The Euro Round-About - Group D

Day Four of the 2012 European Football Championships, a.k.a Euro 2012. The final set of teams to see action, with teams trying to reclaim lost glory highlighting the constitution of the group.

England - The Three Lions have been hungry for success in the sport that they claim is their birthright. Although they have been successful in the road to the Ukraine, the drama has since ratcheted up. Fabio Capello resigns as manager after John Terry gets stripped of the captaincy. Wayne Rooney gets himself suspended for two matches. Players dropping off like flies due to injuries incurred, whether in training or in friendlies. Now, it's up to Roy Hodgson to get them ready. Stability is set on goal with Joe Hart. The 4-2-3-1 will need solid defensive tacticians on the field, and the English have one of the best left backs in Ashley Cole. They'll miss Gary Cahill's partnership with John Terry, but look for Joleon Lescott  to step up. The wings will be ok with James Milner and Ashley Young, as well as the Arsenal duo of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but there is concern given the fitness of captain Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker in central midfield, especially with Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard ruled out. Acting as placeholders for Rooney will be his teammate in Manchester United, Danny Welbeck, or Andy Carroll.

France - Les Bleus were an embarrassment under Raymond Domenech, so the change to Laurent Blanc was a welcome addition. Under his stewardship, they have suffered just one defeat. The lineup is led up front by Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who scored 28 goals for them last season, with up-and-coming Oliver Giroud as his contemporary. Attacking options in their midfield will be coming from the diminutive Franck Ribery, alongside the likes of Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa. Veteran Florent Malouda will buddy up with young Yann M'Vila in the middle as the French will try to dominate possession and give Karim and Franck plentiful of scoring opportunities. Giving assistance to the captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will be a defense led by a couple of Manchester players, United's Patrice Evra and City's Gael Clichy.

Sweden - The disappointment not advancing in the 2010 World Cup ended long-time manager Lars Lagerback's reign with the squad. The new regime is led by Erik Hamren, whose 4-2-3-1 system has the added wrinkle of using captain and AC Milan star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a support role behind a lead striker, which most likely will be Galatasaray's Johan Elmander. Making sure Zlatan and Johan get good scoring chances are the likes of Sebastian Larsson in midfield, Rasmus Elm and sage veteran Anders Svensson. Half of the Olsson twins of Blackburn Rovers made the trip to the Ukraine, and it is the defender Martin. He, along with Olof Mellberg, will make things easy for Andreas Isaksson on goal.

Ukraine - The co-hosts will be relying on the spirit and legacy of their forward captain, Andriy Shevchenko, best known for his scoring exploits in AC Milan and the disappointment that followed in Chelsea. He now plays for Dynamo Kyiv, which has nine players in the national side. The other big team in Ukrainian football is Shaktar Donetsk, which has six, and that includes their starting keeper Andriy Pyatov. All-in-all, only two players from the Euro side do not ply their trade in their domestic league, and those two are integral to what manager Oleg Blokhin wants to implement. One is Andriy Voronin, the former Liverpool forward now with Dynamo Moscow, who will be lined up alongside Shevchenko. The other is Bayern Munich midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who will be integral in easing off the pressure against a relatively untested defense and a goal-keeper originally pegged as its fourth-string. They also have Andriy Yarmolenko, a winger who can shepherd the offense to the forwards or score on his own.

Who advances? - France wins the group, with Sweden stealing the runners-up spot.

Blog Outsourcing - June 11, 2012 edition

Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of The Morning After.

Shocked. Surprised. In awe. That happened after Michael Buffer announced the decision. Considering the statistics, conversations and observations all across the timelines, Timothy Bradley, Jr. remains undefeated.

When the winner himself says that he himself was not sure and wanted to watch tape, something is definitely amiss. This will definitely be worse if Manny Pacquiao had decided to not take the high road.

Let's see if Timothy will take the same path.

Here forth are the links after the jump.

The Euro Round-About - Group C

Welcome to Day 3 of the 2012 European Football Championships, or the Euro 2012 for short. Fans have enjoyed the past two days, and this group aims to provide that and some more for you.

Croatia -Slaven Bilic will be relying on the talent of a couple of players plying in the Premiership in Tottenham's Luka Modric and Everton's Nikica Jelavic in possibly sneaking in a run in the knockout stages. In addition, players like Ivan Rakitic, Niko Kranjcar, captain Dario Srna will anchor their counterattacking 4-4-2 scheme. A veteran back four led by Vedran Corluka, Josip Simunic and Danijel Pranjic will try to parry the opposing offenses.

Ireland -We best know the Irish for as being screwed by weird circumstances, best illustrated by the Thierry Henry handball in 2010. With Giovanni Trappatoni, conservative tactics will be the norm. Offensive production will be coming from captain Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle. Shay Given is the sage veteran on goal, with veterans like John O'Shea and Richard Dunne at the back. Damien Duff and Stephen Hunt man the midfield. They do have the profile of how the Danes and the Greeks won their Euro competition, but they will be asking a lot out of a side whose some of its key players played for a team that finished last in the English Premier League.

Italy -The Azzuri have sputtered in their preparations for the Euros, losing their last three friendlies AND having to cancel an additional one due to an earthquake. Controversy has hounded the team, and it is not just because Mario Balotelli is in the roster. A match-fixing scandal has plagued the country and has already resulted in one player being removed from the lineup. Under Cesar Prandelli, they are to overwhelm their opponents via possession. The key to achieve that will be through Andrea Pirlo. The Bianconeri playmaker will have options alongside him in Daniele De Rossi and Claudio Marchisio, as well as Riccardo Montolivo. Up front, Prandelli could mix and match with the likes Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Sebastian Giovinco, Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Borini. Preventing goals will be up to captain Gigi Buffon, with Giorgio Chiellini providing additional protection/ 

Spain - The reigning World and European champions are primed to defend their title. They virtually have their entire team intact. However, they lose two key cogs due to injury in Carles Puyol on defense and David Villa on offense. There might be concerns of fatigue and exhaustion, as half the team come from FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, perennial Champions League contenders and La Liga powerhouses, plus players who made extensive runs into European football this season (two from Chelsea and Athletic Bilbao, one from Atletico Madrid). However, balancing such fatigue is easy when you arguably have the deepest midfield in football, handy since that midfield is what runs the tiki-taka engine, led by Xavi and Andres Iniesta. The key will be the newcomers in defense, Valencia's Jordi Alba, Atletico Madrid's Juanfran and Athletic Bilbao's Javi Martinez fit in the scheme of things. And then, there is Fernando Torres, the enigmatic forward.

Who advances? - Spain wins group. Italy as the runners-up.

The Euro-Round-About - Group B

The European Football Championships, or the Euros, are already underway. Tonight is the beginning of play for the Group B. The Group of Death to beat all Groups-of-Death. All teams are in the FIFA Top 10 rankings for June.

Denmark - Morten Olsen's Eleven suffered a huge blow with regular starting keeper Thomas Sorensen was ruled out for the tournament with a back injury. Kasper Schmeichel from Leicester City replaced him on the roster. The family name is familiar because he is the son of Peter Schmeichel, the Danish and Manchester United legend and backstopper of the miraculous 1992 side that won the Euros. Captained by Liverpool defender Daniel Agger, they'll have to muster some superb defending and tactical counterattacking considering their opponents in the group. Joining Agger at the back four will most likely be Simon Kjaer of AS Roma, AZ Alkmaar's Simon Poulsen and Kobenhavn's Lars Jacobsen. Up front, Nicklas Bendtner will be the key man, with Dennis Rommendahl and Christian Eriksen chipping in.

Germany - The Germans are the heavy favorites to take home the trophy, their first since Euro 96. Under Joachim Loew, Die Mannschaft have at least gone all way to the semifinals in all the tournaments it has participated under his tenure as manager. The core is filled with Bayern Munich players wanting to put behind the misery of losing in the Champions League final against Chelsea, from Manuel Neuer on goal, captain Philipp Lahm and Holger Badstuber at the back line, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller at the middle and Mario Gomez up front. Also key in the 4-2-3-1 set up will be the wizardry in the midfield of Real Madrid's Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil and soon-to-be Gooner Lukas Podolski.

Netherlands - The Oranje will once again be under the stewardship of Bert van Marwijk, who guided them to the World Cup Final against eventual champions Spain. The team will be using a 4-2-3-1 set-up as well, with the sensational Robin van Persie up front. Arjen Robben also would like to make amends after the Champions League final, while providing beef and physicality in the middle will be captain Marc van Bommel and Nigel de Jong. Creativity will served from Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Dirk Kuyt. Maarten Stekelenburg of AS Roma is the starter from a deep keeper corps, as Michel Vorm and Tim Krul have been sensational in the Premiership for Swansea and Newcastle, respectively. The back line can be considered as Holland's weakness, but John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen will make an effort to steady it.

Portugal - The Navigators' path to greatness has always been anchored to a legendary figure. Eusebio in the 1966 World Cup,  Luis Figo in the last decade. Now, it lies with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid sensation is the captain and tasked to replicate the achievement. Under the stewardship of Paulo Bento, they will be using a defensive and counter 4-3-3. To help hold the back line are Cristiano's club teammates, Pepe and Fabio Coentrao. The midfield will have two key Premiership cogs, Raul Merieles on defense and Nani on offense.

Who advances? - Germany wins the group, the Dutch escape with the second spot.

The Euro Round-About - Group A

The European Football Championships start in a few hours, and this group will be kicking things off. No heavyweights in Group A, but all are pretty much even.

Poland - The hosts will be looking at trying to win behind players who assisted in Borussia Dortmund's successful Bundesliga campaign, with Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek. They also have English side Arsenal's starting keeper Wojciech Szczesny. Under the stewardship of Franciszek Smuda, they play a counterattacking style similar to how Dortmund plays, which makes it easier for their stars to work. They aim to replicate a tradition that had been discontinued in the last event, which is for a host side to make it to as far as the semifinals.

Czech Republic - They have acquitted themselves well in this competition, making the finals in 1996 and the semifinals in 2004. With Michal Bilek in charge, look for them to go into a 4-2-3-1, with the creative magic from Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal trying to make things easy for former Liverpool striker (now with Galatasaray) Milan Baros and CSKA Moscow's Tomas Necid to score. At least at the back, they are in good hands with Petr Cech on goal. Helping out the Champions League winner from Chelsea on defense will be Bayer Leverkusen's Michal Kadlec. You may also wonder that they have someone of Ethiopian descent playing for the team in Theodor Gebre Selassie.

Russia - Under Dick Advocaat, the Russians have been making an effort to approach the greatness of their Soviet predecessors. They were almost there with in 2008, making it to the semifinals under changemaker expert Guus Hiddink before being dispatched by eventual champions Spain. Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin, who rediscovered his form while on loan with Zenit St. Petersburg, is the captain. Joining him there are six of his teammates at Zenit, plus Advocaat being their former manager, helps with the familiarity. Also with a large contingent is CSKA Moscow, led by their keeper, Igor Akinfeev. In front of him are two of his teammates in Sergei Ignashevich and Aleksei Berezutskiy. In addition Anzhi Makhachkala's Yuri Zhirkov (best known as having played in Chelsea), also has CSKA roots.  Up front, they could go with either Roman Pavlyuchenko or Pavel Pogrebnyak as the lone striker, with Arshavin and CSKA youngster Alan Dzagoev behind him. Another hidden edge with Russia has to be their three-month break no thanks to the legendary Russian winters, which makes their players a little more fresher than most of their contemporaries.

Greece - The 2004 Euro winners won their title through sheer prevent defense and counterattack, bound to frustrate and irritate opponents, and possibly viewers as well. You might say, watching the Philippines play in the 2010 Suzuki Cup would make you better appreciate how the Greeks "pirated" their way to the trophy back then. Their manager back then, Otto Rehhagel, recently departed, but his successor Fernando Santos adopted his scheme and added some more wrinkles. They will be led a couple of players from that championship team, Giorgos Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis of Panathinaikos. A couple of youngsters who could become stars in the competition are Schalke's Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Parma's Sotiris Ninis.

Who advances? Russia as group winner, Poland as runner-up