A Way Too Early Look At Euro 2012

Congratulations we have all survived another two year qualifying cycle for a major footballing tournament. This time we have managed to whittle down 53 of Europe's footballing nations to the 16 that will compete in Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. So that only means that Posts By Panos has to give you a way to early look at the tournament.

The Teams

Pot 1

Both Poland and the Ukraine are automatic participants at the Euro, because there is no way UEFA can justify having these two fairly poor countries spend millions of euros without having the actual satisfaction of playing a single match in front of their fans. Of course, as a host you are automatically placed in Pot 1 of the seeding groups.

Reigning world and European champions Spain and the Netherlands join the hosts in Pot 1. Both the Spanish and the Dutch cruised through the qualification process and both should be considered strong favorites for the title. However, both have struggled in recent friendlies, with the Spanish losing to England and drawing Costa Rica while the Dutch were humbled by Germany on Tuesday.

Pot 2

Pot 2 contains Germany, Italy, England and Russia. All four qualified directly to Euro 2012 and with the possible exception of Russia should be favored to advance to the knock-out stages of the tournament. In my opinion, the British will be overrated, the Germans will be deemed efficient and the Italians will be overlooked. There, I just saved you time and effort when go searching for the Euro 2012 previews that come in the spring.

Pot 3

Pot 3 is where we can get a little bias as Croatia, Portugal, Greece and Sweden are all slotted in this grouping. The Greeks won their group, while Sweden was deemed as the best runner-up of the qualifying stage. Both Croatia and Portugal were able to win their playoff matches against Turkey and Bosnia Herzegovina respectively. Portugal have the most talented team in this seeding, but as always with the Portuguese, can they put it together on the world's biggest stages?

Pot 4

Three of the teams in Pot 4 deserve to be ranked this low and they are Denmark, the Czech Republic and Ireland. However, France, which to be fair has bombed in recent international competitions, should be in Pot 2 taking Russia's spot. Regardless, these are your final sixteen teams for Euro 2012. Of note, starting in 2016 the tournament expands to 24 teams, making the qualification process completely irrelevant.

Potentially Most Difficult Group

Spain, Germany, Portugal, France

Potentially Easiest Group

Poland, Russia, Greece, Ireland

Group Game That Would Be The Most Hyped

Spain - Germany

The Early Favorite

Spain

The Darkhorse

Portugual

The Underachiever

France

Check back with us after December 2, where we will have our first look at the results of the draw and give our first set of fearless predictions.