Champions League knockout stage gets more exciting every year!

The UEFA Champions League is officially the most watched & best supported annual sporting event in the world, easily beating the various American finals.

However, its knockout stages are starting to upstage even FIFA's much cherished World Cup as a spectacle. Not only almost all of the world's best players feature in the competition's knockout stages, it the matches have over the years produced lots of excitement, plenty of drama & most importantly a lot of goals.

The draw for the knockout stage of the 2012-13 competition has just been announced & this year promises to be as exciting as ever.

In my four years of writing a blog on the Champions League, my tipping success year stands as 8/8, 8/8, 7/8 & sadly last year 6/8 correct prediction on which 8 teams will make it to the quarter finals. I try to keep the analysis brief & non technical as usual. So here are my tips on this year's draw: (my tips in bold)

Manchester United vs Real Madrid is undoubtedly THE match of the round. Whilst Real are not as solid & well composed as last year & rumours of dressing room unrest continue to circulate them, and Manchester United are leading the EPL, I believe it is the leaky United defence which will let them down & Ronaldo, Ozil, Benzema & co will have plenty of opportunity to punish United. If Vidic can be fit enough to get back to his best form of a few years ago by February, and that is a big if, United may be able to just get through...however, that is a big if.

Barcelona, led by the unrivalled master trio of Messi Xavi & Inesta & capably supported by other world class players will reasonably comfortably roll over the recently improving Milan which nevertheless lack depth & are one of the weakest Milan sides of the last 20 years or so. Although those of us who remember the recent encounters between these two sides can expect plenty of excitement in the process.

Bayern Munich, twice finalist in the last three years of the competition, should get through the ever exciting to watch but inconsistent arsenal side which like Milan lacks depth on its bench & is at times confused about its tactics. Nevertheless, it will once again be an almighty battle of Germans vs the English.

Juventus are one of the dark horses of this year's competition & after 3 drab draws won their last 3 games with style & poise. Celtic on the other hand are the romantic story of this year's competition & their gutsy performance vs Barcelona will be forever a highlight of their recent history. But shear guts alone will not be enough for Neil Lennon & his side. Celtic will nevertheless leave the competition with their heads held high.

Borussia Dortmund possess enough talent & tactical ability to give Shakhtar a much better run for their money than Chelsea did. However, in my view, after Real Madrid, Shakhtar were the second most feared runners up. With their wily coach & the the likes of the impressive Brazilian goal machine Willian amongst their ranks, Shakhtar, on their day can beat any team in Europe. But over two legs Dortmund should prevail.

Paris St Germain the latest "trophy buying" team in Europe have been rather inconsistent in their domestic league, but led by the irreplaceable Ibrahimovic should see Valencia off relatively easily. Valencia showed plenty of poise against Bayern in the group stage but came short & the same will be the story vs PSG.

The last two match ups are in fact the hardest ones to predict. If Schalke can overcome their recent mid season slump (no wins in their last 6 Bundesliga matches as well as crashing out of the German Cup) & the new coach can stamp his style & authority quickly, then they have enough quality to beat Galatasaray, even if the Schalke home game will have 10s of thousands of Turkish German fans supporting Gala. If Schalke do not resolve their slump, Gala may have a chance to cause an upset.

And finally to two teams of vastly different history, Porto, twice winners & ever present in the competition but recently under achieving vs Malaga the first timers in the competition abandoned by their rich owners at the beginning of the seasons & seemingly hopelessly in trouble only a few months ago.......and yet both have performed with poise & played attractive football. This has all the hallmarks of a great Iberian contest & for the first time in my blogging life, I am simply unable to predict which team will prevail! It will depend on a mixture of tactics, luck & level of injuries by February.
No matter the outcome, the losing side will be missed as both teams brought a lot of attractive & entertaining football to the competition.

Once again, February & March promise to be an exciting start to the second half of the Champions League season.

Total contempt for Abramovich, but contempt for the way Chelsea won the Champions League is only slightly less!

No doubt! No argument! Abramovich has made a mockery of football by sacking his FA Cup & Champions League winning coach Roberto Di Matteo & installing Benitez as his 9th coach in 9 years of owning Chelsea FC. (and as widely reported, his 10th coach will be installed next season in his 10th year of ownership)

And yes! Di Matteo deserved better. After all he was & will always be the coach who brought the ultimate european glory to London for the very first time.

But, to be fair to Abramovich, he has spent a staggering one billion pounds in the last nine years in pursuit of winning the Champions League the "Barcelona" way, by playing beautiful football, not the anti football manner which Di Matteo's Chelsea won last year!

Di Matteo after all was almighty lucky to 'just" manage to get over the line by guiding Chelsea through with ugly "anti football" tactics to win the Champions League. The only match in the entire knockout stage that Chelsea played like "Barcelona" was their win vs Napoli at Stamford bridge.

The rest of Di Matteo's games in Europe were totally defensive boring games concurred on shear luck, total defensive play and players' courage rather than clever strategic tactics by Di Matteo.

After all, what are the chances of the trio of Messi, Robben & Schweinstiger missing three consecutive penalties vs Chelsea (or any other team for that matter)? surely the odds must be 1 in a billion!

And so, Abramovich's pursuit of THE coach that can finally deliver him glory AND buy Chelsea lasting credibility continues!

Whether he manage to convince Pep Guardiola to bring his Barcelona way next year is any one's guess, and whether he will give Guardiola or any other coach sufficient time to see out their plans for the team is even more in doubt.

Meanwhile Di Matteo can enjoy his payout & bask on the glory of the fact that record books do not show how major trophies were won!

Lessons from the fourth round of Champions League

The fourth round of the group stage of the 2012-13 Champions league season confirmed the following:

• Champions League is far more exciting and tactically more superior than international football scene
• Real Madrid & Barcelona are not as formidable as last year's season
• Bayern Munich, the unlucky losing finalists of last year's competition have a lot more depth this season & seem to have learnt from their defeats in finals of 2010 & 2012
• Champions Chelsea remain a threat whilst Manchester United will eventually pay for their leaky defence
• The impressive displays of Malaga, Porto, Celtic & Shaktar &  few other teams prove the real romance of the competition is still well & truly alive
• Juventus is on its way back as a European powerhouse whilst Dortmund & Schalke have also impressed
• The usual suspects nevertheless remain the favourites, ie Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern & Manchester United
• AC Milan & Manchester City have been the flops so far, but for different reasons: Milan due to lack of money & new players, City due to typical arrogance (or naivety) of English teams which assume doing well in EPL guarantees success in Europe (Just as England National team & they will tell you all about it!)

For the 2nd time in three years, the final will be held at Wembley once again. There's a long way to go to be able to predict the final, including the luck of the draw during the knockout phase.

nevertheless one thing is certain. We are once again in for many exciting encounters & fistfuls of goals in the coming months on the way to the final in May.

Chelsea & Manchester City lose in the latest round of UEFA Champions League

To the average football fan, there's nothing more enjoyable to witness "trophy Buying" teams fail in major competitions!

Of course this does not happen very often & in most instances money brings better quality players & wins trophies.

nevertheless, in defeats by the highly expensively put together trio of Real Madrid, Manchester City & Chelsea brought lots of smiles to fans around the world, especially in case of the English teams:

Manchester City, simply because they are attempting & o far failing miserably to buy trophies. And Chelsea because they did eventually buy themselves the CL trophy last year with their anti football brand of tactics, for introducing questionable billion dollar amounts into the game, AND for playing awful in their defeat vs a brilliant Shaktar Donetsk.

Amazingly, Chelsea at 2-0 down were so badly under siege by Shaktar that it almost felt as though Shaktar were behind 0-1 & time was running out!

So, for the sake of the beautiful game, let's hope both Chelsea & Manchester City get eliminated in the group stage this year & their expensively assembled squads cost them a fortune with little return!

But half way through the group stage, here are the main points:

This year, the first knockout phase is going to be one of the most difficult in the recent history of the tournament. The likes of Dortmund, Schalke, Malaga, Porto, PSG, Shaktar, Valencia, Bate & even Ajax are all playing very well & would be a real threat to any of the favourites in most bigger teams in the knock out stages.

Here are my thoughts half way through the group stage:

Barcelona & Real Madrid are once again the favourites
Bayern provide the stiffest threat to Real & Barcelona
Malaga, Schalke & Dortmund have been simply superb
Manchester United are having major defensive issues which if not addressed will see them eliminated in the knock out stages by any of the above teams
English teams are once again under performing although both Arsenal & Chelsea should qualify for the knock out stage
Italian Teams & Serie A are in a steep decline & even Juventus won't go to far this year
German & Spanish teams are so far the dominant forces of this year's CL

Nevertheless, as this most exciting competition proves year after year, these are early days, forms can fluctuate AND luck can play its part ! Just ask Chelsea how they won last year's CL!

Bitter? Me? No way! :)

UEFA Champions League will once again prove to be full of excitement & surprises this year

The draw for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2012-2013 took place last night. I have always been a massive fan of the World Cup & European Championships....up to this year.

But Euro 2012 simply did not produce the level of excitement & drama anywhere near the levels of high octane drama in the Champions League last year, with the dramatic semi final & final win by Chelsea making last year's competition one of the most exciting & unpredictable of all time.

Last night's draw, as usual, produced a distinct group of death, and the cash & quality rich experience poor Manchester City were caught in the net again. Group D is pairing the 2012 Champions of Spain (Real Madrid), England (Manchester City), Holland (Ajax) & Germany (Dortmund) together in a very tough group.

Real Madrid & Mourinho took care of Barcelona last year by winning La Liga but are desperate to win the CL trophy after falling short in the semi finals last year. Whilst both Manchester City & Dortmund need to perform better than the disappointing group stage exit of last year. Ajax, whilst not the powerhouse they once were, have dealt with their internal problems & have many young talented Dutch players & would surely fancy their chances.

Unlike previous years, this year I will wait until mid September before predicting which teams will succeed. To regular visitors of my blog, my record in the past 3 years stands at above 85%!

There are some early predictions nevertheless: Juventus are back as a force to be reckoned with whilst AC Milan have sold key players & are in real danger of a prolonged decay & elimination in the group stage for the first time in many years (or even first time ever?)

There will also be many exciting encounters to look forward to. For example, there will be once again exciting Anglo German encounters between Manchester City vs Dortmund & Schalke vs Arsenal whilst the 2001 finalists Bayern & Valencia will meet in Group F.

Both Manchester City & Borussia Dortmund must & will be more competitive whilst the favourites will remain the same: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich & Manchester United.

Amongst the favourites Barcelona & Manchester United have arguably landed the easiest groups.

Will the New European Football Season match last year's excitement & drama?

The London Olympics are over! The shear excitement of London 2012 has resulted in a somewhat lower level of anticipation by fans towards the start of the EPL & the rest of the European Leagues.

However, once the season kicks off in the coming days & later in September the Champions League matches commence, the fans support & excitement will kick into full gear. In fact it's what is hard to match is the shear dram & excitement of last season across Europe which will be hard to match:

In the EPL, Manchester United scored 8 goals vs Arsenal early in the season, then fell behind Manchester City, caught them, and finally lost the EPL to their "Money Saturated" rivals in the last few seconds of THE last match of the season. Many other teams entertained &disappointed fans, from brave newcomers Norwich & Swansea & the ever fighters Wigan, to major disappointments Chelsea & Liverpool.

In La Liga Mourinho's Real madrid, led by ever scoring Ronaldo finally got the better of Guardiola's men led by Messi, whilst in Italy Juventus announced their return amongst the best in Europe by winning Serie A undefeated. In Germany Dortmund once again beat Bayern Munich in both league matches as well as the Cup final & claimed the double & in France, an exciting season culminated in the 3rd Champion in 3 years, ie Montpellier.

But once again, Champions League knockout phase & final stole the show in terms of shear drama, spectacle & surprises! Chelsea, playing the "TOTAL ANTI-FOOTBALL" surprised the pundits, as well as Messi & co & Barcelona in the semi final, and Bayern in the final in Munich & finally won the much coveted Champions League trophy.

Sorry Chelsea fans! Although I am a life long Bayern fan & the fact that I was at the stadium & witnessed Bayern's heart breaking penalty shoot out loss to Chelsea, I stand by my ANTI FOOTBALL slogan:

Totally negative defensive tactics against both Barcelona & Bayern, unbelievable luck ie missed penalties by Messi, Robben & in the shootout Schweinsteiger, not to mention a massive two billion dollar money spent in the past decade have finally bought Chelsea the trophy! Congratulations!

Now what for the new season?

In the EPL, I predicted Manchester City as the winner in 2011-2012. This year the battle will once again be between the Manchester Clubs. However, this year I am tipping Manchester United to reclaim their crown. 
Whilst some commentators have already started questioning how Sir Alex is going to shape his team around Rooney & the two major new comers Kagawa & Van Persie, I believe Alex Ferguson has once again proven his genius by buying the two new players. Meanwhile Manchester City are yet to add any player of significance added value to their squad.

Arsenal will not be able to once again lose a star of Van Persie's quality & importance & expect to be anything more than a side player, although Podolski has the potential to fill that gap, from a slightly different position.
Chelsea will feel the absence of their CL Final hero Drogba & whilst they have bought Hazard &  Merin, they will need to land Hulk to have any chance of repeating last year's end of season lucky run.
Liverpool have made a huge strategic error in choosing a young albeit talented coach in Rodgers & will once again struggle in mid table. This once gives Tottenham & Newcastle to challenge for CL positions, although Spurs are in the verge of losing Luka Modric at the moment.
My hot tip for the year is QPR, having just survived the drop, mark Hughes has bought well in the off season & the team is more settled & experienced, although they started their campaign with a disastrous 5-0 loss! I also do not think Swansea will get relegated as many commentators are tipping (they were the 5-0 conquerers of QPR)

Elsewhere in the other major leagues, Expect La Liga to once again be a battle between Real Madrid & Barcelona (Yawn!!). Don't get me wrong! I love La Liga! But I get bored with two horse races & the only European League that is more boring than La Liga in that sense was the SPL (Scotland). Rangers have been forcibly relegated to the 3rd division in the SPL this year & that leaves Spain as the main 2 horse race in Europe. It's simply not fun when the third & fourth teams regularly finish 25-30 points behind Real & Barcelona.

Having said that, Villanova, the new Barcelona coach has a difficult task of out muscling the ever more arrogant Mourinho. Nevertheless, in my opinion, in Jordi Alba Barcelona have acquired THE player of Euro 2012. With David Villa back from injury, I tip Barcelona to reclaim their title whilst Real & Mourinho will be chasing the Champions League crown.

In Germany, the battle once again will be between the young guns of Dortmund & Bayern. Dortmund have lost Kagawa to Manchester United whilst Bayern have reinforced their at times toothless attack by bringing in the ever impressive Pizzaro as well as Mario Manzukic, the 3 time goal scorer in Euro 2012. Both are familiar with Bundesliga. Bayern have also got Shaqiri & Dante & may soon be signing Martinez the Spainish superstar in waiting for a Bundesliga record of 40m Euros.
I tip Bayern to reclaim the Bundesliga crown if they can finally put the heartache of losing the CL final to Chelsea behind them.

In Italy, Milan have lost quite a few influential players & the battle will be between Inter & Juventus & Juventus will win as long as Pirlo & co can sort out the match fixing issues surrounding coach Conte.

In France, despite losing Eden hazard to Chelsea, Lille should be able to reclaim the title which they surrounded to Montpellier last year, whilst Bordeaux, Lyon & Marseille as well as the defending Champions Montpellier will challenge for the honours.

And finally, in the exciting but much less glamourous Leagues of Holland & Portugal, the usual suspects will once again challenge for the honours. In Portugal the two horse race Porto vs Benfica match up is once again up & running as evident in the past two seasons & I tip Benfica to win, based on some of their matches I watched in the CL last year. 

In Holland, after a few lean years PSV should once again challenge for the title. Whilst Ajax will be their fierce rivals, AZ & Twente will be up there whilst Feyenord continue to play second fiddle to the top 4 (Although PSV lost their opening match of the new season 0-2!!)

In Champions League, once again Real Madrid & Barcelona are clear favourites & the usual suspects such as Bayern Munich & Manchester United will fancy their chances.

My tip: Flop: Chelsea
dark Horses: Juventus & Manchester City

All in all, European football leagues more & more need the excitement of Champions League as much as CL needs the various Leagues to prosper. The new season will be no different.

Euro 2012 Champions Spain take their deserved place in history & find their goal scoring touch in demolishing a gallant Italian side in the final

At last, relief for all purist football fans! WE can all once again love & admire Spain! They deservedly retained their European title by finally showcasing their rampant goal scoring touch against a gallant Italian side which themselves brought so much to the tournament.

Spain can now deservedly be considered one of the greatest teams of all time. The only mild criticism of this Spanish side in Euro 2012 was their lack of goals. They silenced their critics with their rampant 4-0 win in the final. With David Villa coming back from injury & Fernando Torres finding his goal scoring touch again, and new talent such as JORDI ALBA (in my opinion, the player of the tournament) coming through the youth system, this team can continue to win more trophies in the years to come.


And Spain's dominance once again highlighted the fact that Barcelona & Real Madrid can only be dealt with by other clubs in Europe in a 2 leg home & away format). Spain (& Real & Barcelona) can be absolutely ruthless when it counts, as evident by the final of Euro 2012.


The powerhouses of South American football better watch out! No European team has ever won the World Cup when staged in South America. But Euro 2012 proved European football, at least in the mainland, has never had it better & is in great shape.

Spain have been & are a delight to watch. As their tactically difficult passing possession game was about to turn the fans away, they turned their guns on & in a rampant performance reminded the fans what they are capable of by retaining their crown.

Italy & Germany, the professional tournament teams once again went far, but this time both teams entertained & scored delightful goals. Whilst this has been Germany's trademark for a while, Italy surprised most pundits, including me, with their attractive attacking & tactically sophisticated football, spearheaded by the rejuvenated Andrea Pirlo.

The young German side , having reached their 4th consecutive semi final in major tournaments & set a world record 15 consecutive competitive wins, made defensive as well as tactical errors against Italy.
However, their major weakness exposed vs Italy was lack of a true leader that can rally players when the chips are down. Ballack & Kahn were the last true leaders. A role that eg Pirlo perform so effectively for Italy. Both Lahm & Schweinsteiger have proven less than effective as motivating leaders both at Bayern Munich (eg vs Chelsea at CL final) & when playing for Germany. That was the undoing of the side. The legendary come back from behind Germany mentality as a result tends to be missing in the big occasions these days mainly because Germany tend to lack the inspirational leadership to rally them when they fall behind in big games. (although coming back from behind vs Italy or Spain is a tall order for any team)

Portugal were also great to watch & unlucky at times but impressed. France & Holland demonstrated they will be highly competitive & should do well in Brazil in 2014. Even the likes of Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine & Croatia showed plenty of flair & promise.

But Spain, with its star studded side, technical superiority of leaders such as Xavi, Iniesta & Alonso, and with its highly complex tactical approach proved itself to be miles ahead of the rest, and one of the greatest teams in a once in a life time era of football for Spanish football.


As for the player of the tournament, in my view the choice is clear: Jordi Alba (Andreas Iniesta was officially chosen the player of Euro2012 but Iniesta & Xavi are legendary figures & in my view two of the greatest players of all time)


Alba, the Valencia left back had a great game in every match & capped off his tournament by scoring the brilliant second goal in the final, and by signing for Barcelona)

Over all in many ways Euro 2012 will go down as one of the greatest football tournaments of the modern era for a variety of reasons:


Ukraine & Poland organised a great tournament
Tactically the football was great
Only two matches ended scoreless
There were almost no controversial decisions based on play acting/diving etc
The final produced 4 goals (equal highest with the 1976 final) after the last two finals had ended 1-0


And in Spain, the tournament earmarked one, if not the greatest national football team of all time, a team that silenced its critics by showcasing its technical & tactical superiority when it counted the most, in the final!

European powerhouses storm into semi finals....as expected, whilst England flopped badly, also as expected!

Spain, Portugal, Germany & Italy have reached the semi finals of Euro 2012....as expected.
The only surprise flop & potential other team would have been Holland...and there were no surprises in one of the worst every England teams of all time being a major flop vs Italy in the quarter finals!

As predicted at the time the draw was made, Group A was too light to have any potential semi finalists. On the other hand Group B was deemed the "Group of Death" & 2 teams, Portugal & Germany from this group have rightfully earned their place in the semi finals. Spain were expected to be there & Italy have surprised everyone with their skilful approach & are now the dark horse of the tournament.

Andrea Pirlo, like old wine has had a renaissance year. Having led Juventus undefeated to Serie A title in Italy in a year many predicted his demise into eventual retirement, masterfully is leading Italy's charge towards the Euro 2012 title. Italy may have only won on penalties vs England, but the close result was by no means indicative of the huge gap between the teams.

By the way, if you have not seen Pirlo's silky smooth penalty vs England, watch it on youTube here. It's one of the most skilful penalties of all time, under the intense pressure of a penalty shoot out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcGU_gUH1F0

France on the other hand were never expected to go beyond the quarter finals & like Holland seem to continue to struggle with internal strife due to uncontrolled egos.

And as for those perennial underachievers England, well, potentially had their worst ever team in a tournament in living memory & played one of their worst ever matches vs Italy with unbelievably negative statistics heavily against them in terms of possession, shots on target & completed passes etc.

Hastily appointed coach Roy Hodgson had obviously read too much into the lucky ways of the negative defensive & boring CHELSEA, who totally undeservedly & through shear luck had got past the silky ways of Messi & Barcelona on the way to beating an unlucky Bayern Munich side in the final of the Champions League weeks earlier.

If Chelsea's win was a win for "anti football & money", England's elimination was a positive gain for football. England were once again lamenting their bad luck in penalty shootouts. From memory they have got eliminated on penalties in six major tournaments in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 & now in 2012 (don'y quote me on exact years as I may be wrong).

But the question the English press never asks is this: "Why England are incapable of winning matches in normal time in tournaments? Most other teams have been involved in one or two or at most three shoot outs during the last 22 years, England have had in six!!. 


In my view the reason for this is because the English teams are not tournament teams!" In fact I would go as far as saying the Rugby codes culture of friendly "test matches" style is engraved in the England football team as well! Win a match here lose one next playing the same teams over & over & over again as it boringly happens in rugby codes is alien to the world of tournament heavy football where there are 206 national team members & teams like Italy, Germany & Brazil thrive in.

Now to the semi final pairings:

Both matches are simply too close to call and it is even more difficult to predict the scores.

Spain are the more likely winner out of the battle with Portugal.

The problem with Portugal is that they rely too much on Ronaldo as a match winner, and if Ronaldo misfires as he did in the first match vs Germany Spain have enough to pounce & win the match. Spain know the Real Madrid  trio of Ronaldo, Pepe & Coentrao (as the trio do the Spanish players) & how they operate.
Overall, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta & co are good enough to neutralise Ronaldo & win the match, and we all know the only & only criticism of this highly tactically & technically gifted Spanish team is their overwhelming tendency to win crucial matches 1-0 (as they did in their way to winning the World Cup in 2010). The trick is to stop Ronaldo, and if any team can do that, it's a Spanish side full of players who are used to playing with or against Ronaldo.

On the other hand, amazingly Germany have never managed to eliminate Italy in knockout stages of World Cup or European Championships! Their last such encounter was the WC 2006 semi final in Germany. Italy won 2-0 after extra time, as the match was about to head for penalty shootouts.

The two power houses' encounters have however always been close & tactically fascinating. This time, if this young & exciting German side are to break the jinx, they must mark the amazing Pirlo out of the game. In order to do so, Schweinsteiger must be at his best in the middle of the park. Against Greece, he was clumsy & obviously less than 100% fit. Nevertheless, this time around Germany have the depth in their bench not only to beat Italy, but also to go all out and avenge their Euro 2006 & World Cup 2010 losses to Spain.

As an astute witty friend of mine cheekily said the other day (thanks Tim, with your kind permission):
"It is Germany's duty to continue to cut a swathe through the debt ridden countries of Europe.  Having done away with the wasteful greeks, they can now see off the diving Italianos this week and then the best of the Iberian peninsula". 
(no offence to the suffering masses in those countries whilst the mining boom in Australia enriches the few lucky ones!)


My tip for the final: Spain 1 Germany 2

Euro 2012 firing up as quarter finals get under way & promise potential mouth watering semi final clashes

The best news out of the group round of Euro 2012 was an unusual statistic for football. For the first time in living memory, there were no 0-0 draws in the entire group phase matches!

OK! now that I got rid of the football sceptics reading my blog, let's talk about the flops, dark horses & favourites: :)

Flop of the tournament:

Major: Holland: How long will the Dutch blame clash of egos & lack of team spirit for their frequent tournament failures? They were arrogant, tactically naive, out of form & as usual  divided. There are major question marks over this team & even during their qualifying campaign they produced several questionable narrow wins.

Minor: Poland: For the first time since finishing third, Poland had a talented crop of young players starring in teams such as Dortmund & Arsenal. Whilst they were never favourites to go all the way, many, including me expected them to reach the quarter finals. I believe they paid for their lack of competitive matches (due to hosting rights). However, they will probably qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Overachievers: Czech Republic & Greece. In Group A, considered the only weak group in the tournament, Russia & Poland were overwhelming favourites to go through. Czech Republic, whilst a force in Euro competitions with a great history, are in transition & started the tournament with a moral sapping 4-1 defeat to Russia. But they ended up topping the group. On the other hand, the Greeks with all their economic problems had to beat Russia in their final match in order to go through & they did.

England have also quietly overachieved. having only installed their coach just before the tournament, and with injuries to Lampard & Cahill & Rooney's suspension for the first two games, one would have expected them to flop yet again. But for once, with no pressure on their shoulders, they have performed well.

The favourites however, are still the defending Champions Spain.

Spain vs France: Spain will have a difficult encounter with France in the quarter finals. France can & probably will cause Spain some grief but not if they repeat their inept display vs Sweden, who by the way in my view were unlucky in all three games overall.

Spain & Germany have a competitive advantage vs the other teams, and that is the depth & quality of their bench. France on the other hand, have just lost their first match in 20 outings & are again displaying the signs of the old powerful team we got to know & admire.

As Chelsea (and Croatia) have proved in recent times, there are nevertheless tactics that can stifle the silky smooth passing games of teams such as Spain, Barcelona & Bayern. However, in doing so, you need opportunistic players of highest calibre who are capable of scoring from the odd chance or mistake they are presented with. Otherwise Spain will make you pay & eventually find a way to score, as they did in their narrow 1-0 final wins in both Euro 2008 & World Cup 2010 vs Germany & Holland respectively.

Portugal vs Czech Republic: A once again confident & free scoring Ronaldo will lead his resurgent Portugal side over the overachieving Czech side.

Semi Final tip: Spain vs Portugal

Germany vs Greece: Germany, the only team to go through to quarter finals on maximum points must improve if they are to beat the likes of Italy, England, France or Spain to win their first major tournament since Euro 1996.

They will have 7 or 8 Bayern players in their starting line up again. And Greece can make Germany suffer if the encounter turns out to be like Bayern vs Chelsea or Barcelona vs Chelsea, ie passing possession patient game of Germany vs all out defending & counter attacks of Greece. The Greeks have proven themselves to be hard to score against, & Germany (and Bayern for that mater) have at times found it difficult to break down the type of defensive walls which even Messi found hard to break down vs Chelsea.

Therefore, in order to beat Greece, Germany need a much faster attacking & less cautious approach than they have displayed so far. ie more of the first half vs Holland.

And on a minor political point, it's just been announced the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most disliked European politician in Greece for her hard stance on financial bail out of Greece, will be attending to watch the match!

Italy vs England: I was confident before the tournament these two giants of world football were both destined to fail at Euro 2012. Both, in particular Italy have surprised many with their results & displays to the point that I now consider Italy the dark horse of the tournament.


On the other hand, I am yet to be impressed by England & can't see them getting past the likes of Italy, Germany or Spain. I think whilst Gerard has stabilised the midfield, England's defensive vulnerabilities have yet to be tested & whilst Rooney is back & has already scored, their forwards will find it extremely hard to break down the up to now impressive Italian defence, even though Italy currently have major injury worries.

Semi Final tip: Italy vs Germany

And the verdict for the final? It is too early to predict the semi final pairing as both luck & tactics will play a major role in the outcome of the quarter as well as semi finals.

And then there's the boggy team phenomenon! And in case of Germany, their boggy team is & will always be Italy! Just to name a few matches, Italy have always seem to outdo Germany where it counts! Just to name a few:

Italy famously beat Germany 4-3 in extra time in one of the greatest WC games of all time, in the 1970 WC semi final. They beat Germany convincingly in the 1982 WC final and most recently, Italy beat Germany in the WC 2006 semi final on the way to winning the World Cup!

Having shared with you that little piece of trivia, a Germany vs Spain, in my view will once again pair the two best & most exciting football nations in Europe against each other & in their respective top club sides representing the majority of the starting 11 in both sides, ie Barcelona & Real Madrid in Spain & Bayern Munich in Germany, they have the most attacking & free scoring club sides in Europe.

And surely after losing the Euro 2008 final & the WC 2010 semi final to Spain, both 1-0, Germany's time has arrived?

Germany vs Holland, a deep seated footballing rivalry & a much anticipated encounter at Euro 2012

In European footballing context, Germany vs Holland is as fierce & intense as sporting rivalries can get amongst geographical neighbours (as intense if not more than Australia vs New Zealand if you are not too familiar with football traditions)

Those of you who know me well, would be familiar with my childhood story of how I stumbled across & became a life long Bayern Munich & Germany fan. It all started with the intense & closely watched Germany vs Holland World Cup final in 1974.

Here's my story & how Holland & my Dad's broken promise made me a life long Germany & Bayern fan! I am posting this because Holland & Germany are about to lock horns on Thursday morning at Euro 2012:

At the time, before the start of the 1974 World Cup, as a 7 year old, I was hardly aware of the intense sporting rivalry between these two European neighbours & the fact that it had its roots not only in football but also in the generational issues following the disaster that was WW2.

Holland by 1974, led by Johan Cruyff were considered to be playing what was coined as "Total Football" & Ajax of Amsterdam had won the (then) European Cup, the premier club competition in the world (now Champions League) in 3 successive occasions in 1971-72 & 73.

This period was the first time football in Holland had moved out of the shadows of its fierce rival Germany & Holland were now the popular favourites to win the World Cup, which was being held in Germany in 1974. The football supporters in Holland, and indeed across Europe, were still the first post WW2 generation & as such resented Germany intensely.

As an impressionable child, I decided to support Germany purely due to a football related resentment towards my father & older brother! Despite having no intention to do so, my Dad had promised to take me to a World Cup qualifier match in 1973 & did not end up keeping his promise (as he had deemed I was too young to handle the crowded stadium).
By the time the World Cup started, my Dad & brother were like many others around the world, cheering Holland on. But I was still intensely resentful towards them for breaking a promise & decided to support (and hope) Germany would beat Holland in the final!

And to my amazement they did! Revenge was sweet! Germany won 2-1 & lifted the trophy in the home soil. The intense rivalry intensified immensely after the final & has never abated to this date (although politically the two countries are now very strong & friendly allies)

What I came to realise after the final as I started to explore football with all the curiosity of an excitable 7 year old, was that 6 of the starting 11 Germany players in the final played for a club side called Bayern Munich, from a city in Bavaria in South of Germany. And then that Bayern side went on to emulate the feats of their Dutch rivals Ajax by winning the European Cup in the next three years in 1974-75 & 76.

And the rest is history! I can proudly state that I have watched every single live telecast of Bayern & Germany matches shown in Australia since the early 80s (once SBS started to show live matches) & after years of suffering in isolation, am now one of the founding members of the thriving & officially sanctioned Bayern Munich Fan Club in Australia.

On Thursday morning, the latest episode in this intense footballing rivalry will unfold once again. It promises to be an exciting encounter because Holland lost their opening game to Denmark & therefore the match is a must win game for them. On the other hand, this German side, the youngest in average age in Germany's football history since after WW2, is an exciting attacking minded side which will most probably not play for a draw.

Both sides are star studded. Germany will again field 6-7 Bayern players in their starting line up, and may give their most exciting prospect, Dortmund's 19 year old wonder kid, Mario Goetze a starting birth on the flanks. On the other hand, Holland's free scoring striker Robin Van Persie fired bank against Denmark & it remains to be seen if he loses his starting line up to Huntelaar, the Bundesliga's top scorer this season, who is obviously familiar with the Germans.

My prediction: Germany 2 Holland 1

Why not, a repeat of the 1974 World Cup with 6-7 Bayern players in the line up would suit me fine!

The opening day of Euro 2012 full of drama, excitement & goals...and thankfully no racism!

As expected, Poland put up a great show to open Euro 2012, both in the Opening Ceremony & the opening match of the tournament against Greece.

For the information of the more casual football fans, after the Football World Cup & the Olympics, European Championships reportedly attract the third highest overall sports viewing audience around the world. (although the Indian Cricket League IPL is also very popular these days)

Group A, dubbed the real Group of Death, not for its tough competition but for lack of excitement compared, produced two drama filled matches in the opening day:

Poland controlled Greece in the first half & a Greek defender was harshly sent off. Then in the second half, Greece demonstrated their resilience & if it was not for a penalty miss they could have won the game.
In the other match, as expected Russia crushed a young & transitional Czech Republic side 4-1. The scoreline could have been much worse if not for Russia's wastefulness.

The two matches only confirm my belief further that Russia & Poland are favourites to go through to the quarter finals from Group A

And most importantly there were no sign of the ugly "Football Racism" around. Let's hope that trend continues.

Tomorrow morning the opening matches in arguably the toughest Group in the tournament will be played. Three of the four teams in the group are former winners & Portugal were finalists in 2004.

The problem with this group is that each team needs to get a draw or a win from every match as there are no so called easy matches in this group.

Holland in my view are favourites to top the group & should win their opening match against Denmark reasonably comfortably. With impressive goal scorers such as Huntelaar, Van Persie, Robben & Snjeider at their disposal, Holland are a better team than they were in the World Cup in 2010 when they narrowly lost to Spain.

Germany on the other hand have surprisingly misfired in the last few weeks having conceded 5 goals to Switzerland albeit fielding a much weakened side. Then there is also the daily question in the media & press conferences about whether their 8 Bayern stars have psychologically recovered from their heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in the Champions League final.(all of whom could potentially start against Portugal)

Having said that, I have followed Germany through every single World Cup & European Championship since 1974. They are the tournament team! Die Mannschaft get better & do not hit form too early (Italy are another great example of this, whilst some of the best Brazilian teams of all time were the opposite)

I believe whilst Germany continue to have difficulty with their two central defence positions, they now, for the first time since 1996 possess enough quality players to be considered potential winners. They also have for the first time since they won the 1990 World Cup have enough talent on the bench to change tactics & salvage matches if they fall behind & in players such as Neuer, Lahm, Ozil, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Goetze, Klose, Podolski & co Germany are once again belong to the cream of world football but need to crown the potential by winning the tournament. (they have reached the semi finals of the last two world Cups & were the finalist in Euro 2008 losing to Spain)

Portugal on the other hand will have to rely too heavily on Ronaldo especially if as reported Nani does not start against Germany. Ronaldo, like Messi is yet to reproduce his club form on the world stage. Their achilles tendon which Germany will target will be Fabio Coentrao who had an awful time playing against Bayern this year for his Club side Real Madrid.

On Monday, the defending Champions & favourites Spain will open their account vs Ireland in a tough Group C contest. I believe Chelsea's tactics vs Barcelona & Bayern Munchen in the Champions League have exposed Spain's weaknesses. With Torres's form still in question & David Villa's long term injury, Spain's attack may be too blunt to deal with a defensive Irish approach. And absence of the ever reliable Carlos Puyol adds to Spain's defensive worries.
Nevertheless, Spain should ultimately account for the Irish & also top the group.

I rate this Italian side as lowly as many including myself rated the woeful French side in the World Cup 2010. To top it all, Italian football is once again (surprise surprise) in the midst of yet another match fixing scandal. Croatia on the other hand, are & have always been a football production line! Whilst they are also going through a mini transitional period, their coach in my view is still one of the most tactically gifted coaches in Europe. Despite the huge loss of Olic to injury last week, I predict Crotia will beat Italy & will go through to the QF alongside Spain.

On Tuesday, the ever disappointing England open their account in Group D. France have now remained unbeaten in 18 matches under the likable former Captain Blanc & should be considered one of the dark horses of the tournament.

This is perhaps the hardest group to predict. I still believe Frank Lampard is the heart & soul of the England team. In his absence, and with Rooney being suspended for the first two group matches, alongside the foolish decision by Hodgson not to recall Rio Ferdinand after Gary Cahill was forced to pull out, England have problems in both defence & attack & the Swede attack led by an in form Zaltan Ibrahimovic can potentially signal the end of England's campaign after the first round.

I predict France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support) to go through to the quarter finals.

I will be posting regular blogs during the tournament.

Spain are favourites to retain their crown at Euro 2012

Euro 2012 is only a week away. Considering the economic & political upheaval in Europe, this tournament & the London 2012 Olympics are necessary distractions for those millions of people affected by the financial crisis in Europe.

Most teams are fine tuning their tactics in friendlies at the moment in anticipation of the opening match On Saturday 9th June.

It is generally acknowledged that the European Championships are the most competitive & difficult football tournament in the World. In fact outside Brazil & Argentina, the tournament usually features the best footballing nations in the world. For example, six of the seven teams reaching the final four of the last two World Cups feature in Euro 2012 (the 7th being Uruguay with Germany featuring in both semi finals). sadly however, the next European Championships in France in 2016 will be extended to 24 teams. This is a purely commercial decision & will undoubtedly reduce the quality of the event as a whole.


In my view, and most other commentators & fans, Spain, the defending European & World Cup winners are again the clear favourites this year. With the exception of the absence of the injured David Villa & the influential Barcelona Captain Puyol, Spain have a near full strength team based on the stars of Barcelona & Real Madrid & supplemented by the talents from Atletico Madrid, Valencia & Athletic Bilbao. If Fernando Torres continues to improve his form as he has during May, Spain may very well will the title again. However, if Torres misfires as he has for most of the past two years, then, in the absence of the free scoring David Villa, Spain will struggle.

After Spain, the young, attacking & skillful Germany & the ever scoring Holland are the other favourites with the 19 game undefeated France as an outside chance. Two major issues for favourites Germany are:
a) Poor recent form of their only two out & out strikers Gomez & Klose
b) Whether the shattering psychological impact of Bayern's loss to Chelsea has a lasting effect in the minds of the 8 Bayern players in the squad, considering that as many as all 8 are potential starters in any of the three group stage matches.

I believe England, without the injured Lampard & the suspended Rooney (for the first two group matches) & their newly assigned coach will once again disappoint whilst Italy are still in transition & the latest corruption allegations will not help them. Both Italy & England will have problems scoring goals

And the likes of Portugal, Croatia, Russia will be the usual difficult opponents for the so called favourites whilst out of the two co-hosts Poland have more potential to reach the quarter or semi finals.

My predictions for the quarter finals, not in any particular order:

Group A: Russia & Poland
Group B: Germany & Holland
Group C: Spain & Croatia
Group D: France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support)

Chelsea may be lucky to be Champions but their determination & discipline were unquestinable.

As a die hard FC Bayern Munchen fan, I travelled & watched the final at Allianz Arena in Munich. Witnessing the defeat in person has made it more difficult to digest as Bayern were simply in control of the match all the way to the penalty shootouts when all of a sudden they missed their 4th & 5th penalties & lost!

I must of course congratulate Chelsea for the courageous way they defended their way & rode their luck to the full unbelievable extend of it in both the semi finals & the final. First they eliminated Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world, and then they beat Bayern in Munich. In all three games Chelsea defended with 11 players. However, they also took their chances whilst both Barcelona & Bayern were profligate & wasted numerous opportunities including the decisive penalty misses by Messi for Barcelona & Robben for Bayern.

By the time Chelsea equalised in the 88th minute of the final, the possession statistics were Bayern 65% Chelsea 35% & the corner counts were Bayern 20 Chelsea 0!!

And then Arjen Robben missed his penalty in the extra time & the rest is history. Bayern now have the unwanted record of having lost 5 European Cup/Champions League finals (equal with Juventus & Benfica) & they have lost 5 of their last final appearances in the competition.

Whether the current crop of players can manage to reach the final again is questionable considering the huge negative psychological impact of having lost the 2010 & 2012 finals.

Chelsea & Bayern elimination of the favourites to reach the Champions League final was not a total surprise as most commentators claim!

All those "me too" football commentators across the world who profess to be admirers of Spanish football, Barcelona & Real Madrid must still be under sedative!

As this wonderfully witty picture shows, who would have thought Chelsea would end up meeting Bayern in the final in May.....at the expense of the magnificent yet vulnerable Barcelona, and impressive yet overrated Real Madrid?

I can tell you, being involved with Bayern's die hard fans online, ever since the draw was made Bayern always knew they were in with a chance to become the first ever team in Champions League history (not European Cup history) to host the final in their own stadium.

Most of the almost nauseatingly Spanish football following commentators around the world, including our own respectable SBS commentators in Australia, either fail to realise or neglect to inform their viewers of the impressive record Bayern have against Real Madrid. 

Although records mean little, I would like to point out that Bayern also beat Real in the semi finals of their last successful Champions League campaign in 2001. Bayern won 0-1 at Bernabau in Madrid & 2-1 in the reverse fixture in Munich, and went all the way to lifting the trophy. The last meeting between the two giants was in the 2007 Champions League season. Bayern again won 2-1 at home, lost 2-3 in Madrid & eliminated Real on away goals rule.

And if you want to know much about Bayern's footballing pedigree, it suffices to say this will be their 9th final (equal second all time record with AC Milan, Real have appeared in 13 finals). They are one of the only three teams who have won the European Cup in 3 successive years or more (Real won it in its first 5 years from inception, Bayern & Ajax won 3 years in a row each in the 70s)

So, to the well informed football fans, the Bayern vs Real match was very much an encounter of equal heavy weights. But this year, I have no doubt Mourinho is to blame for Real's failure! Yes the master tactician made it easier for Bayern to succeed! Of course he ended up, as predicted, blaming player fatigue for the loss (Real played Barcelona in the "Clasico" on the weekend in between the two matches vs Bayern)

Mourinho made some questionable substitutions in Munich in order to defend the lucky 1-1 result. This allowed Bayern to control possession & take the upper hand & eventually & deservedly score in the last minute (and hence go to Madrid with a 2-1 advantage). Then in Madrid, Mourinho & his tired players decided to protect a 2-0 lead after a mere 14 minutes for the remaining 106 minutes, against a Bayern team which has scored more than 100 goals in all competitions this year! 

Amazingly, even though this time around Bayern were 2-0 down after a merely 14 minutes, most of their loyal followers did not feel nervous as we were certain Bayern would score. What in fact surprised many was the fact that the game went to extra time & penalties.

As for Chelsea, whilst I fully command their defensive discipline & acknowledge their tactics, I believe they are in the final because Barcelona failed to take advantage of the many opportunities they had to score in both legs, including of course Messi's missed penalty at Camp Nuo. And Chelsea, with its veterans on display again, is the kind of team capable of making a team like Barcelona pay a heavy price for those multiple missed opportunities, and they did exactly that!

The problem with Barcelona is that they are so universally admired that their system & tactics have been analysed a million times & most coaches realise that a counter attacking defensive formation is the best way to block Barcelona & potentially beat them, which is what Chelsea did so successfully albeit not in an entertaining fashion!

It must also be mentioned that Di Matteo, who should be commanded for turning Chelsea's fortunes around is such a short space of time, had very obviously taken a leaf out of Jose Mourinho's boring yet effective tactics whilst coaching Inter Milan vs Barcelona in the semi finals of the 2010 Champions League. Inter defended relentlessly in camp Nuo & lost 0-1 & won 3-2 on aggregate on the way to winning the CL that year.

Both Chelsea & Bayern have lost 4 first team players each for the final due to suspension. This will cause huge team selection headaches for their respective coaches. Despite Chelsea's recent resurgence & Bayern's home advantage, this is a final which again hard to predict and based on the surprise semi final outcomes is a 50-50 match..........unless you take into account the home support advantage which Bayern will be enjoying in their magnificent Allianz Arena.

This will make Bayern slight favourites going into the final, but Chelsea have proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with & anything is possible.

My prediction: Bayern to win by 1 goal either 1-0 or 2-1

Ps I forgot to mention I will be travelling to Munich to witness this magnificent event in person, as I did in the previous two occasions Bayern have made it to the final: Milan in 2001 (victorious) & Madrid in 2010 (unsuccessful)

Champions League semi finals: Barcelona vs Chelsea, Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich

The semi final draw can't get anymore mouthwatering than this!

The current powerhouse ivy leagues of Europe are once again present! Barcelona & Real from Spain, Chelsea from England & Bayern from Germany! Italy have once again missed out although AC Milan's protests regarding two soft penalties for Barcelona have some merit. (Milan lost 3-1 in Barcelona with Messi scoring 2 goals from the penalty spot, in both cases the referee could have decided either way)

Mourinho & his Real Madrid team have overall been the best team this season. They have dominated LaLiga in Spain & are almost certain of finally winning the title back from Pep Guiardiola & his magnificent Barcelona side led by irreplaceable trio of Messi, Xavi & Inesta.

Barcelona are on the other hand the best club team in the world & (to Mourinho's extreme annoyance) the one everyone once to copy and catch.

Chelsea have found their old self under the caretaker Di Matteo, and Bayern, back in top form continue to be compared with Barcelona, and dream on appearing in the final on May 19th in their own Allianz Arena in Munich.

And most commentators have already penned a Barcelona vs Real Madrid final!

But, those of us who have followed Mourinho's dirty tactics against Barcelona, from his days in Chelsea, to his semi final win in 2010 with Inter Milan & to his less than successful Clasico & Cup encounters in Spain since he took over at Real Madrid should wish otherwise. (he uses dirty boring defensive tactics)

Chelsea & Bayern may not be favourites but they are not overwhelming underdogs either. Chelsea have defied all predictions since their heroic victory against Napoli at Stamford Bridge & beat a very good Benfica team home & away. On top of the newly founded fighting spirit, they seem to also have Torres finally finding his goal scoring touch. On the other hand, Barcelona have shown some defensive frailties of the late & are a team that can let goals in if their style is meddled with & disrupted. (best example was how Mourinho's Inter Milan side got passed them in the semi finals of the 2010 Championship)

Bayern have also got a team which after a wobbly start post Christmas, has found form again & is aiming for a triple again. With Robben & Ribbery in top form, Gomez scoring regularly & Schweinstager finally injury free, Bayern are capable of causing Real Madrid major grief, as long as they manage to neutralise the expected Ronaldo/Ozil/Kaka midfield assault on Bayern's central defence (their Achilles tendon). The key to potential success for Bayern is to make sure Real leave the first leg in Munich without any away goals! (easier said than done!)

All in all, no matter which two teams get to Munich, we are in for 5 nail bitingly thrilling matches to come & the final will be a thriller as long as it is not Barcelona vs Real Madrid.

My tip for the final: Barcelona vs Bayern Munich........Gooooooooo Bayern...all the way!

Champions League 2012 quarter finals review

The first leg of the Champions League quarter finals will get on the way next week. This year I only managed to correctly predict 6 of the 8 quarter finalists (my record for the past 4 years since I started blogging stands as 8, 8 , 7 & now only 6!)

The fairytale team of the competition, Apoel Nicosia surprised everyone, including me by scraping past Lyon on penalties after each team won their home leg 1-0.

Whilst that was a unexpected, I was disappointed my tip Napoli did not manage to protect their 3-1 home leg win at Stamford Bridge & secummed to a gallant & rejuvenated Chelsea side 4-1 in London. I thought Napoli were one of the brightest new comers to the CL in a long time & am sorry they did not progress further. Nevertheless, they left with their reputation enhanced whilst Chelsea saved themselves and English football blushes by making sure the EPL at least has one participant in the QF stage.

I tipped Barcelona at the beginning of the season to become the first ever team to defend their Champions League title. However, I am now leaning towards a possible Real Madrid vs Barcelona final & an ultimate win by the much disliked Mourinho.

Here are my quarter final tips: (my tips in bold)

Bayern vs Marseille: Bayern got their mojo back with the magnificent 7-0 thrashing of the up to now impressive FC Basel. With both Ribery & Robben in top form, Gomez scoring & hopefully Schweinsteiger back to full fitness, Bayern can beat any team on their day. This is even though their central defence remains suspect & would most probably concede against the likes of Madrid & Barcelona.

Marseille on the other hand, were very lucky to eliminate an otherwise woeful Inter Milan with a last minute strike at San Siro. Not only they have had a torrid time in the French league, they will also be missing their charismatic goal keeper for the first leg. Bayern will go through with relative ease.

Real Madrid vs Apoel: Unfortunately, all fairy tales come to an end, and this is where the story finishes for Apoel. Not only Real are now the clear favourites for the title, Apoel have only scored 7 goals in 8 matches in the competition & that statistic by itself would indicate further progress is unlikely for them. (Although Spain won the 2010 WC with only a slightly better goal average!)

Benfica vs Chelsea: EPL fans would disagree but this Chelsea side, whilst undergoing a mini resurrection after the sacking of AVB (coach), is simply not capable of carrying the English flag any further in this year's competition. Benfica on the other hand have a solid team with plenty of reliable & technically gifted players & are my surprise tip for the semi finals.

Barcelona vs AC Milan: Barcelona fans should stop pondering why their luck drew them against a tricky Milan side whilst Real drew Apoel! With Messi surpassing the all time scoring records at Barcelona, everything is possible. The two sides met in the group stage, drew 2-2 in Barcelona & Milan lost 2-3 in San Siro.

In order for Barca to go all the way & defend their title, they need to learn to stop conceding goals! Mourinho is brilliant as that, as boring as his tactics are compared to the excitement of Guardiola's strategies!

All up, my heart wants my beloved Bayern to be crowned champions of Europe in their home ground in Munich in May, my head tells me a Real vs Barcelona final is the most likely outcome, and sadly Mourinho will get his hand on the trophy by breaking all coaching records.

Euro 2012 Finals promise plenty of drama & thrills!

The draw for the next European Championships which will be held in mid 2012 in Poland & Ukraine was made in late 2011. The competition remains very popular & is widely acknowledged as the third most watched event in the world (after FIFA World Cup & the Olympics). As a result it will be expanded to 24 teams from 2016. In my view this is a silly money grabbing idea even though UEFA currently has 53 members!

Due to the fact that both co hosts were seeded, the group stage draw produced very uneven groupings with two groups being as groups of death. Poland & Ukraine would have both been in pot 3 (or even 4) normally, but due to hosting rights were elevated to the seeded pot 1 condemning many more competitive teams to pots 2 & 3 as a result!

Here are my predictions for the tournament: Spain & Germany are clear favourites to win the tournament, and they were the finalists in the 2008 competition. Holland & England are also strong & Italy may also pose a threat.

Spain will face Italy in the group stage & in Ireland & Croatia have very difficult opponents. I do believe both Croatia & Ireland are capable of surprising Italy into second place. In case of Ireland their wily Italian coach Trapattoni, knows all about Italian football & how to beat them!

Germany are once again drawn in arguably the toughest group in the tournament & in drawing Holland, Denmark & Portugal will have a tough task to qualify. But if Germany manage to continue to perform at the level they have been performing since the 2010 World Cup, they have the potential to win both Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014. On the other hand, I believe Holland will be too strong for Portugal & Denmark to qualify ahead of them.

Neither England nor France impress me! I find England's coach Capello pompous & out of touch & hope Sweden or Ukraine can at least knock one of these two teams out! England will be in trouble if they do not get a central defence pairing right, with injuries & aging legs of the likes of King, Terry & Ferdinand making them questionable defensively, AND will not be able to use Wayne Rooney for the first two matches in the tournament due to suspension, which was reduced from 3 to 2. On the other hand, France continue to show any sign of life & remain uninspiring.

In the easiest group of the tournament Poland & Russia are favourites to qualify for the knockout quarter final round but I can not see either team go beyond that!

I will be writing regular blogs during the tournament & will continue my predictions as the competition progresses! So please visit my page regularly!