The 2012 UEFA EURO

The inaugural tournament was entered by around half of UEFA's member associations, 17 in total, and one more than the minimum required. The Republic of Ireland were eliminated by Czechoslovakia in a qualifying play-off (the two teams met after the drawing of lots). The first championship match proper was held on 28 September 1958 in Moscow's Central Stadium – the USSR beating Hungary 3-1, with the home side's Anatoli Ilyin scoring the first goal after four minutes – and the inaugural competition took place over 22 months between 1958 and 1960. From small acorns do great oaks rise.
The first winner was former USSR

Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia

Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

ESPN's promo posters for each country:

Germany
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Ukraine
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Denmark
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Poland
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Spain
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Ireland
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Czech Republic
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England
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Italy
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Greece
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Russia
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France
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Portugal
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Sweden
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Croatia
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Netherlands
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Greece

This time round we aren't in the possession of a world class keeper like Nikopolidis was.
•Tzorvas -29 years old- of Palermo though is solid. He won't save us from defeat alone, but he can help along.



So, Greece's main strengh is once again its defense. This generation is blessed with some extremely talented backs and stoppers.

• V.Torosidis -26 years old- (right/left back-def/mid) of Olympiakos.
He's very fast, very strong, has a good header and can score like a mothafucka(video)+ Show Spoiler +. His name has being linked quite a few times with big clubs and I'm very surprised and happy he's still in Greece. A high caliber back.
• A.Papadopoulos -27 years old- (stopper) of Olympiakos.
Strong, tall, fast( not agile though). He's the natural successor of Dellas from the team of 2004. He's someone you can depend on with the task of marking a high profile player and pull through it.
• S.Papastathopoulos -23 years old- (stopper) of Werder Bremen. Athletic, smart, knows how to play the ball down his field as well.
He's the one who had the biggest breakthrough so far in his career, with a jump to Milan 2 years ago, in which he didn't manage to take a starters jersey and thus he left. He's the most technically gifted full stopper I've seen coming from Greece and his marking is also remarcable(nice pun lol). He will most probably be bought by Juventus this summer.
•K.Papadopoulos -20 years old- (stopper, def/mid) of Shalke. He's like Hulk. Just look at his body, and he has being like that since I first show him on Olympiakos, while he was only 14 years old. The young prodigy is like a natural disaster set upon the unfortunate attackers of the enemy team. His short passing is solid, and he's capable of 70 meters long crosses with accuracy. This one will be a world class player in a couple of years, many expectations from him this summer.



This is by far our weakest line unfortunately. We still have Karagounis and Katsouranis from the old squad, but they are kinda bad now, too old. These are their last appearances though so I hope they will put their heart into it.
The only really notable player is :
•G.Fetfatzidis -21 years old- (att mid, winger) of Olympiakos. Greece hasn't be lucky with such a promising talent for the last 15 years. He's short, fast, dribbles with ease, and he's a lefty. He got a Messi vibe in him, albeit without the goalscoring ability.(
I hope he won't be afraid to ask the ball from his seasoned teammates and step up to a leading position.
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Our offense is better than the 2004 squad. Aside from the 2 competent veterans Lyberopoulos and Salpiggidis, the 2 starters are :
•G.Samaras - 27 years old- ( att mid, forward) of Celtic. Although he can score given the chance, he's most important cause he can hold the ball and make the game. He has excellent technique for his height and he's the man who creates chances for the centre forward.
•T.Gekas -31 years old- (centre forward) of Samsunspor. He is beyond his best years in Bundesliga where he had many good seasons with solid 20's, but he remains a prolific scorer. We won't make many chances for goal, but the few we will, he has the ability to turn them into gold.


All in all, we once come again armed up to the teeth. We won't play pretty, we won't play fast, but we will play solid and calm. In raw talent and ability this team is better to the 2004 but that doesn't mean much. I expect to get out of our group and be eliminated right after.

the Netherlands

Maarten Stekelenburg, 29 years old, AS Roma.
Successor of Edwin van der Sar (one of the greatest goalkeepers Holland has had) and has already proven himself that he can save Holland from losing points. He's tall (1,97m), strong and has decent reflexes. Imo one of the top keepers in the world (top 5) normally (this season it's somewhat bad compared to before though).



This is Hollands biggest weakness and this could cost us the Euro Cup if you compare to the other top class countries participating.

John Heitinga, 29 years old, defender of Everton. He's the only one in our defense that has played a reasonable season compared to the others.

Joris Mathijsen, 32 years old, defender of Malaga CF. He's really old and not our best defender. Compared to the last generations he's one of our weakest central defenders we've had in Holland. Very slow and afaik hasn't been playing much for Malaga.

Erik Pieters, 23 years old, left back of PSV. He's supposedly our best defender on the left back but he's injured now. This is our biggest weakness in the defense. He's slow, loses his duels a lot and makes poor decisions. He's only here because there is no one better.

Gregory van der Wiel, 24 years old, right back of Ajax. He's Hollands best right back and most talented players. His defending isn't bad but it isn't that strong either. He attacks from the flanks a lot and he does it really well like Dani Alves for Barcelona. He's fast, agile and can give decent passes. The combination with Robben will definitely make this one of our stronger sides on the right.



This is where it starts for Holland

Rafael van der Vaart, 29 years old, Tottenham Hotspurs. He's one of our top players in the team and a world class player but is still sitting on our bench because there are better players on his position which is the left half.
His strong points are his insight, positioning and his deadly passes and also quite agile in the tight spaces.
His weak point is that he's slow, gets injured a lot and most of all his condition isn't strong as he can't play a full game normally.

Mark van Bommel, 35 years old, AC Milan. I think he's our oldest player in the team but still such a world class defensive mid fielder. He's strong, not too bad on the speed but most of all he's cunning. He plays extremely cunning mind games and physical tricks on his opponents. He plays the referee to get more leeway for making fouls. One of the running engines of our team and in the last World Cup as well.

Nigel de Jong, 27 years old, Manchester City. With Mark van Bommel he'll be the defensive block on the midfield stopping all attacks. He's reasonably fast, strong and his defensive skills are good as well. He makes a lot of fouls that terrifies his opponents and in some way he doesn't get punished heavily for it imo. If you don't watch out he'll break your legs and smiles with it. He's Holland's B.A. Baraccus.
Weak points are his intelligence as he makes bad decisions most of the times and he gets emotional quite fast. So getting him out of his rhythm is done quickly.

Ibrahim Affelay, 26 years old, Barcelona. One of Hollands biggest talents. He usually plays left half/left forward striker depending on the lineup.
He's fast, has good passes, strong on the ball but is very easy to get injured. He has been missing almost the entire season for Barcelona but hopefully he'll be in shape for the Euro Cup because he can make a difference.
There aren't any major weak points in his play as he helps defending and his offense is really good and doesn't lose the ball that much.

Wesley Sneijder, 27 years old, Internazionale. Offensive central midfielder. He has been playing quite bad current season and hasn't been in top shape. Normally when he's in shape he's one of the best players in the world.
His strong points are his passes, he is dual legged and has a powerful shot.
Weak point is that he's small so he isn't strong in the air.

Dirk Kuyt, 32 years old, Liverpool FC. Right half of Holland. Not much to say about him. He's a runner and he probably runs the most of the team. He helps defending a lot and when our right back van der Wiel is attacking he's usually defending.
He usually has the preference over Arjen Robben by our coach (crazy isn't it?) on the right half position.

Arjen Robben, 28 years old, Bayern Munchen. Right half of Holland. He's one of our top3 players in the team and is left legged. World class player as he can beat almost any player when it's 1v1 if he's in shape.
Currently he isn't in his best shape from what I've seen so far.
His strong points are his speed, his precise shots and his ability to pass multiple opponents.
His weak points is that he's usually injured, not strong and his defensive skills are bad.



Here comes probably the 2 most in form strikers on the planet that Holland luckily has in 1 team
But our coach will probably not use these 2 together in 1 team as there's only 1 spot for a striker.

Robin van Persie, 28 years old, Arsenal. Forward striker of Holland and recently crowned Player of the year in the EPL.
Not our strongest striker in the team but the better player overall for Holland.
He's fast, has strong shots, good passes, strong on the ball, agile too much to name tbh
His weak point? Well the only weak point I would say is that he doesn't score much for Holland :/
He is not our best striker for Holland and hopefully he can repeat what he did for Arsenal at the Euro Cup.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, 28 years old, Schalke 04. Forward striker of Holland and a bench sitter because we have Robin. He's a real goalgetter and currently the number one striker in Germany.
He's reasonably fast, decent shots, decent passes pretty much decent on all but 1 thing. He's the best when it comes to positioning in front of the goal. He's on the right place on the right time almost every time for Holland. One of Hollands most scoring striker and it's crazy that he's sitting on our bench.
His weak point is that compared to RVP he's the worse player in overall player skills and which is the reason he's never in the starting lineup when RVP can play.

Germany

Manuel Neuer, 26 years old, FC Bayern Munich
I would consent with some people who call him the best goal keeper in the world. At least he is in the top five.



If there is a weakness in Germany's national team, it could be the defense.

Jerome Boateng, 23 years old, defender of FC Bayern Munich. Boateng's main position is center back, but he can also play full back, which supposedly will be his role in the upcoming EURO.

Holger Badstuber, 23 years old, defender of FC Bayern Munich. Holger Badstuber has played a total of 49 games for Bayern Munich this season and has been one of the club’s most consistent players.

Mats Hummels, 23 years old, defender of Borussia Dortmund. Hummels's performances this season displayed great quality in tackling, positioning, and composure. He has attracted praise from pundits and coaches alike, and he is considered one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga, and in Europe, even if he couldn't hold up his form in the CL.

Philipp Lahm, 28 years old, full back of FC Bayern Munich. Lahm is considered one of the best full backs in the world, and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006 and 2010, the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008 and in the FIFA Team of the Year 2008. He is one of the "oldies" in Germanys national team, and also the captain of the team.



I consider Germany's midfield at least on par with Spain's. It is really potent.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, 27 years old, FC Bayern Munich. He is Germanys leader and a world class player but is still trying to recover from some recent injuries. He is still not up to his usual form.

Sami Khedira, 25 years old, Real Madrid. He is considered a dynamic midfielder with great aerial ability who can cover a lot of ground, recover the ball and quickly join in the team attack with his powerful mid-range shooting and heading ability. The fact that he forms the defensive midfield of Madrid together with Xabi Alonso should speak for it self.

Mesut Özil, 23 years old, Real Madrid. Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and knack for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane, even if he lacks the finishing ability. In 2011, he ranked second in assists in La Liga with 17, and first in major European competitions with 25.

Toni Kroos, 22 years old, FC Bayern Munich. Central midfielder. Five years ago, Toni Kroos was the best player in the world in his age group. Kroos’ technique and playmaking vision is impeccable. This season he has vastly improved his his ball-retention and decision-making skills.

Thomas Müller, 22 years old, FC Bayern Munich. Müller plays as a midfielder or forward, and has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles - as an attacking midfielder, second striker, and on either wing. He has been praised for his pace, technique and composure. He was named as the Best Young Player of the 2010 World Cup and won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer, with five goals and three assists.



Lukas Podolski, 26 years old, 1. FC Köln (going to Arsenal). Podolski is a left footed attacker known for his strong shot, technique and probing attacks from the left side. The 2011–12 season was the final season in his second spell for Köln. Despite the team's relegation to the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga, Podolski impressively scored 18 goals in 29 league Fußball-Bundesliga appearances.

Mario Gomez, 26 years old, FC Bayern Munich. Gomez can shoot with both feet, and is considered to be a moderate aerial threat. His best ability however remains as his anticipation to crosses and passes and finish them. Arsène Wenger described him as "a great finisher who is often in the right place to finish off moves." Moreover, his body balance and ability to hold up the ball often creates trouble for defenders.

Miroslav Klose, 33 years old, SS Lazio. Klose has played 113 times and scored 63 goals for Germany. With five goals, he was the top scorer and Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup, all of which were headers. He scored four times in 2010 World Cup, giving him a total of 14 World Cup goals.
During the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Klose has scored at least one goal in every single game he played, striking against all of Germanys opponents.
In his first season for Lazio he scored 12 goals in 27 games.

Thanks PalerRider09

My (Quick) Tier List :
S: Spain, Germany
A+: Italy, Portugal, Netherlands
A: England, Croatia, Russia, France
B: Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Greece
C: Ireland, Poland, Ukraine

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