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| Wednesday, 16 November 2011 13:42 |
Euro 2012 draw: Portugal in Pot 3Sixteen days of waiting for Seleccao After last night's unforgettable 6-2 victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina, Paulo Bento's attentions will now be firmly fixed on the draw for the 2012 European Championships, to be held in Kiev on Friday December 2nd. UEFA have today confirmed the seedings for the draw, with the Seleccao placed in Pot 3, alongside Croatia, Sweden, and Fernando Santos' Greece.
Reigning European Champions Spain have been placed in Pot 1, with the Netherlands joining them as the team with the highest coefficient score following the conclusion of the qualifying stage. The other twelve teams have been placed in three pots, with the outcome as follows: Pot 1 - Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, the Ukraine Pot 2 - Germany, Italy, England, Russia Pot 3 - Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden Pot 4 - Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Ireland.  The sixteen-team format ensures that whichever names come out of the hat in sixteen days' time, the task is likely to be a daunting one. Spain and the Netherlands will be the top seeds in either Group B or C, so the possibility of Portugal avoiding the side that eliminated them from the 2010 World Cup is there, but with the likes of Denmark (who of course condemned the Seleccao to the playoffs with their final-day victory in Copenhagen) and France lurking in Pot 4, that will be of little comfort. Stay tuned to PortuGOAL for exclusive reaction from the Portuguese camp following last night's match. Ben Shave |
Truth be told the Portuguese & Brits throughout history have always been great allies and I believe it is not by coincidence.. both nations full of passion.. and lions.
Ben hats off to you my friend.. the love affair with me and my Brit friends is eternal...
GROUP A: Poland - Croatia - Germany - France
GROUP B: Spain - Portugal - Italy - R. Ireland
GROUP C: Netherlands - Greece - Czech Republic - England
GROUP D: Ukraine - Denmark - Sweden - Russia
So it looks like in my version Portugal is in the group of death...hopefully it isnt as bad as this because italy could have been germany or england..either way portugal will end up with a strong powerhouse...hope you guys have fun with my unofficial draw.
Just listened to the BBC 5 Live's "Monday Night Booted" Podcast from Monday. Great job...keep up the good work!
Next time give us a heads up when you'll be on.
All the best.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/5lfd
The only teams I think it would be good to avoid in the group stages are Spain and Germany. I think Portugal has got more than enough quality to deal with all the other teams including the Netherlands, who Portugal have a suprisingly good record against. If we can get a reliable central defensive partnership, this group can go far.
The only think that worries me is France lurking in Pot 4 who are not looking great at the moment, but are a bit of a Bete Noire for Portugal having put pay to them in Euro 1984 & 2000 and the world cup semi's in 2006, but if they play to their strengths this them can go far.
I would like to avoid Germany for as long as possible. Spain as well but they may fracture further due to the Real vs Barca wars.
I was listening to commentators discussion on how Real was due to lose out on 20 million if Portugal/Cristiano didn't qualify for the Euro's. Cristiano's deal with Real has them splitting his image rights 50/50 (clubs almost always own 100%).
Hense Cristiano also losing out if Portugal didn't make it.
For those who thought or still think Real overpaid for Cristiano just doesn't know economics.
For sure no fear! We had a death group in the world cup and we knew that we're gonna play spain in the next round if we finish second! With a weak team managed by Queiroz, we were the only team who ended the world cup conceding ZERO goals! So hopefully things are better now!
Let's see!It's just a question of time! Forca Herois!
Each country's co-efficient is based on the following
Euro 2008 qualifying games and tournament - 20%
WC 2010 qualifying games and tournament - 40%
Euro 2012 qualifying games - 40%
Portugal has struggled in qualifying for 2012 and they finished 2nd in their WC 2010 qualifying group.
But to me - it all comes down with making sure England and Italy are safely tucked away near the top. Two very powerful federations, who always seem to get favourable draws.
UEFA came up with a way of grading to make sure both were near the top of the seedings. If they went with tournament results - England would be much lower, not having qualified for 2008; and Italy would be lower given they have been pretty poor on the big stage.
As was mentioned earlier - bring them on, we'll beat them.
Russia - ussually flop at major tourn (4 yrs ago the exception) and we have always beaten them.
Portugal
Denmark - they didnt expect to get the the tournament and will have low expectations plus the others are better the irish will try hard France (enough said) and czech could be a dark horse they can attack and defend
I really don't mind who we get - as others have said we always raise our game against the big boys. We normally raise our game against England too!! boom!!
I'm just so happy we are going to Polkraine!! Last night was magical. Vamos!!
Ultimately I agree with Val: just avoid Germany. I think we'd give Spain everything they can take and more and the Netherlands too (although they are very good as well). England and Portugal have great games so that'd be entertaining. Lastly, from pot 4, I hope we get Denmark so we can have another crack at them on neutral ground with a healthy squad. I think the outcome would be different.
I would love to see Russia-Portugal-Czech Republic in Group D with the Ukraine.
Conversely, we could end up with: Ukraine, Russia, Portugal, Ireland (or Czech Republic), which would be pretty sweet. The simple fact is that we will most likely end up with at least one other really strong team unless we are really lucky and there is a good chance we'll end up with two given that France are in the bottom group.
I am somewhat baffled that France are in the bottom group. They have been struggling, like Portugal, to qualify but there is no way Croatia and Greece are better than France. If that decision was heavilly based on qualification performance, then Portugal should be right down there with them. Russia should not be in Pot 2. If anything, Portugal should be there. Of the big three in that pot, I really hope we draw Russia or England as I think we'd have a lot of trouble with Italy or Germany.
In any case, I don't think any configuration will be easy. Even some of the weaker teams like Ireland have a reputation for really battling until the end and you know they will want to make an impact since this will be the first major tournament they have participated in a long time. Greece has had our number before (too painful to recall) and Ukraine and Poland, probably the two weakest teams, will have home field advantage. So it's incredibly difficult to predict who will win this thing with the amount of quality teams participating, but Spain are probably still the favourites behind the Dutch and then maybe the Germans. I really think England have a great squad this year and Rooney has been in great form for Man U. They have a number of up and comers too that could end up having a huge tournament. Of course, that seems to be the case almost everytime England are in a major tournament doesn't it?
You could make an argument that the Euro is more difficult than the World Cup simply because 12 of the top 15 teams in the world are in a tournament out of only 16. Nonetheless, as Andre said rankings do seem dubious at times and it is incredibly interesting that England and Russia happen to be in the higher pot.
After all of the turmoil during and immediately after the last World Cup, Portugal has emerged as a resurgent juggernaut and I believe they have the maturity and skill necessary to make history in 2012.
As Andre so eloquently put, "to win a Euro, you have to beat the best teams anyway", so let the chips fall where they may. And as long as Portugal maintain their high level of competitiveness they can overcome any opponent.
Forca!
England is our whipping boy.
But there are a few details in the pots system that baffle me. How can England and Russia possibly be higher placed than Portugal? The last time England reached a semi-final of a tournament was when they hosted Euro 96...and they didn;t even qualify for the last Euros. England always seems to be favoured in these situations...i wonder why? A lot of politics in UEFA/FIFA as everyone knows well. Russia? They didn't even qualify for WC 2010...how can they possibly be in Pot 2? How can France possibly be in the last pot, behind Croatia and Greece? How can Germany not be in Pot 1?
To base it all on FIFA ranking is rediculous really...according to FIFA ranking, the USA has been as high as number 5 in the world!!! Or to base it on the current qualifying coefficient is also rediculous...and you can't simply ignore the recent history of major tournaments. Just to prove my point, Holland is seeded higher than Germany...well Germany just battered Holland 3-0 last night!
I say it again i'm not too bothered who we face, the draw could either be really tough for us (e.g Spain, Germany, France) or really favourable (Ukraine, Russia, Ireland)...in all likelihood we will probably get something in the middle of these two extremes. Best case scenario in my opinion would be to draw one of the host nations from Pot 1, and to avoid Germany in Pot 2 and France in Pot 4. But again, to win a Euro you have to beat the top teams, and might be good to start playing them right away as it gets you to a high gear straight away....