Profile: "Souls" of The Orange Netherlands

The Netherlands has players with pretty good attack characteristic. Total Football philosophy followed by the Dutch is supported by the best midfielders they have.

Strength

Have sharp strikers. Both Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie are top scorers in the German Bundesliga and the Premier League. Many options in the middle. Free kick expert. If there's free kick near the penalty area, there are many choices to be the executors, Sneijder, Arjen Robben, or Robin van Persie. A disciplined defensive midfielder. Mark van Bommel was slow, but he has the ability to read the game to break the opponent's attack. 

Weaknesses

Slow central defender. Although only conceded eight goals during the Euro 2012 qualifiers, the Dutch defense are still doubted. Difficulty of integrating the two strikers is also crucial problem needed to be solved immediately.

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Profile: The "Backbones" of Les Blues France

Though it was abandoned by Zinedine Zidane, the French national team appearance in the international arena is still awesome. Escaped from the arena of Euro 2012 qualifying as winner of group is indisputable evidence.

Strength
Many "pillars" of France squad play in three elite leagues in Europe, Premier League, England, La Liga, Spain  and Bundesliga, Germany.
Therefore, more or less they know and learn the style of those countries.

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Profile: The Pillars of El Matador Spain

In UEFA EURO 2012, Spain becomes the favorite candidate to win the game.

Strength
El Matador, the nickname of Spain, has great players, who mostly have skills on the above average, in all lines. Who would doubt the mentality of the team winning last two major events, Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010.  This Champion mentality owned by the Spain squad places them as one of the strongest champion candidate of this tournament.

Weaknesses
El Clasico rivalry, the disharmony of Barcelona and Real Madrid players haunts La Furia Roja (also the official nickname of Spain) since the majority of Spain players are from those two clubs. If this rivalry can not be eliminated from each player, the ambition to be the first country to win Euro in two tournaments reportedly (back to back champions) will be difficult to realize.

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Profile: The "Stars" of Der Panzer Germany

As one of the strongest candidates of the EURO 2012 champion, along with Netherlands and Spain, Der Panzer, the nickname of Germany national football team, must be the member of the "hellish" group, group B. It is not too exaggerate to say "hellish" group since there are three strong and experienced countries, one of them also predicted as candidate of champion,  become the other members of this group, they are: Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark. 

Strength

Germany is synonymous with strength, endurance, and discipline, but Loew, the coach of Germany, cleverly combining them with new tactics those are management of the ball, creativity, risk taking, and dynamic movement. As a result, Der Panzer becomes a spectacular squad. This "plus" is the reason why they become a favorite of champion in EURO 2012.  

Weaknesses 

There is a little doubt in Der Panzer squad when we talk about the back line. Germany is known as a team to attack and sometimes they forget and leave the back opens.

Moreover, despite qualifying with a perfect result, Loew continues to replace players of the back line, and this is a bit worrying.

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UEFA EURO Mascots from Time to Time

UEFA EURO 2012

Year: 2012

Host country: Poland and Ukraine 

Winner: Spain

The final: Spain vs. Italy

Mascot:

Slavek (Sławek) and Slavko

Once again Warner Bros. created the mascots. The twins represent two host nations, Poland and Ukraine. One twin wears Poland's national colours of red and white, the other the yellow and blue of Ukraine.

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UEFA EURO 2008 

Year: 2008

Host country: Austria-Switzerland

Winner: Spain

The final - 29/06/2008

Germany 0-1 Spain

Mascot:

Trix and Flix
A twin set of mascots two represent the two host countries, Austria and Switzerland. The Warner Bros. design was of two child like characters both dressed in football strips comprising solely red and white, the colours of the national flags of Austria and Switzerland.

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UEFA EURO 2004

Year: 2004

Host country: Portugal

Winner: Greece

The final - 04/07/2004

Portugal 0-1 Greece

Mascot:

Kinas

A cartoon version of a boy dressed in the Portugal football strip. The mascot's name, Kinas, is taken from "Bandeira das Quinas", which is a name for Portugal's national flag.

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UEFA EURO 2000

Year: 2000

Host country: Belgium-Netherlands

Winner: France

The final - 02/07/2000

France 2-1 Italy

Mascot:

Benelucky

A lion with a devil's tail and human hands. A lion appears on the crest of the Dutch national federation, and the Belgian national team is historically nicknamed "Red Devils". The name Benelucky, is a portmanteau of "Benelux", the term for the three nations of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the ending "-lucky" wishing the participating teams "good luck". It wore football boots and held a football under its left arm. One of the most striking characteristics of Benelucky was its multicoloured lions mane which incorporated the colours of both the Belgian and Dutch national flags.

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UEFA EURO 1996

Year: 1996

Host country: England

Winner: Germany

The final - 30/06/1996

Czech Republic 1-2 Germany

Mascot:

Goaliath

Goaliath was designed in a similar fashion to the original World Cup mascot from 1966 World Cup called World Cup Willie. Goliath comprised a lion, the image on the English football teams crest, dressed in an England football strip and football boots whilst holding a football under his right arm.

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UEFA EURO 1992

Year: 1992

Host country: Sweden

Winner: Denmark

The final - 26/06/1992

Denmark 2-0 Germany

Mascot:

Rabbit

The Swedish mascot was also a rabbit in the national colours with head and wristbands controlling a football like the mascot from four years previously and was called name of Rabbit.

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UEFA EURO 1988

Year: 1988

Host country: West Germany

Winner: Netherlands

The final - 25/06/1988

USSR 0-2 Netherlands

Mascot:

Berni

A cartoonised German Grey Rabbit with human shaped body. Berni wore an outfit in the colours of the German national flag with a black football jersey with UEFA across the front, red football shorts and yellow or golden socks additionally with white head and wristbands. Mostly depicted while jumping and controlling a football.

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UEFA EURO 1984

Year: 1984

Host country: France

Winner: France

The final - 27/06/1984

France 2-0 Spain

Mascot:

Péno

A white cockerel, a traditional national symbol of France, dressed in a French coloured football strip including football boots and white gloves.

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UEFA EURO 1980

Year: 1980

Host country: Italy

Winner: West Germany

The final - 22/06/1980

Belgium 1-2 West Germany

Mascot:

Pinocchio

Based on the character from the children's story of the same name. Pinocchio comprised a small wooden boy with long nose in the colours of the Italian national flag and a white hat emblazened with EUROPA 80 (http://www.wikipedia.org/)

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Bayern München and Allianz Arena

This Sunday (20/05/12) there will be a final match waited by all football lovers in this surface of the earth, yes it is the final battle of Champion League between Bayern München  vs. Chelsea in which in the quarter final succeeded to eliminate their rivals.  Bayern München  forced Real Madrid to surrender through penalty kick battle and Chelsea won from Barcelona.

Since its founding,  Bayern München has four times to feel the glory of lifting the trophy of Champion League, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, I wish it becomes five this year, and four times also as runner-up, 1982, 1987, 1999, 2010. In domestic,  It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football and is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups.

Previously, the "home" of Bayern used to be Munich Olympic Stadium sharing with TSV 1860 München since 1972 and have played their home games at the Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season.

Moreover, Allianz Arena which becomes the "home" of Die Roten, the nickname of FC Bayern München,  and TSV 1860 München is one of the most spectacular stadiums in the world. The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in the north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is the third biggest stadium in Germany after Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund and the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The capacity of this arena is able to accommodate 69,901 spectators. You can imagine how big it is. What makes this stadium so unique is that the façade is made from 2760 ETFE-foil cushions which are continuously inflated with dried air. Each cushion has its own illumination that can change from red to blue or white. When FC Bayern has a home match, the Arena is illuminated all in red, for the home matches of TSV 1860 all lights are blue, and for neutral matches the colour is white. If for instance the German national team is playing, the stadium will be illuminated all in white.

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