EURO 2012 FINALS DRAW

So the draw has been made for the four groups at the Euro 2012 Finals next summer, hosted in Poland and Ukraine. Basically we have the weak group, the death group, the almost-death group and the mediocre group. Group B is sure to have some super football there, I can't wait to watch. But as an England fan, my attention will be with Group D as we face some tough opposition (of similar level I'd say) to really test our progress over the last couple of years. Of course, the World Cup was pretty poor but the stats have been impressive since, having remained unbeaten throughout qualification, as well as recording victories against Spain and Sweden most recently. France are the last side to have won against us precisely one year ago.

Having missed out in playing at all for the 2008 Finals, I'm just glad to be able to support a team next summer, but how far we go I have no idea. It is true we have improved as a team over the last two years, with some youngsters bursting with much-needed energy finding good form at the right time too. Assuming we make the quarter-final knockout stage though, we are set to face the likes of Spain or Italy, so a semi-final may be what would define our campaign a 'success', but it's going to be fucking difficult. We need to perform.

ENGLAND 2 WINS OUT OF 2

The Euro 2012 Qualifiers began this week and England beat Bulgaria and Switzerland to top the group in these early stages. The performances were good and we scored 7 goals. It's far too difficult to make anything from this alone though, considering how inconsistent England seem to be. I think it's best to take each game as they come and make sure to win them, rather than looking too far ahead and saying things like "of course England can win the World Cup". We all know how that turned out.

But it's promising signs so far. Now, we go back to Premier League football. Oh, and the media will probably go straight back to Wayne Rooney's private life again.

LINKS : Euro 2012 | England

THE QUALIFYING DRAW FOR EURO 2012

In a week where the Premier League title race took a significant turn (where Arsenal appear to now have lost out after another defeat to Chelsea), and the England manager decided to axe his captain, the EURO 2012 qualifying draw was made. Having missed out in the previous tournament, England will be looking to secure a place in the competition and avoid another humiliating failure. At the moment, with Capello at the helm, things look good. We're playing well, goals are being scored from all over the pitch, and we're winning games.
The tournament to be held in Poland and Ukraine, has only 18 spaces remaining and the competition is as fierce as ever. The World Cup this summer will definitely provide a good idea of the relative standards of the top teams and they fair against similar opposition. As far as England are concerned, the draw for this summer's major event was rather kind, and it seems that the qualifying draw for 2012 is also not so bad. We are the top seed in Group G and are joined by Switzerland, who are pretty decent, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Wales, which makes the draw just a bit more interesting. My instinct for now is that England will top the group with Switzerland as the runner-up, but the away trip to Bulgaria could potentially cause problems, as well as the 'derby' games against Wales. See the FULL DRAW here.
We have the summer to look forward to for now, but after that it's back to work as qualification lasts until October 2011 and hopefully we'll have something to look forward to in the summer of 2012 too..

LINKS
UEFA | Euro 2012 | England