euro 2008

Germany should have no problems qualifying to the next phase of the tournament, even though this is one of there weakest teams in recent memories, they have a technically good midfield with their star man micheal ballack pulling the strings, helping him in midfield will be torsten frings with tricky winger bastian schwiensteiger their man outlet on the wing.

upfront they are better than most give them credit for with players such as klose, podolski and young hotshot mario gomez who will be looking for a big move after the tournament, they have also got kuranyi who has played very well for the national team.

their defence is solid if not spectacular with lanky defender mertesacker and injury plagued yet classy metzelder in the centre of their defence, with arguably the best left back in the last world cup phillip lahm, who scored a wonderful goal to open that tournament.  im not sure who is going to play in goal for them but i assume it will be robert enke as jens lehman has not played much for arsenal this season.

prediction: germany should have enough to top the group which they will need to do because if they don’t, chances are they will be playing portugal who no one will want to play.

croatia will go into the competition full of confidence after knocking out england,

they have got a really solid defence with the experience of centre back robert kovac and right back dario simic will be vital for them, in goal is the talented shot-stopper stipe pletikosa who will be looking to move to a top club in the near future.

their midfield is the strongest part of the team with the ultra gifted luka modric who is a wonderful passer and equally good dribbler of the ball, also they have right sided midfielder darijo srna who can put quality balls in the box all day, again they have another really talented attacking midfielder ivan rakitic who is only 20 but is highly regarded by their manager slaven bilic, croatias ability to keep the ball for long periods of time really frustrates their opponents as england found out at their costs.

their strike-force was taken a blow earlier this year when star striker eduardo broke his leg playing for arsenal, however they are pretty workman-like with igor budan and ilvica olic leading the line, however watch out for 20 year old striker nikola kalinic who ive been told is a very confident and talented young lad.

prediction: expect them to give germany a real run for thier money and if they manage to finish first in the group then they could make the semis.

i expect poland to finish third in the group but they will struggle against the big two in their group due to a serious lack of quality, the only chance they have of advancing is if bouric can keep out either side and for them to nick a goal at the other end.

i see co-hosts austria struggling to get a point with their only chance is against poland, although it will be a good learning curve for the younger players in the team such as erwin hoffer, martin harnik and sebastian prodl