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, new stars set to shine

With the 2012 European Championships due to start today, it's a chance for young players to shine, players that have established themselves at their clubs and are just finding their feet at international level. Traditionally, the Euros have been a platform for younger players to make a name for themselves and here I look at 7 players who could be household names after the tournament ends in three weeks

Danny Welbeck
Manchester United and England
21 year old centre forward
International games/goals: 5/1
Welbeck came through the youth ranks at Manchester United and after loan spells at Preston North End and Sunderland, last season was his first full senior season with the Premier League runner ups. Keeping out the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez he went on to make 30 appearances and score 9 goals in that time, mainly while partnering his England colleague Wayne Rooney. Making his international debut in March 2011 he has played 5 games for England to date, scoring his only goal in his last game against Belgium. Oddly, with Wayne Rooney suspended for the first two games, Welbeck will look to replace the man he partners at club level.

Jodi Alba
Valencia and Spain
23 year old left sided defender/midfielder
International games/goal: 4/0
Having been an ever present in the Valencia team since 2009, Alba is now getting recognition at international level, with Capdevilla not in the squad (he was starting left back when Spain won Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010), Alba is an exciting prospect to watch who could well move on to another club after this tournament (both Manchester United and Barcelona are reportedly interested), this is one exciting left back who could really make his mark over the next few weeks

Rui Patricio
Sporting Lisbon and Portugal
24 year old goalkeeper
International games/goals: 11/0
Having made his debut for Sporting in 2006, he has played almost 150 games for his club and is looking to cement himself as his countries no. 1. Having started the last 5 games for Portugal, it does seem manager Paulo Bento will stick with him and at just 24, this is the first tournament of potentially many that will feature Rui Patricio. If Portugal are to do well then he will have to perform though with the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Nani in the team, the weight of a nation isn't on his shoulders, Portugal could be a very dangerous team in this tournament and one to watch.

Mario Gotze
Borussia Dortmund and Germany
20 year old attacking midfielder
International games/goals: 14/2
Germany are favourites to win the tournament just behind Spain and scarily, they have selected only one player over 30 so they will nly get better over the next few years. Gotze is a product of the Dortmund youth academy, making his first team debut in 2009 and making 25 appearances for them last season where he was part of the league and cup winning side.  Ironically making his debut in November 2010 with Andre Schurrle, both players simultaneously became the first players born in the re-unified Germany to represent their country. In less than 2 years Gotze has scored 2 goals in his 14 international games and is ready to take the world by storm, having already allegedly turned down a transfer to Arsenal, Dortmund may have to work hard to keep one of the best young players in the world right now after Euro 2012.

Christian Eriksen
Ajax and Denmark
20 year old midfielder
International games/goals: 22/2
The youngest player at the World Cup in 2010 and has spent the last 2 years having a rising influence on that Danish squad. In February 2011 after a match against England, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand both praised the midfielders performance. Having become a main part of the Ajax team over the past 2 and a half years and winning league titles, this is a tournament set up for Eriksen to make a name for himself and the 20 year old WILL start for a country that has nothing to lose, this Danish wonderkid has already attracted the attention of some of Europe's other major sides.

Alan Dzagoev
CSKA Moscow and Russia
21 year old attacking midfielder
International games/goals: 20/4
By the time the World Cup heads to Russia in 2018, Dzagoev should be the figurehead head of the Russian side and potentially the face of the tournament. Making his debut for CSKA Moscow in 2008, Dzagoev has been an ever-present for his club ever since and already won the Russian cup 3 times. When he made his debut for Russia in October 2008 he became the youngest ever outfield player for Russia and gone on to score 4 goals in 20 games for the Soviets. This set piece specialist has already attracted attention from clubs such as Manchester United and Tottenham and is someone who is a diligent hard worker and can achieve whatever he wants to achieve.

Yann M'Vila
Rennes and France
21 year old defensive midfielder
International games/goals: 19/1
As of writing M'Vila was still in the French squad though had taken a knock in the weekend fixture against Serbia. Losing M'Vila would be a blow to French coach Laurent Blanc and disrupt his plans, that's how good this young defensive midfielder is for his country. Having played 130 games for his club Rennes since 2009, in August 2010 he won his first cap for France and has become a mainstay of a rejuvenated France squad that spectacularly imploded at the last World Cup. Strongly linked with a move to Arsenal, opposition sides won't enjoy coming up against the tough tackling Frenchman who will look to restore some national pride.

Why North Americans don't like soccer

Why don't Americans like soccer?

With U.S.A. competing in their 5th finals in a row (England are only playing in their fourth after ironically failing to qualify for USA '94) and a team ranked 14th in the world by FIFA (not to mention the largest bonus scheme for the event for any nation in World Cup history, potentially worth $20.6m of $895,000 per player for winning the tournament (about £620,000), I'm taking a look at why a country with such a large base to pick players (population approximately 309m), evidently a large money figure to improve players and training complexes, this is a country that could be a world leader in the world's most popular sport, yet they choose not to have an interest.

Despite decades of strenuous efforts to promote soccer to American youth and sports fans and despite the phenomenal success of the American women's soccer team in international competition, 'soccer' remains the neglected stepchild of the American sports scene. The fact the country don't progress past the group stages hardly raises an eyebrow within the nation, compare this to the black cloud that descended over the country when the American men's basketball team failed to win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.

So why don't Americans like 'soccer'? there appear to be two basic explanations, the first is 'marketplace' as sports in this country are filled with baseball, basketball, American football and to a lesser degree, ice hockey, leaving no room for popularity to grow. Andrei Markovits, the Boston Globe's soccer correspondent wrote;-

'America filled its own sports space with three games thus 'crowding out' soccer's chances of becoming part of America's sports culture'

I'm not convinced, marketplaces are inherently dynamic, if 'soccer' were a worthy object of American sports fans interests, it would enjoy greater popularity.....but it doesn't. Which brings me to the second common explanation for it's lack of popularity and the answer i get when asking most Americans why they aren't excited about the World Cup, " 'soccer' is boring". They like high scoring games (basketball scores are rarely under 100, American football has high scores) but in my opinion, a goal scored in football is rarer than a 'touchdown' and even rarer compared to a 'slam dunk', so what that elusive goal is scored, ear shattering howls of euphoria erupt from players, announcers and fans alike, as if their very souls were being released from the depths of hell, compared to a '2 pointer' in basketball which gets another round of applause.

Goals are indeed a rare commodity in 'soccer', so much so that 'soccer' is essentially, a zero sum game. The number of goals is meager, it never grows (a 4-0 thrashing isn't all that common), so games are fought over an intensity that is almost never found in American sports, this isn't boring, it's just deeply unsatisfying to Americans brought up on deskilled levels of competitive games where the final result isn't applauded as much as in 'soccer'.

The fact of the matter is, Americans don't subscribe to the 'zero sum' mentality, nor have the belief system nor the temperament for such an endless sport as 'soccer', they like their sports teams to score and to score plenty, they believe this gives value to their 'buck', why labour for the sake of labouring, it's perhaps a lack of sophistication or maybe a large enjoyment of exceptionalism, needing goals galore to gain any enjoyment, whatever it is, i feel it's a shame that such a patriotic nation won't be fully behind a team and able to take joy at competing with the world's best, their interior sports (baseball has the World Series, well......American teams take part as only really America plays baseball, same with American football, a few small pockets of people may play the sport but most nations would play rugby instead) meaning they only compete against themselves. Maybe this tournament will catch the public eye, it can only be for the benefit of the sport if it does.

Now, let's look at what some of the American celebrity's are saying about the tournament, High School Musical star Zac Effron said he can't wait for the States' game on Saturday....against Manchester United!

Actor Jason Segel (Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Slackers) called the England team 'the UK' and got his dates wrong saying 'my best friend is British and left the room crying five years ago during the World Cup'

Jackie Chan said his favourites to win are 'Barcelona and Milan'.  I approached wrestling personality Jeremy Borash to do an interview for the blog, the reply i got back on 31st May, 12 days before a ball is even kicked, was 'sorry for the delay, hope you enjoyed the World Cup!'

Other stars like Eva Mendes and Vanessa Hudgens had no idea the tournament was about to start but to give him credit, rapper Snoop Dog was more knowledgeable, saying 'I believe Brazil are going to win'