Group C

Reining World and European champions Spain headline Group C, and will be the ones to beat once again. David Villa and Carles Puyol are both missing this time around, but the emergence of Javi Martinez, David Silva and Fernando Lorente in the last year mean that Spain won’t be any weaker. The Italians come into this tournament not really being fancied by anyone, in fact the only mention of the Azzuri lately has been another match fixing scandal. That being said, looking at the quality of players that they’re bringing along, it would be a major surprise if they failed to progress beyond the group stage. Ireland and Croatia will be looking to pounce should Italy fail to put things together, Ireland with their experienced manager and solid look to them might just squeeze through. The games will be tight, and they might have to beat Croatia, nick a draw against Italy and not lose by too many to Spain to reach the quarters.

To go through: Spain and Ireland

Group D

England’s build up to Euro 2012 has been made up uninspiring 1-0 win’s against Norway and Belgium (yes I know, wins none-the-less), and injuries. Ruddy, Barry, Lampard and Cahill have all had to drop out of the squad, and instead of Carrick, Richards and Ferdinand replacing them, we’ve got Jagielka, Henderson and Kelly. Two points to be made here; if any player refuses a call up/to go on standby, then they can piss off altogether as far as I’m concerned, I don’t buy this picking and choosing when to play for England thing. Secondly, we should be calling up experienced and adequate replacements, and for me Henderson and Kelly are not good enough. Neither are going to start and neither are going to be the guys you turn to make an impact off the bench (I hope not, at least). That being said, we’ve got who we’ve got and let’s crack on with. Next Monday’s game has got to be ‘operation don’t lose’ for me, if we can win it then that would be fantastic, but being realistic let’s try and get through the game unscathed (injury wise too) and look to beat Sweden and Ukraine. France have another talented group of players and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they get on - quelle France will turn up this time? I don’t expect much from Ukraine or Sweden, but if there is a winner from that game which is in the opening round of fixtures, they’ll give themselves a real chance of causing a surprise.

To go through: England and France

@patlangridge | @SolidBackFour

Group A

This Friday sees the kick off of Euro 2012, with Poland meeting Greece in a (not) mouth watering opener. Co-hosts Poland will be hoping to take advantage of being drawn in a  pretty kind group (Russia and Czech Republic make up the numbers), combined with obvious home advantage. They’ll be hoping that Robert Lewandowski keeps up his Borussia Dortmund form in front of goal, if they’ve any chance to progress. Greece? No chance, not again. The Russians impressed in the last European Championships in 2008, Andrei Arshavin really burst onto the scene back then but that was probably the best we’ve ever seen of him. Having won the Russian title with Zenit in his short loan spell, the little Russian will again be hoping to inspire his nation to a deep run in this year’s finals. The Czech’s have some talented players (including captain and Gooner Tomas Rosicky) and always seem to make the big summer tournements, but also always seem to leave little or no impression on proceedings.

To go through: Poland and Russia

Group B

The Dutch and the Germans seem to be the big favourites outside of the Spanish, so it’s hard to make a case for either Portugal or Denmark to cause what we big a huge upset, and get out of this tough group. Holland were runners-up at the World Cup two years ago, and with the emergence of Robin Van Persie as a goal scoring leader, that only makes them stronger. They could well line up with a team that has Van Der Vaart, Affelay and Huntelaar all on the bench – scary. I expect to see Germany join them in the last 8, impressive in the World Cup (and just about every major tournament) showing a mix talented ball players (I think I love Mesut Ozil) and old fashioned German-ness, this current crop will be very tough to beat. Portugal have Ronaldo but not a lot else, and Denmark have Bendtner (so nothing, right?), I can’t see them stopping either Holland or Germany.

To go through: Holland and Germany

Part Two of my preview arrives tomorrow!

@patlangridge | @SolidBackFour