Simultaneous with the Copa America Centennial, the Euro 2016 competition starts this Friday. There are some notable additions and at least one very notable omission to the list of teams. The tournament, which will be held in France has also expanded to 24 teams this year.
First the omission: for the first time since 1984 The Netherlands has failed to qualify for this tournament. The Netherlands finished fourth in a qualifying group that included Czech Republic, Iceland, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Latvia. This was a group that I would have expected to see one of the semi-finalists from the last World Cup and a finalist from the 2010 World Cup easily win.
There are five nations making their debut in this tournament: Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales. It’s also the first time since the 1982 World Cup that as many as three of the national teams that comprise the United Kingdom have qualified for an international tournament and the first time ever that as many as three of these teams have qualified for the European Championship. We miss you Scotland.
Here are the groups along with my prediction as to which two teams I expect to automatically qualify. Please note that the format also includes an opportunity for the top four third-placed teams to qualify for the knockout stage, but I would not hazard a a guess as to which ones that may be.
Group A: Albania, France, Romania and Switzerland. I expect France to win the group and Switzerland to finish second.
Group B: England, Russia, Slovakia and Wales. Would love a surprise here, but I believe England will win the group with Russia second.
Group C: Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland and Ukraine. Germany should win the group with Poland finishing second.
Group D: Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain and Turkey. I believe Spain will win the group with the Czech Republic finishing second.
Group E: Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Sweden. Look to Belgium to win the group with Italy finishing second.
Group F: Austria, Hungary, Iceland and Portugal. Portugal should win the group with Austria claiming second place.
I will do my best to have open threads for each of the games. Here is the tournament’s official website.
dedc79
Rooting for England, except that racist, dirtbag Vardy. (Spurs fan)
Origuy
With Scotland out, I’m pulling for Y Dreigiau. (The Welsh Dragons) They’re not going to beat England, though.
gene108
Isn’t England weaker, since they cannot rely on Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish players than they otherwise would be?
I think that’s been one of their shortcomings of late, in the World Cup, versus earlier iterations of the English squad, because they cannot pull talent from all over the UK.
Aldo
I would switch Group F around. I have little faith in Portugal.
beer time somewhere
Latest odds from Ladbrokes (UK) to win it all: France 16/5, Germany 9/2, Spain 5/1, England 8/1
Randinho
@gene108: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have always competed as separate entities for FIFA related competitions. They must field a UK team for the Olympics
SRW1
The expansion to 24 teams is a joke. Even more so for the qualification to the tournament than the tournament itself, though the fact that four third-placed teams from the group stage make it to the knock-out stage is ridiculous for a tournament. UEFA are just as bad money grabbers as FIFA.
My money is on Belgium if their coach gets his act together, with France a strong second favorite. Germany will probably make it to the semifinal, but I have doubts about Löw’s intent to actually use Gomez as his striker and/or the effectiveness of Götze as a false nine. You never know what Thomas Müller will do, except that he’s always good for a few goals.
England have a good choice of attacking options. but Woy doesn’t appear to know what to do with them since he doesn’t dare drop Rooney. And they’re still somewhat suspicious at the back.
My favorite to win the ‘Greece 2000’ award is Iceland. Wouldn’t that be fun!
ETA
Oh, and Spain: I don’t think they will threepeat. Germany took a 36 year old striker to WC 2014 and that worked out. But Klose was an established force, the 35 year old Aduritz isn’t.
Onkel Fritze
The group stage looks kind of boring. 24 teams are just too many.
pseudonymous in nc
@Randinho:
Which they normally don’t. The UK teams for London 2012 were made possible by special dispensation from FIFA because they were the host nation playing the national sport. The English FA sketched out plans for participation in Rio but the other home nations vetoed it, because they don’t want to risk their independence with FIFA.
I agree with SRW1 that the expansion feels like overstretch: while it’s nice to have some new countries involved, there was a crispness to the 16-team Euro format — four groups, then straight into to the quarter finals — that’s now gone. UEFA also really needs to bite the bullet and have a pre-qualification stage like most other confederations: it doesn’t help football in mini-nations like Andorra or the Faroe Islands to be thrashed on a regular basis, because strong teams want to run up their goal difference in the group.
Anyway, I have no idea who’s going to win this, though I assume the bookies know their stuff. It’d be nice to see Belgium make a go of it.
Randinho
Word. I have gotten into debates with some English friends who make fun of some of the USA’s opponents in qualification, to which my response is “Too bad we can’t face the really tough teams like San Marino, Malta and Liechtenstein.
1938 in music
I get pleasure from, cause I discovered exactly what I was taking a look for.
You’ve ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day.
Bye