Euro 2012 Schedule: Previewing This Weekend's Showdowns

With the defending champs taking to the pitch at Euro this weekend, there will be no shortage of excitement to behold.

Spain will face a bumbling French squad, Group D champion England will attempt to take down Italy, and at the end of it all, we'll have our four semifinalists who will battle it out for the chance to take home the Euro 2012 crown.

Here's a look at what's on tap for the weekend.

Spain vs. France
Saturday, June 23, 2:45 p.m. ET
Donbass Arena
ESPN2, ESPN3

Spain is just about the worst possible opponent a struggling French team would like to face at this point. France is coming off a demoralizing 2-0 loss to Sweden and has given a new meaning to backing into the quarterfinals.

According to the BBC, France had a "clear the air" meeting after the loss, and the airing of grievances has given the team a renewed energy, in the eyes of assistant Alain Boghossian:

"

That there are exchanges after such a defeat is totally normal. For me, that is wholly positive. The air has been cleared and everyone is happy and getting on well. It is true we are considered outsiders because Spain are champions of Europe and won the World Cup. But we will try to make some problems to this very good team, try to create some problems and find some weak points. We will forget the negative result on Tuesday and open a new page.

"

Easier said than done, though, especially when you're facing as tough an opponent as Spain. After a draw with Italy in its first game, the Spainiards rebounded with two straight shutout wins in which they registered a combined five goals in order to win Group C.

Spain presents an aggressive attack and will doubtlessly attempt to intimidate the French right at the outset. The only way France will have a chance of advancing is if it looks nearly perfect defensively—which it was against Ukraine in the group round, but fell far short of versus Sweden. We'll see which edition of this team comes out against Spain.

England vs. Italy
Sunday, June 24 at 2:45 p.m. ET
Kiev Olympic Stadium
ESPN, ESPN3

England was a somewhat unexpected victor in Group D, but after going unbeaten in the group round and advancing to the quarterfinals on the heels of consecutive wins over Sweden and Ukraine, it will look to sustain that momentum versus Italy.

The Italians, on the other hand, will try to improve upon the 1-0-2 record they posted in the group round, but at least they ended things on a positive note with a 2-0 thumping of lowly Ireland.

Though Roy Hodgson's team may not have blown any team out of the water during the group round, it got the job done, which should be good enough to earn some favor with the critics. This, after all, was a team that didn't get a lot of respect after entering Euro with very limited preparation under Hodgson, and it managed to prove a lot of critics wrong by triumphing over France in Group D.

Italy, though, is bound to present a far greater challenge than England's last two opponents, so it will have to raise its game in order to advance. It will have to hold strong defensively to triumph over a team it hasn't faced in an international tournament since 1990—but on the bright side for Italy, it won that World Cup matchup 2-1.