Outright Winner Betting Euro 2012
The European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine are only a few weeks away and the betting is already beginning to heat up as we look forward to a tournament that has the ability to throw up surprises like no other. Let’s take a look at some outright winner options when betting Euro 2012. Defending champions and World Cup winners Spain will surely be the team to beat yet again, but they will face a real challenge from the likes of Germany and Holland, who are arguably at their strongest for years, while the quality of England, Italy, France and Portugal cannot be ignored.
Equally, there are plenty of dark horses who will be quietly fancying themselves to make a big splash this summer. In two out of the last five European championship tournaments, we have seen unlikely winners in Denmark and Greece, and so it would take a brave man to bet against 2012 throwing up another surprise contender for the title.
Of the two home nations, Ukraine look to be as efficient as ever and could well cause one or two of the more established sides a few problems, while unpredictable Poland, who recently beat Argentina, could also progress.
The Favorites
Vicente del Bosque’s much vaunted Spain will once again be the team to beat and deservedly go into the tournament as favorites to win it outright. With the spine of the team built around Barcelona stars such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carlos Puyol and David Villa, the quality of the Spanish is there for all to see. Spain oozes quality in all areas of the pitch, and their stylish passing game and enormous confidence is sure to prove a real handful for anyone they come up against. However, their qualities will surely be tested in the first group game against Italy.
The wealth of attacking options Spain have is simply staggering, with some of the world’s best strikers leading the line, ably supported by the likes of flying winger David Silva and midfield maestros Cesc Fabregas and Iniesta. Spain’s defense is watertight as well, with Xabi Alonso, of Real Madrid, anchoring the midfield in front of a very solid back four led by Barcelona’s Puyol.
Perhaps more worrying still is Spain’s strength in depth, with talents like Sergio Busquets, Jesus Navas and Fernando Llorente all waiting on the bench for their opportunity.
In With A Shout
So who realistically has a chance of beating Spain? Many pundits are looking to the German team, so impressive during the last World Cup until comprehensively silenced by the Spanish, to rise to the challenge. Following their World cup defeat and also their defeat in the final of the previous European Championships, a more experienced but still youthful and enthusiastic Germany will be determined to make up for it.
With exciting young talents such as Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller supporting the goalscoring machine Miroslav Klose up front, opposition defenses will have their work cut out against the Germans.
Of the other challengers, the free-scoring Dutch, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben leading the line will surely be a threat. They also have a lethal weapon in midfield starlet Wesley Sneijder, who may or may not be an Inter Milan player by the time the finals come around. Add to these talents a strong defence marshaled by John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen, plus the midfield steel of Mark van Bommel, and you have a team with the strength to go one further than they did at the last World Cup. Whoever will qualify from the very tough Group B will have a good chance of winning Euro 2012.
Can Tricky Italy Win?
Italy are probably worth a punt next summer for your outright winner betting. The team which quickly faded following their World Cup title in 2006 has been rebuilt by new coach Cesare Prandelli, who has drafted in several young players into the first team squad alongside established stars such as Andrea Pirlo and Alberto Gilardino.
Following a defeat in his first match, Prandelli’s team then went on a record-equaling nine game unbeaten run before losing in a friendly to the Republic of Ireland.
Never the most glamorous team going forward, the Italians will be heavily reliant on the midfield steel of Daniele de Rossi and Angelo Palombo, who have developed a good understanding in the centre of the park.
Long Shots
Outside the four favorites, Roy Hodgson’s England will once again be expected to challenge, but while they should be a good bet to get to the knockout stages again, a run to the final looks to be beyond a team that has put in some very workmanlike performances during qualifying. Capello has made England tough to beat, but they are rarely if ever spectacular. England will be without striker Wayne Rooney for the first two games, and we wouldn’t be over our heads in surprise if Sweden or Ukraine would go through instead of the Three Lions from Group D.
France are almost assured of a spot in the finals, but are undergoing something of a transitional period at the moment. Still reeling from a woeful World Cup in South Africa, where they crashed out in the first round with one draw and two defeats in three games, new coach Laurent Blanc tossed aside dozens of the old guard onto the scrap heap, building his team around younger stars such as Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri. With a good qualifying campaign and a lot of quality players, they can’t be counted out of this.
The last team with realistic title aspirations is Portugal. Any team that possesses the unique talents of Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be dismissed, but the Seleccao are also a team in stuttering form of late. Being in the group of death together with Holland, Germany and Denmark we just won’t put our money on them this time.
The Hosts
For both Poland and the Ukraine, 2012 represents the first time either of these nations have staged a major football tournament, and both will be desperate to please their fans and reach the knock out stages. Could they be a bet for outright winner of Euro 2012? Home advantage is a considerable one, and so we can expect both teams to put up a good fight although whether or not either of them could go so far as to actually win the tournament is another matter.
Ukraine have consistently been a tough team to beat since gaining independence back in the early 1990s, although so far their only major tournament appearance to date is the 2006 World Cup finals, when they did incredibly well to reach the quarter-finals. Since then they have been somewhat unlucky to miss out on recent tournaments, losing in a play-off to Greece in the most recent 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Recent friendly matches have also seen some disappointing results, including defeats to Italy, France and Sweden, yet despite this, they retain many core squad members from six years ago, including the still-deadly Andriy Shevchenko, Andriy Voronin and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, while they also possess some decent youngsters such as Andriy Yarmolenko.
As for Poland, they too have experience some indifferent results of late, losing 2-0 to Lithuania earlier last year but then responding with a tenacious display to beat Argentina 2-1 in a friendly in Warsaw last June. Coach Franciszek Smuda does however possess tremendous experience, having coached more than 15 different clubs in Poland and Turkey across a managerial career spanning 30 years. He has moulded Poland into a solid, well organized team that plays to their strengths, yet other than team captain Jakub Błaszczykowski they lack any real world class stars, something that will surely count against them when they come up against some of Europe’s big boys.
The Outsiders
It will be a tall order for anyone else to rise to the challenge and stake a claim for the European crown, but as we saw most recently in 2004, anything is possible in the Euros, and there may be a few teams worth an outside wager when betting on the Euro 2012 outright winner.
Sweden have been in fine form during the qualifiers, thanks to the goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a strong central defensive partnership of Olof Mellberg and Daniel Majstorovic making them very difficult to break down. The 3-2 victory over Holland in the last qualifier will scare some opponents.
Fellow Scandinavians Denmark got a horrible group draw and will have big problems qualifying from the group. The Czech Republic’s new generation of players finally seems to be gelling. Although they have struggled a bit in their qualifying group with Spain,they could well do some damage in Euro Cup. Check out our predictions for Euro 2012 as well, to find more tips of wagering on this big tournament.
