Fever pitch for Euro 2012

Another football competition is upon us this week. Yet with domestic and European leagues so fresh in the memory, and the Olympics just around the corner, why should even the most avid sports fan cancel their summer holiday and plonk themselves in an armchair for the next three weeks?

Believe it or not there are several good reasons! The European Championship is often considered to be the baby brother to the World Cup and even a host of club competitions.  

With only 16 teams, half the number of the World Cup, we are guaranteed greater quality from the outset. Indeed 10 of the teams occupy the top 15 places in the world rankings and with a number of grudge matches in the group stage alone, action is almost guaranteed.

The most notable of these involve England and France, Holland and Germany while Russia will again get the opportunity to do battle with the Poles in Warsaw.

Unpredictability adds to the excitement of any competition and this is one that often springs a surprise.

First held in 1960, the 13 previous editions of the championships have produced nine different winners, including the unfancied Greeks in 2004 and Danes in 1992.  

It’s also a tournament that has allowed teams to dispense with voodoos, such as the Dutch side of 1988 – who were therefore able to avoid the tag of ‘choker’ for at least a decade – and the Spanish side of 2008 who broke their trophy drought.

There’s often a debate whether a national team could compete against the top club sides.  Arguments in favour of the national side coming out on top include the ability to select players from a variety of clubs and enhanced communication, meanwhile, those who fancy the club sides point to the ability to buy the best players from around the globe and the ability of clubs to generate greater team spirit and patterns of play as a result of the extended time they spend together.

Yet, with two of the tournament favourites, the lines are blurred.  The Euro holders, Spain, draw the majority of their squad from Barcelona (with the notable exception of Lionel Messi), while their closest rivals, Germany, draw their side from Bayern Munich.

In Germany it is often seen as a good omen when the Nationalmannschaft is transformed into FC Bayern Deutschland. The 1974 and 1990 World Cup Finals were won with six players from Bayern, while the 1996 European trophy made a similar journey home with five. The favoured starting line-up of coach Joachim Loew should feature no less than six of the players who lost the European Club final to Chelsea – and it could rise to eight!

Germany and Spain are joined by France as the only country to win the tournament more than once. Yet Les Blues are seen as outsiders, despite being in one of the easier groups. Indeed, they are already battling their opening opponents, England, with the lowest expectations back home. 

Michel Platini recently claimed the French only had ‘two or three good players’ while even coach Laurent Blanc claimed to be targeting only ‘one win’, pointing out that France have failed to win a tournament match in their last six.  Yet, an equally intriguing statistic is that France have not lost in their last 20 games!

Blanc has successfully built a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, preferring to rely on a team ethic.

England’s woes have been well documented with injuries mounting and Rooney suspended for the first two matches. New coach Roy Hodgson has had little time to mould his players into an effective unit and is now close to having to add players to his squad that he previously rejected.

Recent additions now mean that the club dominating the players in the squad is Liverpool, who arrive on the back of one of their least successful Premiership seasons in living memory. One positive omen for English followers is that Greece secured their surprise victory in the summer they hosted the Olympics!

The defensive approach adopted in recent friendlies against Norway and Belgium hint at low-scoring games. The high-volume of travelling for matches will count against them although they will still be disappointed if they do not secure victories against a relatively weak Ukraine team, which has qualified by virtue of their status as co-host, and a Swedish side whose fortunes directly fluctuate with the performance levels of the erratic Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Group A is considered to be the weakest link, featuring the other co-hosts, Poland, and the team scoring the fewest goals in qualifying, Greece. Home advantage in some stunningly modernised stadia could work in their favour, although more technically they will rely on 6’5” keeper, Wojciech Szczesny, to ‘keep ‘em out’ and Borussia Dortmund striker, Robert Lewandowski to ‘bang ‘em in’.  

Positive results in friendlies against France, Germany and Portugal suggest that they have the ability to compete and ensure one team keeps the home supporters (and our Editor) interested until the knock-out stage.