Euro 2008 Review - Group C
Group C: France, Italy, Holland and Romania.
Due to the fact that UEFA gave seedlings’ to co-hosts Austria and Switzerland there was always going to be one group where a major nation would fail to reach the Quarter Final stages, in this case the “group of death” honour goes to Group C.
France qualified from the same group as Italy and at the expense of a brave Scotland challenge, and since they have now met competitively 3 times in 2 years including the 2006 World Cup final they will hold no secrets for each other.
The French bring to this tournament survivors from their World Cup win of 1998 in the form of Henry, Vieira, Thuram and Makelele as well as new talent such as Ben Arfa and Benzema from Lyon and Nasri who is a target for Arsenal. Though Juventus forward David Trezeguet is a notable absentee.
The French defence again is their strength with only 5 goals conceded in 12 qualifying game.
They finished qualifying 3 points behind Italy and will be eager to make amends for that effort but I have my doubts despite the array of talent about the French team spirit and it will be interesting to se what team coach Domenech fields in the first match against Romania.
Italy the reigning World Champions are like Germany the masters of qualifying for major tournaments, they seem to do the absolute minimum required to progress. They suffered only 1 defeat in qualifying, a 3-1 away loss to France in the 2nd game of qualification but then won 9 out of the next 10 matches without pulling up trees.
Again we have another squad filled with household names and which has a strong centre of the team. Though Nesta will be missing from the defence they still have Buffon in goal, Cannavaro, Panucci, Grosso and Materazzi at the back.
Midfield still has it’s mix of strength as proved by Gattuso and Camorenesi and style with Andrea Pirlo who will supply most of the ammunition for Luca Toni. The only question mark will be how well the Azzuri cope with the loss of talisman Francesco Totti who like Nesta has retired from the international scene.
Holland are one of 2 sides I have had an anti post wager on. The Dutch are long overdue a good tournament and if the can get over the perennial in fighting that has plagued so many Dutch sides in the past they have in my opinion an excellent chance of going far into this event.
They have yet another squad full of world class players that play at the highest level. In goal they have the excellent Van Der Sar fresh from his heroics with Manchester United in the Champions League Final, and he has in front of him quality defenders in the shape Heitinga and Afallay.
In midfield they are truly blessed with Robben, Van Der Vaart, and Sneijder and up front they can boast Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Jan Venegoor of Hesselink Ryan Babbel, Dirk Kuyt and Robin Van Persie who having missed a large slice of the season for Arsenal will be chomping at the bit for some time on the park.
Ironically they too are in the same group as the side that qualified with them in the shape of Romania who finished 3 points ahead of Holland in qualifying.
Romania though the least glamorous of the 4 sides in this group will be underestimated at the other 3 teams peril as I said above they topped the group containing Holland, losing only once away to Bulgaria scoring 26 in 12 games and conceding only 7. Another interesting fact is that in qualifying they took 5 points from Holland without conceding a goal so they are obviously a team to be respected and will not be the group whipping boys!
This is the best crop of Romanian players since the golden era of Hagi and co and they will be a resilient side to beat and the first game against France will go a long way to seeing how well they could progress in the competition.
They are another squad with a group of players spread over Europe and include the likes of defender Cosmin Contra, and Christian Chivu, talented midfielders Florian Petre and Nicolae Dica and proven goal scorers in Adrian Mutu and Daniel Niculae.
This to me is the hardest group to predict and I would not be surprised if goal difference was the deciding factor, but I am putting my money where my mouth is and having a bet on Holland to win the group as with the midfield and strike force they have they could if all goes well make up for a defence which is sometimes caught napping.
The bookies have the French and Italians ahead of the Dutch in this market and at 11/4 with Bet365 I feel there is value to be had.
In the battle for second place I am going to side with the Italian’s due to the history they have of progressing from group stages in major competitions.
So Group C for me will be Holland and Italy progressing to the quarter Final stage.
Silverfox.
