We won't know the final 23 man squads until June 1st, but that doesn't mean we can't laugh and/or scratch our heads as some of the rosters. The most exciting thing about this year is that a few teams that look loaded on paper, or could have been, are being run by clowns. I'm not going to go over every team here, I need to leave something for our preview/picks post, but I've got some key stories I can't ignore.
Key Match Up : Argentina Vs. France. For the title? No, no no no. These two are going at it for the right to call their manager the Clown Of The Tournament. France's well known buffoon Eugene Levy, er, I mean Raymond Domenech has a very talented squad that he will no doubt manage into the ground. His biggest roster head scratcher is the omission of Real Madrid's bench warming striker Karim Benzema, who appears to have been left off due to his unpleasant personality. Actually, I shouldn't say "appears" because Domench came out and said as much. Laurent Blanc can't take over fast enough. On the other side of this battle is Diego Maradona, noted coke fiend and cheater, who would like his doubters to "suck it" and so on. Yes, this man is representing Argentina and has control over the team. Stay classy Diego. I think Maradona may have sewn up the title here, and we haven't even gotten to his roster! Javier Mascherano , Juan Veron, and Fabricio Coloccini; in. Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso; out. Really? Two stars of Inter Milan, the team that took out Barcelona (the greatest team in history), who will be playing in the Champions League final are left off while a part of the ill fated Liverpool squad, a guy well past his prime, and a guy in England's Championship (Why is the Championship the 2nd best league, and Premier is the best? Weird) are included? Well, I'd like to vote for Maradona here, but we will see who steers their team to an early exit first.
The unintentional comedy should be through the roof.Most Frightening Squad : Spain, hands down. This is the only team I can list a starting 11 for off the top of my head, and barring a serious injury to Fernando Torres I can't imagine them imploding. I'd like to call Spain chokesters, but their Euro win seems to have given them new life. They have talent up and down the field with most of their players coming from Real Madrid and Barcelona. I don't know if they will win it all, but failing to reach the final would be a huge disappointment.
Champs or chokesters?Most Underrated Squad : Ivory Coast. I'll admit that I'm not horribly high on the African teams, but the Ivory Coast has some seriously talented players all over the field. I wouldn't be shocked, mainly because I'm predicting it, if Ivory Coast took out Brazil or Portugal in their group. I expect them to advance and do some damage in the elimination rounds.
Most Titillating Squad : I'm only setting myself up for more Euro 08 level disappointment, but the Dutch look exciting! I might need to breath into a paper bag if the Dutch run roughshod over their group. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, and Robin van Persie are absolutely on fire. Everyone was harping about how horrible the World Cup would be if Argentina didn't qualify and the best player in the world (Lionel Messi) were left sitting at home, well in the past month or so Arjen Robben made a serious case for his own reign as best player in the game. I'm not saying Robben is better than Messi, but he has produced a number of amazing goals and basically put Bayern Munich on his back, leading them to the Champions League final and their 1200th Bundesliga title.
This never ends well for me.
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