Soccer Trainer

Every team will be desperate to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2012 Championships. In total there are nine groups. The best runner-up will join the nine group winners in the tournament. The remaining 8 runners-up will be drawn into two-legged play-offs. 

One of the main groups of interest in Group G which contains England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. As the seeded team, England will be favourites to finish top of the group. That said, they failed to qualify for the last tournament. 

The main competition will come from Switzerland and Bulgaria. Switzerland have appeared in three of the last four finals but not once have they made it past the opening round. Along with Austria, they were co-hosts of the last tournament. They are a solid team without being anything special.  

Bulgaria have only qualified for the tournament twice, the last of which was in 2004. They have never made it to the knock out rounds. They used to be a regular at the World Cup attending every one from 1962 to 1974 and then in 1986 and 1994 where it finished fourth. That last time is was back was 1988. 

Its big name players are Stiliyan Petrov who plays for Aston Villa and Dimitar Berbatov who plays for Manchester United.  

Wales only previous experience with this tournament was in 1976 and that was when it using a completely different format. Wales were one of the eight group winners who were drawn into a two legged play-off, the winners of which qualified for the finals in Yugoslavia. They were the team that beat Wales in the playoffs. This was the last time Wales was in a major international tournament and it’s hard to see that change now. 

Montenegro is only three years old. It used to be part of Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro. They will struggle to do well in the Euro 2012 Group G.