The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th running of the tournament. The tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012. It is the first time that either nation has hosted the tournament. This is part one of my predictions for the event.
France:
Who can forget Les Bleus of two years ago and the catastrophe that was the French foray in South Africa in the World Cup, 2010. Since then Raymond Domeneche was dumped and Ex French World Cup Winner Laurent Blanc installed as coach. The 1984 and 2000 Euro winners will be looking to add 2012 to that haul and they very might well do. In the Group stage they start off against a Rooney-less England before facing the co-hosts Ukraine. I think the French team will qualify and most likely top of their group. How far will they go after that, who knows.
England:Had Capello still been in charge and had Rooney still a three game ban then I would be laughing at their chances with 'three and out' being my summary. However, the appointment of Roy Hodgeson has been something of a fresh wind of change in the England set up. I think the English will progress to the knockout stages but whether they will lift their first trophy since the World Cup in 1966 is highly unlikely but it is a funny game and everything could happen in a 90 minute period.
Sweden:
It is going to be a coin toss as to whether Sweden will snatch the last qualification place from England. When they played England at Wembley it was the English side that came out winners. This time the English will be away from their comfort zone of Wembley, and without their golden boy Rooney. The second game of the group between the two will most certainly be the decider.
Ukraine:
This will be their first tournament and maybe if they weren't co hosting then maybe they would still be waiting. Shevchenko and company will have to play out of their skins in front of his own fans if they are to finish anywhere higher than fourth. In the last year they have played two of their three opponents in friendlies, both times they were at home and both times they lost, scoring no goals in the process. It will be a short tournament for the host nation.
France:
Who can forget Les Bleus of two years ago and the catastrophe that was the French foray in South Africa in the World Cup, 2010. Since then Raymond Domeneche was dumped and Ex French World Cup Winner Laurent Blanc installed as coach. The 1984 and 2000 Euro winners will be looking to add 2012 to that haul and they very might well do. In the Group stage they start off against a Rooney-less England before facing the co-hosts Ukraine. I think the French team will qualify and most likely top of their group. How far will they go after that, who knows.
England:Had Capello still been in charge and had Rooney still a three game ban then I would be laughing at their chances with 'three and out' being my summary. However, the appointment of Roy Hodgeson has been something of a fresh wind of change in the England set up. I think the English will progress to the knockout stages but whether they will lift their first trophy since the World Cup in 1966 is highly unlikely but it is a funny game and everything could happen in a 90 minute period.
Sweden:
It is going to be a coin toss as to whether Sweden will snatch the last qualification place from England. When they played England at Wembley it was the English side that came out winners. This time the English will be away from their comfort zone of Wembley, and without their golden boy Rooney. The second game of the group between the two will most certainly be the decider.
Ukraine:
This will be their first tournament and maybe if they weren't co hosting then maybe they would still be waiting. Shevchenko and company will have to play out of their skins in front of his own fans if they are to finish anywhere higher than fourth. In the last year they have played two of their three opponents in friendlies, both times they were at home and both times they lost, scoring no goals in the process. It will be a short tournament for the host nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment