Euro 2012 TV Schedule: Contests That Will End Strong Sleeper Bids

Teams like Ukraine and Denmark have been the stories of Euro 2012. Nobody expected them to do much this spring against the superpower clubs in their groups, yet here they are, almost halfway through the first round of group matches and still in contention to move on.

But they won't be riding high for much longer, now that their high-octane opponents are shaking out the kinks and finally getting the assistance of once-injured players who have the potential to reshape the story of this entire tournament.

Here's a look at the feel-good sleeper stories that will be coming to an end over the next several days at Euro 2012.

As always, you can see the full schedule of matches here and you can catch them all on ESPN or on ESPN3. 

Ukraine
Previous Game: 2-1 win over Sweden
Next Game: Friday, June 15 vs. France
Watch: ESPN 

The co-hosts used the power of the home crowd to power themselves to an opening-game win over Sweden, but was it really that impressive?

Sweden has 100-1 odds of winning Euro 2012, better only than those of Greece (250-1). Perhaps the defeat of Sweden was a case of beginner's luck—and a favorable matchup.

Against France, though, it will be a different story.

For one thing, the French will get back one very important component of their team that they were missing versus England, and that's Yann M'Vila, who was held out of France's 1-1 draw versus England because of a sprained ankle.

He's not the only injury concern for Laurent Blanc's squad—Blaise Matuidi and Steve Mandanda are also limited—but this is a team that managed to take down Ukraine on its home pitch 4-1 in an international friendly last year. Plus, it has the fourth-best odds of winning Euro 2012, so this team must be expected to up its game after an opening-match draw.

Ukraine was able to come from behind and defeat Sweden in its first matchup because of the heroics of 35-year-old midfielder Andriy Shevchenko, who will doubtlessly be battling fatigue in an effort to overcome the much more formidable French on tired legs. He won't be tallying two goals to keep his team alive this time.

Prediction: France wins 2-1

Denmark
Previous Games: 1-0 win over Netherlands, 3-2 loss to Portugal
Next Game: Sunday, June 17 vs. Germany
Watch: ESPN 

The magic started fading for Denmark once it met Portugal on Wednesday, but it's likely to come skidding to a complete halt against on Sunday against Germany, the most formidable of all the teams in the Group of Death.

Denmark's kickoff victory against the Netherlands was certainly a huge upset, but it needed a big win over Portugal to really sustain its momentum and just couldn't get the job done.

This group is too difficult and too good, and never will that be more obvious to Denmark than against Germany on Sunday.

If there's been one team that's managed to contend with enormous expectations at Euro, it's been Germany, the 11-4 second-favorite to win it all this spring, and it's looked much better than odds-on favorite Spain in its two wins over Portugal (1-0) and Holland (2-1).

A 2-2 draw over Denmark is all it will take for the mighty Germans to officially establish themselves as the ones to beat at Euro 2012: They need just one point to win Group B.

There has been no team that has played better than Germany thus far, and Denmark will unfortunately be the latest team to realize it, at the expense of its own Euro dreams.

Prediction: Germany wins 3-1