Bench Euro 2012

[Kameumi]

Haha, its hard to stay calm when your rivalclub is grabbing the glory, no doubt!

(To hell with Inter!)

@ Chabonowaka

American footboll is great (especially last season for us Giants fans! :D) but the loooong offseason gives alot of room for other sports Chabonowaka!

[chabonowaka]

i'll definitely not change my support if the dutch lose. so then, i'm in. i hereby change my 'go netherlands?' to 'go netherlands!!!!!' (note the sakura-esque 5 exclaimation points i used there.)

[Achiyama]

Here are the line-ups for Round 1 of Group "D"

1st match: Rannohana vs. Mischashimaru

Rannohana

Netherlands

Germany

Russia ©

Poland

Ukraine ®

Italy

Ireland

Comment:

vs.

Mischashimaru

Netherlands

Germany

Sweden ®

England ©

Ukraine

Ireland

Italy

Comment:Good luck @ all

2nd match: Andonishiki vs. Jejima

Andonishiki

Poland

Spain

France ®

Ukraine

Ireland

Czech Republic ©

Italy

Comment: to start against our honorable rijicho makes me proud and I do hope for a high scoring draw. The host Polska in the opening game is my best bet, but I felt that this team is weaker than originially thought.... Campiones Espana and ALLEZ LES BLEUS should at least avoid a loss and then.... it is all about CREATING HISTORY TOGETHER, desho ?

one word of regret... to bad, my favorite player Shinji Kagawa is leaving Borussia Dortmund to join the so much hated Moan Utd...

vs.

Jejima

Sweden ©

Russia

Spain

England ®

Poland

Croatia

Denmark

Comment: Hooray! The Bench Euro 2012 will take place. Many thanks to all players, and to the gyojis. All the best to Andonishiki.... I wonder how high you have decided to place your France®? I *nearly* put my England® in 3rd slot.... ;-)

Gyoji: VERY INTERESTING MATCHUPS. GOOD LUCK GUYS !!!

I tried to import someTables in the post, but I couldn't do it.

In case you want to see these matches in a tabulated format, you can open this attachment. Enjoy.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Achiyama

[chabonowaka]

And here are your round 1 lineups for Group C:

Match 1: Rubensan vs. Kintamayama

Rubensan:

1. Netherlands

2. Poland

3. Russia

4. ® Spain

5. Ukraine

6. © Denmark

7. Greece

Kintamayama:

1. Germany

2. Croatia

3. ® Italy

4. © Poland

5. France

6. Czech Rep.

7. Denmark

gyoji comment: Poland and Denmark are the only two common teams for these players. gyoji is kind of uninitiated, but i think a lot of this will be decided before we reach both players 5 slots. i think Kintamayama is putting a lot on the line with underdog Italy in the 3 slot as his ®. there are a lot of scenarios where the ® can break a chain, so it seems he's thinking there will be an upset. it seems he needs the Czech Rep to upset Russia in Rubensan's 3rd round game. (unless one or the other gets their chains broken before that.) (which i am guessing won't happen.)

Match 2: Doitsuyama vs. Asashosakari

Doitsuyama:

1. © Germany

2. Netherlands

3. Spain

4. Ukraine

5. Sweden

6. Italy

7. ® Ireland

Doitsuyama says: No slots will be eliminated as Asashosakari has a completely different selection from me. I feel it will be a hard match for me as his representing team is favoured over mine in the direct matchup (interestingly our counterbalancing teams also are in a direct match). Also it isn't helping that my sekiwake is playing a yokozuna while his has a more favourable game. Let's hope that my chain of two yokozuna, ozeki and host Ukraine will hold longer than his chain.

Asashosakari:

1. France

2. Germany

3. Russia

4. Poland

5. © Portugal

6. ® Croatia

7. Ireland

Asashosakari says: Should be an interesting matchup between two squads that could barely be more different. And both our R's and our C's are meeting on the playing field!

gyoji comment: the competitors are right, these teams are very different. best that i can tell this looks pretty close until we get down to the 5 slot for Asashosakari. his © is an underdog, but so is Doitsuyama's Sweden. a draw or better is good for Asashosakari, a loss is bad. If Asashosakari gets past that unbroken, things look pretty good with a favored ® Croatia versus underdog Italy in the 6th slot. that could be a big point swing.

(soon we'll know if i had any idea what i was talking about with my comments.) :)

[Asashosakari]

... an underdog, but so is Doitsuyama's Sweden.

I dunno about that...even with the home advantage, I'm rating Sweden much more highly than the Ukraine, so I'm hopeful that Doitsuyama's 4/5 alignment will prove his undoing. On the other hand...

If Asashosakari gets past that unbroken, things look pretty good with a favored ® Croatia versus underdog Italy in the 6th slot.

...I don't trust Croatia at all against the Irish team, hence banishment to slot 6. Would be bad if they do win and my streak is already broken, of course. (I was stupid...)

[Asashosakari]

Incidentally,

(interestingly our counterbalancing teams also are in a direct match)

Going to be the only time in the round-robin rounds, if we exclude the trivial case of England and Sweden being in the same group while being each other's opposites.

Three other double pairings could have happened but their tournament schedules do not align (match day in brackets):

(1) Russia-Czech Rep. <-> Ukraine-France (2)

(3) Germany-Denmark <-> Ireland-Spain (2)

(2) Portugal-Denmark <-> Croatia-Spain (3)

[Kintamayama]

My view is that a tournament like the euro is a total crapshoot. All prior knowledge of anything (like, say, sumo..) won't help anyone. I'll just go with the flow and my gut feelings. I seriously don't think that in this format where there is no room for mistakes anyone can statistically deduce who will win.

Then, Germany wins.

[Andonishiki]

finally - the big day is HERE !

kick off in less than 10 hours.

all line-ups are posted, everyone's ready

... get that white&black shirt from 2006 out ;-0)

thanks to our game, I feel that I'm part of something B I G ;-)

great football every day for the next two weeks - yay

and even my Panini sticker album is full already

and the basement is full of Bavarian beer

These are the moments, when life is really worth living for

LET'S PLAY BALL

olé olé

[Kameumi]

Well spoken Andonishiki!

Today it starts! And its gonna be grand!

I'm giddy with expectations, I just hope "the beautiful game" will prevail and teams playing entertaining footboll will be rewarded for it. (Not like EURO '04 when Greece won. (Laughing...) )

Best of luck to everyone deserving of it!

Ps. Achiyama - Those color filled tables were beautiful. Great idea, a shame they couldnt be easily imported to the forum.

[Pandaazuma]

Thanks for all the work, guys!

Looks like my match depends heavily on the Russia-Czech result tonight...I haven't really looked at the odds or form but I just checked and Russia seem fancied over the Czechs! I thought Czech had a good side...maybe they've gone downhill! Anyway, go on you Czech lads!

[Kameumi]

I thought Czech had a good side...maybe they've gone downhill! Anyway, go on you Czech lads!

The Czechs have been on a steady downsloap now for quite a while.

All there topclass players have been getting old while there's a severe lack of new talent, atleast sofar.

The roster they present this tourney looks like perhaps the weakest they have had in centuries.

[chabonowaka]

does anybody know a good place to stream this, if one exists? i could probably figure it out myself, but i figure someone here would know, and i'm lazy.

[Achiyama]

Thanks, Kameumi, for your appreciation of my colory Table.

I have the same Tables for all 4 groups, which I created for my use, but if any of the other gyojis (Kameumi, Andonishiki and Chabonowaka) and the executive gyojis (Jejima and Kintamayama) want to use them, just let me know and I'll attach them to a post and you can update them later on.

Regards,

Achiyama

Edited June 8, 2012 by Achiyama

[Asashosakari]

The roster they present this tourney looks like perhaps the weakest they have had in centuries.

I think the team they sent to the 1842 Austro-Hungarian Imperial Games was a bit weaker still...

[Kameumi]

Haha alright, a bit of an overstatment Asashosakari.

I admit it. ;)

[chabonowaka]

Thanks, Kameumi, for your appreciation of my colory Table.

I have the same Tables for all 4 groups, which I created for my use, but if any of the other gyojis (Kameumi, Andonishiki and Chabonowaka) and the executive gyojis (Jejima and Kintamayama) want to use them, just let me know and I'll attach them to a post and you can update them later on.

Regards,

Achiyama

i made a little spreadsheet, but not color coordinated, so if you don't mind sharing, i'd like to see the one for c group. the only other thing i would do different if using your creation is i would also color coordinate the © and ® teams, just to make them stand out more.

[Andonishiki]

first game.... two goals, two red cards, one missed penalty... lots of drama

1:1

no chains broken.

but a few million disappointed polska fans

Hellas fought like Spartans, so they deserve the draw (in my humble opinion)

[chabonowaka]

yep, we have a polish guy at work, he was watching the live stream at his desk and furiously texting his dad, who couldn't watch at his own work. he's disappointed, but still optimistic about the group.

[Achiyama]

Hi Chabonowaka,

Thanks for your response. I don't mind sharing the Tables. And you can do whatever you want afterwards. I, for example, color the background of the cells once the chain is broken, so to be clear that the scores are used only for determining the life of the unbroken opponent.

Here is the Table for Group "C":

Regards,

Achiyama

[Kameumi]

Very entertaining first match in my eyes.

Lots of drama!

@ Achiyama

I personally think your spreadsheet would be great as an "overall result" document, for the the whole tournament.

[Asashosakari]

no chains broken.

Perhaps except for the guy representing Poland in your group...

[chabonowaka]

first, am i safe talking about current matches here, or should i put a spoiler tag at any point?

seems that some folks might want to watch some of this later, and i could ruin something for someone.

meanwhile, if this current score holds, it may highlight the danger in putting your ® team higher than your © team, as is playing out in the c group. (and i'm guessing that third goal just about seals it.) if Russia wins, for Rubensan's third slot, Kintamayama's ® of Italy will have to win for him not to have his chain broken. if he had his © team in that slot, they would have only had to tie. i hadn't really strategized enough maybe, but i am now realizing that there are a lot more chain breakers for the ® team than there are for the © team. as it is, his © team did tie but they are in the 4th slot, where it might be too late. of course this is all pending the first slots for both and the second for Kintamayama. we already know that Rubensan's chain can't be broken in the 2nd slot, but there's all sorts of goals that could be scored, and... well, there's a lot still up in the air. :)

[Kameumi]

Well that's the idea Chabonowaka.

The ® team is a great risk/great reward kind of team. ;-)

[Achiyama]

Thoughts after the first pair of matches of the 1st round in group "D":

Both Jejima and Mischashimaru heavily depend on the outcome of Sweden's first game against Ireland. While Jejima can survive even with a draw, Mischashimaru will survive only if Sweden wins. So, there will be 3 long days of expectations ahead.

If Jejima's Sweden survives, and Spain wins or draws, then Andonishiki's France will have a decisive match. It was gonna be very interesting if Jejima had put his England's team at spot #3.

Here is the updated Table after the first pair of matches in group "D":

Good luck!

Edited June 8, 2012 by Achiyama

[Pandaazuma]

Well, that will teach me not to look at any previews or even odds before I pick my lads!! Memo to self: Czech Republic are rubbish!

If I understand the scoring correctly, I can only draw. However, I will lose if Netherlands fail to win, or if Germany win or draw. So Netherlands and Portugal to win for a glorious 0-0 draw!! Not impossible, but annoying that I've made this basic error.