ESPN's Top 40 Players to Watch in Euro 2012

ESPN.com recently came out with a list of their Top 40 players in the Euro 2012 Tournament. Here's a rundown of their list in case you missed it:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal - Striker

Photo Credit: cristianoronaldopictures.info

Age: 27

Club: Real Madrid

Caps: 90

Goals: 32

2. Andrés Iniesta - Spain - Midfielder

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

Age: 28

Club: Barcelona

Caps: 64

Goals: 11

3. Xavi Hernández - Spain - Midfielder

Photo Credit: forum.globaltimes.cn

Age: 32

Club: Barcelona

Caps: 108

Goals: 10

Euro 2012 Preview

Photo Credit: 1goaltube.blogspot.com

We're just days away from one of the world's most prestigious soccer tournaments as Euro 2012 gets ready to kickoff. Here's a quick preview of what we have to look forward to over the next month:

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic

Matches:
06/08/12 - Poland vs Greece
06/08/12 - Russia vs Czech Republic
06/12/12 - Greece vs Czech Republic
06/12/12 - Poland vs Russia
06/16/12 - Czech Republic vs Poland
06/16/12 - Greece vs Russia

FIFA Rankings (World/Europe):
Poland (65/32)
Greece (14/10)
Czech Republic (26/16)
Russia (11/8)

Prediction: I see Greece and Russia advancing out of Group A. Both nations turned in strong performances during Qualifying losing just one match between the two of them. The Czechs finishing second behind Spain in Group I, which is understandable, but also suffering a bad loss against Lithuania (Lithuania's only win during Qualifying). As a result they needed to knock off Montenegro in a playoff, which they did, but I don't see them advancing to the Round of 8. Poland, one of the host nations, is just happy to be in the tournament so I don't see them doing a lot of damage despite the homefield advantage.

Player to Watch: Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russia

Photo Credit: telegraph.co.uk

The 30 year old Russian striker recently left Tottenham Hotspur to return to his homeland joining Lokomotiv Moscow. A contributor to the National Team since 2003, Pavlyuchenko scored 3 goals during Euro 2008 and four more during Euro 2012 Qualification. He has 20 international goals in 47 career appearances including 2 against England, 1 against Spain, 1 against the Netherlands and 1 against Argentina.


Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal

Matches:
06/09/12 - Netherlands vs Denmark
06/09/12 - Germany vs Portugal
06/13/12 - Denmark vs Portugal
06/13/12 - Netherlands vs Germany
06/17/12 - Portugal vs Netherlands
06/17/12 - Denmark vs Germany

FIFA Rankings (World/Europe):

Netherlands (4/3)
Denmark (10/7)
Germany (2/2)
Portugal (5/4)

Prediction: This is the Group of Death if ever there was one. Four of the world's top ten teams, and only two will advance. Germany went a perfect 10-0-0 during Qualifying outscoring its opponents 34-7 and the Netherlands' only blemish was a 3-2 loss in Sweden as they outscored their opponents 37-8. Denmark and Portugal met twice in Qualifying with both clubs winning on their home turf, but Portugal also suffered an embarrassing 4-4 home draw with Cyprus and a 1-0 loss in Norway conceding the group to Denmark and needing a playoff with Bosnia and Herzegovina to advance. After a scoreless draw in the first leg, they erupted for a 6-2 win in the second, but their lack of consistency makes them tough to bet on. Given the ridiculous form of the German and Dutch clubs, I think you have to figure both of them will advance. Apologies to the Danes, but even though they finished ahead of Portugal during Qualifying, I see them bringing up the rear.


Player to Watch: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Netherlands

Photo Credit: thesun.co.uk

The 28 year old Schalke 04 striker led all players with 12 goals during Qualifying and is coming off a terrific year in the Bundesliga in which he became the first Dutch player to lead the league in scoring. KJH finished the regular season with 29 goals and helped Schalke to a third place finish and a spot in the 2012-13 Champions League. With 31 career goals for the Netherlands in 53 career appearances, he's just 9 goals shy of Patrick Kluivert's national team record. 


Group C: Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia


Matches:
06/10/12 - Spain vs Italy

06/10/12 - Ireland vs Croatia

06/14/12 - Italy vs Croatia

06/14/12 - Spain vs Ireland

06/18/12 - Croatia vs Spain

06/18/12 - Italy vs Ireland


FIFA Rankings (World/Europe):

Spain (1/1)
Italy (12/9)
Ireland (18/13)
Croatia (8/6)


Prediction: Even with all of their injuries, I think Spain is a lock to make it to the Round of 8, but with all the turmoil in Italy amidst their match fixing scandal and talks of withdrawing from the tournament all together, I'm not sure the normally reliable Italians are a safe bet. Croatia finished second behind Greece during Qualifying suffering road losses to Georgia and the Greeks, but they bounced back with a big 3-0 win over Turkey in the first leg of their playoff. While the Irish only lost once during Qualifying, to Russia, I don't know that they'll be able to hang with these giants of European soccer. So I'm going to go with Spain and Croatia.


Player to Watch: Xavi Hernández, Spain

Photo Credit: thesun.co.uk

32 year old Xavi has finished third in the Ballon d'Or voting the past three years, and while more a facilitator than a scorer, there's no questioning his impact both at the club level for Barcelona and the international level for Spain. Xavi had 10 goals and 7 assists for Barca in La Liga and 2 goals and 3 assists in just 5 matches for Spain during Euro 2012 Qualifying. With Spain riddled with injuries throughout the lineup, it's going to be vital for Spain to have Xavi at the top of his game.


Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England


Matches:
06/11/12 - France vs England

06/11/12 - Ukraine vs Sweden

06/15/12 - Ukraine vs France

06/15/12 - Sweden vs England

06/19/12 - England vs Ukraine

06/19/12 - Sweden vs France


FIFA Rankings (World/Europe):

Ukraine (50/28)

Sweden (17/12)

France (16/11)

England (7/5)


Prediction: Now I love English football having been enamored with the squad since the days of Alan Shearer and Michael Owen. That said, do these tournaments ever go as planned for the English? On paper they should advance, but in my mind, they're not capable of winning these big games. And now with a new coach, they seem like even less of a sure thing, so I'm going to say the French and Swedes will roll on to the Round of 8 while the co-host Ukrainians will be content to enjoy being in the tournament and playing host.


Player to Watch: Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden

Photo Credit: itv.com

Ibra erupted for 28 goals in Serie A this year en route to the league's scoring title, but AC Milan finished second in the league behind Juventus. It marked the second time the 6'5" Swede had led the league having also done so back in 2008-09 while playing for Inter. Ibra led the Swedes in scoring during Qualifying tallying 5 of their 20 goals. If Sweden is going to advance to the Round of 8, Big Z will have a big role in it.




So to recap, I have the following teams advancing to the Round of 8:

Greece, Russia, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Croatia, France, Sweden.

What do you all think?

27 Invited to USMNT Camp

Things are about to get busy for the U.S. Men's National team as they prepare for three friendly matches - vs Scotland (5/26), vs Brazil (5/30) and at Canada (6/3) - prior to kicking off World Cup Qualifying against Antigua & Barbuda on June 8th. Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has invited 27 players to camp as the team gets ready for its busy stretch. Here's a look at the invitees:

KEEPERS

Tim Howard - Everton - A staple in net for the Americans, the 33 year old Everton netminder just wrapped up another solid season in the English Premier League. Howard played every minute of all 38 regular season games for Everton posting a record of 15-12-11 while contributing 12 clean sheets as Everton finished the year in 7th place. Howard last appeared for the National Team in the 1-0 upset win over Italy in February. He has 73 appearances and 26 shutouts in his international career.

Photo Credit: catkins101.wordpress.com

Europa League Quarterfinal Draw

Photo Credits Clockwise from top left: soccerbyives,net, mlssoccer.com, goal.com, goal.com

The UEFA Champions League wasn't the only tournament setting its quarterfinal matchups today as the Europa League (think European soccer NIT) did so as well. Four different U.S. National Teamers - Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon) and Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar) - saw their clubs advance to the quarterfinals this past week and surprisingly none of them will play one another in the round of 8. Here's a look at the bracket:

The first leg matches will be played on March 29th with the return legs on April 5th.

Four Americans Advance in Europa League

It was a good day for Americans in Europe as Jozy Altidore, Steve Cherundolo, Jermaine Jones and Oguchi Onyewu all saw their clubs advance to the Europa League Quarterfinals.

Photo Credit: msn.foxsports.com

Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar entered their second match with Udinese up 2-0, but defender Nick Viergever was sent off less than 2 minutes into the match forcing AZ to play a man down for basically the whole game. Antonio Di Natale converted the ensuing PK and by the 15th minute added a second goal putting AZ back on their heels. But 23 year old Erik Falkenburg scored what would be the game winner in the 31st minute as Udinese couldn't capitalize on the man advantage or a missed AZ penalty kick in the second half.

Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com

Hannover 96 and their captain Steve Cherundolo jumped all over Standard Liege (Belgium) scoring in the first five minutes of the match and then getting some help with a pair of own goals from Antonio Kanu in a 4-0 win. Serge Gakpe was sent off in the 60th minute with a second yellow card with the score already 2-0 removing any doubt of Hannover's advancing.

Photo Credit: soccerbyives.net

Jermaine Jones turned in one of his best efforts in a Schalke uniform tallying a goal and an assist as Schalke 04 rallied from a 2-0 aggregate deficit with 4 unanswered goals in a 4-1 win over Twente Enschede. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the second leading scorer in the Bundesliga this season, added a hat trick for the winners. Huntelaar leads all scorers in the tournament with 9 goals.

Photo Credit: mirrorfootball.co.uk

Oguchi Onyewu is still out injured, but his Sporting Lisbon teammates dispatched Manchester City after jumping out to a 2-0 first half lead and then holding on for dear life as City rallied for 3 goals in the second half. It wasn't enough though as Sporting advanced on away goals. Onyewu injured his knee three weeks ago and is expected to miss at least another five weeks.

Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Atlético Madrid and FC Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine) also advanced to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal draw will be tomorrow.

Altidore Stays Hot in Win

Jozy Altidore stayed red hot tallying a pair of assists in AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 win in Europa League action yesterday. The assists were actually Altidore's first two this year for AZ in 38 matches, although as you may recall he did get the assist on Clint Dempsey's game winner versus Italy last week. In 4 matches over the past 2 weeks for club and country, the 22 year old striker has 3 goals and 3 assists. AZ and Udinese will now head to Italy next week for the second leg on Thursday.

Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com

In other Europa League action both Manchester clubs were upset with City dropping a 1-0 match in Portugal to Sporting Lisbon and United getting stunned at home 3-2 by Athletic Bilbao. Wayne Rooney scored both goals for United in a losing effort, but they're in big trouble as they will likely now need a 2 goal win in Spain in order to stay alive. Atlético Madrid, Olympiakos (Greece), Twente Enschede (Netherlands), and Valencia were among the day's other winners while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 rallied for a 2-2 draw with Standard Liege (Belgium).

Altidore Caps Off Sensational Week With Another Goal

What a week it's been for Jozy Altidore:

Photo Credit: goal.blogs.nytimes.com/

*He started for AZ Alkmaar for the first time in 2012 on Sunday and netted a brace in a 3-3 draw with Heerenveen.

*On Wednesday he assisted on Clint Dempsey's goal against Italy for the U.S.'s first ever win over the Italians.

*And finally today, he started for AZ once again, and again found the back of the net for his 10th goal in league play and 14th goal across all competitions.

Altidore, still just 22 years old, has really made the most of the move to his Dutch club after struggling to catch on anywhere after leaving the U.S. and Major League Soccer at the age of 18. With stints in Spain, England and Turkey under his belt, Altidore finally appears to have found his niche in the Netherlands. While it's true the Eredivisie isn't exactly known for its defense, the important thing is that he's getting an opportunity to play and with his scoring he is continuing to build confidence. We saw what that can mean for the U.S. on Wednesday against the Italians and if you're a U.S. fan you have to be excited for what's to come with World Cup Qualifying mere months away.

Altidore and AZ are in action on Thursday this week in the Europa League Round of 16 where they'll take on Udinese, currently in 3rd place in Serie A.