With just one day to go & the entire
nation talking football (or at least as per the Neo Sports ad), here
is me in Paul-the-octopus mode with the predictions for all teams in Euro 2012.
Simply put,
Team I support - Spain.
Team that should win the tournament - Germany
Team that will win the tournament - England
< Now waiting while you gather yourselves
after the laugh and all that rolling on the floor >
Top scorer - Benzema (4 Goals)
Finals MVP - Joe Hart
Tournament MVP - Ozil
Predicting that England win will take some
justification isn’t it? Here it goes...
England:
Well, where do I start? Here is a squad which
draws 6 of its players from a side placed 8th in its own league, Liverpool! Its
best player is suspended for the first two games. And this whole Rio Ferdinand
issue has taken spotlight away from the fact that this squad is just
not good enough to compete, let alone win.
But when Chelsea could do it, why not
England? Isn't John Terry destined to lift the European prize before his trial?
Who needs quality if you have luck? So there goes my crazy prediction for this
European Championship - England for the win!!
Where they should finish: 4th in their
group.
Where they will finish: Winners
(Funny Fact: Liverpool has the same number of
players in the tournament as Barcelona! Only Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and
Dynamo Kiev have more representation)
Germany:
Quietly, Germany is assembling one of the
best squads in the world. There is experience in Schweinsteiger, Lahm and
Gomez. Talented youngsters in Gotze & Reus. And a world class player to
provide that magic - Mesut Ozil.
This year was supposed to be Germany's year.
Bayern Munich should have won the Champions League – They blew it. Germany lost
the 2008 Finals to Spain and the 2010 Semi Finals also to Spain. A top quality,
injury free squad that is hungry for revenge should go in to the tournament as favorites
in my opinion. This might well be Germany’s year. But I think fate has
something crewel for them again – in the Finals.
Where they should finish: Winners
Where they will finish: Losing
Finalists
Spain:
Spain is bookmaker's favorite.
And who would like to bet against the defending European and World champions?
So, who will their conquerors
be? Have to say France or Germany…
France vs. Spain in
the quarters is a possibility. Spain before 2008 had a history of losing in the
quarter finals. So I am predicting it is going to end there for Spain. Either way,
it should be great fun to see how they react and I really hope that they can
defend their title they so brilliantly won in 2008.
Where they should
finish: Runners-Up
Where they will
finish: Losing Quarter Finalists (To France)
France:
They have the squad to compete
well and in Benzema a finisher in top form. But still not enough ammunition to
get past Germany in the Semi Finals I think.
Where they should
finish: Semi Finalists
Where they will
finish: Semi Finalists
Portugal:
Basically the draw is
such that any two teams progressing from the Group of death should make it to
the semis. Good team with some very good players, but their star player whom
they are totally dependent on for the goals has a reputation of going AWOL on the
really important day.
Semi Finals (if they get there)
will be as far as this squad can go.
Where they should
finish: Knocked out from the group of death
Where they will
finish: Losing Semi Finalists
Italy
Last time the
match-fixing scandals raised its ugly head in 2006, Cannavaro led Italy to a
famous triumph in the World Cup the same year. I was wondering if this squad
could do a repeat. In one word - No. Their defense is not magical any more.
Make no mistake, they still have some very good players but their lack of width
in the midfield could hurt them in the quarter finals match against
England/France.
Where they should
finish: Quarter Finalists
Where they will
finish: Quarter Finalists
Greece, Poland
Greece might be
headed for an economic catastrophe, but I think their football team will somehow
qualify from Group A. Home support might just take Poland through. But Germany
and Holland/Portugal in the quarter finals might be a bit too far for any of
the teams going through from this group.
Where they should
finish: Knocked out in group stages
Where they will
finish: Quarter-finalists
Holland
For one of the
pre-tournament favorites along with Germany and Spain, they are pretty
unlucky to be in the group of death.
Sneijder has not been the
same player this season. Robben might still be hurting after that poor
performance in the UCL finals. Somehow, I am not sure whether this squad is
united for the cause. And the Portugal squad is definitely good enough if
Holland is not at its very best.
Where they should
finish: Semi Finalist
Where they will
finish: Knocked out from the group of death
Denmark, Ireland, Croatia,
Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, Czech
Russia should consider
themselves very unlucky to be in this list, but I am picking Greece to pull off a
minor upset and qualify from Group A. Home support could also see Poland
through over Czech in the same group. The rest I guess will be surprised/ thrilled
to reach round 2.
Where they will
finish: Knocked out in Group Stage.
Phew .. Enjoy the tournament folks!
