The absolute and utter beauty of any Cup competition is that it is 11 versus 11. Now I know that sounds obvious but on any given day a group of individuals can bring such determination and organisation to bear that they can create difficult circumstances for whoever they are playing. And if the opposition, no matter how good they are, just happen to have a bad day, then an upset can be on the cards. Belief is a sure stepping stone to success.

Over in central Europe belief will not be in short supply. The very best professional footballers will be demonstrating all the arts and crafts of the Beautiful Game. We have a mouth-watering few weeks ahead of us and I am so looking forward to this particular European Championships. I had intended going over but commitments prevented it happening, but RTE is, if I am not mistaken, showing every game live. My wife is in serious trouble here I can tell you. “Just shovel the food under the door”.

The same old faces will I suppose, congregate at the same old places at the most important juncture of this competition. Italy, Germany, France, Portugal will be strong while Spain must have a good tournament at some time or other. While Greece proved in Euro 2004 that one can never underestimate good organisation and determination against even the very best teams, we all hope that technique will be one of the pivotal points this time round.

The individuals performing are also hugely impressive. Torres, Ballack, Ronaldo and Van Persie are just some of the true quality performers waiting to prove that they and their fellow countrymen are the best in the continent and this is their time to prove it.

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