Women's Euro 2013 Draw: Analysing Fixtures for Germany and Top Teams

With just a couple of days to go until the tournament’s opening fixtures, the Women’s Euro 2013 is reaching a boiling point.

As has been the case for almost all of the past two decades, Germany head to Sweden as firm favourites to come back with silverware in hand, after winning the last five consecutive European Championships.

Of course, that doesn’t mean an upset isn't in the cards, no matter how dominant Silvia Neid’s side have been in recent years.

Here, we’ll consider who the favourites are to advance past the group stage, as well as their chances heading into the opening phase.

Germany Set for Scandinavian Series

Staged against Norway, Iceland and Netherlands in Group B, Germany face a challenge coming mostly from the north in their opening matches.

In qualification, Roger Reijners’ Oranje pushed England to the end in their hunt for first place from their group, but managed to finish as highest-ranked runners-up and were rewarded with automatic qualification, regardless.

The Germans will begin their tournament against the Dutch, and will be relying on a strong contingent from Frankfurt and Wolfsburg to see them through.

After that, the Scandinavian duo of Iceland and Norway will take their shot at the reigning European champions, in that order, but they face a tough task in overcoming a team who lie up to 13 places ahead of them in the FIFA world rankings.

Germany’s Celia Okoyino da Mbabi holds a great deal of the Germans’ attacking burden on her shoulders after earning a switch to FFC Frankfurt earlier this summer.

The 25-year-old has been a prolific source of goals at the club level for some time now, and will be one of the favourites for the Golden Boot award.

Hosts Sweden Have Good Chance to Progress

Currently ranked fourth in the FIFA world rankings and the second-highest European country behind Germany, Sweden couldn’t hope for much better circumstance heading into a tournament of this magnitude.

The Blueyellow have known for almost three years that they’d be participating in this competition, but will now have to face the pressure as hosts.

With a strong squad at his disposal, one of Sweden’s greatest weapons is their coach. Pia Sundhage left the United States team after winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics, only adding to the Swedes’ hopes of success.

Finland are unlikely to progress past the group phase, despite topping their group in qualification, leaving Denmark and Italy to pose more of a threat.

Lotta Schelin might still hold some hope of breaking Hanna Ljungberg’s all-time scoring record for the Swedish national side. The Lyon striker will be a leading figure for the hosts, as will veterans Nilla Fischer, Sara Thunebro, Therese Sjogran and Caroline Seger, all of whom have more than 100 caps to their name.

England Face Difficult Group C Test 

Having made it to the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Cup, England are in decent form when it comes to performing at major tournaments, but they have their work cut for them in Sweden.

In fact, it's the team that knocked Hope Powell’s team out of that competition, France, who await the Three Lionesses in their third and final group match fixture.

As things stand, England are just below the French in the world rankings and will look to take full advantage of their first two outings against Russia and Spain if they’re to have the best chance of advancing.

One player the English will need to pay special attention to is Montpellier’s prolific forward, Marie-Laure Delie, who has been in magnificent form in her native France.

However, England have a few talismans of their own, and will look to Rachel Yankey, Casey Stoney and Kelly Smith for inspiration.

Russia and Spain are considerably less likely to move past the group stage, making Group C somewhat of a two-horse race, it would seem.