Hello! Willkommen! Привітайте! PRZYWITANIE!

Welcome, LSB'ers, to the official thread of the UEFA Euro 2012 Futbol Tournament. The EPL, Champions League, La Liga, Spanish Premiere, and other leagues are done for the year, but now the international game kicks it up a notch. Not to take anything away from our Yankees, who take on Brazil in a friendly that won't be so friendly in a week, but the Euro2012 is the go to tourney of the summer in international soccer. Below the jump, you'll be presented with the groupings, first round matches, a few thoughts, and some questions to ponder.

In order to keep this baby up top in the fanposts, I will ask you to rec it, and if the post gets full, I will create another GDT type thread and we will do the same. Have fun with this and let it be known who you're rooting for.

FIRST ROUND DRAWS

Friday, June 8th:

POLAND v GREECE

RUSSA v CZECH REPUBLIC

Saturday, June 9th:

NETHERLANDS v DENMARK

GERMANY v PORTUGAL

Sunday, June 10th

SPAIN v ITALY

IRELAND v CROATIA

Monday, June 11th

FRANCE v ENGLAND

UKRAINE v SWEDEN

Thoughts:

This tourney is not going to start off great with England's Wayne Rooney serving a suspension and Spain's David Villa out for the entire tournament. You usually want the big names in and in early. That being said, the matchups, especially on the first four days, are eye candy enough to overlook the missing big names. Germany and Spain are the obvious favorites, with the Netherlands and France waiting in the wings. There's always a team that overachieves beyond holy hell(see: Greece in '04), and it could be anyone. Lookout for Greece, again, Sweden, or Italy to go deep in to the tourney. This is Ireland's first international tourney in 10 years. I'd like to think they could provide a good showing, and maybe they can, but their age will eventually catch up to them. England always finds a way to botch it up, and the same goes for Portugal.

Questions:

1. Who is the team you are most looking forward to seeing?

2. Who is the team you absolutely despise in this tourney?

3. Favorite player to watch/root for?

4. Favorite player to hate/boo against?

5. Give me you final four and tourney champ.

RABBLE ON!!!!

UPDATE: I've created a league that anyone can join over at Fox Soccer. Enter your draws and well have some fun with it. If you want me to add the experts on there, let me know.

Here is the link.

LEAGUE NAME: lonestarball

Password: rooney