Guest Post: An Update on Euro 2012

The Euro 2012 championship was introduced at the start of the month and this key football tournament has now seen the group stages finish and we await the start of the quarter finals – the knockout stages!

The tournament has had a great start with games across Poland and Ukraine, we’ve seen surprise results, wonderful attacking displays, disciplined defensive performances and even a match-interrupting storm – the teams from France and Ukraine had to stop their match due to a storm and torrential rain, although they did manage to restart with the French eventually triumphing over the co-hosts.

In Group A, which included the host nation of Poland, the major surprise was the exit of Russia. The Russians made a spectacular start to the competition beating the Czech Republic 4-1, and I had made the team “my ones to watch” – how wrong I was. This victory was followed by a draw with Poland and, in their final group match, a defeat to Greece. This surprise victory for Greece saw them progress as the group runners-up. The Czech Republic bounced back from their opening game loss to win their remaining two fixtures and progress as group winners. Sadly Poland, the tournament co-hosts, did not progress.

Germany dominated Group B – the so-called group of death – and finished with maximum points, sweeping aside their opponents and justifying their tag as one of the tournament’s favourites. The big surprise in this group was the elimination of the Dutch, while their progression was not guaranteed as the group also contained Portugal and Denmark, what was surprising was that the Holland team finished the group stage without a win. The Danes never bettered their opening game victory against the Dutch and it was Portugal who progressed from the group as runners-up.

Group C contained the European Championship holders and current World Cup holders – Spain. In my opinion the finest footballing team I have ever had the privilege of watching. They deliver a master class in the passing game, position, technical ability and team work in their games – the main surprise was at times they played without a recognized striker, the unsurprising fact is that they finished the group as winners to progress to the quarter finals. Italy started their tournament with two draws, but a final game victory over the Republic of Ireland (combined with Croatia’s defeat to Spain) saw them progress as runners-up. Croatia played some wonderful football and was unfortunate not to qualify. Like the Dutch, the Republic of Ireland had a disappointing tournament finishing with zero points and rarely troubling their opponents in the three games.

Group D contained the co-hosts Ukraine as well as the teams of England, France and Sweden, a group of teams with a wealth of competition experience. England played well across their three games, displaying a defensive resilience and hardworking attitude which made up for a lack of imagination and attacking flair – although this was demonstrated in spurts, the goal by Danny Welbeck was a delightful flick after a penetrating run by Theo Walcott. England went through as group winners after they won their final game and the French surprisingly lost to Sweden. This loss, although surprising, did not stop France progressing as runners-up.

So we are ready for the quarter finals, we have seen both the co-hosts fail to qualify but we have some exciting games ahead of us:

Czech Republic vs. Portugal

Germany vs. Greece

Spain vs. France

England vs. Italy

Good luck to all the teams involved and let’s hope that the soccer continues to be of such a high quality!
By Ben – a UK soccer fan blogging for RTL Wear