On Saturday evening, the draw for the 2016 European Football Championship took place, which divided 24 national teams into six groups.
After reviewing the groups, the reviewers of the bleacherreport.com website presented the teams that were most successful in this draw ceremony and those who should be disappointed with their results. You are presented with Carlo Matchetto's article about the teams that won or lost the most during this draw.
Winner: France.
France already knew they would be in Group A, but they will be pleased with the opponents who ended up in their group. Romania, Albania, and Switzerland will not pose significant problems for the hosts to reach the knockout stages, and Didier Deschamps hoped to win the first two matches and give the chance for the reserve squad to play in the final round.
France could hardly have hoped for better draws.
Loser: Ireland.
Looking from a different perspective, Ireland, which already faced serious problems qualifying for the European Championship, will now face an even bigger challenge. Sweden will be the opponent against which they can expect tangible results, but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack, the Swedes certainly won't be easily defeated, and an Irish victory against them is very doubtful. The other two teams in the group - Italy and top-ranked Belgium in the FIFA rankings, are even stronger.
It seems that Ireland could repeat their last European Championship in 2012 when they did not earn a single point in the group stage.
Winner: Portugal.
Portugal entered the first pot of draws, even though they have not looked like a top-class team lately. After the draws, they got very tough opponents in the group. Group F includes Iceland, Austria, and Hungary: tournament debutants, a team that qualified for the competition for the first time since 1972.
After such draws, Portugal should not stumble in the group stage, so even if they are not among the favorites to win the tournament, they should at least advance to the knockout stages without major problems.
Loser: Wales.
Before the draw ceremony, talking to Guardian journalists, Wales coach Chris Coleman emphasized that he did not want to be in a group with England. These wishes were not because the coach thought that England was a powerful team, but because of the unnecessary turmoil that would be caused by the clash of these national teams.
It's obvious why Wales can be called losers, as their only wish before the draws was not fulfilled. However, former team forward John Hartson had a different opinion about the draws when speaking to BBC Sport journalists: "I wanted this. It will be great games for the fans, for television, and the players are already preparing for this match."
In their first European Championship, the Wales team will not escape increased media attention due to the meeting with their principled rivals.
Winner: Germany.
Frankly speaking, there are not many national teams that could intimidate Germany. However, they should be satisfied with the draws. Poland will be their most serious opponents, but after the qualification matches in which both teams shared a win, Germany already knows what to expect from these opponents, and their leader Robert Lewandowski, who plays for Bayern Munich, is unlikely to surprise the Germans.
The other teams in Group C are not as dangerous - Ukraine and Northern Ireland.
