[antonk]

So, qualifying is over, we have all our qualified teams, and below I will list each team and which pots they will be in for the group stage draw.

The draw for the final tournament is scheduled for December 2, 2007. In a return to the format used at EURO '92 and EURO '96, the games in each group will be held at just two stadia, with the seeded team remaining in the same city for all three matches. As was the case at the 2000 and 2004 finals, the finalists will be divided into 4 seeding pots, based on average points per game in the qualifying phases of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008, with each group having one team from each pot. Switzerland and Austria, as co-hosts, and Greece, as defending champions, are seeded first automatically.

Teams:

Pot 1:
Switzerland
Austria
Greece
Netherlands

Pot 2:
Croatia
Italy
Czech Republic
Sweden

Pot 3:
Romania
Germany
Portugal
Spain

Pot 4:
Poland
France
Turkey
Russia

Swizerland and Austria are already in groups, with Swizerland occupying the 1st spot in group A, while Austria occupy the 1st spot in group B.

EURO 2008 will also mark the debut appearances of 2 teams, Austria(only because they are hosts, and they are backed to be the worst performing host nation ever) and Poland, while every other team participating has made at least 2 appearances in EURO finals before this upcoming one.

These EURO's also boast 8 previous winners out of the 16 teams participating, in the shape of Italy(1968), France(1984 and 2000), Greece(2004), Czech Republic(1976), Germany(1972, 1980 and 1996), Russia(1960), Spain(1964) and the Netherlands(1988).

Feel free to discuss potential winners, predictions for who will be in each group(while remembering Swizerland and Austria are in groups A and B respectively), and who will make certain stages of the competition.

Enjoy!

[Beast]

Group A

Switzerland
Croatia
Portugal
Turkey

Group B

Austria
Italia
Germany
Russia

Group C
Greece
Czech Republic
Spain
Poland

Group D = Group of death
Netherlands
France
Sweden
Romania

nasal_kid, on Nov 22 2007, 12:03 AM, said:

holland look fucked this time around

Replying to Jatin from another Thread.. although Holland looked fucked i think Van Basten is focusing on something that was always a weak point with Holland (apart from Koeman ) and that's the defense.. they are less then normal upfront and were beaten last night after resting some of the key players but their defense is surely stronger.. Holland and Spain have my vote to win the damn thing this time around

[Lemmiwinks]

will be supporting the oranje and yellow. not gonna be the same though.

[nasal_kid]

Gio, group A too looks like a group of death... croatia, portugal and turkey

[Raed]

Switzerland are mean too...

[Lemmiwinks]

i agree with gio, d looks like the hardest.

[nasal_kid]

Raed, on Nov 22 2007, 08:42 AM, said:

Switzerland are mean too...

what the hell is up with your pic haha

[bobo]

C'mon Turkey and Spain!!

I suspect ze Germans to win it though..

[yusuf423]

turkey to win it all

[viva_la_liga]

Portugal to crash out from the Group Stage.

[Irvin_007]

viva_la_liga, on Nov 23 2007, 10:06 AM, said:

Portugal to crash out from the Group Stage.

I say Italy will crash out in the group stage ... Holland will lose on penalties ... right now, as much as I hate Aragones, I would say that Spain has the best chance to win it all. Although that could change by next week.

[barcaforever]

I dunno about Spain,they really looked like Barca at away game against Northern Ireland.My bet would be on France winning it.

[viva_la_liga]

Spain are all about the build-up, they won't do jack s*it when it comes to reaching the semi finals of anything. Fate has made it a rule that Spain f**k up. Despite being probably the best team in WC2002; Luis Enrique and Mendieta in their prime, with Raul and Morientes when they used to be a duo at Madrid, Hierro in defense, Puyol on the right, Sergi on the left, Casillas on the rise, etc. They were great and fucked Korea up (Joaquin ran rings round them) in the quarters, but as fate would have it, two perfectly good goals were disallowed and on top of that a shitload of missed chances and lost on penalties, ironically Joaquin missing the only one. Spain are the most inconsistent team in the Euros and can PMS or play brilliant, free-flowing football. We'll see, but they are never favorites for anything except toping their group.

I can really see Xavi having a great tournament, though. I can see him finally getting worldwide recognition, Capdevila too. Spain are all set, they just need that unity and confidence and understanding to get them going. Cesc should be on the bench to come on anytime. I remember how he COMPLETELY changed the game against Tunisia in the World Cup.

This post has been edited by viva_la_liga: 23 November 2007 - 08:58 PM

[LaFuriaBlaugrana]

The refs robbed both Spain and Italy in Korea, had things went by more fairly Spain could have made history...but probably not, Brazil was too good.

Interestingly enough despite the accusation that Barca players, especially the Catalan ones, don't take the seleccion seriously, I find that Xavi's career with Spain has been extremely consistent, perhaps even more so than with Barca. He had a very good World Cup (official MOTM in Spain's pillage of Ukraine) and has been extremely reliable in qualification.

Spain have on paper the strongest squad (and definitely the most depth) of any team in the Euros, of course they will still f*ck up.

[FCB-Mo]

England will win EURO 2008. They are by far the best side in the tournament!