While we are well into play in COPA America Centario, today begins an equally big soccer tournament. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) kicks off their tournament today in Stade de France with host team France playing Romania.  A detailed review of the expectations for this tournament will be found below but first a bit of background.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

History

While the EURO Championship is one of the largest sporting events on the planet, surprisingly enough it has not been around near as along as the COPA America. In fact the first EURO wasn’t held until 1958 with the initial match in Moscow’s Central Stadium on September 28. The then USSR defeated Hungary 3-1. The competition format was much different than international tournament these days. In fact this competition lasted 22 months with the USSR winning the final match on July 10, 1960. A 2-1 victory over Yugoslavia held in, interestingly enough, Paris, France. The location of today’s kickoff match.

Since that inaugural tournament the Championship has been held every four years. The table below shows how many Championships have been won by the various countries. Note that the tournament is open to all members of UEFA.

Germany 3
Spain 2
France 2
Czechoslovakia 1
Denmark 1
Greece 1
Italy 1
Netherlands 1
USSR 1

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

EURO 2016 Analysis

Over the 14 EURO Championships held, three have been one by the host country. How this bodes for France this year remains to be seen but they are the pre-tournament favorite. EURO2016.com has 24 reporters, one covering each team in the tournament. They were surveyed to vote on thier predicted winner for the tournament. The results were pretty much as expected based upon how those national teams have faired over the last several years. France received 12 votes, Germany 6, England and Spain 2 each, and Italy got the lone remaining vote.

While my inclination is to go with the host nation, I don’t think they win. Its also easy to look at Spain. They have won the last two. But in the end I think Germany comes out on top. They are much the same team that won the 2014 World Cup and they have Manuel Neuer. The best goalkeeper in the world, ok some opinion inserted here but then this is a blog. When matches are on the line a goalkeeper can save or sink his team. Neuer doesn’t have bad games. And if he did a bad Neuer would still be better than most keepers in the tournament. He is that good.

Group A

Albania, France, Romania, and Switzerland. France makes it through easy. Albania, doesn’t advance. Romania and Switzeralnd battle for second and I give the nod to Romania, my upset for the group.

Group B

England, Russia, Slovakia, and Wales. England will advance (watch this young team, they could make some noise. And this is probably Wayne Rooney’s last chance for a major title. He is hungry and playing well. Will his injury bug crop up again?). Wales and Slovakia won’t advance,. So Russai left standing in second.

Group C

Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland, and Ukraine. I think this is a very tough group, maybe the group of death? Clearly Germany is my favorite, I already picked them to win it all 😀  But any of the remaining three have the ability to make a bit of a run. Still I like Poland. Robert Lewandowski is just too dangerous a striker and will find the net enough times to get them through. In fact several writers have him winning the Golden Boot (most goals scored). Ukraine could upset things here. Northern Ireland is likely at the bottom but they might surprise some.

Group D

Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, and Turkey. My other choice for group of death. Not that it has all the top rated teams. But Croatia, Czech Republic, and Turkey are all very even with each other. Spain wins the group but its a free for all for second.

Group E

Belgium, Italy, Republic of Ireland, and Sweden. Yikes is all I can say. Another group of death candidate. This one as the only group with two top 6 teams. Belgium and Italy are just loaded with talent. They both go through. I slightly favor Belgium over Italy. Belgium has too many attacking weapons ever for the Italian defense to keep at bay for an entire game. Hazard and Fellaini in the midfield and Courtois in the net is just too strong.

Group F

Austria, Hungary, Iceland, and Portugal. Portugal wins the group although some say Austria is the better side. Overall that may be true. But Portugal has Cristiano Ronaldo. My pick for the Golden Boot award. Still Austria should advance and Hungary and Iceland will head home. 

For those who are interested there is a ton of more detail on the entire tournament online at UEFA’s official site.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/index.html

One of the many things they have posted are the pre-tournament In-Form XI. Its always interesting to see how the reality shakes out. Clearly these players are at the top of their game right now. But many things happen in big tournaments not the least of which are injuries. But make sure to check out who they have up top and all the way back. If I was building a soccer power from scratch and given two players, I would be hard pressed not to pick Neuer and Ronaldo, yes even over Messi. Give me three and Lionel is my next pick.

Rather than give you my elimination round picks I will continue to post them on the BLS soccer page and we can discuss it all here:

https://www.baltimoresportsandlife.com/forum/index.php?/topic/14245-euro-2016/

As stated at the outset, I have Germany winning it all. But my heart still lies with the English. They did invent the game after all. For us soccer fanatics the rest of this month is going to be stellar.

NOTE: Since this is the first time that EURO has been expanded to 24 teams there will be some “extra” teams advancing out of the group stage. The four “best” third place teams will also advance to balance the knockout stage at 16 teams.

Steve Birrer
Steve Birrer

Soccer Analyst

Steve is an avid fan of all things soccer and the O’s. Originally from the west, he grew up in the Baltimore area. He returned to the west for college where he earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent 36 years working at the Idaho National Laboratory prior to retiring in 2013. It was during his school years in Baltimore where he learned to play soccer and that developed into a life long passion. He played competitively for over 40 years and was a four year starting goalkeeper at MSU. He also coached and refereed in the Idaho premier soccer and High School programs for many years.

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