So the group stages are now over at the Euro 2012 and it’s been a quite good tournament, maybe lacking a few “scandals” though? Thinking of things like Zidane’s madness in the World Cup final 2006, or the mess of the French team in South Africa. Will we get any action like that in the Euros this summer?

One talking point has been Nicklas Bendtner’s flashing of his Paddy Power underwear to the world, while celebrating his goal in the game against Portugal. The result was a nice fine of 100,000 EUR and a one match ban in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. It seems quite ridiculous when looking at other fines handed out recently. I remember when Croatian fans were “displaying a racist banner and showing racist conduct” in Euro 2008 and was handed a 12K EUR fine.

But of course Paddy Power will easily cover this fine and it’s just one of their many genius marketing campaigns, I can recommend a visit to their official twitter account during any major sporting event.

My Predictions for the rest of the Euro’s

Before the tournament I said Holland would be this year’s failure and France or Germany would lift the trophy and I won’t change anything from that. Germany seems very strong and have taken over as the favorite among bookmakers.

France can surprise and I have a bet on them to narrowly beat the current champions Spain in the quarterfinal on Saturday. If they manage this they will be full of confidence and the truth is that they have one of the best teams in the tournament. And a real coach this time…

My picks for the 4 quarterfinals:

Czech Rep v Portugal – Two good attacking teams, Portugal to grind out a 2-1 win with a late goal.

Germany v Greece – Germany big favorites and will tear down the Greek defense sooner or later. Won’t bet much on this game.

Spain vs France – Will go against the bookmakers and back France to surprise. Spain are looking more human than recent years and sometimes a bit predictable.

England v Italy – Two teams that have played a bit boring but got nice results so far. I can see a draw here and England winning in OT or penalties. They seem to have a bit of luck on their side this year.

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written by Stefan