Who are the favorites for Euro 2012?

[SlavikSvensk]

not too early to start talking about it!

i reckon it's germany, whose young players will have some experience and whose older players will still be in good form. spain and holland should still challenge for it, though i think holland missed their golden opportunity and will miss van bronckhorst's leadership. i don't think portugal, england, italy or france will be challenging for the title, but figure a couple unfancied sides should do well. probably serbia, but possibly also someone no one's paying attention to right now. could it be sweden? unfortunately, i doubt it... :upset:

[teknorich]

BBC News - 'Psychic octopus' Paul retires triumphant

Dammit!!!

[Esox Lucius]

2 years time the germany squad should be class.

[Will]

Hopefully Russia will do well. I hope it's not Spain, it'll be time for someone else to win something.

[Adam-i]

I agree that Germany will be a far better team than they have been at the world cup. Spain just look class at the moment and i can't see a team that can beat them in a competitive match at the moment. There fore I think spain will do it again.

[SlavikSvensk]

spain were good, but it's really hard to sustain success over three major tournaments. plus a few teams have figured out how to beat them...the US first in the confederations cup, then switzerland in the first world cup match. obviously they learned from that, but after you do the same thing well for a while, someone else figures out the weaknesses. plus you get older and less driven.

i thought germany played spain pretty well, and who knows what would have happened had mueller been on the pitch. add a couple years experience for the young guys and they look pretty sick.

[C.O.Prodigy]

Spain won't be favorites when the Euro begins, probably.
But for right now, the world champions Espana are the number one contenders for their euro throne.

[SlavikSvensk]

i think they have to be the "official favorites" until someone beats them in a major tournament. but i don't think they're the most likely to win. if they did, it would be amazing...a first. but it's hard to sustain that kind of success over time, particularly when there are other good teams out there. injuries, aging and a little bad luck here and there inevitably take their toll at some point.

of course, this spanish side is young enough that its nucleus will still be around at the next world cup, so who knows?