7: FRANCE vs ENGLAND (!!!)
#8: UKRAINE vs SWEDEN[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Tuesday 12 June 2012
#9: GREECE vs CZECH
#10: POLAND vs RUSSIA[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Wednesday 13 June 2012
#11: DENMARK vs PORTUGAL
#12: THE NETHERLANDS vs GERMANY[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Thursday 14 June 2012
#13: ITALY vs CROATIA
#14: SPAIN vs IRELAND[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Friday 15 June 2012
#15: SWEDEN vs ENGLAND
#16: UKRAINE vs FRANCE[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Saturday 16 June 2012
#17: CZECH vs POLAND
#18: GREECE vs RUSSIA[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Sunday 17 June 2012
#19: PORTUGAL vs THE NETHERLANDS
#20: DENMARK vs GERMANY[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Monday 18 June 2012
#21: CROATIA vs SPAIN
#22: ITALY vs IRELAND[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
Tuesday 19 June 2012
#23: ENGLAND vs UKRAINE
#24: SWEDEN vs FRANCE[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]
[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#404040][FONT=Arial]Quarter finals begin on Thursday, 21 June 2012

Break a leg![/FONT][/COLOR]

[jstar]

The final takes place at 21.45 on 1 July in Kiev (so in RI: at 1.45 AM on 2 July)

[ricky_id]

I still don't get it in some way as for the advanced prediction. Are we supposed to place our bet after the group phase or before that?

[losthero]

Finals will be Spain Vs. Germany, and Germany will win 2-1... i hope

[DavidH]

Yeahh... Go Germany!

[jstar]

Thanks losthero. David, prediction please!

We will clarify the 'advanced bet' some more, stay tuned.

[ricky_id]

As for the final, Le Francais vs die Deutschen.

[john madden]

Spain 3 - Germany 1

[JolieGal]

I still don't get it in some way as for the advanced prediction. Are we supposed to place our bet after the group phase or before that?

After several furious PM back and forth with Jstar and John Madden (okay, not furious PM...I'm just exaggerating...it's the adrenaline lol), I suggest that we close the poll on the 20 June 2012. That way, we all know who are the winners and runner-ups of each group (for the advanced poll).

Finals will be Spain Vs. Germany, and Germany will win 2-1... i hope

Okay, so you enter your pick for the basic poll. And it's already locked. Thanks Losthero!

Yeahh... Go Germany!

Thanks David. The score and the runner-up of the final match please.

As for the final, Le Francais vs die Deutschen.

Thanks Ricky. The score please (just in case we have double poll winner).

Spain 3 - Germany 1

Thanks John.

[bad_azz]

This is how good I am at TV and football...
Went out shopping and as a special treat for all their recent hard work I bought in a case of beers for the boys, plus England shirts... plus a bottle of voddy for me - to get me thru the next month with some sanity intact... cooked dinner, took a shot of voddy, sat down to watch the match... woke 4 hours later. PERFECT!
However - I predict that Poland will make it as far as the quarters or semis... [SIZE=1]because I am a cynic and I am sure there are (or have been) some sweeteners passing hands behind the scenes.

[SIZE=2]Enjoy your footie guys xxx[/SIZE][/SIZE]

[jstar]

After day 1 we have a new outsider, Russia. The (Dutch of course) toptrainer Dick Advocaat who abandoned the Belgian team for the big bucks, has done quite a good job, they beat Czech with 4-1 after the draw between Poland and Greece:

[FONT=arial black][SIZE=3]Group A[/SIZE]
1. RUSSIA 3p
2. POLAND 1p
3. GREECE 1p
4. CZECH 0p

[FONT=arial]Tonight we will get fireworks in Group B with Netherlands-Denmark and Germany-Portugal...[/FONT][/FONT]

[ricky_id]

Thanks Ricky. The score please (just in case we have double poll winner).

May be a tight match so 3-2 for the Germans is foreseeable for me (sorry Atlantis ).

[annchen]

Schlaaaand!!! Germany will win... we got 2nd or 3rd too many times, but this year our team will make it

[hendry_ohe]

Netherlands