The Netherlands and Germany had a great start to their Euro Cup 2012 campaign. The two sides which performed exceedingly well during this year’s World Cup, although Germany failed to make to the finals, this is a perfect beginning for the two sides.

Germany had a fairly easy outing against Turkey as they beat them 3-0. On the other hand the Dutch had a tough time to beat Moldava. It was courtesy Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s six goal of the qualifying that enabled Netherlands to register a win.

In another match, European and World champions Spain defeated Lithuania 3-1 to register a convincing victory. Spain has really been a revelation after its World Cup victory.

All is not well at the Italian camp though. The former world champions had a tough time drawing with Northern Ireland. Although they had several chances to score, they simply couldn’t find the back of the net. It’s about time the champions of defense found a good striker.

Italy still tops the group but they need to pull up their socks big time. They need to make up for their dismal performance at this year’s World Cup and if they want to keep their fans happy they really need to come up with something out of the blue.

Turkey had a huge fan following and they were cheered by over 70,000 fans but the Germans were too good and left all the fans disappointed to clinch a fantastic victory. The qualifying stages seem to be really exciting, so let’s hope that it sustains this excitement throughout the tournament.

Well my final prediction was half right. I said that Germany would be in the final. You can see it here.

Luis Aragones and company ruled with class and very top caliber play from the group to the final game. I would have to say that this has been very fun and enjoyable.

Now we will all wait until the Olympic Games start to watch some more soccer!  This will be very fun as the youth squads of the world go head-to-head and not the senior clubs. For the men, the age restriction is set at 23 however three over age players are allowed to compete.  For the women there is no age restriction.

More insight will come for the Beijing Games.

Ronaldo Situation: The Cristiano Ronaldo situation has gotten very interesting.  It has gone from Man U threatening to take Real Madrid to the FIFA to file a complaint, to them giving Real a one-sided list of players that they were demanding in return, and their final demands of a rather-large sum of money.  Here is a list of their demands and other actions.

1. Real has reported interest in Ronaldo, Man U threatens to file a complaint with the FIFA unless Real stops enticing Ronaldo with a Madrid offer. 
2. It is rumored that Man U demands Mahamadou Diarra, Sergio Ramos, and money.  This would have been a very one sided deal.  One player alone would not be enough to acquire Ronaldo however an argument could be made that Ramos will become one of the best Spanish defenders.  Maybe even on par with Carlos Puyol of Barcelona.
3. Man U demands 100 million euro in exchange for Ronaldo.

Very one sided and interesting.  Watch the Semi-Finals tomorrow!

1. I would rather see two good team play longer than 90 minutes.  Who really has the endurance to last that long.  Who will fight till the end or just give up.
2. While it is one of the sadest and gives a player the feeling of helplessness, it is one of the fairest.  Both teams have an equal chance.  Both have equal numbers of shots on goal.

Next Up: The first semi-final game is between Germany and Turkey which should be very interesting.  I will like to see the turntout of this game.

Germany beat Portugal today.  While the Portugese side did very well in taking the champions title for their group, Germany snapped up their hopes for 08.  The game got very exciting in the last minutes as Portugal scored a goal to make the final score 3-2.

Future Fixtures:

Tomorrow- Croatia vs. Turkey: I like this game.  The heroics of Turkey in their win against Petr Cech and the Czech Republic proved to the world that they are here to play.  However, they did trail in that game which is a weakness.  At the same time, Croatia did win all of their group games defeating Germany in the process.  Once again, I like this game. 

Saturday- Holland vs. Russia: In short, miracles may happen, but Holland hasn’t shown very many weaknesses.  I like the competition and level of play Igor Akinfeev will be up against but I don’t like his chances.  The power of the Oranje will prove to be too much for Russia on this day.

Sunday- Spain vs. Italy: This will be another good game.  Power vs. Power.  Class vs. Class. What better game than this that pits two top class keepers against one another(Casillas v. Buffon).  The defensive corps each possess.  The midfield so chalked full of talent.  And the strikers to finish.  This is truly the game that I will watch.

 Transfer Rumors:

• Barcelona put out an opening bid on David Trezeguet.

Tomorrow the Big Game! 

 Italy versus France will be one of the biggest games for this group stage.  Romania will try and halt the Holland stampede that took down both France and Italy.  If Romania wins, they will pass as the runners-up with Holland shocking the entire European Cup faithful.

Czech: I projected that the Czechs would move on and not Turkey.  However, things have gone for the worst for them as well as Goalkeeper Petr Cech.  The Turks will move on to play Croatia which is interesting, to say the least. 

Portugal: Ronaldo and company are moving on to face Austria or Germany.  This is very interesting to say the least because the potential Runner-Up to Group B will face them.  Turkey will only have to face Croatia-this is still a good match however more even than a Portugal v. Croatia face off.

 Tomorrow’s Matches:

Poland v. Croatia

Austria v. Germany

Potential Upsets: With an Austria win tomorrow, Germany could be sent packing and my Group B predictions would also get a shake.  If Austria pulls off a win, they would move on to face Portugal which will be yet another test of their true talent.