20/06/2012 Portugal v Czech Republic Match Report

We have now reached the knockout stages of the Euro's with the first match being the winners of Group A (Czech Republic) against 2nd place finishers of Group B (Portugal). The stage was set for a magical night that never really happened.

Portugal 1 - 0 Czech Republic

The match was similar to Poland v Greece over 2 weeks ago now, the fixturet was not the most exciting but due to its nature as the first knockout match of the competition there was great anticipation, with Ronaldo the main talking point to see if he could carry on the extrodinary form he found last match.

However it was not from Portugals fault the match failed to excite, the Czech's playing style was, they wanted to play utilising a strong defence and midfield to silence the Portugese while playing counter attacking football to threaten their defence. However this didn't work as planned, it meant that by the end of the match the Czechs had failed to have a single shot on target and had spent almost all of the match in their own third of the pitch.

But Portugal did look strong, they used their attacking full backs to free Nani and Ronaldo who kept very open roles throughout the match, they had sparks of magic that just needed to be finished, however luck didnt look to be going their way with Ronaldo hitting the post twice after some great shots. This all changed however in the second half where Ronaldo made a darting run into the box to get infront of the defender to capitalise on a perfectly hit cross from Joal Moutinho.

They carried onto attack in a similar style but failed to do so, yet it was not until the 85th Minute it seemed the Czechs actually realised they would need to really attack to not be sent home, however it was much to little much to late as Portugal held strong to seal the victory.

A good victory for the Portugese who will look to progress although already reaching a respectable position.

Euro 2012 17/06/2012 Group D Match Report

4 days had passed and the whole of England would yet again have all eyes on the TV to see the Brits face bogey team Sweden who we had never beaten in a competitive competition, however that could have all changed with the Swedes falling short against the Ukraine and Zlatan not looking at his best despite a strong season.

England 3 - 2 Sweden (Group D)

Englands lineup was different to that played against France, the Ox was dropped and the formation was  changed to 4-4-2 to allow Carroll to be a classic No 9. However they would have to be wary of the likes of Zlatan and Melberg.

When the match went underway England started positively but were extremely sloppy with passing and this lead to easy throws for the Swedes and them gaining possession after long strings of wasted passing from England. However it didn't take long before a beautiful pass from playmaker Gerrard fell perfectly for Andy Carroll who made no mistake in blasting it into the net with a classic header. This really put the mood up as England worked well keeping the ball and making good runs utilising Welbeck.

This all changed after the first half though.Both teams went back out and after such a poor performance from Sweden, England would look to cruise through the second half. However when Andy Carroll gave away one of the many free kicks that he caused in the 49th minute, and a Zlatan powerhouse kick at the wall rebounded only for him to attempt an audacious scissor kick that feel kindly to Melberg, who managed to hit the ball against the post only for it to fall on Glen Johnson's stomach and into the net. This stunned England and it was only a matter of time before Melberg scored again with an unmarked header sailing past Hart causing questions on the English defence.

However Theo Walcott was brought on later on in the match and boy did he look fine. The ball fell kindly to him from a corner and he made no mistake in placing it into the net, with the Swedish keeper not being able to see the ball until the very last second. He then made a darting run before crossing the ball into Welbeck, who did a sublime finish using his heel to place the ball in the net and giving England a dramatic victory they really needed.

Ukraine 0 - 2 France (Group D)

France would be top of the group if they gained a good result against the Ukraine, but that would be easier said then done after the co hosts showed real determination to beat the Swedes beforehand.

However the main drama of the match came from the rain, lightning and thunder became so severe that they were forced to stop play and wait over 30 minutes for play to resume. Apart from that it was a fairly boring game, France scored twice with goals from Menez and Cabaye and the Ukraine looked weak and without spirit. France will hope to do well against Sweden but the Swedes will be playing for pride and may cause a shock result.

Euro 2012 14/06/2012 Group C Match Report

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All of the teams in group C still had it all to play for, with Croatia being the only team taking the full 3 points from last weeks matches. The Republic of Ireland would need a win to stay in the tournament but it looked unlikely with world champions Spain being their opponents. While Croatia played Italy, which if Italy lost it would make Croatia the first team to qualify for the knockout stages.

Spain 4 - 0 Ireland (Group C)

It was fair to say that Spain didn't seem too troubled to be facing the Irish despite needing a win to be in a good place to qualify. This confidence from the Spanish, would be their downfall said the Irish who's fantastic support carried on to brighten the tournament. However minutes in it seemed the luck of the Irish never really happened.

Only '3 Minutes into the match after some troubled Irish defending from a David Silva run meant Torres saw just enough of the ball to pounce, and that he did with a storming run from the edge of the box to steal the ball, dart past the defenders and power the ball about Given, showing a real determination to score that was only seen back in his Liverpool days.

The Spanish were not done yet, and to say they held a good amount of possession would be an understatement, thy completely controlled it for the whole match, whenever the Irish managed to grab the ball from them they hunted them down, doubling up on players to ensure they had the ball back. And this playing style worked as well as it always does for them. Despite missing some good oppurtunites in the first half they really peformed after half time.

David Silva grabbed the second goal from a poor punch away by Given falling to Silva's feet in the area, who calmly picked his place and casually rolled it through Dunne's legs and past the fingertips of Given. They carried on attacking until the ball fell to Torres of all people, but unlike the Torres of old he confidently charged at Given, and despite finding the ball trapped under his feet managed to calmly slot the ball past him. Fabregas then came on to replace Fernando who received standing applause, and Cesc then rocketed another one in for the Spanish. Making sure the Irish get sent home early, that honestly was always expected.

Italy 1 - 1 Croatia (Group C)

Italy would face yet enough hard match after gaining the much needed point against Spain, they faced a Croatian side who looked strong after battering an out of form Italy. The match kicked off with Italy creating chances from the start with playmaker Pirlo putting in yet another great performance to help the Italians. 

Croatia stayed quiet and Italy made good use of that with a beautiful Pirlo free kick that soared into the top corner in the '39th minute. This didnt come as a suprise as Italy were playing good football and were set to beat the Croatians for the first time ever. However the Italians became complacent in the second half and Modric became a key player by attacking more, and this payed off when Mandzukic scored after a Chiellini misjudged the flight of the ball. It was a soft goal to concede but the point suited the Croatians better and they settled for it seeing the game out for 1-1.

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Euro 2012 13/06/2012 Group B Match Report

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Group B or better known as the group of death was surprisingly dismal when the all of the teams met last Sunday and it was important for the Netherlands and Portugal  needing a result to avoid two consecutive defeats and failing to qualify. So the matches were crucial.

Portugal 3 - 2 Denmark (Group B) 


Ronaldo needed to improve from his performance against Germany if he was going to prove himself one of the best footballers in the world, and their couldnt be a better way to do so then by giving Portugal the 3 points they needed. But when the match kicked off it looked to be a repeat of last week. He made good runs to push his team forward but failed to pick out the crucial passes and his shots seemed to always be sailing wide.

However things changed for Portugal when Pepe capitalised with a strong back post header to silence the Danes in the '24th Minute, they carried on to attack before they doubled the lead with a Postiga tucking in a goal at the near post only 12 minutes later.

The Portugese looked home and dry with Denmark possessing great talent to hold a lead but not to come back into a game when losing. Despite this Bendtner scored in the '41st minute to send both teams into the dressing rooms at half time with mixed feelings, the Danes dissapointed to concede 2 early goals and the Portugese nervous to hold the lead.

The second half carried on similar to the first half with both teams playing well but Ronaldo was honestly dreadful, missing 1 on 1's and deciding to shoot when passing was always the better option. This motivated Denmark and they managed to score in the '80th minute with Bendtner scoring a thumping header that raised the roof. The game looked set for a draw when substitue Varela changed everything. After a cross from Nani, Varela went for a thumping volley but miss hit it terribly, yet was still given the time to control the ball and hit the ball cleanly with his right foot into the net. Portugal were understandably ecstatic as a win puts them in a good position to qualify after a shock performance from the Netherlands.


Netherlands 1 - 2 Germany (Group B)

The biggest match to be played in the group stages of the tournament went under way with equally strong teams battling it out, with the Netherlands however needing the win more than anyone. Germany took control though and silenced the Holland playmakers that posed the greatest threat. Robin Van Persie was given little oppurtunites and it was actually the other in form striker Mario Gomez who struck first with an absolutely sublime spin and finish past Stecklenburg to put the Germans ahead in style in just the '24th minute. The dutch looked shakey from then on and Gomez didnt hesitate to exploit that with a headed goal 14 minutes later.

In honesty the style of Netherlands play was their downfall with the dutch not able to commit men forward to play the ultra attacking football they do so well, due to the Germans having such a strong counter attack. However Van Persie scored a brilliant goal to give them a ray of hope in the '73rd minute. However the Germans didnt wait to stamp down on that with the stereotypically efficient play used to full effect to see the match out as a win for them.

Netherlands will need to beat Portugal by 2 goals to get through, that is if the Germans beat the Danes which looks likely, meaning its all to play for. Check in for Euro updates.

Euro 2012 12/06/2012 Group A Match Report

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Every team has now played, trying to excel and grasp a precious place in the knockout stages, but the next matches they will play are crucial and will map out who will make it through. Starting with Group A.

Czech Republic 2 - 1 Greece (Group A)

The Czech's were looking for a win to turn around the disaster that was their performance against Russia last week. However if they were ever going to grab points the best bet would be underdogs Greece who's display in their first match was as bad as theirs, despite the Greeks taking a point.

Things couldn't have got off to a better start for the Czech's, 2 goals up inside 6 minutes Jiracek and Pilar meant the match was set to be a whitewash. They played with confidence stringing together impressive passing while dominating possession. Personally i expected them to score even more but Greece grew throughout the match and managed to hold themselves together for the rest of the half. However in terms of attacking they remained dismal. Samuras who has truly flopped so far had no impact and that carried on as the second half began.

However the match changed completely in the '53rd minute after a seamlessly harmless shot from the Greeks slipped past Petr Cech's gloves to fall straight into the feet of Gekas, a true howler that Gekas easily capitalised upon and gave Greece a glimmer of hope.

The match carried on with the Czech's playing more defensively to keep the lead, a situation they should never allowed to happen. But with the Greek's not finding any more luck the match remained 2-1 giving Czech Republic a chance of qualifying if they can beat Poland later on in the week.

Russia 1 - 1 Poland (Group A)

Russia would want to seal a place in the knockout stages by beating Poland despite them being in their home country, the grudge match led to violence that sweeped the city but for more on that read Senor Notica's informative article.

So the match went underway and Russia looked strong taking control while Poland sat back. Lewandowski carried on to give the hosts hope of goals with some strong shots, but it was Russia who took the lead 8 minutes before half time with youngster Dzagoev slotting home a good goal to silence the country.

However the Polish looked strong as they went into the second half with a strong attacking attitude, Russia looked shakey and it became clear that if the Poles pushed they might be able to take a result from the match, that they really did need. Then it happened for them, and nobody deserved the aclaim of scoring for the Polish than Blaszczycowski who is a Polish icon after his harsh growing up, seeing his father murder his mother. But it was him who scored a perfectly hit shot from outside the area curving straight into the corner that set the stadium alight and gave Poland the point they so desperately needed to stay in the competition they spent to long preparing for. That is how it ended 1-1 with a great game that was probably the most exciting of the tournament so far.

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Euro 2012 11/06/2012 Group D Match Report

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Group D, needless to say its the most important. England turned on their TV's with somewhat lowered hopes that England would really perform against French rivals in a true historical grudge match, although with modern day players grudge matches not truly meaning the same as they would as early as 20 years ago. But we watched the match and prayed.

England 1 - 1 France (Group D)

England set up in a 4-4-1-1 formation that matched the Frenches. Roy Hodgson made a strong lineup when considering his injury difficulties, with the only surprises being young Arsenal star Oxolade Chamberlain instead of Liverpool's Stuart Downing who carries a lot more experience in the role of Left midfield and would have to help Cole cover Ribery. Welbeck also started instead of Carroll that leads me to think that Hodgson is already looking  ahead to 2014 by giving such inexperienced players such critical important matches.

France with the same formation had a very strong midfield and attack that England needed to control with the likes of Nasri and Benzema, and it became clear when the match kicked off that that's what they would try to do. Despite having a lack of possession throughout the match England played well to control the French and counter attack with The "Ox" and Young. However surprisingly it was Manchester City's Jolean Lescott who put us in front with a strong header in the 30th minute after a Gerrard free kick raising hopes of a new England for the Euros.

However the lead only lasted 9 minutes before Lescotts Manchester team mate Nasri equalised with a strong long shot that beat Hart at his near post, this definitely lowered Englands spirit and until the second half they failed to perform. The second half was dominated by the French with them keeping the ball in England's half and threatening a defensive British squad. The match failed to excite after halftime and sadly England couldn't take the 3 points they desired, but El Senores will be of course backing them all the way.

Sweden 1 - 2 Ukraine (Group D)

The Ukraine would be the last country to play, together with Sweden. And the fans really showed their anticipation with outstanding support for the hosting country that made the match a great occasion, and the football matched it.

Both teams started promisingly playing free flowing football that created great chances for both squads, the finishing however was letting them down especially when Ibrahimovic sent a header wide despite the open net. However the Swede's still went on to score first when Ibra managed to score, the goal however remains contreversial with a Ukraine player injured as they played on.

However everything changed when Shevchenko netted 2 in under 10 minutes for the Ukraine making the whole country and tournament come alive. The Ukraine held onto the lead despite shakey moments in the closing seconds and puts them in a promising position to qualify.

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Euro 2012 10/06/2012 Group C Match Report

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Euro 2012 carried on with Group C and D playing on Sunday and Monday, these groups are competitive and every match would have a great impact on who qualifies.

Spain 1 - 1 Italy (Group C)
Defending Euro and world cup champions Spain looked to beat previous winners Italy who, with the current team they now posses would be looking to reach at least the quarter finals. Despite this it was regarded one of the biggest group matches to be played and the crowd were buzzing as the match went underway. Spain set up in a 4-3-3 formation with most surprisingly no striker playing in the team.

The match started with Spain as expected dominating possession but I couldn't help but feel that Del Bosque's gamble of starting without a striker had backfired as it seemed Spain were able to get into great shooting opportunities but the 6 Midfielders starting felt anxious to pull the trigger at Buffon. It carried on that way throughout the first half but things changed later on in the match after substitutions were made.

Di Natale came on for Mario Balotelli who missed a glorious opportunity made for him by a Sergio Ramos mistake, although angry to be subbed the decision worked as Di Natale made a cool finish past Casillas in the 61st minute. Fernando Torres was picked in front of Llorente and straight away had a great chance but failed to finish looking more like his early days at Chelsea then the small pocket of form he found near the end. However Cesc Fabregas was able to equalise after some well worked passing by the Spanish and the match finished this way with both teams looking okay with the fact they would settle with a draw.

Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Croatia ( Group C)
Ireland had finally made it to a major tournament after missing out for many years, but they had arrived in Poland and the Ukraine and boy did they know about it. With Ireland's support as strong as any other countries they would tackle Croatia who would be hoping to leap to the top of Group C after Spains draw with Italy.

Croatia definitely looked the stronger team with the likes of Modric and Jelavic. But would be up against Keane and Dunn who needed to perform to guide the Irish to a win. The game started disastrously for Ireland with Mandzukic heading home a goal in only the '3rd Minute and silencing the crowd which had been chanting for days. Despite this the Irish didn't drop their heads and actually managed to equalise with a strong header from St Ledger in the '19th Minute.

Things were looking up and although Croatia were dominating the Irish were holding strong and made it to half time with the score tied. When the second half went under way it went as badly as the first began for the Irish. Nikica Jelavic of Everton scored past Given on what looked to be an offside position. The Croatians then went on to add another to their tally with Mandzukic's header hitting the post only to rebound off of Givens forehead for an own goal. The Irish were distraught and although having such passionate fans the Euro's look bleak for the Irish with Spain and Italy yet to come.

Formula 1 11/06/12: Hamilton Wins In Thrilling Race

A delighted Hamilton sprays the crowd with Champagne.

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Lewis Hamilton was able to secure his first victory of the season, and McLaren's first victory since Jenson Button's in Melbourne. Hamilton's victory means that the beggining of the 2012 season has seen 7 different winners from the first 7 races, an extraordinary achievement, showing how close this season is panning out to be. The result for Hamilton means that he now tops the Driver's Championship with 88 points, Alonso just two points behind him on 86.


The last 10 laps of the 70 laps race, was filled to the brim with drama and excitement. In the early stages of the race, Hamilton was able to surpass Vettel, through the first round of stops, which the only stop planned for most of the front runners on the grid. The middle section of the race was led by Hamilton. McLaren decided to stick to their choice, and continue to run the two-stop strategy despite the Brit's lead. After Vettel pitted, Hamilton had the easy task of catching up to Alonso, and passing him on the back straight, with the help of DRS and the poor condition of Alonso's tires, and took the lead in the race, and held on comfortably to win.


Alonso, in the Ferrari, was running a one-stop strategy, a risky move, as the tires could easily not last for the entire race. This is exactly what happened to the Spaniard. With 10 laps to go, Alonso was leading, but in a dramatic end, Alonso's tires had no grip left, and his race pace dramatically fell. As a result, his challengers, Hamilton, Grosjean, Perez and Vettel, were lapping around 3 seconds faster than him. All 4 of these drivers passed the Spaniard.


Sebastian Vettel dramatically came into the pits with less than 10 laps to go in the race. This was because he looked to be going the same way as Alonso, so Red Bull made a drastic decision to pit the German and put him on fresh tires. As a result, Vettel immediately set a new fastest lap of the race, and set the fastest lap of the race overall, on the final lap. From the pit stop, Vettel fell to 5th, but was able to gain a place on struggling Alonso before the end of the race, to get into 4th. The result could have easily been a lot worse for him had the team not decided to pit.


In comparison to Alonso and Vettel, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez were able to make the one-stop strategy work, and were able to keep their tyres in good condition until the end of the race. Grosjean climbed all the way to second place, while Perez made a giant leap from 15th, to a podium finish, in 3rd.


Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, went on a two-stop strategy and was able to make it work to reasonably good effect, finishing in 7th. Webber finished one place behind Rosberg in 6th - at the end of the race, Rosberg was only 3 tenths of a second behind Alonso, but was just unable to overtake the struggling Spaniard.

Leaderboard - Final		Points	Time/Lag	Avg. mph
1	Lewis Hamilton - McLaren	25	1:32:29.586	198.027
2	Romain Grosjean - Lotus	18	+2.513 Sec	197.938
3	Sergio Perez - Sauber	15	+5.260 Sec	197.84
4	Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull	12	+7.295 Sec	197.767
5	Fernando Alonso - Ferrari	10	+13.411 Sec	197.55
6	Nico Rosberg - Mercedes	8	+13.842 Sec	197.535
7	Mark Webber - Red Bull	6	+15.085 Sec	197.49
8	Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus	4	+15.567 Sec	197.473
9	Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber	2	+24.432 Sec	197.159
10	Felipe Massa - Ferrari	1	+25.272 Sec	197.13
11	Paul di Resta - Force India	0	+37.693 Sec	196.691
12	Nico Hulkenberg - Force India	0	+46.236 Sec	196.391
13	Pastor Maldonado - Williams	0	+47.052 Sec	196.362
14	Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso	0	+1:04.475 Sec	195.753
15	Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso	0	LAPPED	194.67
16	Jenson Button - McLaren	0	LAPPED	194.489
17	Bruno Senna - Williams	0	LAPPED	194.439
18	Heikki Kovalainen - Caterham	0	LAPPED	193.984
19	Vitaly Petrov - Caterham	0	LAPPED	193.824
20	Charles Pic - Marussia	0	LAPPED	189.425
21	Timo Glock - Marussia	0	LAPPED	188.421
22	Michael Schumacher - Mercedes	0	LAPPED	193.645
23	Pedro de la Rosa - HRT	0	LAPPED	189.402
24	Narain Karthikeyan - HRT	0	LAPPED	187.42

Euro 2012 09/06/12 - Group A and B Match Report

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Euro 2012 has kicked off with style, we are currently 3 days into the tournament and it sure has already been eventful, but in the matches you wouldn't have expected...

Poland 1 - 1 Greece.  (Group A)

Poland v Greece had a slightly heightened expectation than would normally be expected as it was of course the opening match to the tournament. Greece were predicted to struggle being the lowest scoring team in qualifying but put on an standard performance when looking at the weakness of their squad.

Borussia Dortmunds Lewandowski put the Polish ahead with a strong downwards header past a flailing Chalkias, and throughout the first half they looked promising and in retrospect of the score should have been more clinical in order to seal a victory. However in the 2nd half Greece grew in confidence and managed to grab a somewhat lucky goal with Salpingidis. Both Szczesny and Papastathopoulos showed red, however Greece's red card was due to two very weak yellow cards. This means both will receive at least a 1 match ban.

Russia 4 - 1 Czech Republic. (Group A) 

Russia would look to top group A being the strongest team out of the bunch, and started on track for that with a comfortable win other the Czech's captained by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. CSKA Moscow youngster Dzagoev started his brace with a strong shot which could have been dealt with better. Shirikov made it 2, capitalising on a through ball straight through the defence to calmly slot it past the Chelsea veteran.

Pilar scored a surprise goal against the run of play to scare the Russians into wrapping up the match, and Dzagoev definately did so as he scored again in the 79th Minute before Roman Pavlyuchenko used trickery and strength to slam home another. Putting them leaders of Group A.

Netherlands 0 - 1 Denmark (Group B)

This match was the first for one of the top 6 clubs to show their class with Holland entering the tournament with high expectations after having the world cup snatched away from them by Iniesta, they faced a Danish side who didn't look much of a threat to such a technically gifted side like the Netherlands, they started the match playing a comfortable and relaxed playing style, they kept possession and should have scored. However the Danes striked first as Krohn-Dehli neatly tucked the ball through Stecklenburgs legs and changed the whole game. Denmark defended strongly as Sneijder continued to attack with perfect passes that really threatened the defence. However the game remained 1 - 0 providing the first shock of the tournament, however Holland fans stated "I think we are considered to be better than we really are, we don't expect to win". 

Germany 1 - 0 Portugal (Group B)

Germany against Portugal was the big match to watch, both sides had considerably less pressure on them after the Netherlands result but there was still a very apparent feel of anticipation as the game kicked off. However the match turned out to be disappointing, Germany dominated possession with Portugal playing counter attacking football with Nani and Ronaldo, however opportunities ran dry and it was not until Mario Gomez scored a strong header in the 73rd minute that Portugal really pressured the favourites. Despite their efforts improving Germany's defence held strong and the match remained 1-0. Putting Germany in a good place to top the group.

Check back tomorrow for a 3 day match report.

Transfer Updates - 06/06/12

Chelsea's new star signing.

Transfer Updates:

- Chelsea officially unveiled their new 32 Million pound singing of Belgium youngster Eden Hazard from Lille.

- Manchester United are in the process of finalizing details with Japanese midfielder Sinji Kagawa after an extrodinary season for Borussia Dortmund, for a deal set to cost in the region of £13 Million.

- Brazillian legend Ronaldinho looks set to join Athletico Menerio on a short loan basis after splitting with Flamengo publicly after disagreements over playing times.

- Paul Lambert will try to sign Grant Holt back from former club Norwich after admitting he admires the player. The deal looks likely after Holt handed in a transfer request due to the change in manager last week.

- Porto's main man Hulk is becoming more likely to be Chelsea's next big signing in Roman Abromovich's revamp of the squad. Although staying quiet himself about the transfer reports state 90% of the paperwork is complete and the rest will be sorted in the upcoming week.

- Robin Van Persie still refuses to talk about his future with Arsenal until after Euro 2012 is finished. The dutch striker has remained loyal to the club for 8 years, but Arsenals Andre Santos is unsure whether his teammate will be a part of the club next season.

- Mancini is keen to keep hold of Tevez and is distancing himself from links between City and Napoli striker Edison Cavani, the Manchester club look to have a unusually quiet summer, most likely selling players such as Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz.

- Chelsea right back Branislav Ivanovic's future with the Blues looks uncertain with interest from Italian club Napoli and Real Madrid. The Serbian international expressed his love for Chelsea but could be tempted to a different future despite claims from his agent he will remain loyal to the pensioners.

Euro 2012 Coming Soon!

The Euro 2012 logo is a flower made up of a football!

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With Euro 2012 less than 48 hours away tension is Building across Europe as the second biggest footballing competition gets set to entertain the world for the upcoming month. Although the choice of Poland and the Ukraine as host countries have sparked worldwide controversy due to racism, it will still undoubtedly decide the true class of players, meaning we are set for exciting footballing performances.

Despite all nations involved entering the tournament with high expectations, 3 countries remain the bookies favorites to snatch the title, The Netherlands who are undergoing a brilliant spell during friendlies headline with striker Robin Van Persie looking to carry on the form he has shown this year for Arsenal, Germany who will be hungry to win after not failing to grab a major tournament since Euro 1996 in England, and Spain who are looking to defend their title after a hugely successful 4 years having not only a majority of the best players in the world, but redefining the way Europe play football.

However although the trio look set to steal the show, underdogs are never ignored during the Euro's after Greece's suprise success in 2004. England will enter with somewhat lowered hopes after being crippled with injury's and star player Rooney missing all group matches due to a red card against Montenegro in October. Portugal will also have a lot to prove as they try to show themselves to be a strong footballing country despite having such a poor international record, this year however is especially important with Cristiano Ronaldo looking to finally perform for his Country and do what Lionel Messi has failed to do so far by influencing a major tournament.

France will be working hard to eradicate the disastrous display in South Africa and are not to be laughed at, with M'Villa returning from injury and Benzema finding the net consistently this season for Real Madrid its clear to see they will play attacking football hoping to outscore their opponents. While Hugo Lloris and Ribery remain strong forces for opposition to handle.

All other countries will admittedly be looking to settle for a respectable position rather than look to contend with some of the worlds greatest, yet Euro 2012 still looks to be as exciting as ever and all of us here from El Senores will be highly anticipating Thursday.

So no matter what country you support sit back and enjoy the spectacle, and make sure to check back in on Saturday for updated scores and opinion.