Denmark v Portugal & Netherlands v Germany

[Benicio del Toney]

Holland defence HORRIBLE.

[Trim]

What happened at the end? Wesley was switching...dont tell me it was over shirt swapping

just debating about something that happened in the game, could hear sneijder saying "before that, before that"

[Benicio del Toney]

lmfao

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18424909

Donut

[Haze-e]

lmfao

http://www.bbc.co.uk...otball/18424909

Donut

Double hi5 Lool

[O Fenomeno]

This guy

[Mame Biram Diouf]

So my non betting boy asked me for advice the other day I said 2-1 Germany with Gomez scoring, I then forgot about this convo and didnt check out the odds, he threw on 50 and is now 2000 up

Im going sleep

Goodnight

[Benicio del Toney]

#PAIN

[O Fenomeno]

#PAIN

[Lieutenant]

Left back looks bad but he weren't to blame for either goal, their whole back is a mess.

Second goal he should of passed on the other man quicker n moved to Gomez

The guy didn't follow Gomez in so he was left with 2, as a defender I can tell you that is a no win situation for the left back.

Gomez passes it then you get blamed for leaving your man.

But the other guy was running in towards other defenders, Gomez was running into space.

He should of made that decision quickly

He tracked his man into the box as he shoulda done, that's his job.

Heitinga let Gomez run past him so Willems had 2 men.

Van Bommel didn't pick up Schweinstieger either outside the box, just atrocious all round.

Just clocked you was talking about the first goal

I already said i was talking bout the 2nd

[Benicio del Toney]

Nah I was talking about the 2nd lol.

Van Bommel was not on form tonight.

[anelka]

Holland's team shape was shit

The full backs don't even overlap properly.. garbage.. u can't play VDV cm against the better teams coz he's hopeless going the other way and twas him who cost them in the world cup final

Robben---VDV----Wes

----------RVP------------

With the two deep midfielders, it's not about Holland going out..they have too much tek

Also lol at the 'We Hate Ronaldo' team ahaha never read so much garbage in my life

[O Fenomeno]

Behave

Nobody hates him

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

[The Somalian]

I swear any team Shaka hislop backs just loses smh

[The Somalian]

Lmao Ronaldo has sent for messi

Football>>>

[The Somalian]

Mario Gomez >>>>

Sent Shaka a signed shirt with a message because he has been sending all season about he is shit

[The Infamous]

holland was shit i couldn't believe gomez second goal

thought it was a foul or something

de jong and van bommel was not correct combination in the centre either. if Ozil was stronger he would be as good as Zidane.

The take for the first goal was the best striker ever shit. finish tidy as well

germany>>>>

[The Infamous]

van p is fully sick as well. Beg no one try chat shit about he don't turn up for the Netherlands

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

infamous bro,

swear you wake up at like 10pm

missing all the action dude.

fix them sleepin patterns

[Young £]

[Fighting Weight]

[Young £]

Football stakes rise as Nike presses on Adidas' turf

adidas AG

ADSGN.DE

€55.76

-1.78-3.09%

11:35:33 BST

Puma SE

PUMG.DE

€232.80

-5.15-2.16%

11:35:12 BST

Nike Inc

NKE.N

$102.22

-5.38-5.00%

06/13/2012

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee

Sat Jun 9, 2012 4:11am BST

(Reuters) - When Germany faces Portugal at the Euro 2012 football championship on Saturday, another battle is playing out between sponsors Nike Inc and Adidas AG for the top spot in selling gear for the world's most popular sport.

The Portuguese team's Nike-sponsored red jerseys, set against the white Adidas jerseys worn by Germany, underscore how much headway Nike has made against Adidas, once the dominant brand for all things football.

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Adidas has been associated with football since the German company was founded in 1949. Nike, whose roots date back to the 1960s, did not enter the football business until 1994. Two years later, it scored an impressive goal when it signed Brazil's national team to a sponsorship deal.

"The Brazil deal gave presence and profile. It was also a signal of strategic intent," said Simon Chadwick, professor of sports business strategy and marketing at Coventry University Business School in Coventry, England.

Since then, the Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike has spent heavily on marketing. It also sponsors popular teams and players, including Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo. The most recent sponsorship battles between Adidas and Nike were fought over the German and French national football teams.

Adidas managed to keep its home team, but France was won over by the money Nike offered, which was reportedly north of 300 million euros (241.67 million pounds). By comparison, Nike's deal with Brazil in 1996 was worth 100 million pounds.

As the top sportswear brand in the world, Nike has been investing in football to increase its international presence. Football has about 2 billion fans worldwide, followed by basketball with 1.2 billion, according to sports research consultancies REPUCOM and SPORT+MARKT.

Companies sponsor popular teams and players to market their products in the hope of influencing fans. Sporting events like the UEFA Euro 2012 can boost sales of football merchandise by about 5 percent, according to Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand.

Sales of football goods will top 4 billion euros in 2012, according to Peter Rohlmann at German consulting firm PR Marketing. He estimates Adidas' market share at 38 percent, with Nike closing in quickly at 36 percent.

HISTORY, PRESTIGE

Some experts say Adidas is defending not just its merchandise sales against Nike, but also trying to safeguard its history and prestige in the sports world.

"Nike is really making a concerted effort to grow in the international market. If you want to be an international player, you've got to have a strong soccer business," said Matt Powell, analyst for SportsOneSource, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"It is really hard to measure the dollar value of sales against these events. It is much more about branding and credibility," he added.

Adidas said it expects to sell more than 1.5 billion euros (1.20 billion pounds) of football-related gear in 2012, helped by the Euro 2012 championship. Adidas stripes will be seen on six of the 16 teams taking part: reigning champions Spain, plus Ukraine, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Russia.

Nike, with annual sales of more than $20 billion (12 billion pounds), said it had $1.8 billion (1.1 billion pounds) in sales from football in fiscal 2011. The Nike swoosh will be on five teams: Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Croatia and Poland.

Nike unit Umbro - a brand the company is planning to sell off - will outfit three teams: England, Sweden and Ireland. Puma has two teams: Italy and the Czech Republic.

FICKLE FANS

Experts say Adidas has an edge over Nike in Europe because of its partnerships with football governing body FIFA and popular clubs like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

"In European markets, there are still preconceptions that Adidas is historically associated with football and Nike isn't," said Chadwick, but he added: "Over the next 10 years, conceivably we will see Nike overtake Adidas."

Adidas football marketing manager Michael Kresser said last month the company aims to bring at least one product innovation to the football market each year. "We are market leaders and we will do everything to maintain that position," he said in an interview.

Nike has its plans in place as well. "There is a relentless drive for bringing in new products," said Charlie Brooks, Nike's communications director for football.

"Football is massively important. We made a strategic decision in 1994 that if we are going to be the world's leading sports brand, we need to lead in football," Brooks said.

Andreas Ullmann, head of market intelligence at SPORT+MARKT, expects about 7 million replica jerseys to be sold for Euro 2012, which alone guarantees retail sales of at least 500 million euros ($623.35 million).

Nike has worked toward being a global brand that "has its finger on the pulse of football," Ullman said. Still, he noted that Adidas is an established rival and is often better-connected, making it difficult for Nike to overtake the German company.

"I don't think Nike can do anything in football other than what it is already doing, other than continuing to invest in it to keep building its equity and tell fans it's in it for a long term. It is not just about money, it is about passion for football," said Coventry Business School's Chadwick. ($1 = 0.8021 Euro) ($1 = 0.6486 British pounds)

(Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago, additional reporting by Victoria Bryan and Christian Kraemer in Frankfurt, Germany; editing by Matthew Lewis)

[Wavant]

Nike, whose roots date back to the 1960s, did not enter the football business until 1994.

Rah

[The Somalian]

Was not their domain all about umbro bitd

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

Was not their domain all about umbro bitd

Nike was never Umbro, bro