The UEFA Euro Cup 2008 starts on June 21 and should be a fairly interesting tournament. Two years ago Greece shocked everyone by winning, and look to be strong again coming out of the group stages with the most points. Though probably from one of the weakest qualifying groups. England performed horribly and didn’t even qualify, losing out to an impressive Russian side. Despite their recent coaching changes they should’ve been able to advance. Other than that the groups played out much as expected leaving a good draw for the final tournament. Special notice should be given to Scotland, barely losing to France for the last spot. Anyway, here are my predictions for the tournament.

Group A
Portugal and Czech Republic. Both are strong teams compared to the rest of the group and it will be a close race for top of the group, but I’m going with Portugal based on Christiano’s amazing form this season.

Group B
Croatia and Germany. Croatia are tops in this group with Germany coming through based only on their talent. They had a lacklustre run to the tournament.

Group C
Such a tough choice for this tourney’s “Group of Death”. Ideally I’d like Netherlands and France to advance, but Italy is the strongest side (especially having won the World Cup), and have a slightly easier schedule by getting to play Romania first. Romania will be the spoiler here. Holland is still young, and France barely made it through. I’ll have to go with Italy and Holland realistically.

Group D
Spain and Greece. I wanted to say Sweden originally, but they never seem to come good in international play despite having a lot of talent. Greece had a strong run and are looking to prove themselves better than just “lucky” from last time around.

Overall, things will probably play out different depending on first and second within the groups, even if all my picks do advance. We’ll see Germany vs. Portugal and Italy vs. Spain in the semi-finals. This is somewhat wishful thinking on my part as I would love to see Spain or Portugal win. Along with the Netherlands, they play a very attractive brand of football. Overall, somewhat realistic pick is Spain. The team I’m rooting for will be Holland, and the disappointing truth is that Italy might take it all again.

Lastly, there is a free fantasy league on the Euro Cup site. I’ve put in my selection of “Swing FC”. Anchoring the net I have Edwin Van Der Sar. Holding the middle back there is William Gallas and Fabio Cannavaro (I may hate Italy, but they do have some great players.) On their flanks are Per Mertesacker and Phillip Lahm. In the mid-field, Deco and Genaro Gattuso hold the middle with Christiano Ronaldo and Arjen Robben on the wings. Up front I have Fernando Torres paired with Robin Van Persie, and an extra in Marcus Rosenberg. As a fantasy team there is a good holding mid-field and defense, with a ton of attacking power on the wings. The drawbacks are a young front line without much power in the air. The offensive minded wings could leave things open to the counter-attack, but for the league it’s all about minutes and goals!