Euro 2016: Belgium, Italy drawn in group of death

The Euro 2016 draw took place in France on Saturday, with Belgium, Italy, Ireland, and Sweden, being drawn alongside each other in the group of death. 

On Saturday, the draw for the UEFA European Championship took place from Paris, France. While the process of the draw ensures that the top-ranked countries do not play each other in the group stage, the vast amount of quality teams always guarantees some mouth-watering tilts between top nations.

Belgium was recently ranked the top country on the planet in the FIFA rankings, but they have been rewarded with a very difficult group in the opening round of Euro 2016. The Belgians have been drawn with Euro 2012 finalists, Italy, as well as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden, and Ireland.

Being drawn in such a strong group doesn’t seem to have fazed the Belgians though, with several players taking to Twitter to express their excitement.

While Belgium are the top seed, the team to really keep an eye on in Group E might be the Italians. The Azzurri are always a difficult team to play, and have made some serious changes to their squad after the disaster that was the Brazil 2014. Former Juventus head coach, Antonio Conte, took over for Cesare Prandelli, and the country have done well under his tutelage.

Both the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, will have a daunting task to try and escape the group and progress to the knockout rounds. Although, Ireland and Sweden will both coming into the tournament with a ton of confidence, after booking their ticket to France in the qualification play-offs. After defeating Bosnia & Herzegovina in the playoff, Ireland will believe they can beat anyone on the continent, while Ibrahimovic will be looking to leave his mark on what will likely be his last European Championship.

While all four nations in Group E will not be particularly happy after the draw, it could have been much worse for them. With the tournament expanding from 16 teams to 24 teams this year, the 2016 group of death fails in comparison to some previous editions we’ve seen. In 2008, we saw 2006 World Cup finalists, France and Italy, drawn alongside each other, as well as, the Netherlands and Romania. In 2010, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Denmark, were all drawn together.

The tournament kicks off from France in June 2016, with Group E first seeing action on June 13th. The opening match of the group sees Ireland taking on Sweden, while Belgium kicks off the tournament against Italy.

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