EURO 2012 Preview - Group A

With all the domestic leagues in Europe just about finished and this being an even numbered year, it means there's more football to come in the Northern summer.

This time it's the turn of the European Football Championships - or the Euros as we like to call them - and again it'll be hosted in two countries; this time it's the two former Eastern bloc neighbours, Poland and the Ukraine.

It looks set to be the biggest Euros yet in terms of following and money. Qualification saw little upsets and all the traditional giants like Germany, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, France & of course the champions, Spain, made it through to the Finals.

It means all groups are highly competitive with sides like Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Ukraine, the Czechs, etc. capable of an upset or two to knock one of the fancied sides out.

Group A
Hosts, Poland must have been slightly happy to have landed in a group without Germany, Spain or the Netherlands, but it is still quite a tough group to navigate.

Poland

Poland were a force in football to be reckoned with in the 1980s as an Eastern bloc nation but have hit rather fallow times recently. Many of their best footballers have often ended up playing for other nations, e.g. Podolski, Trochowski and Klose for Germany.

However, there is a case for optimism this season for the Poles. They signed a lucrative kit contract with Nike and one of their potential key players, Robert Lewandowski, has had a belter of a season having found the back of the net 27 times for Borussia Dortmund as they defended their Bundesliga title. His Dortmund teammate and Poland's captain, Jakub Blaszczykowski, was also an integral part of Dortmund's highly successful campaign.

Then there's Wojciech Szczesny, the Arsenal keeper who has emerged as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.  

It is quite a superb spine and platform to have and it will come down to the supporting cast stepping up to the quality of their teammates if they are to carry over their club form into the biggest football tournament in their nation's history ever.

And in this fairly open and competitive group, this could be Poland's year to shine in front of their home crowd. They won't win the championship but a quarterfinal place would be a huge improvement on what they've achieved since the end of the Cold War.

Russia

Like Poland, Russia were a force to be reckoned in the 1980s behind the Iron Curtain but success on the pitch has eluded them in recent times. However, under Guus Hiddink at EURO 2008, the Russians had their most successful performance at a major tournament since the breakup of the Soviet Union, only losing to eventual champions Spain in the semifinals.

It is one of the first signs that the Russians are once again becoming a power in world football and it was a huge surprise that they failed to make the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They aimed to put that right with the appointment of Guus' countryman, Dick Advocaat, and had an impressive qualifying campaign, finishing top of their group.

There is plenty of talent in the Russian squad with some familiar names like Pavel Pogrebnyak & Roman Pavlyuchenko, Andrei Arshavin, Yuri Zhirkov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Bar the in-form free-scoring Pogrebnyak, these stars of the Russian game have been playing their football in the ever improving Russian league to get game time before the tournament comes.

It's a competitive group but one that Russia with the coach and talent at hand should be able to navigate easily out of and be a quarterfinalist at least. They're a long shot at best for the title but on their day, could be a contender for the title - after all, if Greece could do it in 2004, Russia on paper can.

Czech Republic

The Czechs aren't quite the side they were in the past but still have plenty of talent in the squad to be a force. Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky has stepped up to the mantle now that Pavel Nedved has retired and there's always Petr Cech in goal, one of the best roadblocks in world football although he has been involved in some clangers when donning the Czech goalkeeping gloves - he was culpable for Turkey's 2 late goals that knocked the Czechs out of EURO 2008.

Power up front is a huge question mark with Milan Baros the only well known name - but he is 30 now and well has never been a great goal scorer.

Not the best Czech side ever but one that will push hard for a quarterfinals squad. Perhaps, them not being rated at all may be the best thing for them as they've always been on the fragile side when they're favourites. However, they'll finish just outside the top 2 places after losing to the Poles in the last game.

Greece

It'll be interesting to see how Greece will cope at the Euros in the post-Rehhagel era. Greece still essentially have a technically limited side but can be efficient and hardworking. They also broke their World Cup drought, qualifying for the Finals and then scoring their first goal and win at World Cup Finals level. Confidence should be good and given the recent history of the Greeks at the Euros, the Greeks will be a side not to be taken lightly even if their squad is a bit on the average side. There will be plenty to play for for the Greeks - their country is in an economic mess as is the domestic game and people will be looking at the Euros for some relief from their troubles at home.

However, I can't see them progressing past this highly competitive group and everyone will be aware of what they can do. 4th in the group, only just.

So my tips to recap - Russia top the pool, Poland runners-up, Czechs and Greeks to miss out.