The tournament is over and a new European Champion is crowned! Let’s recap the event.
Group A
By the midpoint of the group stage, Group A was still anyone’s ballgame. Wales led with a 3-0 record, while France was 2-1, having dropped their first meeting with Wales after the Dragons rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to win 6-4. Northern Ireland was 1-2 but with 3 games to turn it around, and a vital 2-1 win over Wales helped both France and Northern Ireland, who improved to 2-3. When France and Wales met again, France got the better of it, winning 5-2 to take first place in the group. Wales maintained second place, 4-2, while Northern Ireland’s 3-3 was enough to see them through to the knockout round. Albania went winless.
- x-France 5-1
- z-Wales 4-2
- z-Northern Ireland, 3-3
- Albania, 0-6
Group B
Group B was similarly in play by the midpoint of the stage, with England on top 3-0, while Poland and Slovenia were 2-1 and 1-2 respectively. England ran the table through the rest of the stage, finishing 6-0, while, crucially, the hometown crowds helped spur Poland on to win both games against Slovenia to finish second in the group and prevent Slovenia from mirroring Northern Ireland’s success. Austria suffered the curse of the (English) alphabet, finishing 0-6 like Albania. With more runs scored than any other 2-4 team, Slovenia squeaked through to the knockout round.
- x-England, 6-0
- z-Poland, 4-2
- z-Slovenia, 2-4
- Austria, 0-6
Group C
Cohosts Ukraine looked out of it from the start, dropping their opening game and then every game thereafter. Surprisingly, at the halfway mark Switzerland looked like a possible spoiler. The Swiss held second place with a 2-1 record, while Portugal sat third 1-2. The second half of the group stage held no surprises for Spain, who won the group, nor for Ukraine, still in last; but Portugal and Switzerland were in a dead heat at 3-3. They split their two games and both went through, with Switzerland winning the tiebreaker (I believe it’s run differential, maybe runs scored?).
- x-Spain, 6-0
- z-Switzerland, 3-3
- z-Portugal, 3-3
- Ukraine, 0-6
Group D
Midway through Group D’s campaign, the only question was whether Germany would drop a game and give Belgium a chance of winning the group. Serbia’s only win was against helpless Greece (the curse of alphabetical order obviously fell apart quickly), while Belgium’s Red Devils hoped to turn around from their 9-4 loss to
die Mannschaft and win their second game against Germany. It wasn’t meant to be, and the Germans swept Belgium to hand them their only two losses of group play.
- x-Germany, 6-0
- z-Belgium, 5-2
- Serbia, 1-5
- Greece, 0-6
Group E
Another group where the clear favorite ran away with first place, this time perfect Italy. At the midway point the second spot was up for grabs between Ireland and Sweden, at 2-1 and 1-2, respectively. Ultimately, plucky Croatia spoiled the party for Sweden, handing them a loss (Croatia’s only win, an 8-2 thumping) and allowing 3-3 Ireland to advance. Sweden would just miss out on a wild card spot on runs scored, they were tied for 18th in the tournament).
- x-Italy, 6-0
- z-Ireland, 3-3
- Sweden, 2-4
- Croatia, 1-5
Group F
This group turned into a good fight for first between Netherlands and Scotland, with Denmark struggling but still in the Wild Card mix. At the halfway mark all three of those teams sat 2-1 at the expense of 0-3 Romania. When the dust settled, Scotland had dropped a crucial game against Holland in extra innings 12-9 to finish second. Meanwhile, Romania’s massive 7-5 upset over Denmark meant that the Danes had to rely on their -32 run differential to put them into the knockout stage.
- x-Netherlands, 5-1
- z-Scotland, 4-2
- z-Denmark, 2-4
- Romania, 1-5
Round of 16
England lost their first game of the tournament in game two of the round of 16, as their big bats went silent allowing the underdogs to grind out a 4-2 win, but it wasn’t enough to rally Slovenia, and England put up monster numbers at the plate in game 3 to advance.
Wales’ feelgood story came to an end against the big red wall of the Belgium squad. The Red Devils swept the Red Dragons, but Wales didn’t go down easily, losing by a total of 3 runs.
Group Stage surprises Switzerland couldn’t stand up to powerhouse Netherlands. The
Oranje swept the Swiss 2-0 to advance with few worries.
The same story repeated for Italy against Northern Ireland, who put an end to the underdog story behind 23 runs in two games.
Portugal finally found their stride after sneaking out of the group stage. They took down titans Germany, 2-1. Ronaldo batted .500 in the series with 2 HR and 7 RBI. He carried the team which eked out wins 6-2 and 5-4 after Germany’s 4-3 game 1 win.
The Cinderella story didn’t end for Ireland, who shockingly swept pre-tournament powerhouse France in a couple of close ones, 6-2 and 3-2. Les Bleus felt the absence of Ozul and Benzema, and the French struggled to find offense against the Irish.
Poland hoped to channel some of that magic but instead it was Scotland who came out in front. The Scots put a two game beatdown on Poland to send the cohosts home with their heads high.
Spain established themselves as tournament favorites after the round of 16 following a 2-game demolition of Denmark. The Spanish all-stars raked at the plate, putting an end to Denmark’s surprising run.
Quarterfinals
England returned to form against Belgium, winning game 1 handily 13-4 before grinding out a 1-0 win in game 2 to reassert their status as the favorites to win it all.
Italy didn’t need ace Gigi Buffon to take two from the Netherlands. The
Azzurri swept the
Oranje, 2-1 and 7-4 with the ace resting for the Semifinals.
Portugal continued its resurgence, breaking Ireland’s glass slipper behind two 5-run wins in as many games. Ronaldo was relatively quiet in the series, he “only” went .375 with 1 HR and 4 RBI.
Scotland would not go quietly in their matchup with Spain. They won game 1 in 10 innings, 5-3 to stun the Spain with their first loss of the tournament. Spain rallied for big numbers in games 2 and 3 to advance to the Semifinals.
Semifinals
Italy versus England was a tense matchup. England won game 1 of the series 5-4 in the 14th inning thanks to a Wayne Rooney walk off double. Buffon took the mound in game 2 to save Italy’s tournament but it wasn’t enough. England took Gigi to the cleaners for 6 runs in 6.1 IP, while Italy’s bats could only muster 2 runs and England were through to the final!
The Iberian Derby kicked off with a tight game between rampant Spain and surging Portugal. Ronaldo went 0 for 3 with 2 BB and a run, and Spain rallied from 3-0 down to win 5-4. Game 2 went better for CR7, who was 3 for 4 with 2 R and 1 RBI. Cesc Fabregas had other plans though, his 3-run HR put Spain up early and they held on for a 5-3 win over their neighbors.
Final
Pre-tournament favorites England and Spain met for the title in the match bookmakers had all along. Two superstar lineups met to decide the European crown for the next four years. England jumped out to an early 3-0 lead via a bases-clearing double by starting pitcher Phil Cunningham (Man United). Spain tried to rally off a 1-RBI Juan Mata double in the 3rd, but England added three more runs to Spain’s one and Rooney, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and company triumphed over Cesc, David Silva, Pique, Iniesta, and Mata to win the European Championship 6-3.
In the real life 2012 Euros, Spain defeated Italy 4-0, while England went out in the round of 16 against Italy, losing on penalties thanks to Italy GK Gigi Buffon.
Award Winners
The Player of the Tournament was England’s Frank Lampard (FA), who went .456/.557/.965, 8 HR, 1.3 WAR in the tournament. Super Frank is a free agent after a championship season at Chelsea, and this performance will certainly help his next contract.
The Golden Arm went to French P Romain Besancon (Brighton), 2-0, 0.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 1.6 WAR. Besancon is pitching in the Premier League this season thanks to the Seagulls’ promotion from the Championship. He was the Silver Arm winner last year and hopes to power the Gulls to success.
With Euro 2012 complete, Europe looks towards Euro 2016 in France, but first: a new season of club baseball and in 2014 the Baseball World Cup in Brazil.