Group B (Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark) is the true group of death in this tournament, but Group A's Poland, Greece, Russia, and the Czech Republic can be called the same thing, only with much lower caliber teams. It's the only other group that, when you look at the competitors, you can't pick out two obvious qualifiers to the quarterfinals.
Greece was the only team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and they only won one match and failed to escape the group stage. The shocking winners of the 2004 tournament don't expect to see such a shocking showing, but I do fancy their chances of making the quarterfinals. They have shown a lot of fight against Poland so far in the opener, scoring with ten men, and drawing a penalty and red card on Polish keeper Wojciech Szcezeny.
Greek captain Giorgos Karagounis has played with some of Europe's highest profile clubs, and the 35 year old brings a wealth of experience to the Greek side.
Speaking of Poland, they started off strong in the opener, but have really collapsed in the second half in front of the home crowd. They have lost their star goalkeeper, Szcezeny, for the remainder of this one and for Tuesday's match against the Russians. While only qualifying by virtue of being co-hosts, they have the lowest FIFA ranking of the group and have never won a match at the EURO. Home support can go a long way, however, in getting Poland past the group stages and into the quarterfinals.
Striker Robert Lewandowski brigns much European league success after helping Borussia Dortmun win the Bundesliga in back-to-back seasons. Captain Jakub Blaszczykowski has also done well in the German domestic league.
The Russians probably have the strongest side of the group. Despite my dislike for their captain, Andrey Arshavin, he is still a skilled attacking midfielder outside of the Premier League. Igor Akinfeev is one of the world's best, and under appreciated, goalkeepers. The 2008 semi-finalists will be on the road for redemption following their failure to qualify for the World Cup in 2010.
Finally, the Czech Republic barely managed to qualify for the tournament. They had to get past Montenegro on a playoff to make it in. They are led by troubled managed Michal Bilek, who has been nothing short of vilified by the Czech faithful. Despite cries for his departure, he leads the Czechs into another EURO campaign. They were semi-finalists in 2004, but have fallen far from that.
Captain Tomas Rocisky enjoyed a breakout campaign at Arsenal this winter, and "The Little Mozart" hopes to carry that success over into the summer. Petr Cech made a name for himself at the Champions League Final by leading Chelsea to victory in penalties. Michael Kadlac provides a rare scoring threat on set pieces from the back four.
Overall, this group figures to be the most interesting of the four. Sure, Group B has all the firepower, but this one has a plethora of nations looking to prove themselves after past failures. I like the skill of Russia to win the group, and I figure Poland will use the home crowd support to squeak past the Greeks into the quarterfinals. The Czechs will be left out in the cold, unfortunately.
Predicted order of finish:
Russia
Poland
Greece
Czech Republic
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