EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Germany

Germany

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group B: 09-06-12: Germany –Portugal, 13-06-12: Netherlands – Germany, 17-06-12: Denmark - Germany

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 2

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+10=0-0 34-7

Interesting facts:  (West) Germany, three-time champions and three-time runners-up, is the most successful team in the European Championships history.

Germany, along with Spain, won all of the matches during the Euro 2012 qualification. 

Germany is the youngest team at Euro 2012.

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In 6 out of 10 participations Germany played in the tournament last match, thus registering an unprecedented record of European Championships. 1972, 1980 and 1996 have become golden years for them. Traditional favorites of any major tournament, Germans have the strongest team in history, as legendary Franz Beckenbauer claims.

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Portugal

Portugal

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group B: 09-06-12: Germany –Portugal, 13-06-12: Denmark – Portugal, 17-06-12: Portugal - Netherlands

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 5

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+6=2-2 27-14

Interesting facts: Paulo Bento, 42, is the youngest coach at Euro 2012.  

Despite their decent scoring record, Portugal is the team that conceded most goals on their road to Euro 2012.

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Portugal has been a major candidate to take the trophy in any of big tournaments for the last decade. They even reached the final once, but every time they had to leave the tournament without the Cup. They have collected another ambitious team to conquer the European Championship. If asked, the official statistics doesn’t mind the Portuguese to win this time: they are ranked as the 4^th best European team in FIFA Ranking. The problem is that the 2^nd and 3^rd best teams are their contestants in Euro 2012 Group B.

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: France

France

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group D: 11-06-12: France – England, 15-06-12: Ukraine – France, 19-06-12: Sweden - France

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 16

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+6=3-1 15-4

Interesting facts: France is the only reigning World Cup winner (1998) to win a European Championship (2000).

After Euro 2016 France will become the country hosting the European Championship the most times: 3 out of 13 tournaments.

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The shameful World Cup 2010 campaign led to thorough reconstruction in the whole French Football Federation. One of the “golden generation” heroes, Laurent Blanc, was appointed as national team head coach, after spending a couple of great seasons in charge of Bordeaux.  

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: the Netherlands

Netherlands

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group B: 09-06-12: Netherlands – Denmark, 13-06-12: Netherlands – Germany, 17-06-12: Portugal - Netherlands

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 4

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+9=0-1 37-8

Interesting facts: Netherlands was the team to score most goals on their way to qualify to Euro 2012, 37 goals in 10 games.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar was the top scorer in the Euro 2012 qualification round with 12 goals.

Netherlands is the only national team to top the FIFA World Ranking (August-September), without actually having won it.

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They say that 31 teams come to win the World Cup and only the Dutch come to teach the others play. This saying has always been actual and the current team is not an exception. Their scoring average was 3,7 per game during the qualification, where the Netherlands registered the biggest ever win in their history; 11-0 against San Marino.

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Czech Republic

Czech Republic

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Russia – Czech Republic, 12-06-12: Greece – Czech Republic, 16-06-12: Czech Republic - Poland

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 26

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+6=1-3 15-8

Interesting facts: Milan Baros was the top scorer at Euro 2004 with 5 goals in 5 matches.

The Czech Republic top scorer of the qualifying campaign is the defender Michal Kadlec with 4 goals.

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Another Euro and Czechs will again show up in the role of underdogs. They haven’t missed any European Championship since they evolved into Czech Republic from Czechoslovakia and have probably been the unluckiest participants since then, leaving the championships in dramatic circumstances all the time.

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Sweden

Sweden

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group D: 11-06-12: Ukraine – Sweden, 15-06-12: Sweden - England, 19-06-12: Sweden - France

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 17

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+8=0-2 31-11

Interesting facts: Sweden is the 3^rd best scoring team of the Euro 2012 qualification. Only Netherlands and Germany have scored more.

14 different players managed to score goals for the Swedish team during the 10 qualification matches.  

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Sweden had the best result among the qualification runners-up, therefore they automatically qualified for the Euro, unlike the other runners-up, who had to fight in the play-offs. The qualifying campaign ended smoothly. The Swedes won 8 matches, ending the campaign in a great style, beating the Netherlands. This was the first qualifying tourney under Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s captaincy. How will the first major tournament end?

WELCOME TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, FC BARCELONA!

Guardiola's Barcelona era is over: that is the biggest headline of tonight.

And is John Terry worth to even be taken to Euro 2012 with the England national team?

Those are just a couple of thoughts one comes to after the most heroic of the performances ever shown in Champions League. Chelsea did it! A night to forget for Messi and Co, with Fernando Torres scoring the goal fully redeeming the 50 million pounds Abramovich paid for him. Unbelievable!

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Russia

Russia

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Russia – Czech Republic, 12-06-12: Poland – Russia, 16-06-12: Greece - Russia

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 11

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1996, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+7=2-1 17-4

Interesting facts: Only Italy conceded fewer goals than Russia among the 51 nations competing for Euro 2012 participation.  

Only Pavel Pogrebnyak of Fulham does not represent a domestic club among all of the national team candidates.

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After being chosen to lead Russians when the Guus Hiddink era was over, Dick Advocaat, a usual substitute to Hiddink, shockingly gave away his job as Belgium coach and returned to Russia. Here he managed to qualify for a major competition on his first attempt. Something you can’t really satisfy the Russian fans with, but still, something that doesn’t happen every time. The team has been unbeaten in 11 matches now, conceding only 3 goals.

EURO 2012: 16 under a loupe: Greece

Greece

Factsheet: 

Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Poland - Greece, 12-06-12: Greece – Czech Republic, 16-06-12: Greece - Russia

FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 14

Previous European Championship Appearances: 1980, 2004, 2008

Qualifying record: 10+7=3-0 14-5

Interesting facts: Greece holds the record of the first team ever to beat both the hosts and defending champions in the same championship (2004).

Greece was the first defending European champion not to earn a single point in the next European Championship (2008).

Greece is the least scoring team that qualified for Euro 2012.

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For the first time since 1994 will the Greek team show up to a major competition without Otto Rehhagel in charge. Fernando Santos, as any of his successors, will constantly be compared with King Otto. The Portuguese started well: his side has only lost once in 19 games. Hellenic Football Federation has already offered a new contract to Santos, without waiting for the Euro 2012 outcome.