Roth Regatta

Qualifying to theEuropean 2012 Championshipıs going to becompetitive with everyteammotivatedto qualify. There isnine groups altogether. The ninegroup winners plus the best runner-up will receiveimmediateentryto thetournament. Next the remainingeightrunner-upare going to bedrawn into two-legged playoffs.

One ofthe leading groups of interest in Group G thatfeatures England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. England is thetop seeds and they would be the most fancied team to fin

ish on top. Howeverwith that said, they did fail to qualification during the lastfinals.

The principlecompetitionshould come from Switzerland and Bulgaria. The Swiss have qualified for3 of the previousfourEuropeanChampionshipsbut not once did the makey it past theopening round. They actuallywere joint hosts of the lasttournament with Austria. Switzerland are a hardsidewithout being anything amazing.

Bulgaria only haveappeared at the tournamenttwo times, the last of which was in 2004. Theyare y

et to make it past the group stage. Bulgariawereregularly at the World Cup Tournamentappearing ateverytournament from 1962 to 1974 then again in 1986 and 1994 where they finished 4th. The Bulgarianshaven’tbeen back since 1998.

Theirhigh qualityfootballer is Stiliyan Petrov who plays for Aston Villa in England.

Wales lastexperiencein thecompetitionwas in 1976 and this was back whenthe tournamentutilised a totally differentstructure. The eight group winners of which Wales was one were drawn int

o two-legged playoffs and thewinnersmade it to the finals that wereplayed in Yugoslavia. That was who the Welsh lost to in the play-offs. That was the last instancethe Welshwas inan essential international event and it isdifficult to see that alter.

Montenegro is onlya couple of years old. It was oncea part of Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro. They’llfind it hard toperform well in the Euro 2012 Group G.