What to expect at Euro 2012 based on Friendlies

Though we have enjoyed seeing the highlights from the recently concluded friendlies and displays of brilliance and comedies, they perhaps are an incomplete version that certain gossipers may be painting of the upcoming Euro Championship in June. Could be the apt review point of all the teams aiming to win gold in June. I will be mis-informative if I discourse on smaller teams, but I guess a look at the teams that have a realistic chance of winning would do.

1. Spain- Ah, the champions! The World Champions too. Favorites headed in right direction?? Why not? 5-0 (yeah, vs Venezuela, but still) and fully dominant. Off the bench comes Roberto Soldado who replaced the woefully misfiring Fernando Torres, stealing his #9 and stealing the limelight with a hat-trick, though most of them were from point blank range. Jordi Alba, the Valencia left back impressed indeed, while David Silva and Cesc Fabregas showcased the mettle that their clubs benefit from to add class to the mid. The return of David Villa would make them more potent and with the warrior-ship Xabi Alonso to back creationists like Silva/Fabregas and Iniesta, Spain have only one problem - that of plenty.

2. England - Somehow it is always before these big tournaments that England seem to shoot themselves in the foot. They're in the Euros which is a BIG improvement from last time. Count the positives, and you can count atleast an equal number of negatives. The front was a dud in the world cup (not that the rest of the team wasn't) and by trying the trio of Welbeck, Sturridge and Campbell (not sure why) England can say they are ready to look beyond Heskey and Crouch (could also be that they just have to). Atleast caretaker Stuart Pearce can say that. Yesterday's team had energy on the team sheet - Adam J, Scotty, Young and Richards to name a few. Not many agree with this but its perhaps time to look beyond Gerrard too. A long term adieu to Rio and Terry should set the growth in motion. Cahill is living up to promise. As usual expectations abound. The Terry-Capello saga that saw the Italian leave has left a mess in which no one knows who'll manage England in June, and whether anything good that Pearce does will not be dismantled in June. As said earlier, England shoot themselves on the foot at the worst possible times. As always, England 'can' do it, but it wont be even a small surprise should they implode again.

3.  Holland - The World Cup finalists don't look much different now from what they did then. They look just as good enough. A thrilling win at Wembley would've exhibited alot of positives. Robin van Persie is the man of the moment in the BPL. Arjen Robben just showed he can still be a nightmare to rival defenses. Schalke striker Klaas-jan Huntelaar will be demanding a spot in the first XI with his performances. Wesley Sneijder's club might be having a bad time but he's still one of the best around. Besides having a pool of players who didn't feature yesterday like Rafael van der Vaart, Theo Janssen, Gregory van der Wiel and Ibrahim Afellay. And there's Nigel de Jong  too. Yesterday's result just drove home a point.

4. Italy- Well, they lost to the USA. Thats no good. But they have had a very difficult job of carefully replacing players past their use-by date. Mario 'Super' Balotelli, who was not selected for breaching some training protocol, will make them meaner for sure than starting up front with Alessandro Matri and Sebastian Giovinco. Pazzini came off the bench but didn't do much. Fabio Borini, the youngster, apparently had a pretty good game and would surely give the Italians something to think about. With Christian Maggio and Domenico Criscito to play full back, the Italians can hope that part of the team is settled. Daniele de Rossi, another sure starter along with Ricardo Montolivo can greatly enhance Italy's ability to sustain pressure while Italy still need to figure out who all will be incharge of making sure pressure bears some fruit. Giorgio Chiellini, another sure starter, will guard veteran Buffon's post in Italy's first big tournament after Fabio Cannavaro's departure. Paolo Cannavaro who did not play yesterday will fight with Barzagli and others to partner Chiellini. The world doesn't expect them to do much, but Italy will have to get working on getting a better team out there.

5. Portugal - Cristiano Ronaldo!! He will be hungry to win this, he really will. He wont be happy with a goal-less affair at Poland. But he hopes for better things in June. A good young team, not much changed from WC2010. The names of CR and Nani up there, makes you draw in a deep breath. And then there's the impressive Joao Moutinho and Raul Mereiles with the job of getting the engine running. Not to mention CR's Real Madrid mates of Fabio Coentrao and Pepe. And I do think this friendly should probably be treated just that way. It doesn't tell the truth about Portugal. 

6. France - Sweet victory! A morale boosting and necessary victory just to look ahead to June with anticipation after being in the news for all wrong reasons after WC2010. Oliver Giroud, no you wont have heard much of him, but oh what relief he brought to France. France didn't play their best players up front which would have to include Karim Benzema. They also have the likes of Loic Remy, Bafetimbi Gomis and Jeremy Briand to choose from. As well as Louis Saha who came off the bench yesterday. The re-inclusion of Samir Nasri in the lineup adds valuable attack support and Yohann Cabaye who's creativity has been vital for Newcastle is a welcome inclusion. Gael Clichy getting predominance over Eric Abidal is something I favour. Franck Ribery is a name that should be mentioned as well. Yohann Gourcuff, Aly Cissokho and Bacary Sagna (Mathieu Debuchy player rightback yesterday) are all in the mix. If the unit sticks together, I think France have a realistic chance of bagging gold this time.

7. Germany - They lost yesterday, but yet another young team with impressive youngsters making waves around Europe. They have arguably the world's best GK (Casillas will have something to say about this) in Manuel Neuer (though it was Tim Wiese yesterday). Apparently WC expert Miroslav Klose is still in the scheme of things at 33 and will rightly make best use of him this one last time atleast. A good bunch of new prospects featured - Toni Kroos (sub appearances in WC2010), Marco Reus, Denis Aogo, Mats Hummels et al though none of them had much to show for. Mesut Ozil is said to have had a good game. Cacau scored after coming off the bench while Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez came off the bench too.  With Phillip Lahm they will be stronger, while injured Mario Gotze was not tried. A plethora of other names to be tried too - Marcell Schmelzer, Andreas Beck, Stefan Kiessling (sub at WC2010). We hoped to see more of how Germany will shape up. Perhaps another friendly is needed for that.

I peg the number of teams with a realistic chance at 7. And of course this is too early to look to June but I find it exciting to project yesterday's show to the future. Again, Friendlies might not mean much...