I am a bit bias. Here I am talking about Euro 2012 when the Copa America earlier this year was held in Argentina and I didn't even had a conversation, didn't even bat an eye to it. I watched it. It was awesome, Venezuela showed that they aren't meant to be flogged by their South American neighbours any more. Messi's play was no where to be seen. Falcao from Colombia is a top marksman. Paraguay were stingy in defense as usual, I have come to expect that from the men from Asuncion. While Forlan and the boys from Uruguay in the end lifted the trophy in Buenos Aires. It was great but for me there is nothing more special than the Euros. The European Championship is the apex of international football. The World Cup is heralded as one of the greatest spectacles that can be seen by the human eye but in terms of quality when you get down to it the fact of the matter is a lot of average teams are in the competition. Unless the World Cup was in my back yard I am not paying any sort of currency Euro or Rand to see Chile play Honduras. I don't mean any disrespect but I support Barbados national team, I don't need to see another primary school game. The Euros offer quality on a consistant basis. Europe is the standard bearer of world football. Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are worthy contributors to the game but that's just three teams. In Europe there is an abundance of good nations all clustered together.
Enough of what I think let's get down to it. The draw for Euro 2012 Poland and Ukraine has been made and as I like to do, I will give in depth analysis... well I think it's in depth at least on the groups. This post is just how the groups are set out, as we get closer to the tourney I will put the journalistic and thinking caps on to try to break it down. So here are the fours groups in seeding order listed "A," to "D," that will thrill us in these two young nations starting June 8th.
Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic
Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal
Group C
Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia
Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England
Slavek and Slavko the two mascots for the tournament. I like them they're cool, I think much better than the two guys from the last Euros, they looked like Cabbage Patch dolls but Slavek the Pole (red) and the Slavko (yellow & blue) the Ukrainian look the part and no doubt it will be a good tournament.
