Euro Cup 2012: Predicting Winner of Each Group in Marquee Tournament

Only three weeks remain until Euro 2012 kicks off, which means the top squads throughout Europe don't have much time to work out the kinks following a long season of league play. As always, there are no shortage of contenders.

Let's take a look at each of the groups and predict which team will emerge in the top spot. Some groups are more competitive than others, but all of them should provide a couple matches with plenty of drama.

Group A: Russia

Russia has sleeper potential because it was able to draw the easiest group, meaning it should cruise through the group stage while the teams in Group B are beating up on each other for three matches. That will give them a nice advantage.

The biggest challenge from Russia figures to come from the Czech Republic, which finished third in the 2004 tournament. A lot has changed since then, however, and it probably doesn't have enough offensive firepower to hang with the Russians.

Greece and Poland are both long shots to advance, and it's hard to imagine them giving Russia any type of challenge for the top spot.

Group B: Netherlands

Netherlands and Germany are the favorites in Group B, but all four teams have the potential to advance. It's going to easily become the most interesting group to watch because there's no telling what could happen in any given match.

Even Denmark, which is widely viewed as the fourth-best team in the group, has the potential to pull off an upset to send everything into chaos. As cliché as it might sound, there really is no margin for error in Group B.

Ultimately, I expect Netherlands to narrowly edge out Germany for the top spot. It could easily come down to which team slows down Cristiano Ronaldo when they face Portugal.

Group C: Spain

The defending champions from Spain figure to receive a tricky test from Italy in the opening game, but should otherwise have no trouble claiming Group C. La Roja simply have too much depth for the other teams to compete with.

If there's one thing that could potentially slow Spain down it's the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona, where most of the team's players come from. The two sides played several high-tension games this season, but it hasn't been a problem in the past.

Croatia has the potential to surprise some people and should put up a fight against Italy for the second spot. Ireland will likely be a non-factor.

Group D: England

New head coach Roy Hodgson should provide England with the boost it needs to turn around its European Championship fortunes. The Three Lions didn't even qualify last time and haven't made the semifinals since 1996.

As has become the base so often recently, it's impossible to know what to expect from France. Les Bleus have enough talent to win the group with relative ease, but they could also flame out in the group stage and nobody would be overly shocked.

That inconsistency paired with multiple concerns with Sweden and Ukraine should be enough for England to set itself up for a deep run.