Euro 2008 draw

It's never too early to think about that next major tournament, and with the Euro 2008 qualifiers beginning pretty much right after the World Cup, it's time for yet another draw. Here are the results.

Some thoughts.

• Group B sets up a tasty France-Italy series, a matchup that would seem unlikely for a qualifying tournament. (It occurs because the holders, Greece, get a seeding and Italy, who really when you think about it haven't achieved all that much in the last few years, got placed in the second pot.) The top two teams from each group qualify, but the danger here for France and Italy is that they draw twice with one another (not unlikely) and then split their series with Ukraine. That would give the Ukraine the group win and cause one of these two marquee teams not to qualify.
• England and Holland got pretty easy groups, although they both involve lots of trips to Eastern Europe.
• Greece vs Turkey. Now that will be fun. No animosity in that rivalry, no sirree.
• Just about every other team in that Group D is in with a chance of making it to the final.
• Can someone explain to me why Kazakhstan is in UEFA? They are not geographically in Europe, and they aren't culturally in Europe. (Israel, I can understand. But Kazakhstan?)