- Portugal: After 0-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Portuguese lived up to the expectations and dispatched the Bosnians with a resounding 6-2.
- Ireland: The Irish are back in a major footballing tournament, after 1-1 at home against Estonia, which was enough after their 0-4 victory in Tallinn.
- Czech Republic: Had no problem in qualifying with two victories against Montenegro, 2-0 and 0-1 respectively.
- Croatia: Their 0-3 victory away to Turkey put the Croatians through, who had to do little at home to make it 0-0.
The draw for the groups will be on December 2nd!
4 comments:
Erik,
there are many speculations back and forth on the possible groups - "the worst group ever" kind of predictions.
No matter the draw, it seems that we will face some classical and good matches in the group stage.
Now before it all gets settled, it could be funny to hear you evaluation of the teams. As you said there were no surprises in the play offs - who is the surprises of the participants? Who are favorites, based on their preformance in the qualifiers?
In my view, no matter who Spain and Holland are paired with from the second layer, the two other participants in those two groups will face a serious challenge if they want to make it to the next round.
Are Holland and Germany the favorites? (Spain off course, but it is just so hard to defend the title - by the players are still very very good)
What is your oppinion - are you looking forward?
Do you miss any great nations? Or it the participants the ones we hoped for as spectators?
//jim
A lot of questions Jimbo.
I do not think we are missing any important nations. If anything, some we could do without are there, and I am perhaps one of the ones that feel that the tournament has gotten too big. I believe there will be some boring matches in the first round as the smaller teams are separated from the bigger ones.
I see Germany as the strongest team right now. I agree on Spain, but besides what you say, they have simply not looked that good in many matches. It is a new test to the Spanish glory of the latter years...
Netherlands surely are favourites as well, and one could take in the "usual" suspects of Italy or England, although I do not have much fidus to either. However, it will be interesting to see some other teams: independently of my subjectivity, Denmark is interesting. Living from afar, it is different to see them, and they have surprised everyone. Ireland is set to surprise, while Russia could also be a surprise.
Maybe more interesting than who is favourite is: "Who will be the positive, and who will be the negative surprise?"
Cheers.
I know it is a draw tomorrow, so predicting its outcome is as easy as predicting when Bröndby will win the Danish title again.
Never the less - here are some groups that could maybe be funny:
A: Ukraine,Russia,Croatia,Czech
B: Poland,Germany,Sweden,Denmark
C: Spain,Italy,Portugal,France
D: Holland,England,Greece,Ireland
and based on these groups I predict the following to move on the the next round: Russia and Croatia, Germany and hmmmm (Poland), Spain and Italy, Holland and Ireland.
The last four will then be: Russia, Germany, Spain and Italy.
We will then see a final between Germany and Russia with Germany taking the title.
What are the odds? :-)
jim
actually you could also make a group: Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark - having the four semi-finalist from EURO'92 compared on "what did it mean in footballing quality for kids in 92 that their national team did good 20 years ago" - the kids from back then will be playing now :-)
But I would think that, although I am not from Poland, there is not other team, that Poland would rather to take on in their first match than Germany.
will be exciting tomorrow,
jim
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