Who will make up the group of death at the Euro 2016 draw?

That’s a pretty great field to be honest, and it looks much better than what many fans feared based on the teams’ recent form, what with Euro 2016 being the first version of the tournament to be expanded to 24 teams. There were several shocks and upsets in the field, to be sure, perhaps most notably with the Netherlands failing to even make the playoff round. But every team in the field definitely earned their place and looked strong in doing so.

Instead of doing a boring recap of how everyone got here, though -- you’ve seen the story before and will a few more times in the coming weeks -- let’s skip all that and go straight to the fantasy booking of groups to be drawn, shall we? That’s far more entertaining.

Everyone wants to know which group will be the Group of Death. There’s always one or two in a given tournament, with four really strong teams that could end up finishing in a number of different ways. There’s a lot of potential options in this edition of the European Championship, but here’s what we think would be the real Group of Death.

Germany, Italy, Sweden, Wales

That’s the defending World Cup champs, the runners-up at Euro 2012, Team Zlatan and Team Bale. Quite an imposing group, no?

Germany are the obvious pick, being the best team in Europe and probably still the best in the world. They’re loaded with incredible talent from top to bottom, and it’s going to be hard to keep them from winning the whole thing. They’re the favorites for a reason -- though perhaps their opponents watching those matches against the Republic of Ireland closely could teach them a thing or two about exploiting possible weaknesses in the German side.

Italy failed miserably in the World Cup, but that was under Cesare Prandelli. Antonio Conte took over before Euro qualifying began and guided Italy through an undefeated group stage, winning seven matches and drawing three. The Azzurri are still far from perfect -- that much is obvious from watching their friendlies -- but under Conte they’ve become a tougher team focused on doing what’s needed for the win. In a tournament environment, that’s always the kind of team that you don’t want to face.

Sweden and Wales are both built around singular talents in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale, but in a very real way the current versions of both teams have their superstars complementing what the rest of the team is doing, instead of being one-man-bands as they have been in the past.

Wales has cultivated an excellent midfield and a rapidly-improving defense, and has a few decent attacking talents to take some pressure off Bale. Sweden has a tough midfield and a very under-rated back line. Those are very good bases to build a team on. When you add those bases to the magisterial talents of an in-form Ibrahimovic or Bale, you get a team that can win any match, no matter who they’re facing.

In this group, Germany would probably win it -- but that’s not a certainty given the other three teams. Who finishes second to advance to the knockout rounds would be completely up in the air, and given the slugfests this group would be in, don’t be surprised if the third place team would not be one of the four third-place group finishers to advance.

For every Group of Death with four excellent teams, there’s a group at the other end of the spectrum. There’s always a team or two in every pot that probably shouldn’t be ranked as high as they are, and that inevitably winds up creating a group of teams that just aren’t that great. Our pick for that unenviable group in this Euro field might raise a few eyebrows.

England, Austria, Hungary, Northern Ireland

England are, on their day, one of the best teams around. But they have a shoddy defense, a midfield reliant on oft-injured players and an attack that leans on Wayne Rooney -- whose form has been ice-cold more often than not over the last two years. Add that to a manager who has long struggled to adapt to adversity, and you have a potential recipe for disaster.

Austria and Northern Ireland were both fan darlings of the qualifying process, with a string of upsets and fun games leading them to win their respective qualifying groups. But both teams were punching well above their weight, and don’t look like they have talent to keep this dream run going. They’re a lot of fun, yes, but they’re the kind of teams that just don’t tend do well once they get to a final tournament like this.

As for Hungary, they’re a decent team with a few good players. They’re also kind of boring and are the weakest team in their pot. Nothing personal, but someone from pot three had to wind up here.

The Group of Death is one thing, and the Group of Trash is another. But what about the most fun group? The one that you see the draw for and just know that you have to watch every match in it because they’re all going to be absolutely nuts? This is our pick for the group everyone has to watch.

Belgium, Croatia, Poland, Republic of Ireland

While Belgium wound up being vaguely disappointing at the World Cup, they’ve spent the last year figuring out how to play as a team and not just a diverse assembly of exceptional talents. They’ve gotten pretty scary, and are ranked first in the world in FIFA’s rankings as a result. If anyone can knock Germany off their throne of dominance, it’s them.

Croatia have arguably the most talented midfield in Europe -- albeit not a very well balanced one -- and the rest of their team isn’t bad either. They’ve got some intriguing options in attack and defense that make them a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams, and they play some fun football with all the talent they’ve assembled.

Poland used to be built more or less solely around Robert Lewandowski -- perhaps understandable given that he’s one of the best strikers around -- but over the last two years they’ve had a number of other players in midfield and defense hit their primes and develop in a big way. This is a much better team than the one that struggled through their Euro 2012 appearance as co-hosts -- so are Ukraine, for that matter -- and they’re a very watchable, very fun team.

And how about Ireland? A resounding playoff success put them in Euro 2016, and they earned a win at home over Germany and a draw to them away during qualifying, proving the long-held belief that they’re always up for every game, no matter how big an underdog they are. Plus hearing their fans cheer them on no matter the score is always a treat.

We’ve still got a few weeks to wait until the draw is made, and seven long months until Euro 2016 begins. The anticipation can now start to build, and the speculation along with it. Who do you want to see matched up in groups for this tournament? Who was your big surprise as far as what teams made it or didn’t?