Italy Euro 2012 Draw: The lowdown

December 1st, 2011 | by: samcalcio | Comments Off

So the countdown really starts now. No more ifs, buts, I hope we avoid Spain drama, now is the time. Because of the frankly outdated rule involving host’s seeding, Gli Azzurri do not sit in the top pot(despite being currently ranked as the 4th best side in Europe by UEFA).

Instead, they sit in the 2nd pot, and could well be sat with Spain, or the Netherlands in their group. We are guaranteed to avoid Germany(I think) as they are in the same pot as us, and will sat with either the aforementioned duoor two of the hosts. So, if I’ve got this, there is a 50/50 shot that we will face a 1st place shootout with the two World Cup finalists in 2012, probably. Right?

In pot three sit Zlatan’s Sweden and the dangerous Portugal, while dark horses France and the Republic of Ireland. There are number of scenarios from the following pots, which are set out as follows:

POT 1:

Poland

Ukraine

Spain

Holland

Pot 2

Italy

England

Germany

Russia

Pot 3:

Portugal

Croatia

Sweden

Greece

Pot 4:

Denmark

France

Czech Republic

Republic of Ireland

Worst Case Scenario

Group of Death:

Spain, Italy, Portugal, France.

The fact that there is a chance this might happen scares the shit out of me. World Champions, Ronaldo and a potentially resurgent French team. Yikes. If we avoid this and nab one of the hosts, and..less of Portugal and France, we’ll be ok.

Best Case Scenario:

Ukraine, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic.

Not unfeasibly simple, but I’d expect us to end this group with 9 points. There are limitless possibilities in between, but on our day, we’re as good as any other – so I fear no-one(I have a crippling fear of magpies and climbing, but that’s probably not relevant).

Anyway, the draw is at 6PM BST, which I think means 11am in a lot of the USA(9am if you’re Canadian) so keep your eyes, ears and twitter accounts fixed on Michele Platini’s rapidly growing bald patch. See you on the other side.

FORZA AZZURRI!!

Sam is on Twitter. He’s equally lazy, inconsistent, misinformed and irrelevant there, too.