Euro 2012: 'Let the games begin!'

Soccer is back, and boy is it kicking.  In less than 24 hours, the Euro 2012 will kick-off in Poland-Ukraine, and once again, ESPN is covering the matches, surely to do a fine job as usual.  See for yourself...

If that didn't give you goosebumps, I don't know what will.

Group A match-ups begin tomorrow, being one of the lesser groups of the tournament.  In this group you have Greece, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia.  Russia and the Czech Republic deem to be the two to advance out of the group stages, however, I feel differently about one of the teams.  With Greece's experience winning the Euros in 2004, along with their stout defense, the advantage shifts their way to obtain the second seed, while the Czech's, led by Petr Cech's exceptional goalkeeping and Thomas Rosicky's experience, earn the first seed.

Group B follows, also known as the "Group of Death."  Why you ask?  Well, let's just take a look at the teams.  You have Portugal, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.  Excellent talent is found throughout this group from Mesut Ozil, Miroslav Klose, Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben to Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Nicklas Bendtner.  Overpowering their opponents in depth are Germany and Netherlands who will take their talents--not to South Beach, LeBron--but to the quarterfinals of the Euros.

Group C holds the winner of the last Euro in 2008, Spain.  They look to repeat, while other teams in the group such as Italy, Ireland and Croatia are giving Spain the serious look (-___-).  Spain and Italy look to be the favorites, yet Ireland and Croatia could give them a run for their money.  Croatia still dawns on the cold memories of falling to Turkey in the last Euros where they allowed a last-minute goal in extra-time to send the match into penalty kicks.  That vengeance could be unleashed onto either Italy or Spain, who I still see as the two to advance.

Last but not least, Group D.  England, France, Sweden and Ukraine look to clash for the top two spots.  England and France, ironically in the same group, are known for choking on the world stage.  Being failures in the past few tournaments, both teams look to end their shortcomings, hoping to compete to be the best team in Europe.  I may be a little harsh on them, but they have no excuse to at least make a run for it and not get eliminated early in the tournament with the talents they possess.  Although Ukraine and Sweden have class strikers like Andry Shevchenko and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it will not be enough to beat out England and France's desires.

As Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, would say, "Let the games begin!"