Euros 2012 - Round Two of the Group Stage

Another great round of games completed, here our your awards:

Best Goalkeeper: Andriy Pyatov - Made a string of good saves and kept Ukraine in the game for the most part though he was aided by some poor French finishing. Could have given it to Malafeev as well.

Best Defender: Alvaro Arbeloa - Arbeloa is normally not a full back who will maraud down the flanks but against the Irish he was phenomenally good. The Irish were awful and Arbeloa took full advantage, always getting open to recieve passes from the best midfielders in the world. Hummels, Strinic and Selassie played very well too.

Best Midfielder: Bastian Scweinsteiger - Dubbed 'The Brain' by Jogi Low, Schweinsteiger passed the ball as well as I have ever seen him. He made a few good tackles and set up Gomez for both of his goals. The Dutch could not cope with the time and space that Schweinsteiger made for himself, even when they had two holding midfielders on the pitch. Silva was obviously incredible as was every single Spainsh player. Nani, Arshavin, Dzagoev, Obraniak, Walcott and the whole French midfield also played extremely well. This was a tough award to give out this week. Cabaye could have won the award but seemed to let the game pass him by at times, as with most of the French players.

Best Striker: Fernando Torres - As always, he worked extremely hard off the ball which worked out brilliantly for the Spanish as he nipped in front of the lumbering Irish line to collect the ball after Dunne had made a good tackle and slot the ball straight above Given's head. He was always a threat and should have probably scored more but I still think he looked like he was lacking in confidence. Two goals will do him a world of good and hopefully he can start performing again to an elite level. Mario Gomez, Niklas Bendtner and Karim Benzema also played very well, especially Benzema who showed that he can play to a high level even when he does not score as he set up both French goals.

Best Match: Sweden 2 - 3 England - Maybe I am being slightly bias here because I could have so easily gone for the Denmark - Portugal game, but there were too many moments in this game to mention. The comeback from England was immense and to be honest, I did not think they had it in them. Fantastic fighting spirit could mean that the England bandwagon is starting to roll!

Worst Match: Ukraine 0 - 2 France - The weather conditions did not help this match as it was suspended for an hour and then resumed without the players having a warm up. Thus I felt the first half was pretty hard to watch. The French dominated the game and should have won by a more comfortable margin but I think they will be happy with their overall performance. Again, the Euros have produced a very good tournament with no truly bad matches.

Surprise Player: Ludovic Obraniak - The Bordeaux player surprised me, not because he played well, but because he played well whilst going up against a good right back in Anyukov. He made Anyukov look very average and clocked an assist in the process. 

Underachieving Player: Petr Cech - A few players could have taken this award but for one of the world's greatest keepers to keep on dropping clangers in the European Championships (see 2008) is unbelievable. Hopefully he will step up his game as with Rosicky injured, he is now Czech Republic's best hope for staying in the Euro's against co-hosts Poland.

Best Manager: Slavan Bilic - Bilic has produced yet another strong Croatian team who stuck by their principles in the wake of a strong Italian team. Having four in midfield (though Mandzukic can drop back when necessary) at the start of the game against the five Italian midfielders was a gamble but it looks to have succeeded in giving them a good chance of sneaking through ahead of the Italians, especially if another 2-2 draw occurs like in 2004.

Team of the Round:

--------------------------Pyatov-------------------------

Selassie----Hummels--------- Pique---------Strinic

Silva-----Schweinsteiger-------Ozil---------Arshavin

-----------------Torres-------------Bendtner--------------

Honourable Mentions - Srna, Mexes, Melberg, Pepe, Coentrao, Cabye, Nani, Benzema, Gomez and Any Spanish Player

Predictions

Golden Boot: Cesc Fabregas (Previously Antonio Di Natale) - I think that my choice of Di Natale last week might have been a romantic one. Cesc could be the top scorer especially as Spain should go far in the competition but he faces stiff competition from Mario Gomez and Alan Dzagoev. If Torres hits top form at the right time, he too could challenge for the Golden Boot.

Player of the Tournament: Bastian Schweinsteiger (Previously Cesc Fabregas) - If Fabregas is reduced to a starring role from the bench then I think this is Schweinsteiger's tournament to grab with both hands though I can see Mesut Ozil winning this award too.

Winners: Spain (Unchanged) - I do not see how any team could have enough of the ball to beat such a talented group of players. Also, with Ramos at centre-back instead of the injured Pujol and Jordi Alba the new left back, they are much more athletic in defence. There are teams that can challenge Spain as shown by their draw against Italy but I still feel as if they weren't playing to their best as they dismantled a very poor Ireland team.

Surprise Team: Croatia (Previously Denmark) - Croatia stand a good chance of qualifying, especially if Spain rest some players in their final group game. Italy are still favourites to qualify but Croatia have given themselves an excellent chance of knocking Italy out of the tournament.

Overperformers: Poland (Previously Ukraine) - I am choosing the other co-host this week after they fought back against Russia to equalise and then push on to go for the win. Unfortunately they were unable to get three points, but they certainly showed that Czech Republic will have a tough game on their hands.

Underperformers: Ireland (Unchanged) - Could have chosen the Dutch again this week, but at least they have a chance of qualifying. This was embarrassing. Ireland did not look as if they had a game plan and even if they did, it unravelled in four minutes with a Torres goal. Spain were not just infinitely more talented, but it looked as if they were more hungry too. Traps has done a good job at Ireland but this tournament will have tarnished his reputation and there may be some big calls for him to step down despite the long contract that he has just signed.

Final Thoughts - This has been a great tournament so far, no boring matches and all the teams, excluding Ireland and maybe Greece, look as if they feel as though they can qualify. There have been some matches with negative tactics but these matches have still been exciting and I cannot wait until the last games of the group stages. Every game seems to have something riding on it and with match ups like Netherlands - Portugal and Spain - Croatia, we could be in for a treat.