If you can't wait...

The pdf bracket and rules are out.  You are welcome to print out the last page and mark it up and send it to worldcup[at]hwci.com (either scanned or take a picture of it).   I hope to have some online version in a week or so.  For now, spread the word!

Regular column: Welcome Eric!

Thanks to Eric Foster, who has volunteered to try to do a regular column for the HWCI EURO Pool called "Foster's Football Brew".  This follows in the great tradition of Fernando's Not-So-Deep-Thoughts and Sammy's Pando! or Grodo? columns in past World Cup pools.  His first column is posted here so please show your support and feel free to comment on the post.

Added: Newly created logo!

Foster's Football Brew # 1: First Batch

Foster's Football Brew:  First Batch

Although the recent 2010 World Cup is becoming a distant memory, the Euro 2012 promises to satiate our appetites for top-level international football to ease the pain of waiting until Brazil 2014.

In this opening of a series of emails, I’ll identify the 16 teams playing in the Euro 2012 Tournament, and get you thinking about who you should pick to go all the way.  Will we see a repeat of the World Cup Final, Spain v. Netherlands???  Will UEFA Euro defending Champs from 2008 Spain reign supreme, to be the first European country to ever win three major tournaments in a row (Euro 2008, 2010 World Cup)??

Here's the tournament draw: 

Group A:

Poland (tournament co-host)

Greece

Russia

Czech Republic

Group B: (the unofficial Group of Death!)

Netherlands

Denmark

Germany

Portugal

Group C:

Spain

Italy

Republic of Ireland

Croatia

Group D:

Ukraine (tournament co-host)

Sweden

France

England

So you think you know which two teams will pull thru in each of these groups?  Which are the favored teams, and which are the dark-horse candidates that will pull off a few upsets and slip through?  Here are my preliminary thoughts on the four groups:

Welcome!

Welcome to our 1st HWCI EURO Pool.  This will be our first attempt at capturing the magic of the European Championships in bracket-style pool form.  This will be set up similar to our HWCI World Cup Pool (since '98) but this time you'll be allowed to pick ties in the Round Robin games.  This site is still a major work in progress but if you want to know more about how this pool will work, you can head over to our HWCI World Cup Pool page for more info.  More info coming...