As the Spanish were crowned World Cup winners in Soccer City, the curtain fell on the very first FIFA World Cup to be organised in Africa. European nations fulfilled a 1-2-3 with Spain beating The Netherlands in the World Cup final together with Germany getting third place after a 3-2 win over Uruguay.
This truly reinforces the discussion that European football is the most effective in the world and that the European Championships are a terrific tournament. Qualifying matches for the Euro 2012 finals starts in Sept and although finishing 3rd, Germany are going to be one of the favourites to win the title. Their young squad provided some fantastic football all through the World Cup Finals with Thomas Muller getting the Golden Boot with five goals and three assists. With the help of various other young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, Germany will be among the ones to beat.
As World and European champions, Spain will be yet another extremely tough opponent. A lot of their team will still be young enough in 2012 to supply solid opposition and they will certainly be willing to defend their title.
Finally the Netherlands managed to abandon their personal egos behind at the World Cup tournament and for that reason, they made it to their third World Cup final conquering quite a few peoples favourite, Brazil, along the way. With more clinical shooting from Robben, the Netherlands may perhaps have won the match instead of Spain and they will aim to carry on in the same vein during Euro 2012.
The typically powerful teams of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and as a result, the curtain will surely come down on a number of of the older players careers. England have a number of exciting young players to deliver to the international stage and if they can copy the Germans, there will be huge hopes within the English supporters.
The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both see overwhelming support but ultimately, they in all probability accomplish not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.
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