As Spain were crowned World Cup winners in Joburg, the curtain fell on the very first World Cup Tournament to be staged in Africa. European sides completed a 1-2-3 with Spain beating The Netherlands in the final along with Germany getting third place after a 3-2 success over Uruguay.
This just strengthens the case that European football is the best in the world and that the European Championships are a fabulous tournament. Qualifying matches for the Euro 2012 finals will start in September and regardless of finishing 3rd, Germany will, no doubt be among the favourites to win the title. Their more youthful squad provided some splendid football all through the World Cup Tournament with Thomas Muller capturing the Golden Boot with 5 goals and 3 assists. With the help of similar young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, Germany will be certainly one of the ones to look out for.
As World and European champions, Spain are going to be a tough competitor. The vast majority of their team will still be young enough in 2012 to deliver stiff opposition and they will certainly be ready to defend their title.
Finally the Netherlands were able to abandon their personal egos behind during the World Cup tournament and thus, the Dutch got to their third World Cup final defeating many peoples favourite, Brazil, along the way. With better finishing from Robben, Netherlands may have won the competition as opposed to Spain and they will hope to continue in the same vein during Euro 2012.
The traditionally powerful nations of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and consequently, the curtain will most certainly come down on lots of of the older footballers careers. England have a number of impressive young players to bring to the international stage and if they can emulate Germany, there will be increased hopes amongst the English fans.
The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both benefit from wonderful support but in the end, they most probably do not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012