Today Euro 2012 kicks off a month before the more celebrated Olympics. When you talk about the best sports tournaments in the world you seldom hear the Euro Football Competition being mentioned in that list. Its not as big as the World Cup or as glamorous as the Superbowl but for the best international football, it's hard to beat the Euros. Europe has long been the leader in world football since the creation of the modern game. Powerhouses England, France, Italy, Spain and Germany have won 10 of the 19 World Cups and there have been other teams such as the 1950's Hungarian side and the Dutch 1970's teams which were the best of their eras as well.
As much as people like to think that the Football World Cup is the best international football competition on this earth they don't take into account that it is watered down because of the allocation of spots to every continent. If it was done on world ranking alone European countries would make up 70% of the countries in the World Cup, Thankfully we have the Euro's every four years, to witness great international football between sides with deep historical and social rivalries bordering on war.
This year the Euro's are being hosted in two countries- Poland and Ukraine. The lead up to the event has been filled with stories of the lack of preparation. Ticket sales are down as people are worried about racism and violence which the eastern European host countries have a reputation for, not to mention accommodation is sorely lacking (The mascots above might have something to do with it as well). At least the stadiums are ready though. There are sixteen teams split into four groups with the top two from every group advancing to the quarter-finals. I will do separate postings for each group followed by my overall predictions of the tournament. Enjoy.
Photo sourced from rottengambel.wordpress.com
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