The draw for next years European Championship has been drawn and as always has thrown up some fascinating groups.
Group A was the most interesting to me as hosts Poland were drawn alongside, Czech Republic, Greece and Russia.
Open
Group A will be considered the weakest of the groups with some of Europe’s lesser lights taking their place in the group.
This group is the most interesting to be because any of the four teams could qualify for the knockout stages.
Poland are considered the weakest team in the group but will have the home backing. The Czech Republic made it through via a play-off but were lucky to get past Scotland in qualification. And Russia are considered a solid team.
Greece are considered far easier on the eye than the team that won Euro 2004. However they are likely to struggle in this tournament.
Tough
Group B will be a very tough one to judge. This may be considered the group of death in this years competition. Holland, Germany, Portugal and Denmark are in this group. Nobody will believe that the Scandinavians will have a chance but they have pulled of big results in the past and are a decent team.
Germany and Holland are considered as two of the favourites for the tournament. They come head to head early on in a mouth watering group stage clash. There is also a lot of history between the two nations from tournaments gone by.
Portugal also have to be considered as a danger in this group with the outstanding attacking talents of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani. Portugal are however one of European football’s underachievers.
Unlucky
It looks like the luck of the Irish wasn’t with their national team as the Republic was drawn in group C alongside World and European Champions Spain, European heavyweights Italy and Croatia. The two bigger countries will expect to qualify for the knockout stages.
However Ireland have looked solid and they are not easy to score against. Ireland boss Giovanni Trappatoni will come up against his homeland and I’m sure he will have a good knowledge of the Azzurri’s team and tactics.
Spain are of course one of the favourites for the tournament and will be expected to top this group. Croatia got through to the finals after beating Turkey in a play-off but Slaven Bilic’s side won’t be anybodies whipping boys.
Straightforward
Group D contains England, France, hosts Ukraine and Sweden. England and France will be thinking that this should be a straightforward group to qualify from. However the Three Lions never make it easy for themselves and have failed to perform at recent tournaments.
France have made a good recovery under boss Laurent Blanc after the French had a nightmare at World Cup 2010 under Raymond Domenech. France could prove to be one of the dark horses for the tournaments.
Sweden are a good solid side and in maverick striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic they have a player capable of producing a match-winning piece of skill. However the AC Milan forward has struggled when he has came up against English opposition in the past.
Co-hosts Ukraine will be looking for the home crowds to help them progress into the knockout stages. The Ukrainian’s will hope that veteran striker Andrei Shevchenko can produce the goals to fire his country into the knockout stages.
Unpredictable
The way the tournament has been drawn means that it could be very difficult to predict who goes through to the knockout stages. The likes of Spain, Germany and Holland will still go into the competition as big favourites.
However given the draw it seems that all three won’t have an easy passage to the knockout stages. The draw just makes the competition even more interesting for us fans. The competition is just over six months away and the excitement will only grow.
This summers European Championship promises to be one of the best of recent years. All the big teams are at the finals and I just hope the tournament lives up to its potential.
Who will win next summers European Championships?
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