Capello banks on kids on eve of mouthwatering Euro 2012 draw

Fabio Capello insists England's young guns could blossom in time for their assault on Euro 2012.

The Three Lions boss is in Kiev for Friday afternoon's draw for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

England will discover the three teams they will be pitted against in the group stages next summer.

Youth is key: Capello believes the young players can make a difference for England

Despite failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and their shambolic campaign at the World Cup last year, Capello is confident emerging players such as Phil Jones and Jack  Wilshere can hold their own.

He said: 'For the World Cup we had the older players with the experience. Now it's something new - very interesting and new. 

'Now we have got the young players. I think when we play the Euros they will be better than they are now.'

Elsewhere, holders Spain could be drawn against their three winning predecessors in the draw.

Trying to become the first team to successfully defend the title, UEFA's seedings left Spain with the possibility of facing Greece, France and Germany.

While the Spanish are favorites, Vicente Del Bosque's side has lost four matches against the world's top teams - including England - since winning the World Cup last summer.

'We are in a more difficult position than in 2008 - back then we were contenders,' said Del Bosque. 'Now we go as holders. We go there with an even bigger responsibility.

'There is a greater selection of top sides - Holland, Germany, England, Italy, France. It's a tall order against some quality opposition.'

Jack and Phil: The Arsenal and United midfielders could feature predominantly for the Three Lions next summer

Euro 2012 will be a true test of the continent's footballing elite as the top 14 teams - when ranked by UEFA on competitive matches since 2006 - all qualified. 

'It's going to be a high-class, attractive tournament with all top teams from the UEFA rankings,' said Germany coach Joachim Low. 'There won't be easy games in the group stage or in the knockout stage.'

Kiev's Palace of Arts will be the venue on Friday where the 16 teams discover their group stage opponents in the tournament that runs from June 8 to July 1.

It is a draw some doubted would ever take place in Ukraine, which spent much of the last four years facing criticism over its lagging preparations for the tournament.

While some roads and a key airport are still to be completed, Ukraine was faster than Poland in completing its four host stadiums - in Kiev, Donetsk, Kiev and Kharkiv - before European football leaders arrived for the draw.

The co-hosts are joined by Spain and Holland as the top-seeded teams, while England, Germany, Italy and Russia are in the second-seeded pot.

In the third pot are Euro 2004 champion Greece, Croatia, Sweden and Portugal.

'I'd like to avoid Spain,' Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo said. 'I prefer to play the favorites later in the tournament.'

Defending champions: Spain are the team to beat

France is in the lowest-ranked pool for the second straight Euros - alongside Denmark, the Czech Republic and Ireland - due in part to its failure to win a match at  its last two major tournaments.

No wonder that when asked recently if France has a realistic chance of winning Euro 2012, coach Laurent Blanc responded: 'No.'

The side, though, is on an 17-game unbeaten run after losing its first two matches under Blanc, who took over from Raymond Domenech following France's dismal World  Cup campaign.

Referring to last month's 1-0 victory over the United States and 0-0 draw with Belgium, Blanc said: 'We've improved even if you couldn't see it in these two  matches.

'I can tell you that, abroad, they have more respect for the French national team. The Germans want to avoid us, which is rather a compliment. I can assure them that we want to avoid them too.'

Meanwhile, Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni is relishing the draw.

He said: 'We have respect for the other countries, bigger countries, but I have always said we must also think we have the possibility to beat them.

'We have shown that we can play well against bigger countries; against France, Italy, Russia, also Brazil and Argentina.

'We can not only dream, we can believe we can play against bigger teams. Two years ago, we had something that was not 100 per cent ready. Now we can have 

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