Pot 3
1) Poland
Poland gave Germany a run for their money in Euro Qualifying. If Robert Lewandowski can keep on his tear, they will be a tough opponent.
2) Sweden
Similar to Poland, Sweden has a top superstar who will make things difficult for everyone. Zlatan Ibrahimovic may not have as good of a team overall as Lewandowski and Poland but they’ll still be tough.
3) Romania
While Romania is hanging around in Pot 3, they should be feared because they went through Euro Qualifying unbeaten and only allowed two goals. Romania in 2016 can be Greece in 2004.
4) Czech Republic
Czech Republic really shouldn’t be this low. This is a team who won their group in Euro Qualifying and are a very dangerous team. They will make any group tough.
5) Slovakia
Teams would be okay if they had Slovakia. They had an okay run in Euro Qualifying but there really isn’t anything that notable about them.
6) Hungary
Just like Slovakia, Hungary seem to be the weakest of the teams in Pot 3. Hungary got into Euro 2016 in the playoff round and haven’t been in a tournament like this for years. While they may be able to sneak in a win, they won’t be able to do much else.
Pot 4
1) Wales
No brainer here. Wales is a top 10 FIFA team and they have Gareth Bale. If there is one guarantee, it is that Wales will be in the Group of Death and every team in the other three pots will hope to avoid them.
2) Iceland
Iceland is another strong team. Like Wales, they really came up only recently but they are the latest non-traditional European nation to be making an impact in international soccer.
3) Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland may be newcomers to the international tournament scene but they performed well in Euro Qualifying. Statistically, Northern Ireland is the lowest team in the tournament based on UEFA coefficient but will be tougher than what their coefficient says.
4) Turkey
Turkey, along with the final two teams, are really going to be teams filling out the groups. While it’s great that they qualified for the tournament, it’s going to be really tough to get points and teams will be looking at three points sadly out of these teams.
5) Ireland
Ireland will fare the same way as Turkey. They pulled off the upset on Bosnia-Herzegovina but they are going to need to keep that up to have a hope of doing something in the tournament.
6) Albania
Albania is going to have their work cut out for them. Out of all 24 teams, Albania will be the one targeted the most.
So there you have it, if you want an incredibly diabolical Group of Death that would include Germany, Italy, Poland and Wales. And if there is going to be an easy group, let’s call it the Group of Life, that would include Portugal, Russia, Hungary and Albania. We shall await the draw tomorrow.
