Features

Euro draw favours big guns

Author: Brandon Barker
Date: 11/02/2010
Football betting

England taking on Wales in a competitive Home Nations encounter made most of the headlines following the draw for the 2012 European Championships.

But who are the winners and losers following the draw for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine?

France appear to be the major beneficiaries after they were placed in Group D alongside some less than auspicious football nations.

Les Bleus were top seeds despite their recent patchy form and were paired with Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg.

Second seeds Romania are only ranked 38th in the world according to FIFA and when you take into account that Group F headliners Croatia must face a team rated just one place below them in Serbia (12th and 13th respectively), it's fair to suggest that the draw has been kind on France.

Bosnia-Herzegovina (48th) may provide some resistance for Raymond Domenech's side, but Belarus (80th), Albania (97th) and Luxembourg (124th) may not.

England, Portugal and Spain must all be considered slight losers after they were the three top seeds to be placed in groups which contain only five teams instead of six.

In theory they have fewer opportunities to may hay against some of the weaker nations in the UEFA family as England's lowest ranked opposition is Montenegro (72nd), Portugal is Iceland (94th) and Liechtenstein (153rd) for Spain.

Of the trio, online betting second favourites England's draw is perhaps the most problematic as one of the smaller nations they are - on paper at least - expected to sweep aside is Wales.

John Toshack's side were certainly be fired up for the visit of the Three Lions to Cardiff with the Wales players looking to take a major world scalp despite being ranked 65 places below them.

Home Nations internationals are always hotly-contested affairs as Northern Ireland's stunning World Cup qualifying victory over the old enemy in 2005 proved.

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Looking elsewhere and Germany certainly won't have an easy ride after being draw with Turkey, Austria and Belgium in Group A.

Germany versus Turkey will be a repeat of the Euro 2008 semi-final, while Austria and Belgium's stars are definitely on the rise.

Meanwhile, neither the Republic of Ireland nor Northern Ireland could have wished for harder qualifying campaigns.

The Republic, who came so close to reaching World Cup 2010 only to lose to France in a controversial play-off, must face Russia, Slovakia and FYR Macedonia in Group B.

World champions Italy and the might of Serbia await Nigel Worthington's Northern Ireland charges in Group C.

Perhaps the biggest winners from the draw are Israel who feared the worst after being ranked among the third seeds.

Numerous European powerhouses could have been pulled out of the hat to headline the pool, but the only teams ranked higher in Group F are Croatia and Greece.

Neither are the force they once were and that might just open the door for a first-ever European Championship appearances for the Blue and Whites.

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