Euro 2012, it's time for verdicts: after the last day of the qualifying rounds, they are 12 European nations already safe to show up next May at the start of the continental event, hosted by Poland and Ukraine. While another 8 will go to the play-offs to compete for the last 4 places available.
All more or less according to prediction in the last round, with most of the teams that had already detached the pass (among these Italy, qualified for the first time in its history with 3 rounds to spare). However, there were some surprises (or half-surprise..), like the Portugal, to tell the truth never very brilliant in this qualifying session, which lose to Denmark and must give up first place in the group, synonymous with direct qualification.
In the play-offs, which will be drawn on Thursday in Krakow, he will risk finding the Bosnia, which in direct confrontation makes France shiver: a draw was enough for the transalpines, which however arrived only a few minutes from the end thanks to Nasri, after Manchester City's goalscorer Edin Dzeko had given his team the lead. Bosnia however in the play-offs.
At the repechage instead not even Serbia will go there, which on paper could also have worried Italy in group C. This never happened, and by losing the last match in Slovenia, the national team of Vidic and his companions even finished in third place, sending an incredulous Estonia to the play-offs.
Bosnia and Estonia are among them 4 unseeded, to which they add Ireland of Trap (which tries again, after the elimination-theft at the 2010 World Cup by France) and the Jovetic's Montenegro. These Cinderellas will have to deal with the favourites seeded Portugal, Türkiye, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
The magnificent 12, i.e. the winners of the 9 groups, the best runner-up and the two host national teams are: Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Holland, Greece, England, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Poland and Ukraine.
Among major disappointments we point out the Slovakia by Marek Hamsik: after a very brilliant qualification for South Africa 2010 (where it also reached the round of XNUMX by eliminating Italy in the group stage), the national team led by the jewel of Napoli has never really been in the running in a group which even seemed within its reach, with Russia and Ireland certainly not irresistible adversaries.
Favorites instead, according to what has been demonstrated so far, they seem to be the usual Spain, the young and aggressive one Germany, the always talented Holland and why not also thePrandelli's Italy, who finished their group undefeated, with 20 goals scored and only 2 conceded.
The draw for the finals will take place on 2 December in Kyiv. The blues, according to the current ranking, are positioned in second tier together with Germany, England and Russia. We will therefore have the certainty of avoiding one of the favorite teams in the group and also the dreaded Fabio Capello's national team.
In first band the other two bogeymen, Holland and Spain, but also the two organizing countries, which honestly would cause much less concern: theUkraine is the 16th team in the ranking, the Poland even the 29th. There France, as already happened 4 years ago, will be the loose cannon of the draw: it is not among the top seeds, but only in the third pot.
