UEFA 2012: The Draw

We take a look at the fourteen teams which join hosts Poland and Ukraine in the final phase of the UEFA EURO 2012 in June/July next year. We present the draw, the dates upon which the games are played and the FIFA ranking of each team. Finally, we produce a prediction as to who will be the champion.

Football pundits have to put their mouths where they put their keyboards and so I produce a prognosis based upon my analysis and the current ranking of each team, for the last eight.

The groups

A Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic

B Netherlands Denmark Germany Portugal
C Spain Italy Rep. Ireland Croatia
D Ukraine Sweden France England

The matches

Group A Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic

June 8 Poland v. Greece    Russia v. Czech Republic

June 12 Greece v. Czech Republic    Poland v. Russia

June 16 Greece v. Russia    Czech Republic v. Poland

Group B Netherlands Denmark Germany Portugal

June 9 Netherlands v. Denmark    Germany v. Portugal

June 13 Denmark v. Portugal    Netherlands v. Germany

June 17 Portugal v. Netherlands    Denmark v. Germany

Group C Spain Italy Rep. Ireland Croatia

June 10 Spain v. Italy    Rep. Ireland v. Croatia

June 14 Italy v. Croatia    Spain v. Rep. Ireland

June 18 Croatia v. Spain    Italy v. Rep. Ireland

Group D Ukraine Sweden France England

June 11 France v. England   Ukraine v. Sweden

June 15 Ukraine v. France    Sweden v. England

June 19 Sweden v. France    England v. Ukraine

Rankings

A Poland (66) Greece (14) Russia (12) Czech Republic (33)

B Netherlands (2) Denmark (11) Germany (3) Portugal (7)

C Spain (1) Italy (9) Rep. Ireland (21) Croatia (8)

D Ukraine (55) Sweden (18) France (15) England (5)

Last eight

By the book, the last eight would be:

Russia, Greece; Netherlands, Germany; Spain, Croatia; England, France

Group A: Russia, yes, Greece no. Greece collapses at international events and I would go for the home factor, Poland and Russia.

Group B: Portugal is too unpredictable to be written off and Paulo Bento has an excellent group of players. Depending on who is available, I would go for Portugal and Germany in this group.

Group C: Spain yes, joined by Italy, whose experience and whose discipline and training among home-grown players will make the difference.

Group D: Ukraine and England

Aleksei Federov

Pravda.Ru