Euro 2008 is upon us!

We are getting so close to Euro 2008! It's on this month & will run for about 3 weeks. In fact, Euro kicks off in a few days! I'm excited! It promises to be a good tournament, with quite a few sides capable of challenging for the trophy. What a feast of European football awaits us. It will, hopefully, be a tournament full of exciting football & some great goals.

Once again, the group stage is as follows:

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey

Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland

Group C: Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France

Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

The top 2 teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals. The format is such that the winner of one group play the runner-up of another group. Here it is:

Quarter-final 1: A1 v B2
Quarter-final 2: B1 v A2
Quarter-final 3: C1 v D2
Quarter-final 4: D1 v C2

Semi-final: QF1 winner v QF2 winner
Semi-final: QF3 winner v QF4 winner

Final: the winners of the semi-finals, of course.

OK, here is how I think the tournament will pan out. The top 2 in each group will be:

Group A: Portugal, Switzerland

Group B: Germany, Croatia

Group C: France, Italy

Group D: Spain, Russia

And the line-up for the knockout stages:

Quarter-final 1: Portugal v Croatia (Portugal win)
Quarter-final 2: Germany v Switzerland (Germany win)
Quarter-final 3: France v Russia (France win)
Quarter-final 4: Spain v Italy (Italy win)

Semi-final: Portugal v Germany (Germany win)
Semi-final: France v Italy (Italy win)

Final: Germany v Italy (Germany win)

Euro 2008 winner: Germany

Germany are the team I think will win. However, the team I want to win is Spain. But unfortunately, I suspect they will be undone by the usual stage fright. Come on Espana, prove me wrong.

I will preview each group in the next few posts.