World Cup Qualification UEFA Group H

Wembley Stadium

15-10-2013 @ 20.00 UK

How are the two teams form?

England took an important victory on Friday against Montenegro, but still needs a win to keep their 1st in the Group. The match against Montenegro showed a determined England team that was in it to win it. Montenegro is not an a bad team, but on paper Poland is better. However, England is unbeaten in their 5 last internationals!

Poland lost against Ukraine in the last match, and is 4th in the group and can not qualify for the World Cup any longer. However, Robert Lewandowski have sworn that Poland will not lay down and let England roll over them.

The last meeting between the two nations ended in a draw; Poland have never won against England.

What are the probable line ups?

Raheem Sterling has been called up for the final match of the qualification while Ashley Cole definitely is out. Poland, on the other hand, will probably play the same starting XI as they did against Ukraine as they will play to win against England.

As Robert Lewandowski has sworn, Poland is not going to let England just walk over them. The Three Lions are sure to end at least as 2nd, but will do whatever they can to win against Poland.

Robert Lewandowski is Poland's best player at the moment, and if England manages to mark him so tight he won't get a chance in front of the goal. The two teams strenghts are the pacey wings, and Sturridge and Welbeck will have to support Rooney with some in-depth runs.

The final has been played - the winner is found, and Poland and Ukraine is slowly going back to the every day. It is time to take a look back at the EURO 2012.

Most football fans have been surprised during this year’s EURO. While some teams and players have played beyond expectations, others have been one big disappointment. Not many had seen Holland lose all three matches in the group stages, and Coach Bert van Marwijk has taken the consequent of it. It is hard to say what went wrong for the Dutch, but one of the answers could be the highly profiled squad. Already before the start of the competition there were problems with unhappy players.

One of the great surprises at the EURO was Italy and especially Mario Balotelli. Italy was not seen as favorites to a spot in the final, but with the help from a phenomenal Andrea Pirlo and an ice cold Mario Balotelli, the Mediterranean’s surprised us all. Balotelli has proved that even though, he is most known for his scandalous behavior he has a real talent. Question is now, if he can keep the steam up  in the Premier League. If he is capable of this, he will be one of the top strikers in the world within the next couple of years. Andrea Pirlo might be in the last years of his career, but the midfielder as been one of the best at this EURO. This is supported by the fact that he has been awarded the Carlsberg Man of The Match award three times. More than anyone else during the competition. This might be his last tournament for Italy, and the little playmaker will be missed – not only by Italians but  all football fans.

We have said goodbye to many high profiled footballers this EURO. Players as Shevchenko, Milan Baros and Van Bommel has already announced their retirement, and many will follow. Like Pirlo, these players are going to be missed as they have been some key figures in European football the last century. However, we have also seen that the next generation is knocking on the door. Young players as Alan Dzagoev from Russia, Rafał Wolski from Poland and Balotelli will take over the European stage the next couple of years. Neither shall we fear to miss strikers in the future EURO competitions. Mario Gomez has proved that he is ready to take over for Klose in Germany, and it is also worth keeping an eye on the East European countries the next couple of years. There are some goal scorers around those teams.

Even though, Poland was eliminated in the group stages, they have shown that they should be feared. The offensive line with Lewandowski, Błaszczykowski, Polanski and the upcoming Wolski can turn out to be terrifying for defends all over the world. Especially if, the players comes to larger leagues as Lewandowski is reported to Manchester United.

Before EURO 2012, Poland and Ukraine was criticized as host nations, because of their history of hooliganism and racism. However, it has been countries like Spain, Croatia, Germany and Russia who has been the behind the cases relating to these issues. We have actually only seen one serious fight between fans, and that was when Russia met Poland. Here, the Polish police was fast to break down the riot. Well done from the host nations and I believe that, overall, have we seen a EURO played and celebrated in a good spirit.

UEFA, on the other hand, is worth criticizing, and I have made a post about this before. No one can reject that Nicklas Bendtner shall be fined for showing his underwear sponsored by a company who is not part of the UEFA partners. However, penalizing him harder than most of the countries, which fans have been acting racist is just ridicules. UEFA really has to start penalizing racism even harder now!

Fernando Torres won the Golden Boot. Not many had seen the Spaniard winning this title, given his latest season. However, the forward paid back the faith from Del Bosque. We have also seen a EURO full of wonderfully performed goals. Some of them will be found on Great Dane Football Blog tomorrow, when I nominate the five best goals.

Have you ever thought about buying a national team? Great Dane Football Blog takes a look on the value of each squad, as well as other facts. Take a look, before you buy your team!

Player and team value is taken from:

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

Croatia

Average age: 27.20 Years

Total value: £135.000.000

MVP: Luka Modrić £34.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Stipe Pletikosa

Ivan Kelava 

Danijel Subašić

Defenders:

Ivan Strinić

Josip Šimunić

Jurica Buljat

Vedran Ćorluka

Gordon Schildenfeld

Domagoj Vida

Midfielders:

Danijel Pranjić

Ivan Rakitić

Ognjen Vukojević

Luka Modrić

Darijo Srna (C)

Milan Badelj

Ivo Iličević

Tomislav Dujmović

Niko Kranjčar

Ivan Perišić

Forwards:

Nikica Jelavić

Mario Mandžukić

Nikola Kalinić

Eduardo 

Coach: Slaven Bilić

  

Czech Republic   

Petr Čech

Jan Laštuvka

Theodor Gebre Selassie

Michal Kadlec

Marek Suchý

Roman Hubník 

Tomáš Sivok 

Tomáš Rosický  (C)

Milan Petržela 

František Rajtoral 

Jaroslav Plašil 

Václav Pilař 

Tomáš Hübschman 

Daniel Kolář 

Petr Jiráček 

Tomáš Necid

Jan Rezek 

Milan Baroš 

Tomáš Pekhart 

Average age: 27.30 Years

Total value: £300.000.000

MVP: Franck Ribéry £37.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Hugo Lloris (C)

Steve Mandanda 

Cédric Carrasso 

Defenders: 

Patrice Evra 

Adil Rami 

Philippe Mexès 

Anthony Réveillère 

Laurent Koscielny 

Gaël Clichy 

Midfielders:

Mathieu Debuchy 

Yohan Cabaye 

Franck Ribéry 

Samir Nasri 

Blaise Matuidi 

Jérémy Menez 

Florent Malouda 

Yann M'Vila 

Alou Diarra 

Marvin Martin 

Hatem Ben Arfa 

Forwards:

Mathieu Valbuena 

Olivier Giroud 

Karim Benzema 

Coach: Laurent Blanc

İlkay Gündoğan  

Sami Khedira

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Mesut Özil

André Schürrle

Lars Bender

Toni Kroos

Mario Götze

Marco Reus

Forwards:

Lukas Podolski

Miroslav Klose

Mario Gomez

Kostas Chalkias

Alexandros Tzorvas

Michalis Sifakis 

Giannis Maniatis 

Giorgos Tzavellas 

Stelios Malezas 

Kyriakos Papadopoulos 

Avraam Papadopoulos 

Vassilis Torossidis 

Sotiris Ninis 

Sokratis Papastathopoulos 

José Holebas 

Midfielders:

Grigoris Makos 

Nikos Liberopoulos 

Giorgos Karagounis  (C)

Giorgos Fotakis 

Kostas Katsouranis 

Kostas Fortounis 

Giannis Fetfatzidis 

Forwards:

Giorgos Samaras 

Kostas Mitroglou 

Dimitris Salpingidis 

Fanis Gekas 

Coach:

Fernando Santos

 

Republic of Ireland

Average age: 28.80 Year

Total value: £62.500.000

MVP: Aiden McGeady £7.900.000

Goalkeepers:

Shay Given

Keiren Westwood

David Forde   

Defenders:

Sean St Lodger

Stephen Ward

John O'Shea

Richard Dunne

Stephen Kelly

Paul McShane

Darren O'Dea

Midfielders:

Glenn Whelan

Aiden McGeady

Keith Andrews 

Damien Duff

Darron Gibson

Stephen Hunt

Paul Green

James McClean

Forwards:

Kevin Doyle

Robbie Keane (C)

Jon Walters

Shane Long

Simon Cox 

Coach: Giovanni Trapattoni

Italy

Average age: 28.30 Years

Total value: £260.000.000

MVP: Daniele De Rossi £28.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Gianluigi Buffon (C)

Salvatore Sirigu

Morgan De Sanctis

Defenders:

Christian Maggio

Giorgio Chiellini

Angelo Ogbonna

Frederico Balzaretti

Ignazio Abate

Andrea Barzagli

Leonardo Bonucci

Midfielders:

Thiago Motta

Claudio Marchisio

Emanuele Giaccherini

Daniele De Rossi

Riccardo Montolivio

Andrea Pirlo

Allesandra Diamanti

Antonio Nocerino

Forwards:

Mario Balotelli

Antonio Cassano

Antonio De Natale

Fabio Borini

Sebastian Giovinco

Coach: 

Cesare Prandelli    

 

Netherlands

Average age: 27.70 Years

Total value: £245.000.000

MVP: Robin van Persie £39.500.000

Goalkeepers:

Maarten Stekelenburg

Michel Worm

Tim krul

Defenders:

Gregory van der Wiel

John Heitinga

Joris Mathijsen

Wilfred Bouma

Ron Vlaar

Jetro Willems

Khalid Boulahrouz

Midfielders:

Mark van Bommel (C)

Nigel de Jong

Wesley Sneijder

Arjen Robben

Stijn Schaars

Kevin Strootman

Rafael van der Vaart

Forwards:

Dirk Kuyt

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Robin van Persie

Luuk de Jong

Luciano Narsingh

Ibrahim Afellay

Coach:

Bert van Marwijk

 

Poland

Average age: 25.70 Years

Total value: £75.000.000

MVP: Robert Lewandowski £13.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Wojciech Szczęsny 

Grzegorz Sandomierski 

Przemysław Tytoń 

Defenders:

Sebastian Boenisch 

Grzegorz Wojtkowiak 

Marcin Kamiński 

Marcin Wasilewski 

Jakub Wawrzyniak 

Damien Perquis 

Łukasz Piszczek 

Midfielders:

Dariusz Dudka 

Adam Matuszczyk 

Eugen Polanski 

Maciej Rybus 

Ludovic Obraniak 

Rafał Murawski 

Jakub Błaszczykowski  (C)

Adrian Mierzejewski 

Rafał Wolski 

Forwards:

Robert Lewandowski 

Artur Sobiech 

Kamil Grosicki 

Paweł Brożek 

Coach: Franciszek Smuda 

Portugal

Average age: 27.50 Years

Total value: £295.000.000

MVP: Cristiano Ronaldo £79.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Eduardo

Riu Patrício

Beto

Defenders:

Bruno Alves

Pepe

Fábio Coentrão

Ricardo Costa

Rolando

Miguel Lopes

João Pereira

Midfielders:

Miguel Veloso

Custódio

João Moutinho

Ricardo Quaresma

Rúben Micael

Raul Meireles

Nani

Hugo Viani

Forwards:

Cristiano Ronaldo (C)

Hugo Almeida

Nélson Oliveira

Silvestre Varela

Hélder Postiga

Coach: Paulo Bento

Russia

Average age: 28.90

Total value: £145.000.000

MVP: Igor Akinfeev £15.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Igor Akinfeev

Anton Shunin

Vyacheslav Malafeev 

Defenders:

Aleksandr Anyukov 

Roman Sharonov 

Sergei Ignashevich 

Yuri Zhirkov 

Aleksei Berezutski 

Vladimir Granat 

Kirill Nababkin 

Midfielders: 

Roman Shirokov 

Igor Denisov 

Konstantin Zyryanov 

Marat Izmailov 

Dmitri Kombarov 

Alan Dzagoev 

Aleksandr Kokorin 

Denis Glushakov 

Igor Semshov 

Forwards:

Andrey Arshavin (C)

Aleksandr Kerzhakov 

Roman Pavlyuchenko 

Pavel Pogrebnyak 

Coach: Dick Advocaat

 

Spain

Average age: 27.20 Years

Total value: £580.000.000 

MVP: Andrés Iniesta £57.000.000

Goalkeepers:

Iker Casillas (C)

Víctor Valdés 

Pepe Reina 

Defenders:

Raúl Albiol 

Gerard Piqué 

Sergio Ramos 

Álvaro Arbeloa 

Jordi Alba 

Midfielders:

Javi Martínez 

Andrés Iniesta 

Xavi Hernández 

Cesc Fàbregas 

Xabi Alonso 

Sergio Busquets 

Santi Cazorla 

David Silva 

Jesús Navas 

Forwards:

Juanfran 

Pedro Rodríguez 

Fernando Torres 

Álvaro Negredo 

Juan Mata 

Fernando Llorente 

Coach: Vincente del Bosque

 

 

Sweden

Average age: 28.80

Total value: £110.000.000

MVP: Zlatan Imbrahimovic 

     £32.500.000

Goalkeepers:

Andreas Isaksson

Johan Wiland

Pär Hansson

Defenders:

Mikael Lustig

Olof Mellberg 

Andreas Granqvist

Martin Olsson

Jonas Olsson

Mikael Antonsson

Behrang Safari

Midfielders:

Rasmus Elm

Sebastian Larsson

Anders Svensson

Kim Källström

Pontus Wernbloom

Samuel Holmén

Emir Bajrami

Christian Wilhelmsson

Forwards:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (C)

Johan Elmander

Tobias Hysén

Ola Toivonen

Markus Rosenberg

Coach: Erik Hamrén

Ukraine

Average age: 27.90

Total Value: £94.500.000

MVP: Andriy Yarmolenko £7.900.000

Goalkeepers:

Maxym Koval

Andriy Pyatov 

Oleksandr Goryainov 

Defenders:

Yevhen Selin 

Yevhen Khacheridi 

Olexandr Kucher 

Vyacheslav Shevchuk 

Taras Mikhalik 

Yaroslav Rakitskiy 

Bohdan Butko 

Midfielders:

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk  (C)

Denys Garmash 

Olexandr Aliyev 

Oleh Gusev 

Ruslan Rotan 

Serhiy Nazarenko 

Yevhen Konoplyanka 

Forwards:

 

Andriy Shevchenko 

Andriy Voronin 

Andriy Yarmolenko 

Artem Milevskiy 

Yevhen Seleznyov 

Marko Dević 

Coach: Oleg Blokhin