Group A: Poland
, Greece , Russia , Czech Republic
Most experts say this is the most wide open group of the
four and that anyone can win it. I have to disagree. I look at the Polish
squad, who will be playing in front of their ravenous fans, and see clear
advantages. Of the 4 sides in this group Poland are the only team deploying
a world class striker, Robert Lewandowski. Lewandowski was brilliant for his
club side Borussia Dortmund bagging 30 goals in all competitions.
Speaking of Dortmund , the Yellow and Blacks won the Bundesliga double
pounding Munich in the German Cup final and
leaving Munich
in second place on their way to their second straight league title. That
excellent Dortmund
team contribute three starters to the Polish national team. Lewandowski is
joined by captain Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczkowski and full-back Lukasz Piszczek.
This title winning trio should provide the co-hosts with plenty of belief. Poland also
feature the second best keeper in the group with Wojciech Szczesny between the
sticks. Poland
lack a strong defensive front so Szczesny will have to be at his best. I think
he can do it. Szczesny was excellent at Arsenal this season.
Miscellaneous: Watch out for Greece . They will park the bus in
every game and try to win 0 – 0. Perhaps they think three draws in enough to
get to the second round? Andre Arshavin will be out to prove himself again like
he did in 2008. Only this time he will not be coming back to England . After
a decent start he really flamed out at Arsenal
Predictions: Poland come out on top of this
group with the Russians scrapping out a second place finish.
Group B: Netherlands
, Denmark , Germany , Portugal .
Holy Crap! Group of death?!?!?! Try group of massacre, carnage
and total destruction. If the Danes were in any other group I could see them
progressing to the second round. Unfortunately they will be beaten down by three giants in international soccer.
The Dutch I think will not be as good as expected. Arjen
Robben is suffering from a massive Champions League hangover. I don’t expect to
see the same Robben as we saw at the 2010 World Cup. Playing Mark Van Bommel
and Nigel De Jong in the midfield will be a tactical error. The Dutch coach
Bert Van Marwijk may think he needs to play two holding midfielders against
three strong offenses but this will limit his squads creativity. The big
question mark of this squad is the back 4. Will they be able to keep out
Christiano Ronaldo and Mario Gomez? I don’t think so.
Germany will be an absolute machine this Euro Cup. On paper they
have the strongest starting 11 in this cup. World Class strikers … Check. Mario
Gomez and Thomas Mueller can bang em in. Strong midfield … Check, Bastian
Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil are world Class… Evergreen Defenders …. Check,
Mats Hummels, Badstuber and Boateng are all rock solid. World Class Keeper …
Check, Manuel Neuer is excellent.
Portugal are in a good position. They are bit under the radar with Germany and Holland grabbing most of the headlines in
this group. Their superstar Christiano Ronaldo is playing the best football of
his career. He and his fellow Madradistas will be flying high from knocking Barcelona off their perch
this past season. I expect Ronaldo to come out flying this cup and really make
his first international mark.
Predictions: Germany is simply awesome. They
will win this group. Portugal
will surprise the pundits and take second. I just think the Dutch are lacking
mental strength and their back four will be under siege.
Group C: Spain , Italy , Ireland , Croatia
Spain are clearly the class on group C but I think they are
lacking in one area. With David Villa out after not recovering from knee
surgery they lack the killer striker they have had the last two major
tournaments. They will be relying on Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente. I
like Llorente but Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque is going to go with Torres.
In the last few warm up friendlies Torres looked like the weak link up front.
Silva, Xavi, Iniesta, Navas and Alonso were at their ‘Tiki Taka’ best. But they
lack a true predator up front.
Italy are unrecognizable to me going into this tournament. I
know they Buffon and Pirlo but they have got be a combined 1000 years old at
this point. They are great but will they have the juice to get this team out of
the group stages? Where are the superstars (No Totti and no Cannavarro)? Who is
going to score for this team? Who is going to provide the creative spark? How
about crazy ass Mario Balotelli… To me, he is the wild card of this tournament.
If he can keep his head and manage to score some goals Italy have a
glimmer of hope to get out of the group stages.
I am happy for Ireland getting into this
tournament. The Boys were robbed of a world cup so qualifying for the Euro Cup
is awesome. Much like Italy,
Ireland
are relying on some old-reliables. All time leader in caps Shay Given will be
in goal. All time leader in goals Robbie Kean will play up front. The human ‘Own
Goal’ Richard Dunne will play central defense. Keep an eye out for Shane Long. EPL fans will recognize him. The Boys should be positive and feel that they
have as good as chance as Croatia
or Italy
in making the knock out stages. Somewhere the Walsh Family is smiling…
Croatia is a definite dark horse in this tournament. If Luka
Modric can find the form that launched Tottenham into the Champions League two
seasons ago Croatia
could make some noise. It’s no surprise that Tottenham’s loss of form this year
coincided with Mordic’s loss of form. Croatia have
counter attacking players with Ivan Rakitic and Darijo Srna. They have Everton
striker Nikica Jelavic up front with Ivica Olic. Croatia have
stability with head coach Slaven Bilic.
Game to
watch: Ireland vs. Croatia. Italy will park the bus against Spain and play
for a 0 – 0 draw. Classic Italian
defensive crap. The winner of the Ireland
v Croatia
game could take an early lead in the group and set themselves up for the second
round.
Predictions:
Spain
win the group. Italy
implode under more match fixing scandals. Or Mario Balotelli goes crazy and Red Cards himself out of the tournament. Croatia
has slightly more depth and play makers then Ireland and The Blazers make it to
the second round. Somewhere the Walsh family is balling their fists.
Group
D: England, France, Sweden,
Ukraine
Ukraine … Next
Sweden …
Ibrahimovich does not a team make. Watch out for Rasmus Elm. The kid from AZ
Alkmaar can flat out play.
France is
looking really good right now. They almost have it all. They have a deadly
striker up front in Karim Benzema. They have dynamic wingers with Samir Nasri
and Frank Ribery. Ribery in particular is really finding his form. In the
friendlies leading up to the tournament he has been awesome. The French men in the
middle, Yohan Cabaye and Yann M'Vila can deliver the tough tackle and thread
the needle pass. Viera would be proud. Les Bleus also have a strong bench with
Hatem Ben Arfa and League 1 leading scorer Olivier Giroud. The one guy that
bothers me in the starting 11 is AC Milan defender Philippe Mexes. This dude is
so error prone. Other than Mexes France is strong
England is… well … England. Once again they are a mess
heading into a major tournament. Rooney is suspended for the first two games
against France and Sweden. They
are missing Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Tim Cahill all due to injury. England
has 6 players in the squad from a team that finished in eight place. That’s right.
Somehow Stewart Downing, Martin Kelly, Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll made
the squad. In Carroll’s defense he was showing fine form towards the end of the
season and has played well in the tune up games. Hodgson has given Carroll the
#9 so it appears he will be the striker while Rooney is out. With all this crap
going on with this squad (I forgot to mention the drama surrounding John Terry),
I like this squad. I like Gerrard, Joe hart, Ashley Young and Andy Carroll. I
like Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Predictions:
Steven Gerrard spreads the ball to Young
and Walcott on the wings. Carroll gives Mexes hell and England defeat France and win the group
Final Predictions
Looking at the squads Spain,
Germany and France are the
teams to beat. But can Spain
win three major tournaments in a row? Something is telling me they can’t.
Perhaps it the fact that they don’t have David Villa and the Madrid and Barca
players have played about 1,000,000 soccer games since 2008. I think Spain will run out of gas and lose to France in the
quarter finals. I think France
will stay hot and beat Portugal
to make it to the finals
On the other side of the bracket I like England to beat Croatia
and Germany to beat Russia. I think
England
will run out of gas against the deep and powerful Germans.
In the final I am taking France
over Germany.
I really like the makeup of the French side. The have play makers, ball winners
and goal scorers. I am picking France to win
their first major trophy since the 2000 Euro Cup.
Of course my dream final is England beating the Dutch. That
would be Epic!
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