Sports Then and Now

Euro 2012 is just around the corner and the excitement is starting to build for this summer’s tournament in Poland and Ukraine. So which teams look in good shape?

Those over at free-bet-finder.com will agree that Spain are of course the favorites to lift the trophy and they are looking to become the first side to win three major tournaments in a row.

Vicente Del Bosque’s men showed no sign of letting their domination of international football slip during their qualifying campaign as they won every game.

However, all team leading scorer David Villa and veteran defender Carles Puyol will miss the tournament through injury so it is a test of their strength in depth.

Germany are always a side that seem to have a knack for reaching the later stages of major tournaments. Recently though they have been the nearly men, finishing third in the previous two World Cups and as runners-up in Euro 2008.

Joachim Loew took an extremely young team to the World Cup in 2010 where they were very impressive. They are sure to have benefited from that experience and could be in better shape to all the way this time out. Like Spain, they also won 100% of qualifying games.

Holland will feel as though they are long overdue success, they were runners-up in World Cup 2010 and with the squad they have will be desperate to lift the trophy this summer.

Their big name players all seem to be in their peak and have enjoyed fantastic campaigns with their respective clubs. With the attacking football they are sure to play, Holland are a major contender for Euro 2012.

Pundits at www.free-bet-finder.com agree that England and France are in very similar positions, have high expectations and the players that are capable of winning tournaments, but have not lived up to the hype over recent years.

Both sides could be the dark horses in this competition though with hopes not quite as high as usual. They also both have managers taking charge of their first tournaments so it is difficult to know what to expect.

One team that could cause a major upset is Russia. They got to the semi-finals in 2008 so know what it takes to progress to the later stages.

Russia also have players with experience and quality to cause problems for opposing teams. Dick Advocaat’s men face Poland, Greece and Czech Republic so will confident of making it to the knockout stages.