I am very excited...
I took a look at the preliminary Groups... Very interesting line-ups!!!
Especially Group B ^^
Well, the first pair to kick off the tournament is one of the two hosts Poland vs Greece...
hehe...
But lets start with the Groups...
Group A -> Poland, Greece, Russia and Czeck Republic
Poland -> as one of the two host countries qualified by default... Don't have any statistics on official games throughout the year because of that... Well, the best that this team has ever made it was the round of 16 in 1960, after that the team was only in preliminary rounds... obviously not one of the favourites to qualify to the next round but as the hostess country will probably put up for a decent show... pretty much a balanced team with 93 points on the UEFA European Football Championship listing with 38 wins, 25 draws and 30 losses.
Greece -> finished the qualifying rounds in the first place of her group with 7 wins, 3 draws and 0 loses... followed by the second Croatia who we will see in Group C. Greece is clearly on a higher level than Poland but can disappoint you will the poor play the last few years. Respectfully this has changed in a way this year which means we will get to see a good game of them! As a team it has to show off for being in the group stage - final tournament twice in 1980 and 2008, and shocking first place winner in 2004!!! On the UEFA European Football Championship listing Greece has 114 points with 55 wins, 22 draws and 37 losses.
Russia -> Hmmm... what to say about this team other than they put up a very good fight in every game they play!! Basically most of Russia's highlights as a team are from 1960 up to 1992 as USSR!!! In 1960 USSR was the winner of the tournament and after that the team was a finalist 3 times in 1962, 1972 and 1988... there is also a third place play-off in 1968 to show for! For 1996 and onwards (after the separation of the USSR) we see Russia always present in the Group stage, with a semi-finals qualification in 2008!! Unfortunately players like goalie Lev Yasin and Igor Netto wont be seen in this years team... On the UEFA European Football Championship listing Russia has 63 points with 37 wins, 12 draws and 14 losses.
In this years qualifying rounds in November she played against Greece and the conclusion of the match was a draw. These two teams meet again in the preliminary rounds of the same Group for the last few years... it will be an interesting match to watch!!! ^^
Czeck Republic -> This is the best team of this Group... Again like Russia, this team has 2 third place play-off in 1960 and 1980 plus a winner's trophy in 1976 under the name of Czechoslovakia! After the break up of the two countries we see Czeck republic playing alone for the first time in 1996 where she reaches the final against Germany in London. Up until that year the term of the "Golden goal" applied to any team that scored in the extra time. We all remember the goal of Oliver Bierhoff that shuttered the hopes of most football lovers. Czeck Rep was the favourite team to win the tournament with there incredible gaming style but was robbed from the trophy by a lucky Germany that was really straggling to reach the goal post for the largest part of the game. Czeck Rep has bad luck when she plays in extra time because she was disqualified from the semi-finals in 2004 by the goal suffered from Greece 5 minutes before the second half of the extra time ended!! Be ready to see some awesome football!! On the UEFA European Football Championship listing this team has 67 points with 46 wins, 9 draws and 12 losses.
The matches for Group A are:
8 June Poland - Greece 18:00 (CET)
8 June Russia - Czeck Rep 20:45 (CET)
12 June Greece - Czeck Rep 18:00 (CET)
12 June Poland - Russia 20:45 (CET)
16 June Czeck Rep - Poland 20:45 (CET)
16 June Greece - Russia 20:45 (CET)
This covers the first group...
My predicament is that Russia and Greece will qualify!!!
Qualifying round:
Greece 7 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses
Czeck Rep 4 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses (
Russia 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 losses
Goodnight... the rest tomorrow!!!