UEFA Euro 2016

[Zanza]

It's less than a month until the greatest sport event of the year, the Euro 2016 football tournament.  It is held in France and starts on June 10th and goes on for a month. The top two teams of each group + the best four third placed teams go on to the Round of Sixteen. This is new due to there being 24 teams (as opposed to 16 teams the last few times) in this year's edition. This means more games, i.e. more TV money.

Group A
France
Romania
Albania
Switzerland

Group B
England
Russia
Wales
Slovakia

Group C
Germany
Ukraine
Poland
Northern Ireland

Group D
Spain
Czechia
Turkey
Croatia

Group E
Belgium
Italy
Ireland
Sweden

Group F
Portugal
Iceland
Austria
Hungary

[Zanza]

Germany nominated its preliminary team today:

No, Position, name, date of birth, caps, goals, club team country, club team
1   GK   Manuel Neuer   27 March 1986 (age 30)   64   0   Germany Bayern Munich
12   GK   Bernd Leno   4 March 1992 (age 24)   0   0   Germany Bayer Leverkusen
22   GK   Marc-André ter Stegen   30 April 1992 (age 24)   5   0   Spain Barcelona
2   DF   Shkodran Mustafi   17 April 1992 (age 24)   10   0   Spain Valencia
3   DF   Jonas Hector   27 May 1990 (age 25)   12   1   Germany 1. FC Köln
4   DF   Benedikt Höwedes   29 February 1988 (age 28)   32   2   Germany Schalke 04
5   DF   Mats Hummels   16 December 1988 (age 27)   46   4   Germany Borussia Dortmund
14   DF   Emre Can   12 January 1994 (age 22)   5   0   England Liverpool
16   DF   Antonio Rüdiger   3 March 1993 (age 23)   9   0   Italy Roma
17   DF   Jérôme Boateng   3 September 1988 (age 27)   57   0   Germany Bayern Munich
21   DF   Sebastian Rudy   28 February 1990 (age 26)   10   0   Germany 1899 Hoffenheim
6   MF   Sami Khedira   4 April 1987 (age 29)   58   5   Italy Juventus
7   MF   Bastian Schweinsteiger (Captain)   1 August 1984 (age 31)   114   23   England Manchester United
8   MF   Mesut Özil   15 October 1988 (age 27)   72   19   England Arsenal
9   MF   André Schürrle   6 November 1990 (age 25)   50   20   Germany VfL Wolfsburg
10   MF   Lukas Podolski   4 June 1985 (age 30)   127   48   Turkey Galatasaray
11   MF   Marco Reus   31 May 1989 (age 26)   29   9   Germany Borussia Dortmund
13   MF   Thomas Müller   13 September 1989 (age 26)   70   31   Germany Bayern Munich
15   MF   Julian Draxler   20 September 1993 (age 22)   17   1   Germany VfL Wolfsburg
18   MF   Toni Kroos   4 January 1990 (age 26)   64   11   Spain Real Madrid
20   MF   Karim Bellarabi   8 April 1990 (age 26)   10   1   Germany Bayer Leverkusen
24   MF   Julian Brandt   2 May 1996 (age 20)   0   0   Germany Bayer Leverkusen
26   MF   Julian Weigl   8 September 1995 (age 20)   0   0   Germany Borussia Dortmund
27   MF   Joshua Kimmich   8 February 1995 (age 21)   0   0   Germany Bayern Munich
19   FW   Mario Götze   3 June 1992 (age 23)   50   17   Germany Bayern Munich
23   FW   Mario Gómez   10 July 1985 (age 30)   62   26   Turkey Beşiktaş
25   FW   Leroy Sané   11 January 1996 (age 20)   1   0   Germany Schalke 04

14 players who won the world cup in Brazil, but also quite a few fresh young faces.

Based on their current form, neither Schweinsteiger nor Podolski should have a place in this team. Let's see if they can make the cut.

[Grey Fox]

Podolski plays in Turkey?! Dude's crazy.

Go England, ffs, Go England.

[Admiral Yi]

Who do you figure the two 20 year old Julians were named after?  Julian Lennon?

And what does the steiger in Schweinsteiger mean?

[Zanza]

Steiger in High German designates a foreman in mining. No idea if it has a different meaning in Bavarian. It may be related to the verb "steigen", which means to climb (a stairwell or mountain, not a tree).

[Admiral Yi]

Pig foreman?  Pig climber? 

[Zanza]

A lot of German names don't mean anything.

[Zanza]

@Yi:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-surname-Schweinsteiger-Is-it-considered-a-funny-name-by-Germans

[Admiral Yi]

10-4

[Duque de Bragança]

According to the French press, one notable fact is Kevin Trapp not being among the three German goalkeepers. He's the current goalkeeper of Paris Saint-Germain.
Trapp à la trappe, says the franco press ( untranslatable pun intended).

[Zanza]

Does not really matter. If Neuer doesn't get an injury, he is the clear #1 anyway. There is just no way around him.

[Duque de Bragança]

Neuer being #1 is no surprise, it's just that they expected Trapp instead of Leno.

[Zanza]

Close call between Trapp, Leno and ter Stegen, all of which are excellent. Germany never seems to have a goalkeeper problem.

[Pedrito]

This means it's time for the Languish Euro 2016 Pool.

L.

[Duque de Bragança]

Tickets for the Romania and Iceland games are still available (sorry Legbiter). Games won't be sold out.