Euro 2012 Scores: Squads in Need of Massive Rally After First Match

There are a handful of teams in the 2012 European Championship that didn't look like they were ready to play in their opening match. Now, those same teams will need to find a way to put together a massive rally to give themselves a chance to advance to the knockout round of the tournament.

Every team in the tournament has played their first match of the competition, so we're going to run through which teams need to collect themselves and rally to win after putting on sub-par shows in their openers.

Here are three of those teams.

Netherlands (1-0 loss to Denmark)

Whatever happened to the Oranje in the team's opener against Denmark can not happen again in its next match against Germany. A loss to the Germans would reduce its chances of advancing to very slim, at the most.

The Dutch had chance after chance to find the back of the net, but nobody on the pitch was able to provide to kill for for Bert van Marwijk's club. They were seen as a dark-horse favorite coming into the tournament, but that all has changed now that they have lost their opening. Germany is one of the best in the world, and coming out with a win will be no easy task for Holland.

As a team, the Netherlands looked much better than the 1-0 result shows. The chances weren't just countless, they were golden. Robin van Persie had an abysmal game, failing to slip the ball past the Danish goalie, Stephan Andersen, on his best chance.

It wasn't just van Persie, though, as Arjen Robben made one too many passes in front of the net when he clearly should have shot.

If the Dutch don't rally around van Persie, Robben and Wesley Sneijder, they are in for a colossal failure, as well as a swift kick out of the tournament in the group stage.

Portugal (1-0 loss to Germany)

There's no shame in losing to the Germans, and Portugal can take stock in the fact that it wasn't on it's best game collectively.

Cristiano Ronaldo was not nearly as much of a factor as his team needed him to be, and it wasn't completely his fault. His teammates failed to look for him on numerous occasions, and even when they did, they sent him futile passes.

The Portuguese play Denmark on Wednesday. The Danes have a great defense, but the Portuguese need to break through that wall if they want a chance at advancing. Although Denmark tallied a goal against the Netherlands, the chances came few and far between.

Pepe came within inches of putting his team up 1-0, but was denied by the crossbar. That's something that Portugal can gain confidence from, as it wasn't dominated by the Germans and came close to gaining the lead.

Many people doubted Portugal heading into this tournament, but if it can score a huge upset victory over Germany, it will be in perfect position to advance to the knockout rounds. Not to mention it will completely throw off the balance of the entire group.

Sweden (2-1 loss to Ukraine)

Losing to a co-host in a major tournament is nothing for a team to hang its head on, as the advantage the crowd provides can be so valuable.

Sweden suffered a crushing 2-1 loss to Ukraine in Kyiv, when it could have easily taken control of the group. England and France played to a 1-1 draw in the earlier match, so if the Swedes were able to escape Ukraine's hostile home pitch with a victory, they'd have a stranglehold on the group.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. They were beaten largely by Ukrainian captain Andriy Shevchenko, who scored two rapid-fire goals to single-handedly drag his squad out of a 1-0 hole.

Sweden got exactly what it was looking for in an early goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. That lead evaporated three minutes later on Shevchenko's goal. Lightning struck twice when Shevchenko scored again just 10 minutes after Ibrahimovic got the scoring started.

The Swedes play England next and will be looking to capitalize on the shorthanded Three Lions, who are without Wayne Rooney. Erik Hamren's squad can use the fact that they could have easily won the game against Ukraine as a rally cry to take down England.

It's hard for a team to come back after such a heartbreaking defeat, but if the Swedes don't collect themselves, they'll end up at the bottom of Group D.