The teams of group B

Euro 2008 is fast approaching and even though the year has just started, football teams are practicing and getting ready for the final event, the second largest football event behind the FIFA World Cup. One of the most interesting groups to make up the qualifying teams was those of Group B.

Made up of Italy, France, Scotland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia, and the Faroe Islands, the team standings stayed virtually the same as they were assigned well into group matches. It seemed that maybe Scotland was going to pull of a victory and go the EURO 2008 final showdown, but ultimately, they were beat out. The Ukrainian team was taken out by Scotland with two matches left for all the teams, leaving Scotland, Italy, and France fighting over the winner and runner-up spots.

Scotland broke a streak that had not been matched for fifty-eight years: they had a six game winning streak. Unfortunately, they also had members of their team that would be unable to qualify to play in the championships due to injury and bookings. This made it hard for the team to be able to move ahead and secure one of the coveted positions. The team from Georgia made sure the Scots had to fight for their win.

The team from France on the other hand, was in good shape, despite an early loss to Scotland. While not out of the competition, they still had to face Lithuania after an interesting game against the Faroe Islands. They were lucky to have made that one due to terrible weather surrounding the islands. The fell back to nineteen year old Karim Benzeme who filled in for Nicolas Anelka, and went on to win the game and move ahead.

The other teams were quickly knocked out of consideration and it came down to the final group matched before the final two teams rose out of the ashes. Italy and France scored the most points, 29 and 26 respectively, leaving third place Scotland sitting there with only 24 points to be had. This was by no means a bad run for the young Scottish team who should be proud of going so far.

Italy and France both secured a spot in Group C of the final sixteen and they will face off against the Netherlands and Romania in their first match of the championship on June 9, 2008. From there they will face each on June 17.