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England’s Euro 2012 Qualifying Draw: Analysis and Evaluation
Published: February 8, 2010
The Three Lions’ other rivals in the five-team group are Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Montenegro, with only the group winners being guaranteed a place at the final tournament to be co-hosted in Poland and the Ukraine in two years' time.
The draw granted Fabio Capello his wish to be drawn in a group of only five teams but the Italian spoke afterwards of how England had been handed one of the tougher groups overall.
First of all, it is important to stress the advantages of being drawn into one of the five-team groups.
England will now face only eight qualifying fixtures in total and will not be forced to play home-and-away ties against the likes of San Marino, Azerbaijan, or Andorra, who the Three Lions had faced in their previous two qualifying groups.
With fewer games to schedule England could in theory now be without the end of season games which dragged the season well into June last year when they faced late qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra, which wasn’t an ideal situation in anyone’s book.
Capello has been firm on his belief that England are at their best earlier in the season, before the long English season has taken its toll, and with two possible dates for the qualifiers in both September and October, England could, in theory, have played half of their qualifying campaign before the end of October.
The flip side is that the five-team group is that it will leave more gaps in the international calendar to be filled with friendly fixtures, which are more often than not unfairly stigmatised by the English media.
Yet, in terms of the opposition the draw worked out as something of a mixed blessing for England.
Whilst they avoided some of the dark horses in lower pots such as Serbia (Pot 2) and Sloven...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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