Group B Preview

Playing from behind after a weekend out of town, which may or may not have included some atrocious dance moves at a wedding reception. Let's continue with Group B, then get to some match reviews.

Germany
World Ranking: 5
Euro 04: Group play
WC 06: 3rd place (L-Italy/W-Portugal)
Three to Watch: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich)
The undisputed group favorite and one of the favorites to win the whole thing, the Germans come into Euro 2008 off a bronze performance as hosts of the last World Cup. They haven't fared too well in this competition the last two times, having failed to win a match since 1996 (that's a shocking stat, isn it?), but they return a core of high profile players who are capable of taking them deep into June. While the Germans don't usually come to mind when speaking of fast-paced, high-flying soccer, they are a very aggressive team with a lot of young, offensive talent that should be entertaining to watch. They may not be truly tested until the semis, when they could potentially face Portugal.

Croatia
World Ranking: 15
Euro 04: Group play
WC 06: Group play
Three to Watch: Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Dario Simic (AC Milan)
After a string of recent disappointments on the international stage, Croatia looks poised to make it out of group play in this tournament. A late goal by Australia prevented them from advancing in the World Cup, but they were impressive in that campaign and have the benefit of drawing a group with one challenging game (Germany) and two very winnable games. This is another squad with world class talent and players from the best leagues across Europe. If you're angry at England's absence from this tournament, blame these guys; they eliminated them in a game where they basically had nothing to gain. I expect the Croats to make it out of this group as the runners up; it's just too bad we won't be seeing their trademark red and white checkerboard jerseys due to a color clash with all the teams in their group.

Poland
World Ranking: 28
Euro 04: Did not qualify
WC 06: Group play
Three to Watch: The names of these guys don't exactly roll off the tongue; let's wait for some stars to emerge before I do this to my keyboard.
Most of the players on the Polish team appear to be a cut below in terms of this level of play, but they had a very respectable run in 2006 in defeat and hope to continue that streak in their first ever appearance in the European Championships. They have never beaten Germany, and I don't expect them to break the streak in this tournament, but they should handle Austria, leaving their pivotal game to be the one versus the Croats. My money is on the Croatian team, but some have picked the Poles as a dark horse from this group.

Austria
World Ranking: 92
Euro 04: Did not qualify
WC 06: Did not qualify
Three to Watch: Roland Linz (Sporting Braga), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Sebastian Prodl (Werder Bremen)
Widely considered one of the worst teams to ever participate in this competition, the Austrians qualifed automatically as co-hosts of Euro 08. FIFA's rankings show they're ranked below some pretty soft teams (Libya, Iceland, Georgia--and I don't mean the Bulldogs), and there was even a movement in Austria earlier this year to prevent the national team from playing in this competition so that the proud citizens wouldn't be humiliated. I happen to think they're probably exaggerating just a bit, as the home crowd will inspire them to make things interesting at the very least, but asking them to get out of this group or perhaps even just win a game might be asking too much. The Austrians will be done after three games, but it won't be as bad as some people have claimed.