The Euro 2012 Draw Is Complete, This Is Going To Be A Great Tournament

I spent a decent amount of time this afternoon watching Fox Soccer Channel, in anticipation of the Euro 2012 draw. It was tedious but in the end, holy crap. This is going to be an excellent tournament starting next June 8 in Poland with the hosts facing Greece at 1:00 ET and Russia facing the Czech Republic at 3:45 ET.

The Polish got a gift as Group A appears on first blush to be the easiest of the four. Along with Greece, they have Russia and the Czech Republic. None of those teams are great by any means, they all could win it.

Group B is the Group of Death, which is a staple in every major soccer tournament. Poor Denmark is stuck with Portugal, Germany and Netherlands. Good luck with that Danes. That means in group play alone, we will be treated to Portugal vs. Germany and Portugal vs. Netherlands. You won't find many juicier international matches than those.

The defending World Cup and European champions Spain lead Group C and it looks like the Spanish have a relatively easy road to the knockout stage. Ireland, Italy and Croatia make up the rest of that group. You could make a case for any of those three coming in second so that should be an interesting race to watch.

Group D features another one of the great opening round matches pitting France vs. England. Ukraine and Sweden make up the rest of that group which clearly is wide open and could be topped by any of those four teams.

Is it too early to be pumped for next summer? Between Champions League play in the spring, the London Olympics in the summer and Euro 2012, it promises to be an unbelievable time to be a soccer fan. Nothing is better than a big-time international soccer tournament. I can only hope that I get to Vegas before then or at least earn enough scratch to get on Bodog and throw some money down. Haha gambling makes everything more exciting damn it!

Must see games:
Saturday, June 9-Germany vs. Portugal, 3:45 ET
Sunday, June 10-Spain vs. Italy, 1:00 ET
Monday, June 11-France vs. England, 1:00 ET
Wednesday, June 13-Netherlands vs. Germany, 3:45 ET
Thursday, June 14-Spain vs. Ireland, 3:45 ET
Sunday, June 17-Portugal vs. Netherlands, 3:45 ET
Monday, June 18-Spain vs. Croatia, 3:45 ET
Monday, June 18-Italy vs. Ireland, 3:45 ET

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