As an American, trying to get into European football, can anyone fill me in on the style of play, and top players, of the qualified countries in the Euro 2012 tournament? I'm trying to pick a favorite country to support!

Thanks very much

Spain plays absolutely brilliant all around football.... The team is full of stars but their midfield is what makes them the reigning World Cup Champions and Euro 2008 Champions....
Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Alonso in the midfield.... Villa, Torres, Llorente up top.

Netherlands is also a brilliant attacking side with players like Sneijder, Van Persie, Elia, Kuyt....

Italy has young talent that can shine this summer, players like Rossi, Balotelli, Nocerino.
With a strong midfield of Pirlo and Montolivo....

Well, without knowing you I would say, if you really want to get into European Football watch the games! I mean, to choose one team upon the recommendations of other users might work, but that just doesn't feel like the natural way of choosing a team to support! I guess anyone here at footytube would agree if I say: It's not you choosing a team, but the team choosing you! On the 11th of november you got the next chance to watch international tests and the first playoff matches.

To give at least a brief answer on your question concerning the the top-players and style of the teams:

Since Hanus already gave you a good summary for Spain, the Netherlands and Italy I skip those and start with the hosts Poland and Ukraine.

Poland:
top players are the the goalies Szczesny and Fabianski (both from Arsenal London), Piszczek and Lewandowski (both playing for german champion Borussia Dortmund) as well as Mierzejewski (Trabzonspor) and Obraniak (Lille)
style: defensive minded but with fluid passing and fast counter-attacks

Ukraine:
top players: A lot of the top players are from the ukrainian based teams Shaktar Donetsk (Chygrynskiy, Rakitsky) or Dynamo Kiev (Aliev, Shevchenko, Yarmolenko) but you should also have look at Tymoshchuk (Bayern Munich)
style: like Poland defensive minded with great technical skills

If you like underdog-stories (and I know Americans like those) you should probably choose one of the hosts!

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Denmark
top players: defenders Kjaer (Roma) and Agger (Liverpool), midfielders Kvist (Stuttgart) and Eriksen (Ajax Amsterdam) and of course striker Niklas Bendtner (Sunderland)
style: Denmark played great qualifiers with wins against Portugal and Norway, they have a solid defence, a consistent and creative midfield and strikers which knows how to score

Germany
top players: Neuer, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Gomez, Müller (all Bayern Munich) also: Özil (Real Madrid), Götze (Dortmund) and a lot of other players, its hard to determine who is a top player and who not! A pretty good team! (okay, I'am biased here, its "my team"
style: quick, fluid passing; a lot of ball movement and solid defending. A lot of very young, highly talented players! Finally try to beat spain, lets see what happens!

France
top players: Evra (Manchester United), Nasri (City), Ribery (Bayern Munich), Gameiro and Menez (both PSG),
style: after the desastrous WC in South Africa, France is back again! If their manager Laurent Blanc is able to finally form a team of the great individualists he got there, France could definitively be a threat for every other team. I guess the key to explore their style is the midfield with a lot of fast and creative players, each one of them able to decide a game on their own (but as mentioned, that is also their biggest problem)

Russia
top players: Arshavin (Arsenal London), Akinfeev and Dzagoev (CSKA Moskwa), Kershakov and Denizov (Zenit)
style: Well, how would you describe Russias style.... In 2008 (last EC) everyone was impressed about the fluidity of the russian football! I remember how Dave Farrar (Eurosport) called their football otherworldly. Meanwhile things slightly changed.... In my opinion their ability to dominate an opponent decreased. They still got talented players with huge skill on the ball, but I am not sure if they are able to impress the world once again.

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Sorry, I'm running out of time here. Maybe I'm able to continue tomorrow! Or somebody else may give you some facts about the other teams. I wouldn't feel very comfortable to describe you the style of England since I am sure the english lads here could do that much better Once again, watch the testgames to get an own impression! It's the best thing you could do!

Cheers,
Kyuss

You can't make logical choices in this. I mean you can but they will be easily challenged.

I'd say the best way is to wait until the tournament starts. I bet that after a few games you will have made your choice. In every tournament there are at least one or two teams who will steal your heart, if you watch it as an outsider.

No matter whom you choose, don't forget the Red Bulls. Lol

We're still waiting for the last 4 teams. You can start by watching the playoffs. I recommend Turkey-Croatia or Portugal-Bosnia

In my opinion Spain and Germany are the best, either one of those two will definetley win it

The team you support is going to be down to the teams and the little stories which make them what they are.

May I ask which teams you support in American sports? Knowing that can help decide what kind of team you like and what to look for

Euro 2012 is the second biggest stage for international soccer and I will go for Croatia to hoping to see the lifting the Euro 2012 trophy, I love Croatia and especially Luka Moderic and Davor Suker, But there are also other world class best teams to compete and it is not easy to play easy against them for Croatia