Some fantastic matchups await fans in Austria and Vienna next summer, after the group stages for Euro 2008 were drawn in Switzerland today. The groups are as follows:

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey

Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland

Group C: Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France

Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

That's some fantastic competition, and although all the groups are tough, Group C will easily be the Group of Death for the tournament.

Group A is interesting with hosts Switzerland joined by the more attack minded Czechs, Portugal and Turkey. The Swiss didn't concede at single goal at last year's World Cup, and their young side will have matured even more now. The Czechs unfortunately suffer from a reliance on the ageing Jan Koller that has been ingrained into their playing style over the years, and the creative burden falls almost entirely on the injury prone Tomas Rosicky. Portugal will be as strong as ever, with clubmates Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani providing attacking wizardry, Deco pulling the strings, and Carvalho, Ferreira, Meira and Miguel provide class and experience at the back. Unfortunately their strikeforce is still suspect - Nuno Gomes is over the hill, and Hugo Almeida is still unproven. As for Turkey, well they will be as unpredictable as ever. They did well at Euro 2000, then finished 3rd at the Korea-Japan 2002, and then failed to qualify for either Portugal 2004 or Germany 2006. Temperamental but gifted, they boast an array of German-based (and German-born!) talent in the Altintop brothers, Nuri Sahin, and Yildiray Basturk. Then there's Nihat (Villareal), Emre (Newcastle) and Tuncay Sanli (Middlesborough). The living legend Hakan Sukur is still soldiering on (37 years old, 112 caps, 51 goal), and Besiktas defender Gokhan Zan is one of Europe's brightest young stoppers. Russia-based striker Hasan Kabze might just have a surprise impact. The Swiss-Turkey match is likely to be bad-tempered and exciting - they fought during the Germany 2006 Qualifiers, after the Swiss knocked out the Turks.

My picks: Portugal and Turkey. Portugal have too much talent and experience. The Czechs no longer have enough quality. The Swiss lack goalscoring ability. The Turks have a huge collection of imaginative, dangerous attackers, and if they click they will cause problems.

Group B will have Germany joined by neighbours Austria and Poland, and nearby Croatia (well, Europe isn't all that big anyways). Austria are severely short of any real talent, and despite the home backing, they're likely to fall short. Croatia have become an excellent unit, with depth in every position. Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar are fantastic midfielders, and Arsenal striker Eduardo should be settled, fit and in-form by the time the tournament starts. Germany are stalwarts as ever, with Joachim Loew continuing the good work he started en route to Germany 2006. They have a batch of new talents, many of them with question marks over their heads, and a lot will depend on the fitness of Michael Ballack and how quickly the goalkeeping situation is resolved - if Lehmann continues to be on the bench for Arsenal, and Hildebrand continues to start for Valencia, then the latter will be Number 1. Poland qualified very easily, but are an ageing side that lack any genuinely top-class players. However they work well as a unit, and Rasiak and Zurawski work well together up front. 'Keeper Boruc is underrated, and could be one of the best at Euro 2008. This group should see a lot of intense matchups because of the presence of the hosts, and the regional/political rivalries of some of the countries, and the Germany-Croatia encounter will be a fascinating tactical matchup.

My picks: Germany and Croatia. The Germans will cruise through, and Croatia will be too classy and clever for the rest. The Poles might ruffle a few feathers, but will not cause any real surprises. Austria will be happy to get a draw or two.

Group C is going to be the highlight of the early part of the tournament, and sees two pairs of qualifying opponents rematched. The Netherlands have a lot to prove after repeated failures at major tournaments since Euro 2000 was played on their home soil. They have superbly talented players, but too many egos, and poor temperament. Van Persie, Robben and Van Nistelrooy make up a deadly attacking trio, with Van der Vaart, Seedorf and the amazing Sneijder providing the ammunition. The Dutch have one of the most talented squads in the world, but doubts remain over their defensive ability. Italy are Italy, and will always be tough. There are no new names or faces, although Totti has retired from Internationals. Gilardino is in much better form for his club now, and should provide more of a presence. Toni is banging in the goals in Germany. Apart from Pirlo, Italia don't have much creativity, but that's never been their strong suit, and they will always grind out results and get important goals. Romania are a talented but fragile team. They beat the Netherlands in qualifying, and they have a magician in Steaua playmaker Dica. They can also call on Fiorentina attacker Adrian Mutu, and Inter's Cristian Chivu, one of the world's finest defenders. They have a squad full of good technicians, many of whom ply their trade across Europe's top leagues. Finally, France will want to continue their post-Zidane resurgence. They have their old collection of big names like Henry, Trezeguet, Vieira, Thuram and Makelele, but they will be looking to the younger Franck Ribery for creative inspiration now. Ribery's former colleague at Marseille, Samir Nasri, and the two other French-Arab youngsters Hatem Ben Arfa and Karm Benzema (both from Lyon) are capable of sublime attacking magic. Much will depend on Domenech's willingness to give the new faces a chance. In Gregory Coupet, Mickael Laundreau, Sebastien Frey and Ulrich Rame, they have a varied but error-prone set of 'keepers. Apart from the obvious France-Italy and Holland-Romania grudge matches, every game in this group will be fantastic. The Italy-Holland games will be a fantastic battle of wits, tactics and skill.

My picks: Netherlands and France. The Dutch kids will finally come good. France are formidable, and already beat Italy in qualifying. Romania are too inexperienced and fragile. Italy have gotten away with having easy groups in past tournaments (not to mention "friendly" referees), but they will struggle in this mix.

Group D is unlikely to throw up too many surprises. Reigning champions Greece are still coached by German tactical magician "King" Otto Rehhagel, but are unlikely to be able to repeat the surprises of the last tournament. They have an ageing squad, with a sparse amount of attacking talent, and an unproven collection of strikers. But you can never say never. Sweden have always had a tradition of achieving results with average, workmanlike squads with a few gifted players. Previously with Dahlin, Brolin, and Larsson, and now with Ljungberg and Ibrahimovic, they benefit from a solid coaching setup, and a great understanding in the squad of how to play and compete. John Elmander is a very talented young striker who could have an impact. Not much can be said about Spain that hasn't already been said. Traditional flops at the major tournaments, but always blessed with world class players, they will arrive at Euro 2008 with Fabregas, Torres, Alonso, Casillas, Ramos, Puyol and so many other brilliant players in every position. Russia just managed to sneak through after finishing poorly. Hiddink is a great tactician, but with a harmful ego. Kerzhakov is their main attacking threat, and young 'keeper Igor Akinfeev is one of the best in the world, but he might not be fit for the tournament. The Spain-Sweden game is another rematch from the qualifiers and will be the highlight.

My picks: Spain and Sweden. The Spanish will get through the group stage easily enough, whether they can have the impact they should on the rest of the tournament remains to be seen. Sweden might have a few problems, but they will be able to get results. Greece are clever and can take points off the bigger teams, but are one-dimensional. Russia will be lost in the mix. 

Stay tuned during the tournament of course, for all kinds of updates from OleOle - videos, podcasts, blogs, news and more. We might even have a few contests running beforehand for you, and don't forget about our Tickets & Travel section, which will have some great deals to let you watch some great games.

In a recent interview, Alex Ferguson said that it was his duty to produce English players, because nobody else was going to. Whether he intended it that way or not, the media interpreted it as a pop at Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, and probably a bit at Liverpool as well.

Of course, this all comes on the back of England's defeat to Croatia, and their generally bad football over the last year, and how all this is somehow the fault of foreign players coming in, and how clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool don't produce enough English players. Of course clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea are hailed for having "English souls" and whatever else, but that's really a lot of crap. It's easy for the two richest clubs in the country to go out and spend 10-20m on an English player and then claim that they have homegrown players. It's also nonsense.

So I thought i'd take a look at the two clubs named as the big "saviours" of English football, and see just exactly how many English international players they've "produced".

From the England squads, Manchester United have Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Rio Ferdinand and Ben Foster. Which is fine I suppose, it's nice to have 7 England internationals, and I guess Alex Ferguson can be proud of that. But when it's used as stick to beat other clubs and managers with, then it becomes very, very unfair, because how much did these players cost?

Well, Rooney cost £27 million, Carrick cost £18m, Hargreaves cost £17m, and Ferdinand cost £33m. Ben Foster was a £1 million buy from Stoke, and ONLY two players - Gary Neville and Wes Brown - are from United's "famed" youth setup. Well, that's a total cost of £96 million! It's easy to brag about your "English core" when you're filthy rich isn't it!

And Chelsea? Well they have Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Shaun-Wright Pillips. Once again, errr... well done for having all these Englishman in the squad, but again, how many have Chelsea produced? Just one - John Terry. As for the rest? Ashley Cole cost about £17 million (£5m + William Gallas), Wayne Bridge cost £7m, Frank Lampard cost £11m, Joe Cole cost £7m and Shaun Wright-Phillips cost £21m. Total cost: £63 million.

Chelsea and Manchester United spend more on their beloved English players than most clubs (Arsenal included) do in 2 or 3 seasons on ALL their players. And how many can you say are worth it? Is Owen Hargreaves really worth £17m when Mathieu Flamini cost £1m? Is Rio Ferdinand really worth £33m when Kolo Toure cost £750,000? Is Wayne Bridge worth £7m when Patrice Evra was only £4.5m? And Michael Carrick £18m when the far superior Xabi Alonso was only £11m? There's a reason that clubs look abroad for players, and it's not because they dislike English players or want to harm English football, it's because the prices and hype that surrounded even a moderately talented English player are ludicrously high, and clubs other than Chelsea and Manchester United can't really throw the money around.

In any case, we've seen that between them, Chelsea and Manchester United presently have only three club-produced England internationals in their squads. So why don't we look at the recent England squads, and the number of players that have been club-produced by the "Big Four", and when they won their first caps:

Manchester United: Gary Neville (1995), David Beckham (1996), Phil Neville (1996), Wes Brown (1999)
Arsenal: Ashley Cole (March 2001), David Bentley (September 2007)
Liverpool: Steven Gerrard (2000), Michael Owen (1998)
Chelsea: John Terry (June 2003)

OK, so Manchester United have the most home-produced players of those 4, but the most recent cap of them all was Wes Brown in 1998, and he's not even that important. They're basically still living off the reputation of their much vaunted "Golden Generation", but the fact is that United have not produced a decent English player in years and years, and their present crop are decidedly ageing and average at the ages of 32, 31, 32 and 28.

And I'd like to follow that up by asking you which club from the "Big Four" has produced the most number of players to be capped in this decade? Well the answer to that, funnily enough, is Arsenal! Two is not a large number, but it's certainly more than Manchester United have given to English football in the last 7 years. And if you look at the recent England youth squads, you will find that it's Arsenal who are producing the most talented young English players, and in good numbers as well. Surely this can only be because of their foreign manager, and all the incredibly talented foreign players that are there in training and on the field?

Incidentally the two clubs that have contributed the most to recent English squads are Leeds and West Ham. Leeds - Aaron Lennon, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Scott Carson, and Jonathan Woodgate
West Ham - Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe (although the latter was schooled mostly at Charlton)

Thank you Croatia, for bringing down to earth the most over-hyped national team on the planet. Exemplified by the hype that Soccernet loves to throw out: