As Spain were crowned World Champions in Joburg, the curtain came down on the very first World Cup to be held in Africa. European teams accomplished a 1-2-3 with Spain defeating Holland in the World Cup final and Germany getting 3rd place with a 3-2 success against Uruguay.
This just goes to strengthen the discussion that European football is the strongest on earth and that the European Championships are a fabulous tournament. Qualifying matches for the Euro 2012 finals gets started in September and regardless of finishing 3rd, Germany are going to be among the favourites to lift the trophy. Their young side produced some incredible football during the World Cup with Thomas Muller winning lifting the Golden Boot with 5 goals and 3 assists. With the help of several other young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, Germany will be among the ones to beat.
As World and European champions, Spain will undoubtedly be a extremely tough rival. Almost all of their squad will still be young enough in 2012 to give tough opposition and they should be hoping to defend their title.
For once Netherlands managed to leave their personal egos at home at the World Cup tournament and as a result, the Dutch reached their 3rd World Cup final beating quite a few peoples favourite, Brazil, on the way. With more clinical finishing from Robben, Netherlands could possibly have won the competition instead of Spain and they will look to continue in the same vein throughout Euro 2012.
The typically strong teams of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and consequently, the curtain will probably come down on plenty of of the older players careers. England have a host of exciting young players to deliver to the international stage and if they can imitate the German team, there will be increased hopes between the English fans.
The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both get tremendous support but ultimately, they certainly accomplish not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012