Can Germany top the Group of Death and make a run at the Euro 12 trophy? Join us as we preview the German squad and take a look at their odds to walk away as this year's European Champions.
The Germans are one of the soccer odds favorites to win the
tournament, listed behind only Spain. They're +300 to capture the trophy.
That of course also makes them favorites to be the Group B
winner, but Germany is going to get one hell of a fight from Holland. The
Germans are priced at +110 to advance as the number one seed in the group, with
the Dutch side right behind them at +185.
Don't forget about Portugal either, who are priced at +400
to win the group. Rounding out the four is Denmark, who will be mainly relying
on Nicklas Bendtner up front but have little chance to move on to the
elimination round.
Group B the toughest of them all
A quick look at Germany's roster and you'll see why no one
wants to face this team.
Manuel Neuer will be manning the goalkeeping duties after
helping Bayern Munich reach the Champions League finals in his first season
with the club.
In defense, the Germans will turn to captain Philipp Lahm,
also of Bayern Munich, while Mats Hummels, Per Mertesacker and Jerome Boateng
are also on the Euro 2012 roster.
Lahm doesn't get too much of the spotlight (and we think he
likes it that way), but he has been ever-present on the backline for both club
and country. Able to play on both fullback positions, his versatility is
welcomed by head coach Joachim Low and we're sure he'll be leading by example
once again.
There's no dropoff in quality in the middle of the park
either, where Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira,
Mario Gotze and Marco Reus are all available for selection.
Similar to Spain, the level of class in that midfield is
downright scary.
Schweinsteiger has been struggling to reach full fitness but
if healthy he'll be a rock in the middle of the pitch for the Germans. Ozil was
a huge playmaker for Real Madrid this past season, while Kroos, Gotze and Reus
are three young superstars in the making.
Germany also owns quite a few of the top scoring talents
from around the world and a lot of them can be found in the top goalscorer prop
odds for Euro 2012.
So many players to watch
Mario Gomez (+700) is right at the top of the list, ahead of
even Robin Van Persie, while Miroslav Klose (+1600), Lukas Podolski (+2000) and
Thomas Muller (+2500) are worth looking at as well.
Klose may be coming to the twilight of his career, but he
found rejuvenated form this past term, scoring 13 goals in Serie A for Lazio.
He also had a fine scoring record in his limited appearances internationally,
scoring two goals in two Euro 2012 qualifying games and two in three of
Germany's friendlies as well.
That's nice and everything, but Gomez is top dog in the
soccer odds for a reason. He scored a staggering 48 goals in 54 total
appearances, including eight goals in nine international matches.
All in all, Germany is one of the youngest teams in the
competition but also arguably the most dangerous. If everything falls into
place and is clicking, we're not sure if there's any team out there who can
stop them. Yes, that includes even Spain.
But let's play devil's advocate for one moment.
After all, the Bavarians are in the hardest group in the
entire tournament. A bad bounce here and there could mean the difference
between advancing and getting eliminated, with Holland and Portugal certainly
capable of taking advantage.
It's almost impossible to imagine the knockout stages
without Germany though. This team is a formidable beast and we're sure they'll
live up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon then.