All will be dangerous but the Soviet Union will be tough to beat on home soil.

You do remember East Germany beat West last time

He thinks Portugal are the dark horses (expects them to be losing finalists, rates Ronaldo & Nani). Other than that he's come up with a series of match predictions that are all entirely plausible but just happen to lead to Germany being elimated, without making any criticisms of the Germans:

Holland 2 Denmark 0
Germany 0 Portugal 1
Denmark 0 Portugal 2
Holland 2 Germany 2
Portugal 1 Holland 1
Denmark 1 Germany 2

In England's group he predicts:

France 0 England 0
Ukraine 2 Sweden 0
Ukraine 1 France 1
Sweden 1 England 3
Sweden 0 France 1
England 1 Ukraine 1

France going out on goal difference.

He's also predicting England and Russia to beat Croatia and Holland on pens before losing to Spain & Portugal in the SF.

He doesnt predict this week's lottery results

I've gone with Llorente, so obvs hoping he starts ahead of FT.

Benzema is in fine form, maybe I should have gone for him instead.

This England side will have done fantastically if they reach the quarters.....If I was a bookie, I'd be laying France as red-hot favourites to win the group, with Ukraine a clear second favourite - England and Sweden would be outsiders.

Without making excuses for them, this side was already one which was up against it, but to lose the players they have in the past couple of weeks will have disrupted them badly.

I'll be surprised if we get a single win from our 3 games....Anything more than a couple of draws will be a decent campaign, though I doubt our media and the usual knee-jerkers will allow that sort of outcome to just slip away without one or two 'Hodgson Out' calls.

Just looked at the top scorer odds....Surely Van Persie at 10/1 is a bit of a steal??

Only the difficult group they are in gives me a little doubt, but if they make it out of that group then he's got to be the man to be on?

Got them at 20/1

I'd be surprised if he did, but then I couldn't see a way that Spain would travel without Bobby Soldiers so what the chuff do I know..?

Bayern Munich highest scoring club 5/2 with Ladbrokes. In the German squad they have golden boot favourite Gomez, the World Cup golden boot winner Muller as well as Schweinsteiger, and Kroos. France have Ribery, while Holland have Robben and these are 3 of the teams I would expect to see in the semi finals.

I've gone with Benzema to be top scorer, I think Germany (Gomez, Klose, Podolski, Muller) and Holland (Sneijder, Robben, RVP, Huntelaar) will share the goals around more than France will and I don't think Spain will score that many, so of my predicted four semi-finalists he seems to be the best bet.

Have a funny feeling the top scorer will be a midfielder this year. Sneijder to have another outstanding international tournament and get himself another big move?

I need to read up a little on some of the big nations. Are Portugal using CR7 centrally or on the left/right? If he's on the left or in the middle, I'd have him as favourite, even if Portugal usually flop like England at the tournament. Will Gotze be fit for Germany? Even if he is, will he play over Podolski/Ozil?

The reaction to Dani Pacheco is pathetic and the epitome of arrogance. He used a word, to a friend, that he's offered very fair explanation for, and clearly Johnson isn't offended by it, yet people want to say he's racist and that there's a 'race row'. IMO, it's this kind of stuff that will soon force footballers away from Twitter, which is a shame as fans cried for years about their lack of 'access' to the players.

Preciado dies of heart attack

rllinkrl

Awful news here as it's been announced that Manuel Preciado has died of a heart attack at the age of 54. A true character and a reminder how you can be as passionate about the game as the man in the street at the same time as being a top flight manager. The way he verbally tore Mourinho a new one last season was something that will live long in the memory and I imagine many Spanish soccer journalists will be lamenting the loss of a man who always gave an honest answer and never hid behind his players or chairman.