The wave of Orange for the Netherlands will be out in full force at this tournament. Netherlands fans always travel well and can turn a road or a neutral site game into a home field advantage for the Netherlands. Netherlands I feel is too quick for France and Romania and should advance to the knockout round.
Romania has been on the rise since having a bit of downfall since their good performance at World Cup 94. They won't advance from this group but will be competitive with these international giants in their group.
Group D
Greece (Euro 2004 Champions)
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Group Winner: Spain
Group Runner Up: Greece
In the second of two power groups in this tournament, it contains the reigning Euro Champs in Greece. I see Greece sneaking by in a very competitive group and moving onto the knockout portion. Spain is playing great soccer right now and will win this group.
Russia, the team that knocked England out of advancing to this portion of the tournament is still a very underrated squad, they can surprise teams in this tournament but I don't feel they will have enough and will finish fourth in this group.
Sweden is a team that you can never predict how they will do, they are either very good or very average and in this stage I see them coming out as a very average team.
They could sneak past Greece and advance to the knockout stage but I just don't think they have it in them to have a breakout game over Spain or Greece.
Greece is the reigning champs of this tournament and should be able to defend their title in the knockout stage of the tournament. I don't know that if playing in what I thought was a relatively easy qualifying group will cost them in this tournament but they play great defense and can pounce quickly on offense. Coach Otto Rehhagel will have his team filled with veterans ready to play.
Spain is an extremely dangerous team and could prove to be the dark horse once advancing to the knockout stage. With tournament tested players and solid goalkeeping this team could go very far in this tournament. I see them getting 7-9 points from this group and advancing to the next stage.
Review of Picks
Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic
Group B: Germany, Austria
Group C: Italy, Netherlands
Group D: Spain, Greece
Players To Watch
Petr Cech, Goalkeeper, Czech Republic
Cristiano Ronaldo, Attacker, Portugal
Miroslav Klose, Attacker, Germany
Thierry Henry, Attacker France
Djibril Cisse, Attacker, France
Marco Materazzi, Defender, Italy
Fabio Cannavaro, Defender, Italy
Gianluigi Buffon, Goalkeeper, Italy
Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Attacker, Netherlands
Edwin Van Der Sar, Goalkeeper, Netherlands
Angelos Charisteas, Attacker, Greece
Angelos Basinas, Midfielder, Greece
Iker Casillas, Goalkeeper, Spain
Xavi Hernandez, Midfielder, Spain
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