Euro 2012: Group D, why England CAN progress

The final group in Euro 2012 kicks off tonight and it's also possible the hardest one to judge, each team is playing down their chances but really they will all feel they have a chance to go through. Ukraine as hosts will either feel the pressure of being a host nation too much or be spurred on by home support. Sweden have talented players yet play well as a team, France are a team that have dramatically rebuilt since the collapse at World Cup 2010 and England have a manager a month into the job, players missing or suspended but have arguably the best looking defence on paper. Watching this group play out will be fascinating.


England
   England fans aren't expecting much this summer, with new manager 'Woy' Hodgson appointed just over a month ago, key players like Gary Cahill and Frank Lampard injured and key player Wayne Rooney suspended for the first 2 games, why should optimism be high? Well in my opinion, England have one the of the best defences on paper. Manchester City's Joe Hart has just finished a season where his side won the English league title, Hart was a key part of that. Look at the best left back's across the world, is there anyone better than Ashley Cole? (Ashley Cole could be out of the France game from a knock in training...
Roy may call up Rio now...And ask him if he's got Sol Campbell's number)  In central defence they have John Terry, while some may question his personality, on the pitch Terry is a born leader. Alongside him will be Joleon Lescott who like Joe Hart has completed a league winning season at Manchester City and can be a colossus in defence. At right back England will have Glen Johnson, not as articulate or technical as Ashley Cole on the right but the Liverpool man likes to get forward and support the attack and has pace to come back and cover. Where England can come unstuck is their attacking options. Manchester United's Wayne Rooney misses the first two games through suspension (he petulantly kicked Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovic in a game when England had already qualified) and no-one is in the calibre of class that he is for England. Danny Welbeck looks likely to start the first game against France and has looked impressive for Manchester United though in the so called big games, he can fade away and he can't do that at this level. The other option is the wayward Andy Carroll, the Liverpool man has had a mixed season and his electric form in the final weeks of the season have gained him a place in this squad (Roy Hodgson only selected four strikers in his Euro 2012squad; Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Danny Welbeck and Andy Carroll. With Rooney suspended for the first two games and Defoe sent home for family reasons, we're left with only two striking options, Danny Welbeck's right foot, and his left foot.). England will look to counter attack opponents and will rely on the defence to perform admirably and be a platform for the rest of the team. Though Hodgson has just days to decide his team, some of his inclusions have been surprising, particually picking 6 players from a poor Liverpool side. Steven Gerrard is the England and Liverpool captain and deserves his place but why was Andy Carroll picked before Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge or Norwich's Grant Holt? Stuart Downing never got a goal OR an assist on the wing for Liverpool and has been picked (Downing has hit back at critics who questioned his lack of goals and assists this season but unfortunately, he missed), why not Everton's Leon Osman or Manchester United's Tom Cleverley, both who had good solid season's at their respective clubs. Much fuss has been made over Hodgson's decision not to include Rio Ferdinand when Martin Kelly was picked but why not select Micah Richards or Chris Smalling. Lastly is the inclusion of Jordan Henderson, why not pick Manchester United's Michael Carrick or City's James Milner? England could of come here with a lot more experience and more quality, players have been omitted that have won leagues, domestic and European titles, the reason we are told is to look at the bigger picture with the World Cup in 2 years but I don't buy that as surely more youth players would be picked, plus England fans want the best players for the team here and now, England could over-exceed all expectations or fail miserably, if it's the latter, the excuses are already waiting.
  Star Man - Steven Gerrard will be key driving the team on but Ashley Young from Manchester United will be the creative spark and look to link up between midfield and attack, if he has a good tournament then England will follow suit.
  Prediction - Much is made of the first game against France, if they win that they will escape the group with the returning Wayne Rooney, as I expect a draw I don't think England can get out the group and fans will hear about 'lack of time to prepare', 'unfortunate injuries' and 'bad luck', maybe England just aren't that good right now

 
France
 Coach Laurent Blanc took over the squad 2 years ago after the embarrassing debacle at the World Cup in South Africa after previous manager Raymond Domenach had the team implode. In that time former France player and World Cup winner Blanc has been able to experiment with different formations and players in that time. Lyon's Hugo Loris the captain and the goalkeeper is a player Blanc has stuck with. Defenders Adil Rami from Valencia and Milan's Philippe Mexes always play when they are available to, Rennes 21 year old midfielder Yann M'Vila is so good he's slowly having the team build around him and their first choice striker is Real Madrid's Karim Benzema. The past two years have seen Les Blues become a lot more attack minded and they look to keep possession and complete short passes, relying on wingers Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) and Manchester City's Samir Nasri to break through defences.
   Key player - Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid man scored 32 goals last season and will look at this tournament as his chance to truly shine for France, if the French team progress, he could well be the tournament's top scorer (expect Benzema and Ribery to be in single digits and not under age prostitutes this tournament)
  Prediction - France flatter to deceive, they have a decent side and will give anyone a good game, if they do make it out of the group I expect them to fall in the quarter finals

Sweden
  The Swedes are always well balanced and organised and as ever, they go into this set of games the same. In defence they have Olympiacos and former Aston Villa centre back Olaf Mellberg alongside West Brom's Jonas Olsson,  midfielders see's the likes of Lyon's Kim Kallstrom and Sunderland's Seb Larsson looking to run at defenders and create opportunities for the mystifying Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I have never bought into this belief he is one of the world's best players yet I have never seen him perform well when it comes to the big games, he once claimed he is the world's best player, well I'd like to see him go out there and prove that.
  Key player - Kim Kallstrom, he can pull the strings in midfield, with 92 caps to his name he has plenty of experience and he is a constant performer in the Sweden squad
  Prediction - the group is hard to call but teams need to be patient against Sweden as they are beatable and I feel that will show, expect them to end the tournament after the three group games



Ukraine
  Ukraine haven't been lucky with injuries but with all but two of the squad picked played their club football in Ukraine (and 15 either playing for Dynamo Kyiv or Shaktyr Donetsk), they will all know each other well and with playing at home, this is an added advantage for them. Kyiv midfielders Yevhan Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko can provide the opportunities for Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Voronin. The hosts will look to counter attack opposition but with key players like Donetsk's Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Kyiv's veteran goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovsky missing, the other teams in this group should be able to exploit that added to the fact the Ukrainians don't have the same quality or technical prowess, they don't often qualify for tournaments and as hosts, they won't progress but they will leave their mark against one of the teams
   Key player -Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Andriy Yarmolenko has, at the tender age of 22, scored 8 goals in 22 goals, he will look to produce chances for his team and given the chance, will drive Ukraine forward.
  Prediction - the hosts nation usually get buoyed by home support but Ukraine aren't as good as the other 3 teams in this group, ranked 52 in the world, they won't make it out of the group.

Euro 2012: Group A, the most open group

 With the opening games of the tournament set to come from this group on Friday, it's interesting to look at the 4 teams in Group A. This group is the most open of all 4 and feasibly, any 2 of the sides can qualify for the quarter-finals and once out of the group, anything can happen as Greece themselves proved by winning the tournament in 2004.

Czech Republic

 At the start of qualifying, head coach Michal Bilek identified the team had a lack of width and switched his formation to have either Nurnberg's Tomas Peckhart or Milan Baros from Galatasary as the lone striker with Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky in support. Jaroslav Plasil, the defensive midfielder who plies his trade in France for Bordeaux has been the key for the Czech's success in qualifying, he allows them team to have more creative freedom with the likes of Vaclav Pilar (Wolfsburg) at his side. The Czech's are a very well organised side that are dangerous on the counter attack with team captain Petr Cech from Chelsea in goal able to set the team on their way forward.

Key player - Petr Cech, the 29 year old goalkeeper will need to be in fine form and keeping clean sheets for the Czech's to even get out of the group, let alone progress further but if he plays as well as he did for Chelsea in their winning Champions League campaign last season the Czech have a fighting chance.

Prediction - with Poland having home support and Russia not far behind with fans surely to travel to support them, Czech Republic may find it hard to get through the group and should potentially finish 3rd

Greece

   After Otto Rehhagel left as manager in 2010 after 9 years, new Portuguese manager Fernando Santos brought with him a new mentality and changed the style of the team to be more direct. They have over the past 2 years become a more controlled team that tries to build play from the back. A side not littered with star names but who, as in 2004, play as a strong team unit, have experience in players like Celtic's Georgios Samaras, captain from Panathinaikos Georgios Karagounis and Kostas Katsourninis, all who played in 2004.

Key Player - Sotiris Ninis, the Panathinaikos playmaker missed most of last season for his club through injury so may be rusty going into this tournament but has a chance to make a name for himself. The 22 year old left sided winger has played 19 games for Greece already and scored 2 goals and will look to impress to potentially attract interest from bigger clubs across Europe 

Prediction - Much like the Czech Republic, Greece could well struggle in the anticipated hostile crowds and could well finish bottom of the group

Poland

  With managerial experience stretching back all the way to the early 70's (and managing George Best no less at Los Angeles Aztecs), hugely experienced head coach Francciszek Smuda has been happy to select players that have Polish roots though raised in other countries after families have moved nations following World War II (Tesco has announced 20,000 new jobs are to be created in the UK, Poland's Prime Minister has welcomed the news), this has allowed Smuda the luxury of fielding a side with a more high energy side than seen over previous years, beating the likes of Germany and Argentina in friendlies over the past 2 years. The midfield look to keep possession with team captain Jakub Blaszczykowski from Borussia Dortmund integral in the centre. They are perhaps over-reliant on fellow Dortmund player Robert Lewandowski up front and if he was injured or suspended, it's hard to see where they would score goals though Celtic's Pawel Brozek does aid the side though not as prolifically.

Key player - Robert Lewandowski, he will be in the form of his life having won the German Bundesliga's Player Of The Year Award in leading Dortmund to a league and cup double scoring 30 goals last season and 8 assists. Lewandowski could well be the top goal scorer in this tournament or at least in the group stages.

Prediction - home advantage should mean they qualify for the quarter-finals but there they could struggle against superior opponents from Group B like Germany, Netherlands or Portugal

Russia

   Succeeding Guus Hiddink as manager, Dutchman Dick Advocaat hasn't really changed the side or stamped his own authority in the two years he's been in charge and it's likely that he will stay with the same tried and trusted set of players throughout. The likes of Arsenal's Andrei Arshavin, Zenit St Petersburg's Aleksandr Kerzhakov and current Lokomotiv Moscow (and former Tottenham) striker Roman Pavlyuchenko will be the main threat on goal for opposition to worry about but it's young Alan Dzagoev from CSKA Moscow who could really impress in this squad from midfield. With Arshavin and defender Sergei Ignashevich both able to score from free-kicks, watch for the Russians to be deadly at set pieces or with crosses into the goal area to their tall forwards.

Key player - Alan Dzagoev, so far scoring 4 goals in just 20 appearances and current winner of Best Young Player Of The Year in Russia, this is a stage where the young CSKA Moscow midfielder could make a name for himself. The 21 year old attacking midfielder will be a threat and I expect him to stand out amongst the younger players in the tournament

Prediction - Much like Poland, they should progress from the group and then fall at the quarter final stage, they will have travelling support who will get behind them and they will be a danger to any side that face them.