EURO 2012 QUALIFYING DRAW

THE (VERY FEMININE) OFFICIAL EURO 2012 LOGO

The bitter reality of Croatia not reaching the 2010 World Cup has haunted Vatreni fans worldwide since qualification concluded- and it will only get worse from here on out. With the world's largest sporting spectacle less than 130 days away, 32 teams prepare their travel arrangements for South Africa while Team Croatia gets first pick at where they want to vacation this summer.

The first step in this painful healing process begins this Sunday, February 7th at noon (CET) 6AM (ET) in Warsaw, Poland. The draw for Euro 2012 groups will be established and Croatia look to be in good shape as they grabbed a Pot 1 allocation ensuring them no battles with Europe's elite- not even England. The only team I fear out of Pot 2 is Serbia. Not only is Serbia playing well at the moment, but it would be an obvious mental, emotional and media war if they were paired with Croatia.

So let the discussion between possible pairings begin! For those of you that have voted in our most recent poll, time to justify your pick.

NEW EURO 2012 LAYOUT:

There will be total of nine groups. Six of these groups will have six teams drawn into them (one each from pots 1 to 6 above); the remaining three groups will consist of five teams (one each from pots 1 to 5 above). At the conclusion of qualifying, the team at the top of each group will qualify automatically. The second-placed team with the most points from games versus the first-, third- fourth- and fifth-placed teams will qualify also. The remaining eight second-placed teams will contest two-legged playoffs for the right to join them.

UKRAINE 1 ENGLAND 0

CROATIA

miss out on

Nelson Mandela

Ševčenko PK miss

Ukraine Goal

** FAN ZONE ** LONDON

Photo: Nick Gović; Wembley Stadium, before kickoff.

After a long and cold day of riding the Underground railways in London to Wembley Stadium, I finally arrived to my first European international match where I was going to see Croatia vs. England. We got there 2 hours before the game so we wouldn't be late to the game and outside the stadium were die-hard fans packed and ready to go!

Photo: Nick Gović; Robert Kovač(Right) Nick Gović(left)

Photo: Nick Gović; crven, bijeli, plavi

The atmosphere was great! We were walking and cheering with the Croatian fans as we sang our way through the gates getting ready to watch an intense game of soccer. We started getting a bit hungry so we drifted away from the fans. We decided to stop and grab a beer and burger and thats when I met Robert Kovač walking by himself getting the same thing we were. For those of you who don't know, he was the centre back/captain of the Croatian international team. As I approached him I asked to take a picture with him and he kindly agreed. I proceeded to ask him what the outcome of the game would be and he chuckled 1-1, knowing that this was going to be a tough match without Ćorluka and Modrić. We then shook hands and departed our own ways.

Photo: Nick Gović; Malo nas je al na ima

Photo: Nick Gović; (Nick Gović, Gordan Svirčić, Vatro, Ervin Gović

When we entered the stadium it was like no other stadium I've ever seen before (well thats of course they spent 1 billion dollars to build it!). Fans were out of control, we cheered from the beginning to the end, even though we were getting crushed we still had adrenaline to help our players hang in there and not put their heads down. The Croatian fans were hands down more insane than the English fans, we were lighting up smoke bombs and cheering in sync at the top of there lungs as always. It was a really great experience even though we lost but just the atmosphere to be around was unlike anything I could ever imagine. I would definitely do this again in a heartbeat.

Photo: Nick Gović; Wembley after match

~Nick Gović, reporting from London, United Kingdom

CROATIA-ENGLAND 24 HOURS AFTER

Eduardo Penalty? You be the judge.



Most of you by now have had enough of the Croatian nightmare that happened less than 24 hours ago in front of 80,000 plus in London. I feel for my uncle and two cousins that made the 5,000 mile trip to watch Croatia's greatest ever defeat. However, all the pain and sorrow will be forgotten as long as Croatia qualifies for the world cup. Now I search for answers.

Question #1

What would have happened if Eduardo gets a well deserved penalty kick which would have cut the deficit in half 2-1?


Eduardo Penalty? You be the judge.

“Any situation you face as a top-level player, you have to deal with, and you can only do that by being mentally strong. The situation with Eduardo has been created by the media impact of his case but that is not the worst. The worst thing is that now he is not given penalties when they are penalties. That is much worse. The one last night against England was a penalty.”

~ Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger

Photo: Adam Davy/Empics; Arsene Wenger

Believe it or not, Josip Šimunić has gifted England three penalty kicks, twice in qualification and once at the European Championship in Portugal 2004. Šimunić, at fault for three penalty kicks and three yellow cards in one game, can you say LEGEND.

Question #2

Is this a coincidence or is something going on behind the scenes?

Šimunić penalty against England 11-22-2007

Šimunić penalty against England 9-9-09

Some of you on this site feel that Slaven Bilić will get the ax within a few days. Slaven will celebrate his 41st birthday on Friday. Will they wait till next week or ruin Slaven's birthday weekend?

Question #3

Should Slaven get the boot?

Slaven Bilić after England disaster

Question #4

How do you feel about Croatia's chances of advancing if we do make the playoffs?

Here are some of the possible playoff opponents:

Portugal, Sweden, Denmark; Greece, Latvia; Slovenia, Czech; Russia, Germany; Bosna; Norway; Ireland; France

~A very disappointed Denis Svirčić, searching for answers