Rousseau

I'm seriously worried about my 0-1 Slovakia prediction already; Russia are pummeling them. The Russian right-back is incredibly quick! Western European countries don't seem to give many Russian players a chance? I only recall Alenichev for Mourinho's Porto a few years back; and Bilyaletdinov at Everton more recently. There has to be talent in a country that large.

Predictions can now only be accepted for games that have not kicked-off.

Blueflag has been a great help, with his technical expertise.

That brings to a close the first series of matches. We have Whosthedado, rbr and myself as joint-leaders; Germinal and trublusince1982 are just 1 point behind. I think the scoring system has worked quite well: we have a really close contest.

A wee bump! Get your predictions in for Match Day 2. You've got until 14:00! We're still waiting on: Little General, stewarty, SBS and thomasbee! (And, Germinal: you've still to predict the final two games.)

Well, those final games were disastrous for most of us. No one picked up a single point in the Austria-Hungary game, and only buster and thomasbee gained 1 point for predicting the Portugal-Iceland draw; thomasbee gained a further 3 points for correctly predicting the 1-1 draw. These two games absolutely stumped us! Latest standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

Incredibly, Hungary take the lead! And, Austria are now down to 10-men. No one has Hungary down for a win!

I suppose to history buffs the Austria-Hungary game has a air of intrigue about it historically, but does anyone know if this carries to the modern day situation? Habsburgian joke: Did you see the Austria-Hungary game last night? No, who were they playing? (Or, variations on that theme. Don't laugh too hard!)

Technically Robson-Kanu is a winger but he does very well as a striker for Wales -- and Reading, at times. I'm surprised he's a free agent TBH. I agree, he'd be a good target. He'd play on the shoulder and push the defence back. Maybe we have the same issue again: a player who performs best in a side that counter-attacks? Not sure how Bradshaw is any different, but I haven't watched him much -- other than a few games where Walsall did dominate possession.

Russia 0 - 1 Slovakia Romania 0 - 1 Switzerland France 2 - 0 Albania England 2 - 1 Wales Ukraine 1 - 0 Northern Ireland Germany 2 - 1 Poland Italy 2 - 0 Sweden Czech Rep 0 - 1 Croatia Spain 2 - 0 Turkey Belgium 2 - 1 R. of Ireland Iceland 2 - 0 Hungary Portugal 2 - 0 Austria

Please post your predictions for Match Day 2. The fixtures are: Russia - Slovakia Romania - Switzerland France - Albania England - Wales Ukraine - Northern Ireland Germany - Poland Italy - Sweden Czech Rep - Croatia Spain - Turkey Belgium - R. of Ireland Iceland - Hungary Portugal - Austria

We only have 2 games today -- Austria-Hungary and Portugal-Iceland -- which brings to an end the first round of matches.

Spain-Czech saw a majority get CR, with only rbr, dB and Bearman getting full points Ireland-Sweden was a low scoring round, with the majority scoring null points; compo got 1 point, but cooponthewing, buster., and myself gain full points. Belgium-Italy saw no one gain full points, but onevision, BEARGER, compo, dB, Little General, blueflag, trublusince1982 and Pete gain 1 point. Latest standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

Stupid tapatalk...

Apologies, mate. I see it now. I'll write it up properly tomorrow when I have the data sheet at hand.

Cooponthewing, compo and myself get CR points. Both myself and cooponthewing get full points for predicting Correct Score!! (Sorry Craig -- maybe I did jinx it...) Latest standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

Come On!! Correct Score!

I wouldn't be too upset at that!

Sweden equalise!! Zlatan making the difference. No more goals please!

Bugger. I can't say it wasn't coming, but Ireland are ahead. Silver lining is I'm still on for my prediction; just need Sweden to equalise... Although, as it stands everyone is getting it wrong apart from Craig!

Next up, Zlatan!

I think we all expect Spain to be better because of the perception around them, but in fact many teams know how to set up against them now. Czech's were quite solid -- as I suspect most teams will be against Spain -- with Spain only getting their goal 4 minutes before the end.

Yes, Bearman, you were one of three that got full points this game, along with rbr and dB! Latest table: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

We've got a few decent games today. Spain enter the action with a match against Czech Republic. While the Czech's may not have the star names of old, they have some decent players, like Cech, Darida, Rosicky, Necid etc. Not the highest scoring team, but they did well to win their qualifying group that included Netherlands, Iceland and Turkey -- the latter two have both qualified too. Spain are Spain; an abundance of quality, but perhaps not at the same level as a few years ago. We have the entrance of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as Ireland take on Sweden. Both are distinctly average sides, but Zlatan is most certainly the best player on show. There is never a dull moment with Zlatan. Zlatan Facts: [tweet]742024431179026433[/tweet] [tweet]734392778147418112[/tweet] [tweet]731877076429619202[/tweet] [tweet]702975301232496640[/tweet] [tweet]599614510819897345[/tweet] And, finally, a tasty tie between Belgium and Italy. It looks to be quite an even contest. Belgium have an unreal squad of players, and Italy are always a solid threat -- although perhaps don't have the squad they once did.

Turkey-Croatia was a low scoring game, with a almost 50/50 split between those that got the result wrong and correct. Trublusince1982 was the only one to get full points! The Poland-N. Ireland game seemed to stump us, with the majority correctly predicting the result, but none correctly predicting the score -- Northern Ireland were perhaps more defensively sound than we expected. The Germany-Ukraine game, in contrast, saw everyone bar one correctly predicting the German win, with 9 correctly predicting the correct score. Latest table: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.