Euro 2012: Group D Preview

Written by Kinshuk Biswas on April 24, 2012

The Euro 2012 Group preview ends with Group D. Kinshuk Biswas assesses the contenders

Goalden Times concludes the group preview of the Euro 2012 with Group D. Group D, unlike Groups B and C, does not have any of the hot favourite teams. It is similar to Group A with a host with three good teams. England and Sweden have a long history of matches against each other in international tournaments. England finally managed to beat Sweden after 43 years, in a friendly at Wembley, in November 2011. France is the only team in the group who are previous winners. France will take a lot of confidence in a victory over favourites Germany in a recent friendly. Ukraine, the co-hosts, will look to perform well in front of home crowd.

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    England

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Resume:  Semi-final – 1968 and 1996. Quarter-final – 2004

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Road to the finals: Qualifying Group G Winner. P-8 W-5 D-3 L-0 GF-17 GA-5 GD-+12

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England, the seeded team of this group, is always a hot favourite with the media due to their high profile domestic league. The team qualified comfortably topping their group under the management of Fabio Capello. The English team have never been successful in the Euro – their best performance being a semi-final at home in 1996. The current England team is a team in transition and a team which has recently lost its most successful manager (in terms of winning %) ever, Fabio Capello. Capello resigned after his chosen captain John Terry was being stripped of captaincy due to allegations of making racist comments against a league opponent. The caretaker manager is Stuart Pearce but a new manager will be chosen after the domestic league ends on May 13. Harry Redknapp, current Tottenham manager, is the favourite to take over. England had been using the 4-1-4-1 formation under Capello which is likely to be continued.

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In goal, they have Joe Hart who had an outstanding season for Manchester City. Scott Carson of Bursaspor is the likely second choice. The centre of defence will be marshalled by the Chelsea duo of John Terry and Gary Cahill. Phil Jagielka of Everton, Joleon Lescott of Manchester City, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling of Manchester United will be the likely substitutes. Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United, although a fan favourite, may not be selected due to his tendency to get injured. In left-back, Ashley Cole of Chelsea will be the first choice with Leighton Baines of Everton as cover. The right-back position will be a toss-up between Micah Richards of Manchester City, Kyle Walker of Tottenham and Glen Johnson of Liverpool. Richards is most likely to start due to his form this season. The holding role in the midfield is likely to be given to Scott Parker of Tottenham for his recent club performances. Gareth Barry of Manchester City is likely to be his substitute. Phil Jones has also been used in this role this season. In centre of midfield, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are obvious choices, which is sad as they have to still look up to these two ageing players.  With future stars like Jack Wilshere ruled out of Euro 2012, there are talks of even a certain Paul Scholes returning to don the Three Lions shirt. In the wide areas, England have a lot of good players like Theo Walcott of Arsenal, Ashley Young of Manchester United, Stuart Downing of Liverpool, James Milner and Adam Johnson of Manchester City. Aaron Lennon of Tottenham is also in the mix due to the Redknapp factor. The main striker position is a major worry as the first choice Wayne Rooney will be suspended for the first two games. A lot of players have been tried. Jermain Defoe of Tottenham will probably be the starter. Darren Bent of Aston Villa and Bobby Zamora of Queens Park Rangers were recently used. Although young players like Danny Welbeck of Manchester United, Daniel Sturridge of Chelsea and Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa would be better replacements.

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The main problem with England is that they will not have a manager till two weeks before the tournament. In that little time, how the team selection and tactics will be finalised and implemented is to be seen. However, miracles have been known to occur in football, although the first two matches against France and Sweden will be tough tests.

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Head to Head

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    Sweden

Resume:  Semi-final – 1992. Quarter-final – 2004

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Road to the finals: Qualifying Group E Runner-up. P-10 W-8 D-0 L-2 GF-31 GA-11 GD-+20

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Sweden qualified automatically as the best second placed team with a home victory against Netherlands in their last qualifying match. The manager of the team, Erik Hamren is not a big name but has managed to put a well-knit team together which should perform well at the finals. Sweden plays with the 4-2-3-1 formation. Andreas Isaksson of PSV Eindhoven is the first choice keeper, Johan Wiland of Copenhagen being the reserve. The central defence is quite experienced with Olof Mellberg of Olympiacos and Daniel Majstorovic of Celtic. Behrang Safari of Anderlecht and Jonas Olsson of West Bromwich Albion are likely to be the substitute centre-backs. Mikael Lustig of Celtic and Andreas Granqvist of Genoa will compete for the left-back position. Martin Olsson of Blackburn Rovers will play as right-back. In Oscar Wendt of Borussia Monchengladbach they have someone who can play both as right- and left-back and will be an ideal substitute. The team has an excess of riches in the midfield areas. Experienced Anders Svensson of Elfborg and Kim Kallstrom of Lyon can be integrated with exciting youngsters like Pontus Wernbloom of CSKA Moscow, Emir Bajrami of Twente and Rasmus Elm of AZ Alkmaar. Christian Wilhelmsson of Al-Hilal is likely to be on the bench as backup. In the wide positions, Sebastian Larsson of Sunderland and Ola Toivonen of PSV can play on both wings. There is flexibility in the wings as Elm and Bajrami can both play as wingers. In the withdrawn central attacking forward and main striker positions the team has alternated between the captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic of A.C. Milan and Johan Elmander of Galatasaray. There is good flexibility in this area  and Toivonen has played in the hole as well.

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The Swedes should do well. The first match against the hosts will be a relatively easier start. The problem with the team is their aging central defence which can be vulnerable against pace. Their team also lacks quality in all areas but their spirit is second to none. Sweden is a good bet to reach the knock-out stages. If they do it will be a good tournament for them.

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Head to Head

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France

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Resume:  Champions- 1984 and 2000. Semi-final – 1960 and 1996. Quarter-final – 2004

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Road to the finals: Qualifying Group D Winner. P-10 W-6 D-3 L-1 GF-15 GA-4 GD-+11

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France is the most successful team in this tournament from this group. The last two international tournaments have been a total disaster for the Le Bleus. Manager Laurent Blanc has tried to build up a new side without the prima donna stars that were the major reason for discord and subsequent poor performance at the last World Cup. France sealed the automatic qualifying spot with a draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina which had a late French equaliser. Blanc has experimented with various formations like 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. It is most likely that he will adopt the 4-2-3-1 formation to accommodate his strong bunch of midfielders which can be transformed into a 4-4-2 if required. In goal, France has the national captain Hugo Lloris of Lyon who has been in good form. Steve Mandanda of Marseille is a very able replacement. In defence, they will miss the services of Eric Abidal of Barcelona who has just undergone a liver transplant. The central defence is likely to be marshalled by Adil Rami of Valencia and Phillipe Mexes of A.C. Milan. Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal and Younes Kaboul of Tottenham are both in good form and will be able replacements. In right-back, it will be Bacary Sagna of Arsenal with Mathieu Debuchy of Lille as cover. At left-back, Patrick Evra of Manchester United will be the first choice. Anthony Reveillere of Lyon is a very good substitute who can also play on the right if required. The holding midfielders should be the young duo of Yohan Cabaye of Newcastle United and Yann M’Vila of Rennes. In Alou Diarra and Mathieu Valbuena of Marseille there is ample flexibility. Samir Nasri of Manchester City should start as the central attacking midfielder. Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich will play on the left wing and Jeremy Menez of Paris Saint-Germain on the right wing. Blanc has further options with Florent Malouda of Chelsea. Karim Benzema of Real Madrid should be the first choice forward with Kevin Gameiro of Paris Saint-Germain and Olivier Giroud of Montpellier. In case of a 4-4-2 formation, Menez slots in as a second striker and Nasri moves to the wing with Cabaye and M’Vila in the middle.

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The French team looks very talented and has a good balance of youth and experience. Nasri and Benzema, who were not chosen for the World Cup, will be looking to impress. France should qualify from the group stage and is not a bad bet to go further into the tournament. In their manager they have a good football strategist and man-manager which would serve them well in this tournament.

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Head to Head

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Ukraine

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Resume:  Debut

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Road to the finals: Automatic qualifier as co-host.

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Ukraine will be making its debut in the Euro finals and being one of the hosts, the team automatically qualified for the tournament. In coach Oleg Blokhin, they have one of the all-time greats of Soviet and Ukrainian football. The problem that Blokhin faces is the lack of competitive matches for his team. He has tried different formations like 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2. He would be likely to start with 4-2-3-1 against much more fancied opponents in the group. In goal, Oleksandr Shovkovskiy of Dynamo Kyiv is the first choice, Andriy Dikan of Spartak Moscow being the second. In centre of defence, the Shakter Donetsk duo of Oleksandr Kucher and Yaroslav Rakitskiy should be the starters. Taras Mykhalyk and Yevhen Khacheridi of Dynamo Kyiv will be likely substitutes. Bohdan Butko of Illichivets Mariupol is the likely to play at left-back. The right- back will be Yevhen Selin of Vorskla Poltava. Oleh Husyev, the experienced Dynamo Kiev midfielder can fill in on both positions. In the midfield, the experienced duo of Anatoliy Tymoshchuk of Bayern Munich and Ruslan Rotan of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will start in the anchoring role. Young Denys Harmash of Dynamo Kyiv will be the substitute. In central midfield,  Oleksandr Aliyev of Dynamo Kyiv is the first choice to play behind the striker. Serhiy Nazarenko of Tavriya Simferopol is a very experienced alternative. The lone forward position is likely to have Andriy Voronin of Dynamo Moscow as the starter. Andriy Shevchenko, the legendary Ukranian striker now at Dynamo Kyiv is likely to feature as a substitute. Artem Milevskiy of Dynamo Kyiv and Marko Devych of Metalist Kharkiv will also be in the squad.

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Ukraine will play with partisan home support. They should give a good fight to the other teams in the group but it will be difficult for them to qualify against stronger French and Swedish teams. They surprised a lot of people to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2006 but will have to play out of their skin to make it past the group stages in this Euro, but at home who knows?

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Head to Head

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Final Verdict

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The final verdict has four categories of team: 1) Sure-shot which means that the team is the favourite to progress from the group. 2) Likely is the team which is not the total favourite, rather the second favourite to qualify. 3) Dark Horse is a team which can reach the quarter-finals but has to overcome similar teams or favourites to do so. 4) Upset means that the team reaching the quarter-finals will be a major surprise. In groups there maybe more than a single team in each category.

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Sure-shot:

Likely:   France and Sweden

Dark Horse:  England and Ukraine

Upset:

About Kinshuk Biswas

Kinshuk Biswas is an architect by education, a consultant by profession, a quizzer, writer and an absolute football fanatic by choice. Follow him at http://confessionsofastonedmind.blogspot.com

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