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.

Fernando Torres

Torres was born in Fuenlabrada, Spain, March 20, 1984. Player who has full name Fernando José Torres Sanz, starts his early footballing career in Atlético de Madrid Club. Blessed with qualified skills and good instinct in scoring goals, makes ​​him feared by Spain rivals' defenders.

The player nicknamed EL Nino has scored three goals in the 2006 World Cup championship for the Spain national team. Torres also helped Spain to achieve their victory at Euro 2008 when he scored a single goal which made Spain as the winner in the final match against Germany.

Xavi Hernandez

Xavi is the regulator or the General of the midfield, both in the Spanish national football team and Barcelona. Having great vision to play and great passing that spoil the strikers are the excess of this 31 years old player. The player who has full name Xavier Hernández Creus, was born in Terrassa, Spain, January 25, 1980.

Despite having an disadvantage in terms of posture, Xavi covers it with the ability to maintain and regulate the rhythm of the team. The greatness and superiority of Spain and Barcelona mastering trophies in many championships can not be separated from his role as a playmaker.

 

 Andres Iniesta Iniesta has very complete skills. He has great technique as well as strong will to work hard for his team. In addition, his dribling, flexibility, vision and tranquility become the excess of this Barcelona midfielder.

Iniesta played an important role in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, thanks to his goal he was able to bring Spain to be world champion. He also had a great role in taking up Spain as the winner of Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.

Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos, is one of the key players at the Spanish national football team in winning the 2010 World Cup. Has a high discipline and diligently helps the attack are the excess of this 25 years old defender.

Iker Casillas
Good response and positioning make him indispensable in both the Spanish national football team as well as in Madrid. A goalkeeper who is nicknamed as "Saint Iker", is one of the key figures in bringing El Matador wins the World Cup 2010.

In addition, one record that was achieved by Casillas was he successfully listed his name as one of the most often player in defending his country in the international tournaments surpassing the record of Andoni Zubizarreta who had played for El Matador as a Captain for 126 times

 

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.

Mario Gomez
There is no doubt that Mario Gomez will be a mainstay of Der Panzer. Gomez is a player with the best note ratio of goals per minute along the history of League Champions. The key to his sharpness is how his ability to take advantage of opportunities and the placement of his position during the game. Gomez managed to convert chances into goals by 31 percent. Of the 28 goals scored Munich, Gomez contributes 48 percent goals to FC Hollywood during this season.

William Hill puts Mario Gomez at the top of the candidate winning the title of top scorer with a given coefficient of 8/1.

Mesut Özil
Thanks to Ballack's injuries in 2010, Özil had chance to show his impressive play.

Özil has advantages in his left leg. His position as an attacking midfielder. With the ability to process the ball, good at free kicks, and good at giving assists, he becomes a mainstay of Der Panzer squad.

He has a high proficiency and improvisation in the middle field. His skills make Germany does not have to worry about in midfield mastery. In Spain he is nicknamed as "El Búho" (The Owls) for his thorough passings capabilities which include a wide angle.

 Bastian Schweinsteiger
This player plays as a midfielder, his smart in finding loopholes, having accurate passes, and combined with a hard kick are the excess of this 26-year-old midfielder. Fast thinking, accurate feedback, careful selection of position, and great durability. Within a year, Schweinsteiger transformed into the most complete midfielder in the world.

His role as "the general of midfield" can not be underestimated, a long with Özil, Khedira, and Muller make the midfield of Germany hard to break.

UEFA EURO Mascots from Time to Time

 UEFA EURO 2012

Year: 2012

Host country: Poland and Ukraine 

Winner: -

The final - -

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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/)

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.

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.

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.

Living Barbie: Valeria Lukyanova

 There is no doubt every woman in this Earth wants to look pretty and attractive. Being a fan of somebody inspiring is natural, but have you ever dreamed or wanted to be somebody you admire most? or have you ever met someone done so many things to copy their great figures they admire?  Sure you have, but how about if it is not person/ figure but doll? Have you ever found an extreme person who wants to be a Barbie doll look?

Surely you have known well about Barbie doll, the large wardrobe of the Barbie doll is reminiscent of the extensive wardrobes of fashion dolls popular in Europe in the late 19th century. However, while clothes designers in the past used fashion dolls to showcase their new creations, Barbie dolls, created in 1959, function mainly as toys.

Recently,  Valeria Lukyanova, 21 years old, is an internet sensation and has quickly gained popular throughout the internet. She is from the Ukraine in Russia. Her popularity stems from the fact that she might be the closest anyone’s has ever come to looking like a real-life Barbie Doll.

Valeria’s look is unreal, almost plastic. Her face is almost always expressionless, and her body proportions are very unusual having naturally tiny waist, huge chest and flowing platinum blonde hair. There are so many speculations that either she has done plastic surgery or photoshop helps her gain this look.

You may say she is a kind of "unhappy to be me thing", you may think she is freaky and scary, or you may say she is fantastic and pretty. Well, that's in your hand, you may consider her as anything you want to. Here are some pictures of hers.