Sunday, June 8, 2008

Group A

Teams	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Portugal	1	1	0	2	0	3
Czech Republic	1	1	0	1	0	3
Switzerland	1	0	1	0	1	0
Turkey	1	0	1	0	2	0

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Match 2: Portugal V Turkey

Result :: Portugal 2 - 0 Turkey (Pepe, R. Meireles)

C Ronaldo and Pepe joyous after the goal

Portuguese fans celebrating the goal

New Chelsea signing Jose Bosingwa has been doubtful in the run in to Euro 2008 with a muscle strain but he has declared himself fit to play. Cristiano Ronaldo has also been seen training with an ice pack strapped to his ankle this week but he should be in the starting line up tomorrow against Turkey.

Turkey's Hamit Altintop has raised cause for concern. He himself has declared himself fit to play tomorrow against Portugal but his club Bayern Munich say that he is struggling with a muscle strain.

Turkey and Portugal have met each other on 6 previous occasions. Turkey have won only once and Portugal have came out on top 5 times. Portugal have also won all 4 of the competitive matches that the two countries have featured in.

Nuno Gomes has the chance to be included alongside Jurgen Klinsman and Vladimir Smicer in the group of players to score in 3 different European Championships. Turkey Goalkeeper Rustu Recber will be Turkey's only player at this years Euro 2008 who already has experience of playing in the European Championships.

Match 1 : Switzerland V Czech Republic

Switzerland V Czech Republic

Result :: Czech 1 - 0 Switzerland (Sverkos)

BASEL (Reuters) - Euro 2008 gets underway on Saturday with co-hosts Switzerland pitting their promising young team against an experienced Czech Republic side (5 p.m. British time) keen to prove their best days are not behind them.

Koebi Kuhn's Swiss squad are one of the youngest at these finals but include several players who have already experienced two major tournaments.

"Our players have developed and ripened since the 2006 World Cup," captain Alex Frei told reporters at the team's base camp.

"I believe in the quality of the team and I know it is hungry for success. We want to write history and now have the chance to do so in our own country."

The former Czechoslovakia won Euro 1976 and recent successes for the side include an appearance in the 1996 final and a run to the 2004 semi-finals.

But the international retirements of Karel Poborsky and Pavel Nedved along with the loss through injury of captain Tomas Rosicky have raised doubts over the pedigree of this squad.

"I don't know why people would say we are not as good as we were before," midfielder David Jarolim told reporters at the team's training ground in Seefeld, Austria.

"We have qualified for the last three tournaments in a row. That shows how strong we are and we will prove it again at Euro 2008

Friday, June 6, 2008

Luca Toni

Luca Toni

The scoring machine paced the Bundesliga with 25 goals for Bayern Munich during this year's title-winning campaign. Two summers after the Azzurri captured their fourth World Cup title, the 31-year old striker will spearhead a three-pronged attack with wingers Antonio Di Natale and Mauro Camoranesi.

Christiano Ronaldo

Christiano Ronaldo

The charismatic right winger punched in 42 goals for Manchester United this past season, helping the Red Devils achieve a prestigious "double" by winning the English Premier League title in addition to the UEFA Champions League. With a dominant performance at Euro 2008, Ronaldo could secure a place for himself among soccer's all-time greats -- at just 23 years old.

Petr Cech

Petr Cech

The 6-foot-5, 191-pound goalkeeper is expected to assume the captain's armband with the Czech team having lost incumbent skipper Tomas Rosicky for the tournament to a hamstring injury. The Chelsea stopper surrendered just five goals during qualifying and provides an intimidating last line of defense for a country ranked sixth in the FIFA world rankings.

Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres

Torres arrived at Liverpool last summer as the storied English club's record signing and immediately lived up to advance billing, scoring 24 of his 33 goals in Premiership games to break Ruud van Nistelrooy's record for most league goals by a foreign player in a debut season. Having established himself as one of the world's most fearsome predators up front, the slippery 23-year-old striker hopes to lead Spain to its first European Championship title since 1964.

Frank Ribery

Frank Ribery

The creative, fast-paced playmaker just wrapped up a spectacular debut campaign with Bayern Munich, helping the German club win the Bundesliga while chipping in 11 goals. Still smarting from his country's World Cup disappointment two summers ago, the 25-year-old midfielder hopes to salve those wounds with France's third European Championship.

Players to watch in Euro 2008

5 to watch during the tournament who can change the outcome of any match

Official song of Euro 2008

Other videos

Winning goal of Euro 2004

Official song of Euro 2004

Euro 2004 song

Official song of Euro 2004

Other Videos

Winning goal in final Euro 2004

Relive Euro 2004

Charisteas winning goal in Euro 2004

Ronaldo wants to play at Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo's future at Manchester United has taken a new twist after the winger was reported as saying he would like to play for Real Madrid.

Real have been tracking Ronaldo, 23, despite being warned off by United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"I'd like to play for Real Madrid but only if it's true they are ready to pay what Manchester United ask of them," he told respected Brazilian website Terra.

"However, it does not depend on me," said Portuguese midfielder.

"I'll only talk about this again after the European Championship," added Ronaldo. "Don't ask me any questions because I won't answer."

BBC Radio 5 Live's Mike Sewell who was with the Portugal squad in Switzerland on Thursday said he had spoken to another Portuguese journalist who had verified the translation of the website interview.

Journalist Julio Gomez, who spoke to Ronaldo, said nothing was cut and dry yet.

"This statement actually puts the pressure on Real," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The Spanish club would have to come up with the fee that United ask for Ronaldo, if the Premier League side decide to sell him.

"So if Ronaldo doesn't play for Real next season then it might be deemed as Real's fault for not matching the asking price.

"He's not saying he won't play for United, he's saying that he wants to play for Real but these conditions have to be fulfilled and the outcome doesn't depend on him."

"I'm sure when he was young his dream was to play for Real Madrid at one stage in his career"
Former Tottenham winger David Ginola

Earlier this week Madrid president Ramon Calderon told Spanish newspaper Marca that the signing of Ronaldo "seems impossible" but, following Ronaldo's comments to Terra on Thursday, he has spoken again on the matter.

"For Madrid it is an honour to know that a player like him thinks that playing at Real would be good," he told Spanish newspaper AS.

"We are proud to know that he would like to be with us."

Further complicating the situation, Ronaldo's mother Dolores Aveiro was quoted on Friday saying her son would be staying with Manchester United.

"He is fine where he is," she told Portuguese television station TV1.

"The future only God knows, but what is sure is that he is going to continue in England."

Last season Ronaldo scored 42 goals as United won the Champions League and the Premier League.

Former France international and Tottenham winger David Ginola told BBC Radio 5 Live he believes the best option for the winger is to stay at United.

"I'm sure when he was young his dream was to play for Real Madrid at one stage in his career," said Ginola.

606: DEBATE
"He's priceless. He's not going anywhere"
Lux-Aeterna

"It would be no surprise to me if he went, but if it was me I would wait another two or three years because playing in the best league in world, playing probably for best club in world, there's nothing better than that.

"He still has a few things to achieve in this country and I'm sure he can win more trophies. He is so loved in England that people would be disappointed to see a player like that leave."

Previously, Ferguson has maintained the Portuguese winger would not move, saying: "I'm confident about that. I'm very confident.

"It's a game Real play all the time, In the past they've done it with [David] Beckham, they've done it with Ronaldo, they've done it with my fitness coach last summer when they took him away from us, so we're used to it.

"It's a compliment to the standard of players we have, and we always seem to produce, but I am more than confident Cristiano will be with us next year."

"The Glazer family will not be messed about in this situation.

"We want Cristiano to stay for a long, long time. He is on a fantastic contract and quite rightly so - he's the best player in the world."

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Team History:Group D

Group D

Spain's European Championships Record

The Spanish national football team are surely one of life's great mysteries. An enigmatic mix of talent and under-achievement has haunted them like a ghost for the last 40 years. On paper they are currently one of the finest national teams in the world and always look capable of winning trophies. However, with the 2008 European Championships looming in Austria and Switzerland, a gut-feeling deep down suggests that it is just not going to happen. During their qualifying campaign Spain showed a bizarre combination of both genius and the catastrophic. Who could forget David Healy's marvellous hat-trick against them in Northern Ireland's famous 3-2 victory in Belfast? Couple that with a four game winning streak and a convincing 3-0 victory over Sweden and you have the same old confusing Spanish team.

Spain's strikeforce can easily be viewed as one of the most lethal partnerships in world football. Valencia's superstar David Villa has skill, pace and trickery in his locker, as well as an impressive strike rate. His strike partner Fernando Torres of Liverpool has single-handedly kept his club team's season alive by scoring pretty much whenever he feels like it. Backing up these two stars are players like Tamudo of Espanyol, and Arizmendi of Valencia. Somewhat strangely though the national manager, Luis Aragon�s, has exiled the team's all-time top scorer Raul from the squad altogether.

Spain's only major trophy in their history was when they won the European Championships in 1964. They were the host nation that year and it was also their debut in the competition. They claimed several high-profile scalps on the way to lifting the prestigious trophy in 64. A 2-1 victory in the semi-final over a highly-rated Hungarian squad was a pivotal moment in the tournament, the final was held at Real Madrid's Bernab�u stadium in front of over 125,000 people, Spain won the game 2-1 against The Soviet Union with a late winner coming from Marcelino Mart�nez after the USSR had equalised their earlier strike.

Over the years the team qualified for a further six European Championships, this year being their eighth appearance, but never recreated the form that saw them once lift the trophy. Since that famous victory 44 years ago Spain have built up a reputation as the perennial under-achievers of world football: a reputation they would happily put to bed should they achieve success in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

Spain's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Russia's European Championships Record

The Russian team is ranked 22^nd in the ranking issued by FIFA in February 2008. The team is currently managed by Guus Hiddink, who continued to impress everyone by leading the Russian team to Euro 2008 qualification, which unfortunately meant that England won't be appearing in this tournament. In total, Russia has appeared in 2 World Cups (1994 and 2002) and three European Championships (1996, 2004 and 2008). However, in both competitions, Russia has never qualified from its group and was eliminated after just 3 games.

At Euro 1996, held in England, Russia played Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy in Group C. The Russians earned a 3-3 draw against Czech Republic, but lost to Italy (2-1) and Germany (3-0). Russia ended the group stage at the bottom of their group with just a single point. Four years ago in Euro 2004 held in Portugal, Russia was drawn in Group A with eventual finalists Portugal, eventual winners Greece, and Spain. Russia lost to Spain 1-0, lost to Portugal 2-0, but ironically beat eventual European Champions Greece 2-1. Therefore, once again, the team ended this phase at the bottom of the group, with just 3 points and were eliminated.

In the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, Russia eliminated England on the final day, after winning against Andorra 1-0 (with England losing 3-2 at home to Croatia). Russia went through in the second place and were drawn in Group D with Spain (again), Greece (again) and Sweden. Russia have the right manager to realise qualification from the group stage for them. A combination of hard work and good luck may see Russia doing very well in this group.

Russia's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Greece's European Championships Record

Greece are the reigning European Champions having beaten Portugal 1-0 in the Final in Portugal 4 years ago. Greece do not have a very vast history in the competition. In the Euro 2008, they'll be competing for only the third time in the competition, Greece's first appearance in the competition was in 1980, but in that event, they failed to win a single match.

Their first win in the European Championships was in their first match of Euro 2004, a 2-1 win over Portugal in the group stage. In the other group stage matches, Greece earned an unlikely draw against Spain and lost against Russia, this was though enough for the Greeks to progress. This was already unexpected out of the Greek squad that were given excessively high odds at the beginning of the competition. In the quarterfinals, Greece continued to impress by beating former champions France. Their success did not stop here. They were drawn against the Czech Republic, the only unbeaten team left in the competition, who had managed an astonishing 4 straight wins before losing on a late silver goal to Greece. To the delight of the Greek fans that had spent so much to travel to Portugal, Greece were in the final to meet the Portuguese squad for the second time in the competition. As if this was not already a great success for the Greeks, they went on to score a goal through Charisteas, and hold onto their lead to become the Champions of Europe.

This win soared Greece up in the FIFA rankings, and in February 2008, they stand in 10^th place. Greece owe their success partly to their current manager, the German Otto Rehhagel. He always motivated the squad to cause the upsets in the matches they have won against the big teams. Greece will be determined to hold onto their status of champions in this year's European Championship. They were drawn in Group D alongside Sweden, Spain and Russia, quite a coincidence that two of the three teams were in the same group as Greece in Euro 2004.

Greece's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Sweden's European Championships Record

Sweden qualified for the European Football Championships as runners-up in group F to Spain, with eight victories, two draws and two defeats, the group also contained teams such as Northern Ireland, Iceland and Denmark. Sweden tend to do surprisingly well in major competitions however, realistically they may struggle to even get through the group stages as they are in Group D of the tournament along with Spain, Russia and current champions Greece. Even if they do progress through the group stages, they are likely to have to play either France or Italy in the knockout stages which will be a difficult game to progress from.

Sweden's best performance at a European Championships came in 1992 when they were hosts for Euro 92. Playing in the same group as Denmark, France & England, Denmark went on to win the tournament, but Sweden did beat them in the group stages, Sweden were knocked out at the semi-finals stage, where they were beaten by Germany 3-2.

Sweden's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Team History:Group C

Group C

Romania's European Championships Record

Romania are ranked 13^th in the FIFA rankings issued on February 2008. This signifies that this nation should be respected by its opponents. The Golden Era of the Romanian national football team was the 1990s, when Gheorghe Hagi formed part of the Romanian starting line-up. Euro 2008 will be Romania's fourth appearance in the European Championships. The team has qualified for the 1984, 1996 and 2000 events. The '84 and '96 were very disappointing with Romania being eliminated at the group stage. The Euro 2000 held in Belgium/Netherlands was their most successful, they reached the quarterfinal of the competition.

In the Euro 2000, Romania were favourites to be kicked around by the opposition, being drawn in an ultra-tough group containing Portugal, Germany and England. However, Romania surprised everyone by earning a draw against the Germans, losing to a late goal against Portugal, and managing a 3-2 over England with a late penalty from Ganea. Romania qualified in second place, behind Portugal. However, Romania had to play Group B winners Italy, who had won all three group stage matches, in their quarter final, which they lost 2-0.

Romania failed to qualify for Euro 2004, but did extremely well in the qualifying stage for Euro 2008. They topped a very tight group, finishing above the Netherlands (runners-up) and Bulgaria (3^rd - eliminated). Romania lost just one game in qualifying, winning nine games and drawing two. Unluckily, Romania was once again drawn in the toughest group of this year's European Championship. They were drawn in Group 3, having to face Netherlands, Italy and France.

Romania's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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France's European Championships Record

The France football team, also known as The Blues, is considered and respected as one of the top sides in world football, at an international stage. From recent FIFA rankings (February 2008), the French rank 7^th, before Portugal (8^th) and after Czech Republic (6^th). In the history of football, this team has enjoyed numerous eras which were characterised by the likes of Michel Platini, Eric Cantona and more recently Zinedine Zidane. The French squad were never short of big names, with French internationals playing at top clubs in England, Spain and France. Besides home-grown talent, the French squad boasts a high level of imported talent, where African (mainly) players gain French nationality and go on to play for France. Just to mention some examples, Thierry Henry, Louis Saha and Sylvain Wiltord all have Guadeloupian origin, Zidane has Algerian origin, Malouda was born in French Guyana, Vieira is an immigrant from Senegal, and Makelele has Congolese origin.

France is managed by Raymond Domenech and captained by Inter Milan player Patrick Vieira. Thierry Henry is the all-time top scorer for the team, with his tally standing at 44 goals. Home games are played at the Stade de France, Paris. The first time that the team appeared in a European Championship was in 1960 and since then has made 7 appearances in European tournaments, including the 2008 event. They failed to qualify for 5 European Championships in a row between 1964 and 1980, but they made a great comeback in the 1984 event, held in France, which they won. Then they missed Euro 1988 but qualified for the Euro 1992 held in Sweden, since 1992, they have not missed a European Championship, appearing in all 5 events (Euro 2008 included). They won Euro 2000 held in Belgium & the etherlands, lost in the semi-finals in Euro 1996 and were eliminated in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004. France qualified for Austria-Switzerland Euro 2008 with just 2 points more Scotland and behind bitter rivals Italy who won the group.

France was drawn in the most difficult group of the competition, having to face rivals Italy again, highly-rated Netherlands and promising Romania. France will kick off its Euro 2008 campaign against Romania, after losing out in the 2006 World Cup Final against the Italians on penalties, with the publicised event regarding Zinedine Zidane's head butt and sending off, France will be looking for revenge and to reclaim the top spot in Europe.

France's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Holland's European Championships Record

Out of all the current European nations still competing, only Germany and Russia have competed in more European Championships than Holland. The Dutch first match in the tournament was in the Preliminary Round of the then 'European Nations Cup' in 1964. Van Der Linden scored their first goal in the competition in a 4-2 aggregate win over the Swiss. It was not until 1976 that they started to have a major influence in the championships, spurred on by successful World Cup campaigns previously, the Dutch finished a creditable third losing to eventual victors Czechoslovakia in extra time of the 1976 semi-final. That 'Total Football' generation of Cruyff, Neeskens and Haan to name but a few last played in the 1980 championships hosted by Italy, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Holland finally got their hands on the Henri Delaunay trophy in 1988 when coach Rinus Michels led a team including Gullit and Van Basten to glory, along their way to the trophy they defeated England in the quarter finals with a Marco Van Basten hat-trick in a 3-1 victory. A last minute Van Basten strike was enough to see off arch-rivals and host nation West Germany in a tense semi-final clash and so on June 25 1988 the Dutch got their hands on major international silverware for the first time defeating the USSR 2-0 in the Olympiastadion, Munich in front of over 70,000 supporters. Ruud Gullit scored in the first half with Van Basten scoring a half volley from an almost impossible angle in the second, which was hailed as the goal of the tournament. Van Basten finished as top scorer with 5 goals; his next closest challenger had 2.

Along with Belgium, Holland hosted the 2000 UEFA European Championships and made a successful start, winning through the group stages and coming from behind to defeat world champions France. A quarter final demolition of Yugoslavia by 6 goals to 1 including a Patrick Kluivert hat-trick set the Dutch up for a semi-final clash against Italy where they were defeated 3-1 on penalties after a goalless draw. In 2004 Holland again qualified for the semi-finals where they were defeated by the hosts Portugal in Lisbon 2-1.

Holland's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Italy's European Championships Record

Italy qualified top of group B along with runners-up France with 9 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat, the group was close with Scotland and the Ukraine narrowly missing out on making the finals. As Italy are the current world champions they are undoubtedly one of the favorites to win Euro 2008, however they had a hard time to qualify from their group in what was the most exciting of the qualifications which saw a three horse race between Italy, world cup finalists France and Scotland.

Italy have been placed in one of the toughest groups in the tournament which sees them once again against France, as well as the Netherlands and Romania, but they should just make it through to the knock-out stages and perhaps further. Italy have not won the European Championships since 1968, when they were the host nation, but this doesn't stop them from being one of the favorites as they will have the expectation and confidence from winning the 2006 World Cup.

Italy did not enter the 1960 European Nations Cup, failed to qualify in 1968, but won as hosts in 1968. They did not qualify again until 1980 where they placed fourth, losing to Czechoslovakia in the third place playoff after finished second in their group. They weren't at the 1984 in France, but reached the 1988 semi-finals, missed the 1992 tournament and didn't get out of their group in 1996 after Gianfranco Zola failed to convert a decisive penalty against eventual tournament winners Germany.

At Euro 2000 in the semifinal against the co-hosts the Holland, Francesco Toldo the Italian goalkeeper saved one penalty during the game and a further two in the shootout to book a place in the final, where they were unluckily to lose to France (2-1 on a golden goal in extra time), the French equalized with just thirty seconds of normal time left.

A three-way tie in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship meant Italy didn't make the knockout stages, finishing behind both Denmark and Sweden on the basis of number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams.

Italy's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Team History:Group B

Group B

Austria's European Championships Record

The Austrian Football team have qualified for seven World Cups, but never qualified for a European Championship. They will be making their first appearance in the competition in the Euro 2008, which they will host along with Switzerland. Austria are currently managed by Josef Hickersberger and captained by Panathinaikos player Andreas Ivanschitz, they qualified automatically for the European Championship of this year due to being co-hosts, not having to go through a qualifying campaign. Austria traditionally play their home international games in the Ernst-Happel Stadium in the beautiful city of Vienna, one of the stadiums that will be used in this year's European tournament. Playing at home will boost the players' morale and they stand a good chance of impressing in this tournament, in a group with Germany, Poland & Croatia.

Austria's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Croatia's European Championships Record

The history of Croatia is relatively new, since the team has been set up in 1990 and joined UEFA and FIFA in 1992, after Croatia was granted independence from Yugoslavia. Although very new, they possess a very strong team with an iron will to uphold their nation's pride. The first competitive matches for Croatia were the qualifying matches for the Euro 1996. They managed to qualify for this tournament, to record their first appearance in a major international tournament.

Croatia has rocketed up the FIFA ranking, qualified for every World Cup they entered, and until today won all competitive games they have played in Croatia. In the Euro 1996, they managed to reach the quarter-finals, winning two games and losing two. Croatia then failed to enter Euro 2000, but returned in the Portugal Euro 2004. However, the 2004 tournament was not a good one for Croatia which failed to win a single match. The 2008 event looks very promising for this nation, after they managed to defeat and eliminate super-giants England in the final qualifying match.

The team is currently managed by Slaven Bilic and captained by Niko Kovac (Salzburg midfielder). Croatia rank in the 12th position in the FIFA rankings, just 37 points away from England (as of February 2008). They are well-known for their attractive chequered red-and-white kits. They'll always be remembered as the team that stopped England qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals with their infamous 3-2 win at the Wembley on the 21st November 2007.

Croatia's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Germany's European Championships Record

Germany qualified for the Euro 2008 tournament by finishing runners up in group D to the Czech Republic, with 8 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat, and also breaking the record of biggest victory in qualifying with a 13-0 away win to San Marino. The main positive that Germany can take from their Euro 2008 qualification campaign is the fact that the transition from Klinsmann to new manager Löw has been so seamless. On taking control 'Jogi' insisted he would be looking to continue the attacking philosophy developed by Klinsmann and himself.

With Germany's record in Group D, it is hard to find negatives from their qualifying campaign. However, the main question mark over the team remains the goalkeeper. Jens Lehmann remains the first-choice even though he has been demoted to second-choice at his club side Arsenal and is struggling to feature for the gunners. The danger for Joachim Löw is that he goes into the finals with a keeper who has not had regular first team action. Designated second-choice Timo Hildebrand is in a similar situation over at Valencia, having not replaced Santi Canizares as first-choice following his summer transfer from Stuttgart.

Germany have been placed on group B of the euro 2008 finals along with Croatia, Austria and Poland, and should easily progress from the groups into the later stages of the competition. Germany will always be one of the favorites as they are one of the three most successful national teams at international competitions, having won a total of three World Cups and three European championships (no other team has won the European championship as many times, the most recent being in Euro 96), also Germany has not lost a penalty shootout in major international tournaments. In fact, the last penalty missed by a German player dates back to the semi-finals of the 1982 World Cup.

Another factor not to be discounted is the venues of the finals in the summer. Although not home soil, the fact that the 2008 finals tournament is being shared by close neighbours Austria and Switzerland will surely be an added advantage for the German team.

Germany's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Poland's European Championships Record

Playing for the first time in Euro Championships

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Team History : Group A

Group A

Switzerland's European Championships Record

Switzerland are the co-hosts of Euro 2008 along with Austria. They have a very brief history in European Championships. It was in Euro 1996 that the Swiss made their first appearance in a European Championship. They have never won a major trophy, and the closest they were to winning one was the quarter-finals of the World Cups of 1934, 1938 and 1954.

In Euro 1996, hosted by England, the Swiss were drawn in the same group as the hosts, Netherlands and Scotland. They only managed a single point from the match against England, which ended 1-1. It was a very short and disappointing performance in this Championship for the debutants.

Switzerland did not qualify for Euro 2000, but appeared again in Portugal Euro 2004. Here, they were drawn with England (again), France and Croatia. This time, the Swiss lost 3-0 to the English team, lost 3-1 against France, but earned a 1-1 draw against Croatia. For the second time in a row, Switzerland was eliminated at the group stage, managing just one point from three games.

The Swiss bid to host the European Championships of 2008 along with Austria was accepted, so Switzerland qualified automatically for this competition, and will be making their third appearance in this European tournament. They were drawn in Group A alongside Czech Republic, Portugal and Turkey. Considering that unfortunately they won't be facing England in the group stage this time, they are expected to please the home fans and progress through the group stage.

Led by Kobi Kuhn until the end of the Championship, and captained by Borussia Dortmund striker Alexandre Frei, this team has the backing of the supporters that will expect the team to play well on home soil. Realistically, however, it is very unlikely that they have the abilities to match the powers of Portugal or Czech Republic, and they will have to work extremely hard to defeat these teams. Still, nothing is impossible and maybe this time, on their third try, Switzerland will manage to get more than a single point in the group phase.

Switzerland's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Czech Republic's European Championships Record

Formerly part of Czechoslovakia, which had a lot of success in the past, Czech Republic split from Slovakia, and formed its own national football team. Czech Republic played their first game on the 23rd February 1994 against Turkey, a game which the team won 4-1. Czech Republic continued being a very successful club after their split from Czechoslovakia. Although they have qualified for only World Cup 2006 and failed to qualify for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, Czech Republic has to date never failed to qualify for a European Championship. They have appeared in 3 tournaments, the 1996, 2000 and 2004. In the Euro 1996, they were runners-up in the competition, losing 2-1 to Germany in the final. In Euro 2000 they failed to make the quarter finals and were eliminated at the group stage. Euro 2004 was another successful competition for the Czech team, having gone as far as the semi-finals.

Karel Bruckner is the head coach of the Czech national team, while the captain is Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal. Czech Republic play their home games in a red shirt, while their away matches are played in white shirts. Home games are played in the AXA Arena. Currently (February 2008), the team ranks in the 6th place in the FIFA rankings beating bigger teams like France, England, Netherlands and Portugal. Well-known players playing for Czech Republic are Petr Cech (Chelsea), Marek Jankulovski (Milan), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina), Jan Koller (FC Nurnberg) and Milan Baros (Portsmouth).

Czech Republic's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Portugal's European Championships Record

After having hosted the European Championship 2004, Portugal return for this year's Euro 2008, after having qualified through the qualifying stage. Recently, more than ever, the team boasts a squad that can at any time beat one of the football big names. With a large number of players playing for teams abroad and also the improvement of home-grown talent in Portugal, the team is sometimes referred to as the Brazilians of Europe. The talent available in every department to current manager Luiz Felipe Scolari is immense.

Portugal have qualified five times for European Championships (including Euro 2008). Very impressively, the team was never eliminated at the group stage as yet. Portugal's first appearance came in Euro 1984 held in France. At the time, only 8 teams participated. Portugal were drawn in the same group as West Germany, Spain and Romania. The Portuguese got a nil-nil draw against West Germany, a 1-1 draw against Spain and a 1-0 victory over Romania. This meant that the team went through to the semi-final of the competition, being coupled up with France. The game was 1-1 until the end of ordinary time, and Portugal lost it 3-2 in extra time. This was the end of Euro 1984 for the Portugal squad.

Portugal missed two tournament (1988, 1992) before qualifying for Euro 1996. They were drawn in Group D with Croatia, Denmark and Turkey. They managed to top their group with two wins and a draw (against Denmark). However, in the quarter-finals, they lost to Group C runners-up Czech Republic 1-0.

The 2000 event was held in Belgium/Netherlands and Portugal qualified for it. They were drawn in Group A having to face Romania, England and Germany. It was here that the habit of beating the English team in the European Championships started. Not only did Portugal beat England 3-2, but also won the other two games to register three wins out of three games. This time, Portugal managed to get through the quarter finals, beating Turkey 2-0. The adventure ended in the next round, where Portugal lost to France 2-1 after extra time.

Euro 2004 was hosted by Portugal, so they didn't need to go through the qualifying phase. This was the best performance of Portugal in a European Championship. Portugal won Group A with 2 wins and 1 loss, a group which included Greece, Spain and Russia. Therefore, they had to face the runners-up of Group B in the quarter finals, and these were England. The game ended 1-1 until 90 minutes, with England opening the score early through Michael Owen and Portugal leaving it late to level the match through Helder Postiga in the 83^rd minute. The game went to extra time, with the teams scoring a goal each and ending the 120 minutes at 2-2. The encounter has to be decided through a penalty shootout. There were seven rounds of penalties. The final one was decisive. Darius Vassell of England missed his penalty. Portugal's selected next penalty taker was no one but penalty-hero goalkeeper Ricardo. He converted his penalty and this meant Portugal went through and sent England packing.

In the semi-final, Portugal won the Netherlands 2-1, with all goals coming from Portugal, as the Netherlands' goal was an own goal by Jorge Andrade. Portugal were coupled with Greece in the final. Little did they know that the night of the final would end in tears. The game ended 1-0 to Greece which took the lead through Charisteas and held tight onto it. Greece were crowned champions in Portugal.

Portugal qualified second from their qualifying group for this year's Championship to be held in Austria/Switzerland. They were drawn in a relatively easy Group A consisting of Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey. Captained by nominated World' Best Player Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese stand a very good chance of winning this tournament, if Scolari finds the right combination and the right tactics to beat all the opposition.

Portugal's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Turkey's European Championships Record

Turkey qualified for Euro 2008 as runners-up in group C to current champions Greece, with 7 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats, a group that also contained teams such as Norway and Hungary. The furthest Turkey have ever reached was the quarterfinals in Euro 2000 when they lost 2-0 to Portugal. This time around they will struggle to make it out of the group stages as they are in a difficult group A, which will see them play: Czech Republic, Euro 2004 finalists Portugal and current champions Greece.

In the 1970s Turkey held their own in European Championship qualifiers, but each time were a point short of qualifying for both Euro 1972 and Euro 1976. The Turkish qualified for Euro 96 hosted in England, beating both Switzerland and Sweden 2-1 in qualification, but at the tournament they lost all their matches without scoring a single goal.

Turkey reached Euro 2000 after winning a play-off against the Republic of Ireland and went on to win one, draw one and lose one in their group. They lost their opening match to Italy (2-1), drew against Sweden 0-0, and beat host nation Belgium 2-0 in their final group game, Turkey played Portugal in the quarter-finals but lost 2-0. Turkey didn't make Euro 2004 after coming second in their qualifying group and going on to lose to Latvia in a two legged playoff.

Turkey's Euro 2008 Fixtures:

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Euro 2008 Stadium guide

The European Championshipes are being hosted jointly by Austria & Switzerland, each host has four cities that will have games during the tournament. Euro 2008 kicks off with Switzerland playing the Czech Republic at Basel's St. Jakob Park and ends 22 days later in Austria for the final at Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium.