Germany

Next we come to one of the genuine big guns of international football, the Germans, all of Europe's favourite second team and one that I'm sure most England fans will be wishing well from the comfort of their armchairs.

Germany

Official coach slogan - Germany - one team - one purpose

Unofficial coach slogan - Doing it for the Hoff!

Surprisingly the Germans come into this European Championship having not won a match at the tournament since the final of EURO '96 (it's true, I had to look it up but it is true!) when they beat the Czech Republic with a 'Golden Goal'. Last time out they were embarrassingly held to a nil-nil draw by the mighty Latvian's and in 2000, even more embarrassingly, they were beaten by an England team containing New York jazz combo, the Neville brothers.

However after 2006's relatively successful World Cup campaign (although it seemed strange for the Germans to be happy with being beaten semi-finalists, especially as they were the host nation, who are they? England?) and coached by Jürgen Klinsmann's number 2, Joachim Löw, expectations are high (see what I did there?).

The current German team seems to live up to the old Teutonic stereotype of being ruthlessly efficient but they appear to be adding a certain amount of flair, they broke European Championship records when they blitzed poor little San Marino 13-0 away from home and, the joint hosts apart, were the first nation to qualify.

Most of the team will be familiar from the last World Cup (indeed Löw has been criticised for being unimaginative in his selections) although there is controversy over who will take the number 1 jersey after ex-Arsenal psycho-keeper, Jens Lehmann, had a bit of a 'Robinson' in a recent friendly versus Belarus, gifting them both goals in a 2-2 draw, so don't be surprised to see him kicking his heels on the bench and looking on dagger's drawn, as Robert Enke or Renée Adler keep him out of the team.

Upfront they will be looking for more goals from Polish born Miroslav Klöse, who despite looking as though he wouldn't be out of place in Championship team most of the time, has scored 5 goals in each of the last two World Cups, something that no-one else has ever achieved.

The midfield quartet will be full of experience, Chelsea's Champions League loser, Michael Ballack (ha! ha!), most likely joining Törsten Frings (the tabloid headline writer's best friend) in the middle, with Victor comic character, Bastien Schweinsteiger (literally translated as "Bastien Pig Mounter") and Villa reject Thomas Hitzlsperger taking the wide spots.

TC's prediction - The German's seem to be very much a team rather than a collection of supposed 'superstars' and it would be a big surprise if they didn't make at least the semi-finals.

Player with the most Un-Teutonic name ever to play for the Fatherland - Exciting new goalscoring prospect Mario Gomez.