They Finished 3rd: GERMANY

My tip to win it didn't.
They came up short. They fell at the penultimate hurdle. They failed to fulfill their potential.
Who didn't want to see them pitted against the Spanish in the final?
Sadly, in tournament football, it doesn't matter how well you play in the early stages, one bad performance and you're going home. And the Germans are going home.
The swagger wasn't there. It looked like they'd planned to snuff out the few Italian threats rather than play to their own strengths.
And so their wait goes on. '96 ain't as long ago as '66, but given the number of near misses they've had in the last few tournaments, some might be starting to think that it might not happen again in their lifetime.

They Finished 4th: PORTUGAL

Should he, shouldn't he? Did he have a choice? Was he going for glory? We may never know how Ronaldo came to be pencilled in as Portugal's fifth penalty taker in the shoot out that knocked them out.

And although he never got to take a penalty and despite starting the tournament innocuously, Ronaldo came close to making Portugal the biggest one-man team since that team which actually had only one man in it (some Sunday League outfit, I suspect).

They exceeded my expectations by emerging from the Group of Death alive and kicking footballs. But win it? Not likely, given their lack of a penetrating striker. But hey, they're get into the habit of reaching semi-finals, and if they wrap Ronaldo in cotton wool, and bring through another two or three like him, they could go further next time.

They Finished 5th: ENGLAND

They were dubbed the weakest England squad since 1992 by, er... me, and yet that did them a disservice. Our XXIII made the most of their skills and abilities only to be exposed by an average but noticeably more skillful Italian team (hence the Roman numerals earlier in this sentence).

The fact remains, as it has always remained since the remains of dinosaurs were discovered in er... Remania that English players are not comfortable on the ball. English players cannot pass the ball as accurately or incisively as players from other nations. And English players cannot win penalty shoot outs.

Plus Points: We have a keeper for the next fifteen years in JOE HART, who could and should eclipse Shilton's appearance record. JOHN TERRY was epic, justifying his inclusion ahead of Rio. The number of times he blocked shots numbered more than the fingers on my hands, and there was that scoop against the Ukrainians that'll be talked about for decades in er... Kiev. GLEN JOHNSON is a skillful player, one of our best at taking people on. STEVEN GERRARD was the assistmeister general, delivering balls with pinpoint accuracy for the recipient to convert into goals. And finally CROYDON BOY ROY, the kind of manager players want to play for and who got more out of the squad than I and many others thought possible.

Italy 0-0 England; Italy win 4-2 on penalties

And so another tournament ends for England. The team ran out of energy after 50 minutes, though their ability to hold onto the ball dissipated a lot earlier than that.

But for the woodwork and the epic foot and bodywork of John Terry who was England's man of the match by a country, city and suburban mile, this would have been over long before Ashley's Young and Cole missed their penalties.

For me, and yes, I am about to enter armchair manager role, Young should have been subbed early in the second half instead of Milner, who was having his best game of the tournament, crossing effectively and looking in the mood to take people on.

Young, on the other hand was having a bit of an off today to put it mildly, and I can't have been the only one shouting 'noooo' at my wallmounted widescreen when he strode up to take his spot kick. It was like me having a bad day at the office and then being asked to work late. Inevitably, and like Mr Young, I'll end up hitting the bar.

But no blame should be attached to those whose spot kicks went awry. The gulf in class between the Italians and the English was as wide as something that's very wide indeed, an oil tanker in fact, to try and continue the gulf theme.

We must wait at least another two years for more disappointment, and sit and watch as the Italians take on the Germans on Thursday.

They Finished 6th: FRANCE

Yes! I predicted this lot would get knocked out in the quarter-finals, and I have to make a big deal about this as very little of what I've predicted has come to pass, header, shoot or score.

France is a national team rebuilding, after the utter shambles of World Cup 2010. Laurent Blanc certainly looks like the man to do it, although his team didn't really show any fight or bite or desire, or belief that they could beat Spain.

Wasn't impressed with Benzema or Ribery, the big names the French nation relied on to get them through. It's already been 12 years since the French completed the World Cup/Euro double. On this evidence, it looks like it will be a lot, lot longer before they get anywhere close to replicating that achievement.

They Finished 7th: GREECE

If ever a nation needed its football team to give it a lift, Greece is that nation, and Greece FC is that team.

Getting to the quarter final might seem a bit of a failure to the team that won it in 2004, but this is a team that consistently over-performs, punches above its weight, confounds the critics.

Of which there are many, but you have to play to your strengths and reduce the impact of your weaknesses and that's what the Greeks do. It may not be pretty to watch, but if you're Greek, you won't give a shit about that.

They Finished 8th: CZECH REP

Few, including me, thought they'd get as far as they did, so this tournament can't be seen as a failure. But they could have gone for it a bit more in the quarter-final against Portunaldo or Ronaltugal, I can't decide which is the best, probably the former.

Rosicky out injured for the QF won't have helped, him being captain and their most creative player. But as I said at the start of all this, any team that has Baros as their striker is going to struggle and ain't gonna win diddly.

And so it proved.

They Finished 9th: UKRAINE

Another of my quarter finalists fall by their own wayside.

But Ukraine may have good reason to complaine.

England know what it's like to be on the receiving end of official incompetence, but for once it was our opponents who were the victims. In days gone by, the English way would have been to stop the game, and inform the referee of the oversight, or bally well score an own goal to even things up in the right and proper manner.

Alack, that's not what sport's about these days And the co-hosts, shed of their co-stars Shevchenko and Voronin, bowed out of their own gig before anyone had the chance to shout 'encore' or the Ukrainian equivalent.

They Finished 10th: CROATIA

So, the second of my predicted semi-finalists, and one of my predicted finalists, have double-checked the sock drawer, replaced the remote on top of the television, checked under the bed for loose change and checked out of their hotel room, bound for home.

I thought I was on to a cheeky one with this lot. So much so, there was a fiver each way on them to win it at 40-1.

Those bookies knew what they were doing pricing them so temptingly. My money is theirs. After a great opening game against the Irish, it looked like I'd made a canny move. But the Irish were the whipping boys.

After a creditable draw against the Italians, it was almost party-time in my house (exaggeration). But the party was pooped by the Spanish. World, European, Figure Skating champions of the Universe. Yes, that Spanish.

But I remain impressed with the team and the manager. The fans? Not so much.

They Finished 11th: HOLLAND

From losing World Cup finalists, to losing three out of three in the Group of Death. All within the space of two years. With pretty much the same team, save for the retired Van Bronckhorst and the sidelined Dirk Kuyt.

What happened? Undoubtedly unrest within the camp. It's a cliche to blame Dutch shortcomings on internal unrest, but more often than not, it's true. News of splits, divides, disagreements and rants will more than likely emerge over the next couple of days then be forgotten for the next couple of years until World Cup 2014, when the Oranje will Boom! and self-implode again.

They Finished 12th: DENMARK

Bendtner's underpants may well be the prevailing memory of Denmark's contribution to Euro 2012. A scandal is brewing after it was revealed UEFA fined the Danes more for a flash of knicker elastic than they did Croatia for their fans' racist chanting. Sort it out Waffer.

Will the Danes ever emulate 1992? Perhaps not until a nation is expelled and they're drafted in as last minute replacements. No shame on Danes of 2012, though. They beat the Dutch (who didn't?) and remain an interesting team to watch, especially for the pant-hungry ladies.

They Finished 13th: RUSSIA

Unlucky for some, and very unlucky for me, as I predicted this lot would get to the semis. So er... what happened.

The last group games threw up a couple of unexpected, unpredictable, unfathomable results that turned the tournament's easiest group on its head.

Russia had it in the bag, surely - 4-1 victors over Czech Rep in the first game, and a creditable draw against the host. Then along came Greece, and I can't have been the only one thinking they'd get a draw at worst.

Stunned isn't the word. Actually, it probably is.

They Finished 14th: POLAND

Ah, another chapter in the burgeoning tome that is Host Nations That Fail To Get Beyond The Group Stage has been writ. (This book is not available in any good, bad or indifferent shops, or indeed in any digital format.)

Poland looked nervy, despite (or probably because of) the massed ranks of fans desperately wanting them to do well. And I shared that desire. For my money, a tournament always benefits from having the host nation involved.

But alack, they are gone. When will we see them again? Probably Euro 2016, held on foreign, less pressure-heavy foreign soil and featuring a whopping 24 teams.

GROUP A FINALE: Poland 0-1 Czech Rep; Russia 0-1 Greece

Has a tournament group ever been turned on its head so savagely by the final group games?
Russia were by far the best team in the group, thrashing the Czechs 4-1 in the second game of the tournament, and yet it is they who go home and the Czechs who progress. And the host Poles are on their way home (not far to travel at least) after being frozen by fear of failure in all three of their games.
HOW THEY FINISHED: 1: CZECH REP  2: GREECE  3: Russia  4: Poland.

As you'll see from this, it didn't quite pan out the way I predicted. Although it really should have.

They Finished 15th: SWEDEN

Ibrahimovic did seem to enjoy giving Joe Hart a bit of lip pie after the Swedes went 2-1 up against England. And yet it is Hart who had the last laugh, the England win sending the Swedes out, hot on the heels of the Irish who were the first to fall.

This wasn't a vintage Swedish team. Mellberg's highly unexpected brace against England the highlight in what's likely to be his last major tournament.

Other than that, Ibrahimovic looked dangerous without troubling the scorers, at least in the first two games that mattered. Have still yet to see him play a really good game, though apparently his record against English teams is poor.

They Finished 16th: REP. IRELAND

And we have our first faller.

Less than a week after the tournament started, it's over for the Irish.

There was to be no glory, no David slaying Goliath against Spain, and no doubting Croatia were the better side in their opening game.

Irish fans were undoubtedly the stars of their show, and will be out in force and good voice against Italy. But, much like England, there's a real lack of stars on the pitch. Although they do have performances from James McClean to look forward to.

He needs to start against Italy.

Spain 4-0 Rep.Ireland

Although this blog does not condone any writing on any walls, as that's graffiti, the writing was on the wall after four minutes of this.

Ireland conceded another early goal and left themselves an uphill task so uphill it proved a mountain too high, if there is such a saying.

But in reality, it was always a big ask/task for the Irish. It's a team heavy on Championship quality players that just happen to have Premiership quality fans.

Spain, on the other hand, are undoubtedly world class. And Torres is back scoring again. Which all means I'm a bit worried for Croatia, as they meet Spain in the last game, and even a draw in that might not be enough to see them through to the knockout stages...

Although, I predict Irish eyes will be smiling after they draw with Italy...