Euro 2012: Robin van Persie and the 10 Biggest Flops Thus Far

The first five days of Euro 2012 are in the books, and they've brought with them some ebullient highs as well as some dizzying lows.

For every Polish Tyton (how ironic is it that Greece was undone by someone named Tyton?) or Ukrainian Shevchenko, there is a goat to be found on the other side of the pitch. There's the man who missed the PK or the unit that let Shevchenko get his head on two straight services.

Here are the 10 biggest flops through the first five days of Euro 2012.

10. Johan Elmander (SWE)

Elmander is an unfortunate but deserving inclusion on this list. He's a veteran and a consummate professional who agreed to come off the bench, but he made a potentially fatal mistake against Ukraine that could come back to haunt the Swedes.

After Shevchenko exploded for two Ukraine goals (more on that later), Sweden found themselves down by a goal. Late in the match, Ibrahimovic flicked a perfect ball over the top of the Ukraine defense, setting up Elmander for a routine finish to salvage a point.

But Elmander sent the ball soaring over the crossbar, putting his country in a disastrous position. They hold sole possession of last place in Group D, with matchups against England and France looming. 

9. Vicente del Bosque (ESP)

The Spanish manager made a controversial decision in the squad's first game, choosing to start three attacking midfielders and no true strikers.

It's hard to be too indignant with Del Bosque, who is in the unenviable position of having to replace the injured David Villa up top, but playing a tough defense like Italy with no striker is an easy way to earn less than three points.

Del Bosque then compounded his folly by subbing in striker Fernando Torres over Spain's leading scorer in qualifying, Fernando Llorente. Llorente's form has been far better than Torres', and the decision very well might have cost them a victory (again, more on that later).

8. Alexander Kerzhakov (RUS)

Russia's impressive 4-1 result over the Czech Republic earned Kerzhakov a providential reprieve from mainstream vitriol. But somebody needs to recognize the Zenit striker's record-breaking incompetence.

Kerzhakov was set up by his counter-attacking teammates on numerous occasions, only to fall flat on his face each time.

He became the first striker in Euro Championship history to have seven shots off target in a single outing.

To add insult to injury, his replacement, Roman Pavlyuchenko, came on in the 74th minute and became an immediate catalyst, setting up a goal then scoring his own in limited action.

7. Giorgos Karagounis (GRE)

"Tyton comes off bench and rescues Poland" makes for a far catchier headline than "Greek captain blows PK," but the latter is more accurate than we have been led to believe.

Yes, the backup Polish keeper made a pretty nice save, guessing correctly and lunging down to his left to steer the ball away from goal.

But Karagounis, who is supposed to be Greece's leader, took an uninspiring penalty that wasn't heading for the corner, and it lacked the pace necessary to get past the keeper.

In an up-for-grabs group where each team still holds its fate in their own hands, Greece could spend a long time regretting the way they left two points on the table.

6. James Milner (ENG)

Much was made about the way the Francs dominated stats like possession and shots, ostensibly making it sound like they blew a chance to take three points from the English, instead of one.

But despite the numbers, this game was actually pretty competitive, and it was the English who actually squandered the best chance to score a second goal.

Milner was played on beautifully in the first half, promoting French keeper Hugo Lloris to make a reckless charge. Milner deked him with ease and found himself with an open net and no French defenders in sight. All he had to do was tap the ball on target.

But Milner's first touch was a little too strong, and he had to make a sliding attempt at goal. Even so, it was a very makeable play that he failed to make. The ball haplessly rolled into the side of the netting, and Milner collapsed into a forlorn cadaver in the middle of the 18-yard box, knowing that he cost his country a shot at victory.

5. Fernando Torres (ESP)

Torres finally recaptured some of the form that made him a Liverpool star at Chelsea this year, and the Spanish were hoping that would translate to Euro—a tournament he dominated in 2008.

Del Bosque's controversial decision to first start no strikers, but then sub in Torres over Llorente, put an even bigger microscope on the golden-coiffed attacker, and he failed to rise to the occasion.

If not for an embarrassing display by his opponent's striker earlier in the game (once again, more on that later), Torres' breakaway against Gianluigi Buffon would have been the worst of the tournament. He got a free run into the Italian box and couldn't even get a shot off; he tried to deke out Buffon, but ended up just dribbling the ball right into him.

Later in the half, he got another run behind the defense and tried to chip it over a charging Buffon, but his shot sailed over the crossbar, squandering another good chance for the Spanish to go home with three points.

The way Llorente was finishing in qualifying, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have put at least one of those into the back of the net.

4. Sweden's Central Defense (SWE)

It's hard to target individual players in a situation like this, where the whole unit—and perhaps the whole team—is responsible for the malaise.

The Swedes had a 1-0 lead on Ukraine, in a game in which they were heavily favored to win. They needed to win it, too; it's by far the easiest fixture they'll play, with games against England and France looming large.

And in the matter of seven minutes, two lapses in judgement led to two Shevchenko goals and put Sweden's chances of making the knockout round on life support.

They've been preparing for years to play in this tournament, and their six-yard defense squandered it in seven minutes! Yikes.

3. Robin van Persie (NED)

The Dutch may be the most dominant opening game of any team in the tournament, yet they inexplicably find themselves with no points.

Much of the vitriol for their loss has fallen on their goalkeeper for letting a ball slide through his five-hole, but a lot of it has also fallen on striker Robin van Persie.

Van Persie deserves the lion's share of the extrication because of his heinous finishing ability. He showed tremendous form during the club season, which prompted him to see the starting lineup over Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, another very talented finisher. And while the dominant Dutch attack was funneling the ball into RVP over and over again, he continued to punish their actions by whiffing on shots.

He fell to the pitch on numerous occasions as well, making him look like a complete buffoon in the process. It was like watching the NBA players after they lost their talent in Space Jam.

2. Carlos Velasco

After months upon years of dissecting the teams and players in Euro 2012, Carlos Velasco reminded us almost immediately that there's one thing we forgot to take into account: crappy officiating.

It's a shame whenever this makes a headline—in any sport, not just soccer—but after Greece's 1-1 draw against Poland, it was Velasco who was the biggest story.

He gave two inexplicably soft yellow cards to Greek player Sokratis Papastathopoulos, sending the incredulous player off the pitch in the 44th minute and relegating his team to 10 men for the rest of the match.

You could have argued that both plays weren't even fouls, let alone bookings.

An even worse headline than poor officiating is one about match fixing, which also inevitably came up given the game's location in the host nation of Poland. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but then again...there's no pragmatic way to explain Velasco's calls.

1. Mario Balotelli (ITA)

In the race for Euro 2012's most pathetic moment, Balotelli's desultory breakaway against Spain is the clubhouse leader.

Balotelli made an incredible defensive play that landed him a clean run on Spanish goalie Iker Casillas. The mercurial striker, however, was unable to make up his mind on how he wanted to play it, and he slowed as he approached the box.

And as he sauntered toward the net, the unabated Spanish defense was able to catch up to him and swipe the ball away before he could even put a shot on goal.

Balotelli is really a special character. Both teams doted upon him in the days leading up to the game, the Italians talking about how they need to get him involved, and the Spanish about how they needed to contain him.

But the mercurial Manchester City striker took matters into his own hands for both sides, getting himself involved with a great steal, and then containing himself with his ineptitude.