Euro 2012: The Knockout Stages

Well what an intriguing tournament it’s been so far. The football has been, on the most part, excellent and we’ve seen a number of shocks which have really spiced up the quarter final stage.

Karagounis has been instrumental for the Greeks during these championships.

Group A was always going to be the most open of the groups but few would have been brave enough to predict that Greece and the Czechs would make it through. It seemed that Russia and Poland were destined for the knockout stages but the Czechs somehow managed to recover from their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Russians and record two straight wins. The Greeks (and as anyone who read my group stage preview will know, I landed the Greeks in the sweepstake) scraped through by the skin of their teeth, recording just one win from their three group games.

Germany are favourites to win the tournament after impressing in the group stage

The reward for the Czechs is a tricky tie against Portugal tonight. Portugal were the dark horse in Group B and overcame Denmark after a thriller and beat the Netherlands fairly comfortably before pushing the otherwise dominant Germans all the way. Germany will face Greece in their quarter final and the game will have political connotations after the relationship between Greece and Germany has soured during the Eurozone crisis. Germany will be heavy favourites since they are the only team in the competition with a 100% record. I predicted that they’d be ruthlessly efficient and that’s what they were, winning every game by one goal to serenly progress from the ‘Group of Death’. As for the Dutch, they will go home and analyse just why they failed to fulfill their massive potential again.

Torres will have to propel this Spain side forward

Spain came to Poland and Ukraine looking to dazzle Europe with tiki-taka before claiming a hat-trick of major international competitions. Sadly, like France in 2002, they’ve disappointed so far. Yes, they’ve played well and gave the Irish a lesson but when the pressure was on against Italy they seemed to suffer from nerves. The re-emergence of Fernando Torres has given the Spanish a focal point but I’m still not confident that they’ll come away with the trophy. Italy just about made it through to the quarter finals after Prandelli’s tactical gambles started to pay off. Much of their success is based on keeping a clean sheet and striking on the counter but against sides such as Germany, that tactic will be hard to carry out. Croatia actually impressed the most in Group C. They looked comfortable going forward and pushed Spain and Italy very close. They’re just short of one or two good players in defence otherwise they’d have all the makings of a top-notch side.

Rooney’s served his ban and will be looking to terrorise the defences of Europe

Spain vs France is perhaps the stand-out tie of the quarter finals. Both sides have a lot to prove after disappointing efforts in the group stage. I think Spain have enough about them to quell the French goal threat and should progress but they can’t be as complacent as they’ve been up until now. On their day (well, against Ukraine) the French looked very good indeed and I think they’ll prefer being the underdogs for that one. England vs Italy looks like another mouth-watering morsel. Both sides are evenly matched, both are looking to confound pre-tournament expectations and both will look to play a direct, counter-attacking style. England have the benefit of Wayne Rooney returning from suspension and immediately getting in amongst the goals while Italy will focus on Di Natale and Balotelli with an onus on De Rossi and Pirlo in midfield stopping any potential England attack. It’ll be one for that tacticians but whoever wins has to have a lot of belief going into the semis…

So, after my predictions so far have been, in typical style, miles wide of the mark I’m going to do the only logical thing and give some more:

Quarter Final 1

Czech Republic vs Portugal

Winner: Portugal

Quarter Final 2

Germany vs Greece

Winner: Germany

Quarter Final 3

Spain vs France

Winner: Spain

Quarter Final 4

England vs Italy

Winner: England

Semi Final 1

Portugal vs Spain

Winner: Spain

Semi Final 2

Germany vs England

Winner: Germany (on penalties, naturally)

Final

Spain vs Germany

Winner: Germany

If that happens it’ll be a miracle judging from how far out I was in my group stage predictions but it’s probably the most logical outcome. Football tends to disobey logic at every convenience so here’s toasting a Greece vs Italy final!