This group is the most powerful and most difficult of all four.
Three of the four countries have produced some of the best players in the world roster...
My favorite from the group is Netherlands...
Actually the “Oranje” are my No1 from all other teams... Dutch have the best technique in football... maybe not naturally gifted players like Brazilians, Argentineans or any of the South American continent but they are “masters” when it comes to football because of the training they undergo... so no matter how talent you are if you don’t have technique you are simply just a wasted player!!! We all saw what happened two years ago in the world cup when Netherlands beat the “everyone” favorite Brazil with a score of 2-1 goals!!!
And let’s not forget Germany humiliating the other “everyone” favorite team of Argentina with a shocking – yet totally justifying – score of 4-0!!!!
So… let’s see briefly what this group has to offer for this tournament!!
Group B -> Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Portugal
Germany -> Germany is the big time winner of this tournament having won the cup three times throughout the history of its foundation. Up until the unification of Germany the team was playing as “West Germany” and won the cup both 1972 and 1980. In 1996 she plays in that tournament in London as a unified team under “Germany” and wins the cup in the extra time favored by the “golden goal” rule that applied up to that time, beating the new Czeck Rep team – before they play as Czechoslovakia – scoring 2-1 goals! The “golden goal” rule was later banned from the FIFA and UEFA tournaments. Germany as a country has produced some of the best football players in the world, most have even taken part in the national team; anyone who loves football knows Helmut Schön, Franz Beckenbauer, Berti Vogts, Gerd Müller, Lothar Matthaüs, Oliver Khan, Michael Ballack, Jens Lehmann, Oliver Bierhoff, Jürgen Klinsmann, ect. This year’s team has passed through the qualifying rounds undefeated with 10 wins, 0 draws and 0 loses. With Joachim Löw as coach since 2008 after Klinsmann retired the team has done very well in the tournaments that followed, being a finalist in the Euro cup of the same year, two years later got the third place in the World cup 2010 and this year is aiming to win the Euro 2012. With Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose and more on the current team it is certain that we will see them at the finals!! On the UEFA European Football Championship listing Germany has 126 points (the points are counted as Germany from 1996 and onwards) with 81 wins, 29 draws and 16 losses.
Netherlands -> Another big team with a heavy legacy in the world of football is Netherlands. Sooo… where to start!! This team has won the Euro cup once in 1988 with the fabulous team of Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Koeman, Aron Winter, John Bosman, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard etc. Before and after that Netherland has taken 3 third places in 1976, 1992 and 2000, also a fourth place in 2004. This team has a better record in the FIFA world cup standings but since I didn’t write anything about the other teams I won’t write anything for this team. This year they passed through the qualifying rounds with 9 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss. Netherlands has the technique in the world when it comes to football; they also have produced a large number of first class players like (all the above) Edwin van der Saar, Michael Reiziger, Clarence Seedorf, Jaap Stam, Ronald and Frank de Boer (twins), Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Dennis Bergkamp, Peter Hoekstra, Winston Bogarde, Jordi Cruijff (son of the one and only Johan Cruijff), Phillip Cocu, Ruud Hesp, Boudewijin Zenden, Marc Overmars. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Ruud van Nistelrooy etc. With this year’s roster they are surely to pass for a ticket to the finals but with Germany in the same group it is yet to be determined if she will be placed on the top or second stringer. The current team has a handful of super players with Maarten Stekelenburg as goalie, John Hetinga, Joris Mathijsen, Khalid Boulahrouz and Wilfred Bouma holding the defense line, Mark van Bommel, Nigel de Jong, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Ibrahim Afellay and Rafael van der Vaart in the middle, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dirk Kuyt and Robin Van Persie as their gunmen in the forward positions!!
Denmark -> the third kick-ass team of the group; this is yet another mass producing player country. The 1992 European champions, with a really great team at that time listing Peter Scheichel, Kent Nielsen, Lars Olsen, Henrik Andersen, John Jensen, Lars, Elstrup, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsen, Claus Christiansen and Peter Nielsen among others. Before that this team has seen a third place in 1984 and a fourth place in 1964, after the ’92 success though the team hasn’t been in her best form. They finished the qualifying rounds with 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss (their group had only 4 teams). This year’s roster other than Stephan Andersen, Lars Jacobsen, Daniel Agger, Christian Poulsenm Willian Kvist, , Dennis Rommedahl and Nicklas Bendtner has nothing much to offer. I really don’t see them passing through the heavy DUO (Germany and Netherlands) but I am sure they will not make it easy on the other teams to win either. On the UEFA European Football Championship listing Denmark has 129 points with 56 wins, 29 draws and 44 losses.
Portugal -> A good team with bad coaching the last few years. The highlight of the team is 2 semi-finals qualifications in 1984 and 2000, and a second place in 2004! The 2004 Euro cup was unbelievable; the first match to kick-off the tournament was on 12 June between Portugal and Greece, where the hosting team lost 2-1. The final match to close the tournament was also played between Portugal and Greece, where the later won “again” with a score of 0-1 goals. So basically the first match was also the last match of the Euro cup of 2004!!! Ironic, huh??? After that, Portugal hasn’t shown anything special as a team, apart from a few good players like Manuel Bento, Fernando Gomes, Rui Jordao, Antonio Sousa, Alvaro, Eduardo Luis, Vitor Baia, Jose Tavares, Joao Pinto, Rui Costa, Dimas, Luis Figo, Paulo Sousa, Sérgio Conceição, Abel Xavier, Pauleta, Carlos Secretario, Nuno Gomes, Paulo Ferreira, Nuno Valente, Simao, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Helder Postiga, Petit ect. In my opinion, Scolari is a terrible coach, some of his decisions (especially during the FIFA world cup 2010) cost his team in qualifying for the next round in the tournaments! This year they barely passed the qualifying rounds with 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. On the UEFA European Football Championship listing Portugal has 122 points with 66 wins, 28 draws and 28 losses.
The matches for Group B are:
9 June Netherlands – Denmark 19:00 (CET +01:00)
9 June Germany – Portugal 21:45 (CET +01:00)
13 June Denmark – Portugal 19:00 (CET +01:00)
13 June Netherlands – Germany 21:45 (CET +01:00)
17 June Portugal – Netherlands 21:45 (CET +01:00)
17 June Denmark – Germany 21:45 (CET +01:00)
Personally I think Germany and Netherlands will pass with flying colors to the second round, but who will rank first and who second???