UEFA Euro 2012 betting preview – part 5a – Germany

If more Euro 2012 betting previews is what you are looking for, you came to the right place. We have given our two cents on Group A and now we shift focus to Group B, and what a group that is. Mouthwatering, titanic clashes will be plentiful. Germany, Portugal, Netherlands and Denmark go toe to toe. In other words; every football lover can look forward to high end Euro 2012 betting when the Goliaths of this group collide. The scope of this article is to give you a good overview of the highly talented German squad.

Euro 2012 betting odds

The Euro 2012 betting odds so far have been a bit boring, and bookmakers are following the safety first principle. As more bookmakers release their Euro 2012 odds we hope the odds will pick up. Germany to win group B is sat around evens to 13/10 (2.00 to 2.30). If you like to bet on Germany to progress from the group the odds are around 1/4 (1.25). If you have your gambler shoes on you can bet on the outright winner bet where the mighty Germans are second favorites to take home the trophy. Euro 2012 odds on Germany to win up to 7/2 (4.50) can be found. Bet365 also has a bet available where you can take a punt on Spain and Germany both to reach the final with odds standing at 8/1 (9.0). Now let’s break down the German squad to see if there is any value to be had in these mentioned odds.

The Glorious German football past

For simplicity we will refer to Germany as one nation here. We are obviously aware that throughout history Germany as we know it has been represented by West- and East Germany as well as Saarland. All trophies and runner up spots mentioned here up until the unification of Eastern- and Western Germany were taken home by West Germany.

The Germans haven’t had any trouble filling up the trophy cabinet, that’s for sure. Three wins, and three runner up spots the UEFA Euros and three wins in the FIFA world cup as well as four runner up spots says it all. Last time the lifted a trophy was in 1996 when football supposedly was coming home to England. In other words; it has been a while since top honors has been taken, but only two years ago Germany took third in the FIFA World cup losing only narrowly to Spain in the Semifinal.

To mention the best German player ever is no easy feat. There have been so many great ones. We will simply mention the ones that we hold absolutely nearest and dearest when great German football talent is discussed. Franz Beckenbauer, the king of the modern sweepers was an absolutely complete player who could move forward from his deep position and create great offensive play with his skill and vision. Gerd Muller was short and stout, he didn’t grow up he grew out, but still he could play. His quick feet and quick brain led to lots of goals and set ups for his team players. Fritz Walter, a true goal scoring master and Kaiserslautern legend. 380 goals in 411 appearances for that club and 33 goals in 61 internationals says it all. That the German Football Association named him Golden player of 1954-2003 supports that statement.  Die Katze, Josef Dieter “Sepp” Maier, was an astonishing goalie who for us was far better than Oliver Kahn and other of the German goalkeeper greats.  He was crowned German footballer of the year three times and was part of the legendary 1974 team that took home the World Championship. Other greats that deserve mentioning are Karl Heinz Rumenigge, Lothar Mattheus, Berti Vogts and Jurgen Klinsmann. We know we probably could have added 10 more names to this list but, these are the ones who pass our criteria.

Moving on

The next article covers the super talented current squad of Germany. The depth of talent available and the enormous focus put on bringing this talent through in the Bundesliga has put Germany in an excellent position for the future. Germany now has a generation of players and one upcoming that has the potential to see them dominate world football with maybe one or two other nations. Stay tuned!

If you haven't read our group A reviews yet you find them here:

• General info and Euro 2012 betting review of Poland
• Euro 2012 betting review of Russia
• Euro 2012 betting review of Greece
• Euro 2012 betting review of the Czech Republic