EURO 2008 QUALIFYING DRAW ANALYSIS
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Fast forward to 2008 and the European Championships will be held jointly in Austria and Switzerland. The two hosts sides have automatically qualified and so there are 14 spaces up for grabs. Seven qualifying groups starting play after the 2006 World Cup. Two sides qualify from each, and no playoffs involved for the first time since they were brought in for the qualifiers of the 1998 World Cup. So what's the road to MittelEuropa going to be like?
Well first up is Group A where the main obvious heavyweight is Portugal, they're sorted. Three small fry that you can throw out of the picture immediately are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, though travel wise that combo's going to be a headache. You can also through Finland out of the picture after a few minutes of thinking. So we're left with Poland, Serbia and Belgium looking for second place and three into one don't go. If I'm going to be harsh I'm going to ditch Serbia who may have made it to Germany but I can see them getting outgunned by both Poland and the hungry Belgians. Poland vs Belgium? I'd give Poland the edge on this one, having proven impressive in the World Cup qualifiers.
Group B is where you'll find Scotland. I can't see either the Faroe Islands or Lithuania causing much of a problem for Walter Smith's crew and Georgia shouldn't be a big deal either. Slight problem though, Group B is also where you'll find France, Italy and the Ukraine. Even on form this is the Group of Annihilation for the Scots and as much as I'd love to see them get through it I can't see beyond France and Italy from here.
Now we have Group C. Scratch Moldova and Malta and send Bosnia on after them. I can't see Hungary doing much against the big guns of this group either. So it's Greece, Norway and Turkey and three into two don't go. After some thinking though I have to say that despite the fact that they are the reigning champions, Greece were always going to be the best case scenario for the seeded teams and I suspect Euro 2004 was a one off. Norway and Turkey to go through.
In Group D it's Wales vs Republic of Ireland. Sounds interesting from a British perspective. Cyprus and San Marino are unlikely to trouble either side and neither, probably are Slovakia. However you can't say that about the current Germany side or the Czech Republic. Tricky. Unfortunately the first side I have to throw out of that mix is Wales. Yes, they have some quality players but they rarely get their act together as a unit. Germany will probably go through because...I can't remember the last time they weren't in a major competition. Rep Ireland vs Czech Republic? Might as well go heart over head on this one and give it to the Irish though I could be wrong.
In Group E...we have what will be the post-Sven England and unless the Swede's successor is a brain-dead moron the Three Lions should top this group. As for second place well, scratch Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra and scratch Israel after that. We're talking Croatia vs Russia and I reckon the Croats will win that one.
In Group F we find Northern Ireland, but the win over the Three Lions in Belfast was probably a one off so even if they deal with Liechtenstein, Iceland and at a push Latvia(who did qualify for Euro 2004), they'll get cleaned by Sweden, Spain and Denmark. One of those three major players has to go though if if I'm going to be harsh then I'm going to say Denmark though my only criteria is that the Danes didn't qualify for the World Cup.
In Group G the Dutch have a spot in the finals in the bank and Albania and Luxembourg are the easy scratches. Belarus definitely won't make it either. Slovenia I'm not willing to bank on so it's going to be one of the sleeping giants of East European football that'll get a shot at revival. Romania vs Bulgaria for a spot at Euro 2008. Who's showing more signs of life? Do Bulgaria have an answer to Adrian Mutu who's still playing for Juventus? Not that I know of, Romania it is.
So, fast forward to December 2007 and the line up for the final draw for Euro 2008 will look like this:
| Switzerland | Austria |
| France | Italy |
| Norway | Turkey |
| Portugal | Poland |
| Germany | Republic of Ireland |
| England | Croatia |
| Sweden | Spain |
| Netherlands | Romania |
Assuming some wonderkid doesn't turn up in Albania or somewhere in the next couple of years.
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