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Euro 2012: England Face Ukraine, Sweden And France In Tough Euro Group

The Huffington Post UK     First Posted: 02/12/11 17:13   Updated: 02/12/11 17:59

Fabio Capello's England has been drawn against Ukraine, Sweden And France in the group stages of next summer's European Championships.

The tournament, jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, will mark the end of Capello's tenure as national boss, despite recent overtures from Sir Trevor Brooking and the Football Association suggesting the Italian could staying on beyond the tournament.

England, who qualified as group winners, have never won the European Championship. Their best outing was a semi-finals defeat to Germany in 1996 when the tournament was played in England. In next year's competition, Capello will be without Wayne Rooney for the first three games, after the striker was suspended following a red card in the last group game.

The Italian, who earns £6 million-a-year, led England to early elimination from last year's World Cup in South Africa.

The finals will take place from the 8-19 June, with the final on July 1.

Here are the eight venues for Euro 2012.

Donbass Arena, Ukraine
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Fabio Capello's England has been drawn against Ukraine, Sweden And France in the group stages of next summer's European Championships. The tournament, jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, will ma...
Fabio Capello's England has been drawn against Ukraine, Sweden And France in the group stages of next summer's European Championships. The tournament, jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, will ma...
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cantabria
my default position is wrong
366 Fans
08:17 on 07/12/2011
I remember the newspaper headline when the world cup group was drawn - EASY. What a joke, England are rubbish. The only chance they have is if they do not take Terry, Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney. If those 4 wasters stay home then they have a chance. Imagine taking Rooney, he can't play in the 3 group games, they get through, he's brought back, gets sent off and we lose. Thse 4 have been the curse of the English national team for the last 10 years. They would have qualified for the last Euros if Mclarren hadn't brought back Rooney and the rest for the final game.
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Hank Hancocks
9 Fans
09:26 on 04/12/2011
From reading the comments papers I thought we had already won It? That wil save a trip to the Ukraine next year!
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Vapula
Failure is not an option
1739 Fans
02:50 on 04/12/2011
They thought it was all over: it is now.
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Christopher Kara
1 Fans
00:52 on 04/12/2011
It has been argued by some in world football that it is harder to win the European Championships than it is to win the World Cup. Those arguments are based on the fact that the quality of teams in the tournament are generally at a higher level than in the World Cup. Those on the other side point to Greece's win in Euro 2004 and rest their case.
Capello's men shouldn't fear any of these group stage opponents but must respect them as genuine threats to any plans England have. Group qualification should probably be, respectfully, expected the but nothing is guaranteed with the 3 lions though. So in an earth shattering revelation for British media I am going to remain quietly optimistic without raising expectation to the ludicrous levels of yesteryear.
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Tel4b
13 Fans
10:32 on 03/12/2011
Another early exit on the cards then. Shame it's not payment by results. They'd all get bus fare home and have to pay for their own hotels.
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Seaniebhoy
303 Fans
21:14 on 02/12/2011
As a Republic of Ireland supporter all I can say is ...Spain, Italy, Croatia....bollocks!
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vvkmt
19 Fans
23:22 on 02/12/2011
At least your lot play for pride, ours (England) just want the pay cheque.
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Seaniebhoy
303 Fans
18:23 on 04/12/2011
We'll need as much steel as we have have pride. I'm not unconfident about Italy....they are always slow out of the gate during group stages...but spain will be 90 minutes of hanging on for dear life...and Croatia will be anyone's guess, but we don't have the greatest history of playing eastern european sides.
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