Euro 2012 Draw Results

Here are the results of the Euro 2012 draw, held today in Poland:

Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Note: Poland will take on Greece in the tournament opener on June 8th in Warsaw.

Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

Group C
Spain
Italy
Ireland
Croatia

Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

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Some quick thoughts:

Group B is certainly this tournament's Group of Death, with Portugal, Denmark, and Germany joining the Netherlands.

After snapping their 24 year Euro qualification drought, Ireland get rewarded with a pretty rough group, with Spain, Italy, and Croatia.

England fans will be pretty pleased, all things considered, with how the draw turned out, as their team was placed in a manageable Group D with France, Ukraine, and Sweden. Some will point out the following to go against that: the Three Lions have never beaten Sweden, France is far from the team it was during the disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign, and Ukraine will have the home crowd behind them.  All valid points. It's not that England's group is easy per say, but rather that things could have been a lot worse for them, hence perhaps a little relief.

Group A is the antithesis of Group B, with Poland, Greece, Russia, and the Czech Republic forming the weakest of the four groups.  Poland- who will be making just their second Euro appearance- have a legitimate chance to advance, having avoided some of the heavier hitters, but they'll still have some tough teams to grapple with.  As is the case with Ukraine, they'll have the home crowd behind them, which never hurts.

When Russia was drawn into Group A, there was laughter in the crowd, perhaps because of the historical ties between them and Poland, setting up an interesting eastern European battle in Group A.

In the end, the groups are decently balanced, which was to be expected with a field so deep.

After three group stage match days, the top two teams from each group move on to the quarterfinals.

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Some of the high profiles group stages matches, just to name a few:

Germany v. Portugal, June 9th
Italy v. Spain, June 10th
France v. England, June 11th
Poland v. Russia, June 12th
Netherlands v. Germany, June 13th

For the full tournament schedule, click here.
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Just 189 days until things kick off in Poland.  Get your popcorn ready.