Euro 2012: Germany Gears Up for Group of Death

The status of Poland and Ukraine as top seeds in Friday's Euro 2012 draw, by virtue of co-hosting the tournament, has really thrown a cat among the pigeons.

The two former Eastern Bloc nations take their places alongside world and European champions Spain and last year's World Cup finalists Netherlands in Pot One for the draw in Kiev.

The final will be held there July 1 next year. 

As such, their presences among such exalted company means the next two highest-ranked European countries—Germany and England—have been shunted down into Pot Two. 

Italy and Russia make up the rest of the second seeds, but it is Germany who will be giving the host delegates and those from Spain and Holland plenty to worry about in anticipation of the draw.

As the world's third place team in the FIFA rankings, behind Spain and Netherlands, Die Mannschaft are the jokers in the pack in the draw. This is a rogue element, which almost certainly makes any group they are put in the tournament's "Group of Death."

The evolution wrought by Joachim Loew since his team was beaten in final of the last European Championships has been nothing short of remarkable.

The 51-year-old coach from the Black Forest has overseen a transition from perceived functionality to unquestionable finesse that has appeared seamless. 

The stereotype of a clinical team devoid of flair may not quite ring true of the set of players who came so close to glory on home turf at the 2006 World Cup under Juergen Klinsmann and in Austria/Switzerland two years later.

But Loew's current crop plays with a fearless abandon and a breathless directness that reflects the youthfulness of his squad.

Not that Loew can take all the credit for developing these players.

He has German Football Federation (DFB) and the nation's top club's academies to thank for producing the likes of Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Holger Badstuber (all Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil and Manuel Neuer (both Schalke 04) and Mario Goetze (Borussia Dortmund), among others.

The genesis for the current production line of astounding talent can be traced back to the Germans' major tournament nadir that was their insipid showing at Euro 2000. In Holland and Belgium that summer, they finished at the bottom of their group with one point, a most un-German showing.

They were so bad, even an England side that also failed to qualify for the latter stages beat them. For a nation that reaches the latter stages of tournaments as a matter of course, it was a truly shocking performance in the Lowlands.

The showing forced the DFB to instigate a radical overhaul of the national game at all levels.

Whereas every fresh English failure on the world stage prompts calls for "root and branch" reform from the FA which never materialises, the DFB could be trusted to stick to their brief and come up with the goods.

Loew is reaping those rewards and has developed the attacking blueprint he helped lay down as Klinsmann's assistant. He now has the most fearsome attacking force in world football at his disposal.

Spain are rightfully held up as the world's greatest team and have dominated their competitive fixtures with a highly technical possession game. They produce a heady combination of both artistic flourish and scientific precision.

The Dutch boast a collection of some of the world's greatest attacking players. Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben all walk into almost any team in the world.

The Oranje only failed to emulate Spain and Germany's feat of winning every one of their qualifying group matches in their final fixture against Sweden, but there is still the nagging sense of a lack of cohesion on the pitch.

However, there seems to be a perfect storm welling up around Germany at the moment. In addition to the aforementioned young players, there are plenty of experienced players still deserving of their place in the side.

Miroslav Klose is once again scoring plenty of goals at club level with Lazio to match his phenomenal international strike rate.

Lukas Podolski is another who puts his erratic domestic form behind him when swapping the red of FC Koln for the white of Germany. Even striker Mario Gomez finally looks set to transfer his scoring form at Bayern Munich into a major tournament, following his sub-standard showing at Euro 2008.

Since February's 1-1 draw in a friendly with Italy—likely to be the tournament dark horses next summer—Germany have beaten Uruguay (2-1), Brazil (3-2) and Netherlands (3-0) in addition to sealing their 100 percent in Group A of qualifying.

Their last two finals campaigns were both ended at the hands of Spain—in the Euro 2008 final and the World Cup semis. Both defeats were by 1-0 scores via Fernando Torres smuggling the ball under Jens Lehmann and Carles Puyol's header, respectively.

Victory by such fine margins saw Spain rightly hailed as one of the greatest international sides of all time, but their recent stumbling form is at odds with Germany's blossoming as a lethal and incisive unit. 

The stage is set for Germany to gain revenge for those two defeats, whether it be in the group stage or the knockout rounds next summer.

All eyes will be on Germany when they are placed in the draw Friday. Nobody, not even the very best, will want to be pitted against them.