Righto, this is a little follow up from the earlier post when the pots were announced but before the draw. The recent friendlies whet my appetite a little but I'm just now starting to think about getting some cash down on prospective winners. So here are the groups:
GROUP A
It's hard to go past any of the top 4 favourites (I'm excluding England - they are poor, even by recent standards) but I'd like a look at the possible path to the final. Let's start with the groups. The toughest looks to be Group B but Group C is no breeze either. Incidentally, only Spain (8) and Germany (10) won all their qualifying matches, but Italy, Greece and England were unbeaten too. The Netherlands scored the most with 37 goals in 10 games and Italy conceded the fewest with only 2 goals against in 10 games.
So here are my predictions about who will qualify from the groups.
Group A - Greece and Russia
Group B - Germany and the Netherlands
Group C - Spain and Italy
Group D - France and England
That seems rather obvious but I can't see any of the other teams doing enough to squeeze any of these ones out. (At a pinch, I wouldn't be too shocked to see Sweden through in Group D or even Croatia instead of Italy in Group C).
So on to the Quarter finals. Greece (1A) v Netherlands (2B), Germany (1B) v Russia (2A), Spain (1C) v England (2D), France (1D) v Italy (2C).
OK, easy so far. Now the Semi-finals. Netherlands v Spain (bang! - World Cup 2010 rematch) and Germany v Italy. This may seem to contradict my earlier assertion that Croatia could go through at Italy's expense but that IS possible, as is Italy improving as the tournament progresses, which is often their way.
And the final. I reckon the semis will be dour, maybe dull and the final shouldn't be much different, with the three remaining teams (aside from Spain) all trying to devise ways to blunt their tiki-taka approach. Switzerland did it in South Africa and even England snatched a 1-0 win in a recent friendly, but that can't succeed all the time. So I think the final will be Spain v Germany and I actually favour Germany to win this time, probably on penalties. I'd love to see Spain win their third tournament in a row but that's a mighty achievement, even with the team they have. So a tenner (or more) on Germany!
Here's the full match schedule from UEFA.
NB. Opinions may change as tournament approaches. Author will not be held accountable for any monetary losses:)
GROUP A
- Poland
- Greece
- Russia
- Czech Republic
- Netherlands
- Denmark
- Germany
- Portugal
- Spain
- Italy
- Republic of Ireland
- Croatia
- Ukraine
- Sweden
- France
- England
It's hard to go past any of the top 4 favourites (I'm excluding England - they are poor, even by recent standards) but I'd like a look at the possible path to the final. Let's start with the groups. The toughest looks to be Group B but Group C is no breeze either. Incidentally, only Spain (8) and Germany (10) won all their qualifying matches, but Italy, Greece and England were unbeaten too. The Netherlands scored the most with 37 goals in 10 games and Italy conceded the fewest with only 2 goals against in 10 games.
So here are my predictions about who will qualify from the groups.
Group A - Greece and Russia
Group B - Germany and the Netherlands
Group C - Spain and Italy
Group D - France and England
That seems rather obvious but I can't see any of the other teams doing enough to squeeze any of these ones out. (At a pinch, I wouldn't be too shocked to see Sweden through in Group D or even Croatia instead of Italy in Group C).
So on to the Quarter finals. Greece (1A) v Netherlands (2B), Germany (1B) v Russia (2A), Spain (1C) v England (2D), France (1D) v Italy (2C).
OK, easy so far. Now the Semi-finals. Netherlands v Spain (bang! - World Cup 2010 rematch) and Germany v Italy. This may seem to contradict my earlier assertion that Croatia could go through at Italy's expense but that IS possible, as is Italy improving as the tournament progresses, which is often their way.
And the final. I reckon the semis will be dour, maybe dull and the final shouldn't be much different, with the three remaining teams (aside from Spain) all trying to devise ways to blunt their tiki-taka approach. Switzerland did it in South Africa and even England snatched a 1-0 win in a recent friendly, but that can't succeed all the time. So I think the final will be Spain v Germany and I actually favour Germany to win this time, probably on penalties. I'd love to see Spain win their third tournament in a row but that's a mighty achievement, even with the team they have. So a tenner (or more) on Germany!
Here's the full match schedule from UEFA.
NB. Opinions may change as tournament approaches. Author will not be held accountable for any monetary losses:)
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