Euro 2012 Schedule: France vs. England and Most Intriguing Early Matchups

Are you sad that the club football season is over? Did the thrilling finishes to the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League campaigns leave you on such a sporting high that the days since have left you in a crippling depression?

Well, never fear, hooligans, because the 2012 UEFA European Championship is nearly here!

And once they kick off in Poland and the Ukraine on June 8th, it won't be long until you're once again inundated with marvelous matches filled with fabulous football.

Like these three matches, all of which will come up on the calendar within the first four days of the tournament.

France vs. England

The rivalry between France and England extends back centuries, long before anyone ever thought to kick a ball around a field.

And though both are revered as traditional football powerhouses, neither squad has enjoyed as much success of late as their lofty titles would suggest. Les Bleus failed to win a single game at either the 2010 FIFA World Cup or Euro 2008, while the Three Lions lost in the Round of 16 in South Africa and didn't even quality for Austria and Switzerland two years prior.

The French team appears to be on the upswing, though. They've gone unbeaten since last August under Laurent Blanc, who's fashioned a star-studded attack out of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri.

As for England, there's still a long way for the side to climb. The stripping of John Terry's captaincy and Fabio Capello's subsequent resignation left the FA behind the eight-ball, one that Roy Hodgson would be fortunate to put them ahead of in such short order. England has the talent, from top to bottom, to make some serious noise in a tournament it's never won.

But will the Three Lions capitalize on it? The opener against hated France on June 11th should tell plenty about the immediate futures of both. 

Germany vs. Portugal

As far as actual football giants are concerned, the second day of the tournament will give fans a battle between one of the haves (Germany) and, as Indiana governor Mitch Daniels might call them, the soon-to-haves (Portugal).

The DFB-Eleven have won the Euro a record three times and, after finishing second behind Spain in 2008, have the talent at every position to bring a fourth European Championship back to Deutschland. Joachim Low's roster reads like a who's who of club football, from Mario Gomez at striker to Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil in the midfield to skipper Philipp Lahm and Jerome Boateng on the back line to Manuel Neuer in goal.

Portugal, on the other hand, have never won the Euro, but have fared well in their last two trips, finishing second in 2004 and reaching the quarterfinals in '08. Paulo Bento's Seleccao isn't exactly talent-deprived, what with Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Fabio Coentrao counted amongst their stores.

But for Portugal to win, they'll have to be much more than the essentially one-man squad they've been in tournaments past.

Especially against the world-class depth of Germany, and even more so if they're to survive a group of death that also includes Holland and Denmark. 

Italy vs. Spain

Sandwiched between those two will be a match for the ages between Italy and Spain that will probably be revered more for the off-pitch storylines than anything else.

Yes, it'll be fantastic to see the winners of the last two World Cups against one another, ones whose national cultures and languages cut across each other on so many levels.

And yes, both are incredibly gifted sides, with the Azzurri summoning the best players in Serie A to the grounds, and La Roja calling on enough players from Barcelona and Real Madrid to stage a Clasico of their own.

Italy's quality, though, has been dwarfed in recent days by earthquakes near Parma and yet another match-fixing scandal on the boot, on top of a youth movement that Cesare Prandelli is overseeing himself.

Spain's problems aren't quite so dramatic. But not even one of the most impressive collections of midfield talent ever assembled can completely mitigate the absence of David Villa, who was ruled out by Vicente del Bosque when it became clear that his leg injury from this past season wouldn't be healed in time.

Nonetheless, if you love the way the "beautiful game" is played on the peninsulas of Europe, then this Group C opener is well worth the watch.

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