Euro 2012: 10 Players Who Need to Step Up in the Playoffs

Mid-November is going to be a very nervy time for eight countries-worth of football supporters, as their national teams battle it out for a place at the 2012 European Championships.

The two-legged play-offs will pit eight teams spanning the continent against one another for the four remaining spots in next summer's event in Poland and Ukraine, and the high-pressure clashes are sure to make heroes and villains out of a handful of the players involved.

Whether they view the play-offs as already an immense achievement or a punishment for not taking qualifying group matches seriously enough, all eight teams will need to rely on their best players to deliver on the evenings of the 11th and 15th of November.

Here are just 10 of those players. 

Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Portugal)

Portugal scored a whopping 21 goals in just eight Group H matches.

It's just as well they did, too, because their leaky defence was at the root of them still only finishing second in the group to Denmark and only reaching the play-offs because of their superior goal difference over Norway, who were equal with them in head-to-head play.

Bosnia must look at making sure Portugal continue to struggle at the back, and AS Roma playmaker Pjanic could be the key to unlocking Paulo Bento's defence.

There is plenty of attacking talent in the Bosnian line-up (Eden Dzeko in particular); they just need to perform to their considerable potential, something the technically gifted Pjanic is more than capable of doing.

Mensur Mujdza (Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Portugal)

Of course, the Portuguese boast something of an attacking threat themselves, as the aforementioned goal total suggests.

Chief among them is Portuguese marksman Cristiano Ronaldo. If Bosnia are to have any chance of reaching their first-ever major finals, the Real Madrid superstar must be stopped at all costs.

With either Helder Postiga or Hugo Almeida normally starting as the central striker and Nani operating from the right wing, Ronaldo starts on the left of the Portugal front three as opposed to his central role for his club. 

That puts the world's most expensive player in the jurisdiction of Bosnian right-back Mujdza. The 27-year-old defender has started all but one of Bosnia's Group D matches, but facing Ronaldo will surely be the toughest test of his career.

Seeing as he plays for Freiburg, the team currently sitting dead last in the Bundesliga, one wonders if he will be up to the task. On him to prove the doubters wrong.

Bruno Alves (Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Portugal)

Due to an unseemly row earlier this year and a good deal of confusion, Portugal's veteran defender Ricardo Carvalho is currently both retired and suspended from international football.

As such, the duties of centre-back fall to Carvalho's Real Madrid teammate Pepe and Zenit St Petersburg's Alves.

Pepe may be the one with more natural talent as a footballer (well, he is Brazilian by birth) but it will be up to Alves—who served Porto with distinction for so many years before moving to Russia—who will need to lead the defence against the likes of Edin Dzeko, Vedad Ibisevic and Zvjezdan Misimovic.

Mehmet Topal (Turkey vs. Croatia)

The Valencia midfielder has not been a permanent fixture in Guus Hiddink's Turkey selection during the since-passed qualifying campaign. In fact, he only started two of their 10 matches in Group A.

However, those two starts were in in their last three games—the goalless draw in Austria and the 1-0 win at home to Azerbaijan that sealed a play-off spot for the 2008 semifinalists. He did not feature in the 3-1 home defeat to Germany in between.

A sturdy, 6'2" defensive midfielder, Topal will be vital in breaking down the creative influence of Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar and getting the ball to the influential Emre Belozoglou and Arda Turan quickly.

Darjo Srna (Turkey vs. Croatia)

Luka Modric and Nico Kranjcar are not the only creative forces at Croatia's disposal. Their captain, Darjo Srna, can also provide plenty of problems for an opposing defence.

While he is usually deployed as an attacking full-back for his club side Shakhtar Donetsk, for his country he is pushed further up the field in order to increase the number of crosses he can whip into the box with his devilish right boot.

As well as sending in dangerous aerial balls to be attacked by Croatia's big forwards (take your pick from Mladen Petric, Nikica Jelavic, Nikola Kalinic or Mario Mandzukic, all over 6'0"), Srna will also provide excellent cover for right-back Ivan Strinic against the marauding menace of Turkey's Arda Turan.

Milan Baros (Czech Republic vs. Montenegro)

The Czech Republic's strikers scored three of the team's 12 goals in eight Group I matches; one each for Baros, Tomas Necid and teenage debutant Vaclav Kadlec (18 years and 45 days old when he netted against Liechtenstein in October 2010). Just to put that into context, the Czechs' top scorer was defender Michal Kadlec.

Admittedly, Kadlec takes the penalties, but it just goes to show how toothless this current Czech side is.

When Scotland manager Craig Levein fielded a 4-6-0 formation in Prague, he did so in fear of the Czech's reputation earned by their great side of the late 1990s and early 2000s rather than the current vintage.

Baros is by far the most senior striker in the Czech squad (remember he played in the '05 Champions League final for Liverpool), and still scores with regularity at club level for Galatasaray.

His country need him to bring that domestic form to the international stage if they are to avoid missing their first European Championship since the break-up of the old Czechoslovakia in 1993.

Mirko Vucinic (Czech Republic vs. Montenegro)

If you thought the Czechs had problems in front of goal, take a look at their play-off opponents Montenegro. The nascent nation scored just seven goals in their eight Group G matches.

Fortunately for them, that was also the number of goals they conceded, and it was upon that defensive solidity that their success was built. The 0-0 draw at Wembley against England was truly a landmark result in the team's short history since splitting from Serbia.

All three of their wins in the group were by 1-0 scorelines, and two of those were sealed by strikes from their captain, Vucinic.

The Juventus forward celebrated his goal against Switzerland by putting his shorts on his head. Montenegrin fans will be praying they get a repeat viewing of his underwear in this play-off. 

Konstantin Vassiljev (Estonia vs. Republic of Ireland)

"We don't care who we meet in the play-offs," was the reaction of Estonia midfielder Martin Vunk after discovering his country still had a chance of reaching the finals in Poland and Ukraine courtesy of Serbia's 1-0 defeat in Slovenia in the final round of matches.

Their place in the two-legged tie for a place in the finals comes despite them losing 2-0 away to the Faroe Islands during their Group C campaign, and it is now up to them to prove they did not reach their current destination by luck.

The man most likely to lead them them in confounding the doubters is Vassiljev. The attacking midfielder is the reigning Estonian Footballer of the Year and his five goals in qualifying mean he is on pace to retain that title this season—especially if he can find a way through Ireland's stubborn defence.

Richard Dunne (Estonia vs. Republic of Ireland)

Speaking of Ireland's stolid and stingy back four, the lynchpin of Giovanni Trapattoni's bunch, which conceded just seven goals in 10 Group B matches, is centre-back Dunne.

The Aston Villa man was nothing short of a colossus during the 0-0 draw obtained against Russia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow last September, and he will again be the man leading the Irish defence as they try to make up for their heartbreaking play-off loss to France before the 2010 World Cup finals.

Dunne may also be a threat at the other end of the pitch too. When Ireland played Estonia in two qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup, he scored in both the home and away fixtures as the Irish claimed two 2-0 wins.

Robbie Keane (Estonia V Republic of Ireland)

For all of Dunne's scoring exploits against Estonia, Ireland would much rather pin their hopes of goals on Keane.

The nation's record goal scorer, Keane has struck 51 times for the Republic, making him the only player from the UK and Ireland to hit a half-century of international goals. He reached that milestone after scoring five goals in nine Group B games.

The LA Galaxy striker may have added to that total in the final group match against Armenia, but he missed that vital clash because of an adductor muscle injury which now sees him in a race against time to recover for the play-offs.

With fellow striker Shane Long already confirmed as missing out due to injury, the need for Keane to be fit has become all the more crucial.