Updated Prediction for Euro2012

Tonight, one of the teams I originally picked as favourites for the tournament will be knocked out, as Germany and Italy face each other tonight in the second semi-final tonight in Warsaw. With England having predictably been the first of my picks to get knocked out, I suspect that Italy will be the second, lacking the firepower to overcome the impressive German team. And I further suspect that Germany will spoil the hopes of Spain to achieve the impressive feat of winning three successive international tournaments over the last three years. The belief in the Spanish squad should now be strong, following their hard-fought victory over Portugal last night, and they would probably be good enough to beat the Italian team. But no team in this tournament has matched the fluency and goal-scoring power of the Germans, and it is these qualities which will (probably - just to manage expectations!) take them to the title.

Euro2012 Predictions

With the first round of matches out the way, it seems like a good time to make some, most likely wildly innacurate, predictions. Here are my top 3 teams to win the tournament:

Germany - a good win against Portugal by a team largely made up of Bayern Munich players, still smarting from the Chelsea defeat in the Champions League final, suggests that this is a cohesive and driven team.

Italy - A draw against the World Champions suggest that, as with the last time that allegations of corruption erupted in Italian football, this is a team which performs best when they have their backs against the wall.

England - A selection based more on hope than judgement. Fingers crossed that the lack of weight of expectation on this England team allows them to perform to their very best.