One of the biggest football events is about to take place on the far side of the world. The 2012 UEFA European Football championship. The final tournament is played between 16 teams every four years (2 years between the world cups). Unlike many other big world-wide supporting events, the Euro's are tough to follow when you live in Australia. SBS is the free-to-air holder this year and they are treating us to 8 games out of 31. 4 of these are delayed coverage that airs over a day and a half after the game is played. 2 quarter finals, 1 semi final and the final are live. I could live with that as long as the other games were covered by foxtel. Unfortunately that is not that case. The Irish television network Setanta currently holds the rights for every game. So you have to pay an extra $50 to get the channel added to your foxtel packaged for a minimum of 2 months...so i did.
Now the event itself should provide us with the best football nation in Europe (please don't let it be Greece again!). This year's host nations are Poland and the Ukraine. The defending champions are the all conquering Spain, who also currently hold the world cup. Here is my rundown of the key players:
Greece - Samaras (Celtic striker, experienced campaigner)
Poland - Szczesny (Arsenal keeper), Brozek (another Celtic striker)
Russia - Arshavin (Arsenal striker), Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham striker), Pogrebnyak (Fulham striker) Zhirkov (Former Chelsea midfielder currently plying his trade back in his home country)
Czech Rep - Cech (Chelsea keeper, champions league winner), Rosicky (Arsenal midfielder), Milan Baros (Galatasary striker)
Germany - I could list the whole team here, but the key players IMO are Ozil and Khedira (midfielders in Real Madrid), Gomez (striker for Bayern München), Podolski (striker I believe is heading to Arsenal) and captain Lahm (Bayern München)
Netherlands - From what i saw this morning, Schneider (Bayern München midfielder), Van Persie (Arsenal striker) and Robben (Bayern München midfielder) will be their key players. Van Der Vaart (Tottenham midfielder) will provide able support
Portugal - One man, Christiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid midfielder/striker), they will also rely on Nani (Man U midfielder) and Pepe (Real Madrid defender)
Denmark - Bendtner (Arsenal Striker currently on loan to Sunderland) and Agger (Liverpool defender)
Italy - Captain Buffon (Juventus keeper), De Rossi (Roma midfielder), Pirlo (Juventus midfielder) and up and coming superstar Balotelli (Man City striker)
Spain - Again could almost list the entire team here. Great depth at the keeping position with Casillas (Real Madrid), Valdes (Barcelona) and Reina (Liverpool). Ramos (Real Madrid), Pique (Barca), Xavi, Ineista, Fabregas (all Barca), Silva (Man City), Mata and Torres (Chelsea)
Ireland - Given (Aston Villa keeper), Damian Duff (Fulham midfielder) and Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy striker)
Croatia - Look to Tottenham for their stars Corluka (midfielder/defender), Kranjcar (midfielder) and Modric (midfielder)
France - Clichy (Man City defender), Evra (Man U defender), Malouda (Chelsea midfielder), Nasri (Man City midfielder), Ribery (Bayern München midfielder) and Benzema up front (Real Madrid)
England - Tough to name players that aren't key in this team. Hart (Man City keeper), Terry (Chelsea captain and defender), Gerrard (Liverpool midfielder), Lampard (Chelsea midfielder), Rooney (Man U striker) and Carroll (Liverpool striker)
Sweden - Mellberg (Olympiacos defender), Ollson (Blackburn defender/midfielder), Larsson (Sunderland midfielder), Ibrahimovic (Milan striker)
Ukraine - Led by experienced striker Shevchenko (Dynamo Kyiv) and Tymoshchuk (Bayern München midfielder)
My tips will be a Spain v Germany final. I would expect to see England challenge along with the Dutch. Italy and France will be thereabouts. My roughies are Sweden and Ireland. I hope Germany can get up, but i would expect Spain to take out the title again.
Player of the Tournament to be Xavi
Golden boot to be Van Persie
"Niech rozpoczną się Igrzyska"
(let the games begin in Polish)
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