#Euro2012 Group B Predictions and Stats

The Deadliest Group of Death – Ever!

After a promising start to Euro 2012 in Group A, the big guns take the field in Group B tonight. Every tournament has its Group of Death and without a doubt this is this year’s. Three of the top five FIFA ranked teams in the world are in the group, and all four teams in the group are ranked in the world top 10 according to FIFA (Germany 2, Holland 3, Portugal 5, Denmark 10). The Raptor has calculated that this makes it the toughest group ever drawn for any tournament with an average FIFA ranking of 5, beating the previous deadliest Group of Death from Euro 1996 (Germany, Russia, Italy and the Czech Republic which had an average FIFA ranking of 5.5). The Danes can count themselves particularly unlucky; they won their Euro qualification group, finishing above FIFA 5th ranked Portugal, and now find themselves fourth favourites in the Group of Death, and, according to the probabilities calculated by the Raptor from bookies’ odds, the least likely team to win (against Holland) in the tournament so far with only a 14.8% chance tonight.

Germany v Portugal bookies’ odds converted into percentage probabilities by the Raptor: Germany 47.85%, Draw 28.11%, Portugal 24.04% #Euro2012

Holland v Denmark bookies’ odds converted into percentage probabilities by the Raptor: Holland 59.54%, Draw 25.66%, Denmark 14.8% #Euro2012