Euro 2012 Group B Preview

Euro 2012 - Group B.
Germany:
Qualified Group A winners
The Germans breezed through qualifying with a perfect record brushing aside the likes of Turkey and Belgium. If that doesn't impress you consider this - they've beaten England, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Holland in the last two years. Manager Joachim Low has continued to develop his own take on the Dutch idea of Total Football and has done it with a young, enthusiastic and hungry side. In fact the side is so young that only 8 players in the German squad of 23 are over 25.

Low is likely to field a 4-2-3-1 formation that can compact to a 4-4-1-1 or even 4-5-1 when without the ball and under pressure. He has the luxury of being able to choose between Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez to lead the line with support from playmaker Mesut Ozil and pace and finishing either side from Podolski and Muller. Behind this front line ae likely to be the leadership and guidance of Schweinsteiger and Khedira and this is the key to German success. These two with (and/or possibly Toni Kroos) will need to shield what is a less than solid defence. Per Mertesacker has had an injury and error ridden first season at Arsenal and as shown in the 5 - 3 loss to Switzerland recently his partnreship with Mats Hummels needs work. Compound that with a number of Bayern Munich players (Lahm, Boateng, Badstuber) who had a terrible end to the season getting stuffed 5-2 in the German Cup final and losing the Champions League final and you have the makings of an under confident and mentally fatigued defensive unit.

Having said that I feel the Germans will have too much quality across the park for the teams in their group and when you consider they have Mario Gotze , the German Messi, on the bench they should win the group.

Tip - Group B winners

Holland:
Qualified Group E Winners
The Dutch are much like the Germans - a lot of quality creatively and in the finishing department but more than a little suspect at the back. Also like the Germans they dominated their qualifying group, winning the first nine matches and scoring 35 goals in the process before dropping the last game to group runners up Sweden 2-3.

Coach Bert van Marwijk has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar vying with Robin Van Persie for the position at the pointy end of the Oranje's 4-2-3-1. Huntelaar can boast 12 goals in qualifying and 31 in 50 appearances at international level while Van Persie won the Premier League Golden Boot last season and scored 50 goals in all competitions in 2011. The answer maybe to deployed Van Persie wide on the right with Huntelaar through the middle. Joining those two in the starting 11 will be Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben with two of Mark Van Bommel, Nigel De Jong, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Kevin Strootman battling in the middle of the park. Van Bommel and De Jong provide the steel and are the preferred partnership but if the Dutch need a result don't be surprised to see De Jong make way for a more creative partner for Van Bommel.

Incumbent left back Erik Pieters has been ruled out of the tournament giving van Marwijk a headache, he's opted to bring veteran Wilfred Bouma in with back up in the form of 18 year old Jetro Willems. On the other side of defence the much vaunted Gregory Van der Weil is a very forward thinking fullback and with the decidedly pace less Heitinga and Mathijsen as centre backs I think the Oranje's weak point will be at the back putting more emphasis on the central midfield pairing which, given their history and temperament could lead to a few cards pool play.

Van Marwijk's best bet against the group stage opposition maybe taking the philosophy of if they score two we'll score three - should be an entertaining group and one which the Dutch should have the fire power to qualify from.

Tip - Group B - Runners Up

Portugal:
Qualified Group H Runners Up
When most football fans think of Portugal they think of Cristiano Ronaldo - Europe's best player and without a certain diminutive Argentinian the Worlds best player. Ronaldo has had a magnificent season for Real Madrid scoring 64 goals creating 15 more and winning La Liga - in fact he was so good this season he gave himself 10 out of 10 as a mark for the season but the rest of the Real squad "only" a 9 out of 10.

However even the mercurial Real star will need to perform superhuman feats to improve a poor performing Portugese side. They only just scrapped through qualifying on goal difference over the Norwegians and were largely unconvincing over two legs against Bosnia Herzagovnia despite a final aggregate of 6-2. Only recently in warm up matches for the Euro's they've drawn nil all with both Poland and Macedonia and lost 3 - 1 in Lisbon to Turkey.

Ronaldo needs support and on paper at least the Portugese have the players to provide it. From a squad including Manchester United winger Nani, Chelsea midfielder Meireles, Werder Bremen strike weapon Hugo Almeida and Real Madrid defensive lynch pin Pepe you'd expect more - so you expect do the Portugese fans and most certainly their coach - former international Paulo Bento.

Given the group they're in I can't see them making the quarter finals barring a miracle, the Germans and Dutch will most certainly be to strong and the Danes got the better of them in qualifying - the real question is can they avoid finishing bottom of this group?

Tip - Group B - Third

Denmak
Qualified Group H Winners
Denmark have long punched above their weight on the international stage and they did it again in qualifying topping a group that included local rivals Norway and Iceland and the much fancied Portugese. They suffered just one loss - that to the Portugese in the final game when qualification was already assured.

The Danes have a solid look to them with Liverpool's Daniel Agger and the highly rated Roma defender Simon Kjaer marshalling the centre of defense and Christian Poulsen and Niki Zimling offering them protection in midfield. Further forward Christian Eriksen is the young play maker that is constantly being linked to moves to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United and he along side veteran winger Dennis Rommendahl and Nicolas Bendtner will be responsible for creating the majority of the Danes goal scoring chances.

The loss of Thomas Sorensen could be a major blow for the teams chances, his defensive organising and experience will be missed against two of Europe's top three sides.

Tip - Group B - Fourth