Euro 2012 Predictions: France and More Dark-Horse Contenders to Win Tournament

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France is one of the dark-horse contenders to dethrone Spain as the champions of Europe when Euro 2012 begins in June.

With injuries to some of the world's best players hurting some countries' chances of winning the European Championship, the door is open for several teams to win the tournament.

Let's look at three dark-horse teams that can capture the European crown.

France

Ribery
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Les Blues have improved drastically since their abysmal 2010 World Cup trip, where the players had a major issue with the manager and the squad as a whole underperformed.

Under the leadership of new manager Laurent Blanc and new captain Hugo Lloris, France has a record of 6-1-3 since the start of 2011 in international friendlies. That includes wins over Brazil, Germany and England at Wembley.

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France's Euro group contains England, Ukraine and Sweden, which are all very winnable matches. If France can get past the group stage, expect them to be a tough side to defeat because of their pace and attacking talent.

Karim Benzema and Loic Remy are two of the best young strikers in the world, while Franck Ribery is one of the world's finest wingers. At the back, Lloris anchors an improving back four that includes star center back Adil Rami.

Expect France to make a surprise run to at least the quarterfinals of Euro 2012.

Italy

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Italy doesn't seem like a dark-horse contender because of their past success and historic place in the sport. But after a terrible 2010 World Cup when they were the defending champs, many people have forgotten about the Italians.

Italy's group has just one tough opponent, Spain, with the other members being Croatia and the Republic of Ireland.

The Italians have a much different squad right now than they did for the last World Cup, with players such as Mario Balotelli and Sebastian Giovinco leading an impressive forward group.

On defense, world-class goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is protected by a strong back four, led by star center back Giorgio Chiellini.

Italy will be a hard team to score against and defeat at the European championships.

Russia

Arshavin (right)
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Russia went to the semifinals at Euro 2008, where they lost to the eventual champions in Spain, and could make another deep tournament run in 2012.

Russia has a deep squad with a lot of quality at most positions, especially in goal, where star goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev will give his team a chance to win every match.

With Andrei Arshavin leading a fundamentally strong attack, Russia will be a force at the Euros next month.