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 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?
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