Holland, Portugal, and Germany will have to battle it out in the Group of Death for a place in the quarterfinals in next year’s Euro 2012 at Poland and Ukraine.
The draw was announced earlier today and has Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, and Greece in Group A. In Group B Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark will have to battle it out while in Group C, defending champions and World Champions Spain will have Italy, Ireland, and Croatia for company. In Group D, France and England were joined by Sweden and co-hosts of the tournament, Ukraine.
The bookmakers’ choices have also been coming out after the draw was announced with Russia and Czech Republic expected to go through from Group A. Germany and Holland are fancied to qualify ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal in a tight Group B which should produce some fine games. Spain and Italy are favored to qualify from Group C while England and France should have it easy in Group D, although Ukraine can spring a surprise especially at home conditions.
Ireland will open the tournament with a match against Croatia at Poznan for Group C.
Here is a look at the teams that we fancy in order of preference to life next year’s trophy.
- Germany – Joachim Loew’s young Germany should be the team to beat next June. They have the best goalkeeper in the world in the form of Manuel Neuer while the defence is pretty balanced with Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm, and Per Mertesacker in the team.
The midfield has some of the most gifted youngsters like Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Mario Goetze, and Toni Kroos along with the experience of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Simon Rolfes.
In attack, Mario Gomez is one of the best in the business today and he will have the likes of Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose, and Lukas Podolski to keep him company.
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Netherlands – They will love to get one over Spain after giving them a run for their money in the World Cup final last summer. They certainly have enough talent in the team, but their defence is of concern, Expect the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, and Robin van Persie to set the tournament on fire.
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Spain – The defending champions are still recognized as the number one team by FIFA. However, some of their results in the past few months have not been encouraging.
Fernando Torres has faded as a strike force and David Villa celebrated his 30th birthday today. Carles Puyol and Xavi are not getting any younger either, but there is still enough talent in this team to reclaim their crown – although it does not look to be certain at this moment in time.