Euro 2012- Semifinal Preview

The Euro championships are in full swing right now and here is a preview of the upcoming semifinal matches:


Portugal VS Spain- Wednesday June 27 at 2:45 PM on ESPN

This is a big time match up as we have Spain, a squad who has won the last two major soccer tournaments, versus Portugal, a team that features arguably the best player in the world Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese have been playing well and this is in large part because Ronaldo is scoring goals. Not only is he scoring goals but he's finding the net in clutch situations. Spain on the other hand finds itself in the Semis but haven't played their best. They are shuffling the line up a lot and don't seem to have a reliable goal scorer with David Villa hurt. One thing that is certain with Spain is their elite passing abilities. The "pass masters" are sure to dominate possession and that could limit the amount of goal scoring chances Portugal will have. Usually Spain will score a goal and then focus on the defensive side and win matches 1-0. I think that will be more difficult with this Portugal team. I can see Spain having to play a more offensive style game and that will mean having Fernando Torres up front instead of the 6 mid fielders that manager Vincent del Bosque has been throwing out there. If Del Bosque does decide to use the 6 mid fielders again I think it will be far less effective then it was against France. Ronaldo and Nani, who patrols the opposite wing, are too good on the counter attack. With all that being said this should be an exciting game to watch.

Prediction- Spain wins 2-1.

Germany VS Italy- Thursday June 28 at 2:45 on ESPN

The next semifinal match features the Germans vs the Italians. The German side has looked unbeatable so far in these European championships. In their previous quarterfinal game vs Greece they won 4-2 and that was even after resting some of their big guns. Italy is fresh off a quarterfinal victory vs. England where they dominated possession but didn't score any goals to show for it. They had plenty of chances to score though but just couldn't seal the deal. They defeated England in a shootout led by their star goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Germany always seems to struggle against Italy and if they are going to win this match Mesut Ozil is going to have to create opportunities for his teammates to score like he's been doing all tournament. Mario Gomez is Germany's biggest threat to score a goal and will have to make the most of his chances. If Italy is going to win they have to convert their scoring chances which is something they didn't do in the quarterfinals vs. England. Germany has great pace and a powerful attack and it's nothing for them to score 3 or 4 goals in a game so Italy has to control possession. I think in the end the German attack will overwhelm Italy and win this match.

Prediction: Germany wins 2-0.