By David Gold
December 2 – Old rivals Germany and the Netherlands will face each other in Group B of the 2012 European Championships, being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, following the draw today in Kiev, where the final of next summer’s tournament will take place.
Germany and Netherlands have a fierce rivalry which stems from the Second World War – when the pair met in the World Cup final in 1974, the Netherlands, keen to get revenge on the football field, outplayed the Germans, only to lose 2-1.
They got their revenge in the semi-finals of the 1988 European Championships, the only international tournament the Dutch have won to date.
They will be marginal favourites to progress, and also with them in Group B are Denmark and Portugal, who faced each other in the qualifiers, when the Scandinavians came out on top of their group.
With one of Europe’s top talents in Christian Eriksen as well as a strong squad, the Danes will be confident of springing a surprise, whilst Paulo Bento’s Portugal will look to Cristiano Ronaldo to spur them to the knockout stage.
Poland, who have never reached the last eight of the European Championships, will kick off the tournament against Greece in Group A, which also includes neighbours Russia and the Czech Republic.
Poland and Russia have never faced each other in competitive international football, and both will be confident that they can advance to the quarter finals of the competition, though 1996 runners up Czech Republic will put up stern opposition, whilst Greece won a tricky qualifying group involving Croatia.
In Group C, European and World Champions Spain will take on Italy, whom they beat in the quarter finals of the 2008 European Championships on route to winning the competition.
Vincente Del Bosque’s men will be favourites to retain the trophy and become the first team to win three major international tournaments in a row, and boast a squad which is the envy of most.
Italy are in a transitional phase having finished bottom of a World Cup group involving New Zealand in South Africa last year, but coach Cesare Prandelli is moulding a strong group involving rising stars such as Giampaolo Pazzini, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Ranocchia.
They will be favourites to join the Spanish in the quarter finals, with Slaven Bilic’s Croatia weaker than the team he took to the quarter finals of the 2008 tournament.
The Republic of Ireland complete the group, and face a daunting task to progress past the group stage of their first major international tournament since the 2002 World Cup, though Italian coach Giovani Trapattoni will relish the chance to get one over on his countrymen.
The two teams drew twice when they met in the qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, and this will give the Republic optimism ahead of what will be their final group game next summer.
Ukraine, on their debut at the Euros, will take on France, Sweden and England in Group D.
France will be looking to make amends for an appalling World Cup last summer, and may be slight favourites to advance from the group having developed rapidly under Laurent Blanc since last summer, beating the likes of England and Brazil since, as well as crushing Ukraine 4-1 in a friendly this summer in Donetsk.
With the likes of Marvin Martin, Yann M’Vila and Mathieu Valbuena, a new generation of stars make the French a genuine dark horse for the competition.
It is a tough group to call with the weakest side arguably Sweden, who were the best runners up after finishing second to the Netherlands in qualifiers, and their forward line of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Johan Elmander will cause all of their opponents problems.
England, who endured a miserable World Cup last year, have gone for a more youthful looking team in qualifying, with players such as Jack Wilshere, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck being eased into the squad.
They face an uphill struggle in 2012 as they will be without star man Wayne Rooney for the group stage, and have never beaten Sweden in the finals of an international tournament, though they could have the Manchester United man back for their third and potentially decisive encounter with Ukraine, pending an appeal.
The draw took place after a ceremony which included a touching tribute from UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino to Gary Speed, the Wales manager who committed suicide last weekend.
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