Friday is a busy day for international soccer, with 2012 European Championship qualifying and international friendlies taking center stage.
Germany and Turkey square off in a Group A qualifying battle that features a bevy of players with ties to both countries. In Group B, Russia faces some pressure to come away with a result in its match with the Republic of Ireland, which leads the group and could distance itself from the Russians with a victory. One of the other highlights of the Euro slate is over in Group H, where Portugal – which will have the services of Cristiano Ronaldo – is in dire need of a win over Denmark after coming away with just one point from its first two matches, conceding five goals in the process.
As for the friendlies, Japan hosts Argentina in an intriguing matchup of teams coming off successful World Cup runs. CONCACAF is well represented on the schedule as well, with Canada facing Ukraine, Costa Rica meeting Peru and Honduras squaring off with New Zealand. The United States' opponent next Tuesday, Colombia, will go up against Ecuador.
Which games are you looking forward to the most? Do you see any upsets happening in Euro qualifying?
Share your thoughts below.
what games will be on tv? All I see is Japan vs Argentina.
Come on you leprechauns!
ESPN has a cool story up on Charlie Davies, check it out http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5655430/soccer-us-forward-charlie-davies-talks-recovery-espn-magazine
I was in Germany during the Euro ’08 semi-final between Germany and Turkey. I will tell you first hand that tensions were high, and could very well have been pushed to the brink had the Turks won. Fortunately, that was no the case. But recent articles in Bundesliga.de speaks to how the Bundesliga has become a place showing how the two cultures assimilate. Some people tend to forget that we had huge problems of our own 100 years ago up to the 70’s.
True but it’s not like in the USA.
Most Asian countries have hatred of immigrants from other Asian countries due to centuries of rivalries and plain hatred.
Americans worry about immigrants from Latin America taking jobs and making Spanish the primary language of the USA.
In Europe it’s quite different. Immigrants barely can speak the local languages and yet get sometimes massive welfare aid. Crime is up mainly in “immigrant ghettos” and the politicians ignore it. Only the right wing politicians bring it up but mostly they’re refered to as “Nazis”
check the election in Sweden last month.
I’m pretty sure they show these euro qualifiers on ESPN3 as well.
To be fair, many European nations don’t get along with immigrants no matter if they’re from Turkey, Morrocco, Algeria, or wherever. It’s not limited to Europe either.
Kiessling played a total of like 30 minutes in 2 substitute appearances.
The German/Turkish match will be violent trust me. Turks piss off the Germans and the Germans until now have always taken it so they probably will kick butt.
Most Euro nations got major probs with Turks or Moroccoans or Algerians or Pakistanis. look it up
Sweden is doing so well in qualifying though they often find it hard to finish. But Zlatan scoring, Elmander scoring and Toivonen as well.
they could even top the group against the Dutch
adhet.com
veetle.com
justin.tv
3 great links to watch.
will Mario Gomez ever got a shot again with Germany? They have Kessling who was kinda crap during the WC and Cacau is okay but he’s like 30.
Klose’s career is over after euro2012. Will Podolski play up top or will they have some youngster soon?
Do we get a Intl TV listing?
nothing interests me less than euro qualifying.
Germany, Holland, and Spain are the juggernauts in Europe right now. I don’t see any other teams on the continent challenging the current Big 3.