euro 2008

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Euro '08, which I don't think I could be more excited about. Futbol rivals football as my favorite sport, and the prospect of having almost an entire month of top notch competition going on makes me tingle with joy (yeah its that exciting).

And what takes already sumptuous sports competition even better? Yes that would be fantasy sports. As such, I have joined a few leagues and am willing to share my brash and probably incorrect predictions right here. Have more confidence in your predicting abilities, Brendan you say? I would, but... I kind of predicted that Italy would go nowhere in Germany 2006. Yeahhhh, so take these predictions and the commentary for what its worth.


Euro 2008
Preview - Group Stage (projected winners in bold)

Group A
Czech Republic
Portugal
Switzerland
Turkey
// The Czechs and the Portuguese overpower the competition in this one, but I give Rosicky and friends the edge to advance at the top spot. The Swiss will miss out in qualification for the knockout round, but will make it interesting and may well prove me wrong, as host countries are not to be underestimated (unless you are Austria, sry).

Group B
Germany
Croatia
Poland
Austria
// The Germans cruise as they look as comfortable in Austria as they did back in '38. The Croatians pip the Polish and advance as the two seed... sadly the Austrian hosts are blanked and will probably have to streak the Alps or something.

Group C - XXX GROUP OF DEATH XXX
France
Italy
Netherlands
Romania
// The aptly named group of death will offer up some of the best matches of the competition. Apologies to the Romanians, but they will probably be joining the Austrians in their streaking, as they will find it hard to claim a point in this group. I see France going out of the group on top, and the Netherlands missing out on the next round due to a lack of fitness overall.

Group D
Spain
Sweden
Greece
Russia
// With England out of the competition, Spain has sole claim of the title "biggest underperformers with highest expectations". They won't let that title stop them from advancing in first place from the group, but just wait for the later rounds for their patented knockout round chokejob. Sweden will edge out holders Greece for the second spot, as the Greeks will find it hard to repeat the magic of 2004.


So those are my predictions and I am sticking to them... right or (more probably) wrong.