In two weeks, Europe's finest (with the notable exception of the Brits, who got far too much attention in the Champions' League) will descend upon Austria and Switzerland seeking glory in the world's second most prestigious quadrennial athletics competition.
The groups are as follows:
GROUP A (grupo do morte)
Czech Republic
Portugal
Switzerland
Turkey
GROUP B
Austria
Croatia
Poland
Germany (Note: it is always a good sign when you have occupied every other nation in your group)
GROUP C (Groupe de mort)
France
Italy
Netherlands
Romania
GROUP D (συγκρότημα από θάνατος)
Greece
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Basically, this is anyone's tournament to win. Bodog has Germany the favorite at 4-1 followed by Spain at 6-1, Italy and Portugal at 7-1, and France at 8-1. Every team has to fancy its chances of reaching the knockout stage except the poorly drawn Romanians and the abortion that is the Austrian football squad.
Remember, Greece came out of nowhere to win in 2004, so anything can happen. With my luck it will be Romania v. Austria in the Ernst Happel Stadium on June 29th playing for the right to be crowned European Champion.
3 comments:
I would argue Euro is the third most prestigious quadrennial athletic competition behind the Olympics and the World Cup. And with that, I'm going to place my wager on Austria, riding the home crowd to an epic victory.
The Olympics pale in comparison. Who wants to watch Moroccans chase Kenyans for 26.2 miles through the Beijing smog? While the soccer can be interesting (Nigeria in 1996, Tevez in 2004), it is essentially a U-23 tournament. Give me the Euro any day over that Pierre de Coubertin nonsense.
Germany I don't think should be rated anywhere near the favorites.
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