[JebronsLame]

As an Irishman, I must forget loyalty and be objective here. I honestly believe Croatia, Ireland and Italy are on a relatively even platform, all 3 trailing World and European Champions, Spain. This should be a low scoring group with a decent amount of draws.

1st - Spain
This is a bit of a no-brainer, despite some injury worries for the Spanish. They lack an established international striker who is in a run of form. Fernando Torres has shown some signs of life of late but given his dramatic downturn over the last 2 years, few would fear his impact. The other Fernando Torres, Fernando Llorente Torres represents more of a danger. Big, strong, good in the air and with ball at feet, I would worry much more about his impact from an Irish point of view. His form dipped at the end of the year also but he represents their biggest attacking threat. The midfield remains amazing, with Pedro, Navas, Fabregas and Cazorla battling it out to join Silva, Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta in the starting XI. Midfielder-come-defender Javi Martinez is a more than capable replacement for the injured Puyol.

2nd - Croatia
The race for second is anyone's game. In the interest of objectivity I'm opting for Croatia ahead of Ireland and Italy. Italy were simply abysmal against Russia, tidy in midfield but unadventurous going forward and opened up far too easily at the back. Ireland come into the tournament with the second longest unbeaten run and will be hard to break down as their excellent defensive record shows. The problem is the rigidity of Trapattoni's system. Lessons that should have been learned from the friendly against Bosnia - Long and Walters are both more deserving of a start than Doyle, Whelan and Andrews are not a creative enough partnership in centre-midfield, McClean and McGeady are our most dangerous wing combination - were ignored and the same old line-up that Trap favours played out an appalling 0-0 draw with Hungary. Croatia are missing Olic but this leaves room for the red-hot Nikica Jelavic to start. Modric's creativity in the centre will be too much for the Irish midfield and this could be the deciding factor in the opening fixture which would put Croatia in good stead for the quarter finals.

Opening Fixtures Predictions:
Spain (su) vs Italy at 1.76
Croatia vs Ireland - Under 2 goals at 1.917

[snip3r2006]

like the croatia 2nd place pick ...