EURO 2008 - Austria & Switzerland June 07-29th

[Dirko]

Euro time is on the doorstep. I love Euro, and as a Dutchman always get excited about watching the Oranje wow the crowds then stumble when it matters . Nevertheless I will adorn the avatar with the KNVB logo and get into the spirit of the comp.

16 of Europe's finest teams have made the finals, and much to JTC's chagrin England are not there thanks to Croatia's heroics at Wembley!!

So we have four groups of four, the top TWO of each group go through to the QF's. The winners of the QF's go to the Semi's, winner of the Semi's to the FINAL !!

One Semi & the FINAL are being held in Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel stadium, the other Semi in Basel, Switzerland @ St. Jakob-Park.

If you wish to view all the fixtures go to the The Full Fixtures List

The groups are as follows

GROUP A
Czech Republic 6, Portugal 9, Switzerland 46 & Turkey 23

GROUP B
Austria 102, Croatia 13, Germany 5 & Poland 28

GROUP C The group of DEATH
France 7, Italy 3, Netherlands 10 & Romania 12

GROUP D
Greece 8, Russia 25, Spain 4 & Sweden 24

I have highlighted the TWO teams in each group who I think will progress...The CURRENT World rankings are next to each team name.

IMO, Group A & B is reasonably straight forward, Group C is a shocker with ALL teams capable of getting through, however IMO, I believe that Le Frogs and the Divers are the better drilled sides. Group D is a tough one too. Depends which Spain turns up, and as we know the Greeks have won Euro before, so they know what it takes, but, I have faith in Guus and his work he can do with the Ruskies.

So there it is ! I will try to post team news, "player watch" and any stuff I stumble across...

[Dirko]

GROUP A

Czech Republic squad:
Cech (Chelsea), Blazek (Nurnberg), Zitka (Anderlecht); Jankulovski (AC Milan), Rozehnal (Lazio), Ujfalusi (Fiorentina), Pospech (FC Copenhagen), Grygera (Juventus), Kadlec (Sparta Prague), Sivok (Sparta Prague), Kovac (Spartak Moscow); Galasek (Nurnberg), Jarolim (Hamburg), Plasil (Osasuna), Polak (Anderlecht), Matejovsky (Reading), Sionko (FC Copenhagen), Pudil (Slavia Prague), Vlcek (Anderlecht); Koller (Nurnberg), Baros (Portsmouth), Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sverkos (Banik Ostrava).

Coach Karel Bruckner. An excellent squad, and they should push deep if they fire.Players to watch Petr Cech (Tomas Rosiky has a Knee injury and won't play) & Jan Koller. One if not the best keeper in the world, and a striker who finds the nest with ease when supplied well. He will also retire after Euro 2008, so expect a big send off...

Portugal squad:
Quim (Benfica), Ricardo (Betis), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon); Carvalho (Chelsea), Alves (Porto), Meira (Stuttgart), Ribeiro (Boavista), Bosingwa (Porto), Pepe (Real Madrid), Miguel (Valencia), Ferreira (Chelsea); Deco (Barcelona), Petit (Benfica), Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon), Veloso (Sporting Lisbon), Meireles (Porto), Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nani (Manchester United), Quaresma (Porto), Simao (Atletico Madrid); Postiga (Panathinaikos), Almeida (Werder Bremen), Nuno Gomes (Benfica).

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Players to watch...WOW...what a squad, but IMO the two to watch are Ronaldo, probably the best player in the world ATM, needs to perform on the big stage, and Euro is one of the biggest going around. Carvalho is a class defender who can punish if let free. Will be crucial for the Portuguese....If they fire they could win the thing. If the ego's (see Spain & the Netherlands) clash then it could be curtains AFTER the group stage...

Switzerland squad:
Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Coltorti (Racing Santander), Zuberbuhler (Neuchatel Xamax); Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Djourou (Arsenal), Eggimann (Karlsruhe), Grichting (Auxerre), Lichtsteiner (Lille), Magnin (Stuttgart), Muller (Lyon), Senderos (Arsenal), Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt), Von Bergen (Hertha Berlin); Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Behrami (Lazio), Cabanas (Grasshoppers), Fernandes (Manchester City), Gygax (Metz), Huggel (Basle), Inler (Udinese), Vonlanthen (Salzburg), Yakin (Young Boys); Derdiyok (Basle), Alex Frei (Borussia Dortmund), Nkufo (FC Twente), Streller (Basle).

Coach Kobi Kuhn. A honest squad if liacking in the big names of the Czechs & Portuguese. Players to watch. Senderos, would be the most recognisable name in the squad. A central defender, he will be busy !! Frei is there hope of scoring enough goals to trouble the rest of the teams.

Turkey squad:
Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Rüştü Reçber (Beşiktaş JK), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor), Emre Güngör (Galatasaray S.K.), Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş J.K.), Gökhan Gönül (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Emre Aşık (Ankaraspor), Uğur Boral (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray S.K.), İbrahim Kaş (Beşiktaş J.K.), Sabri Sarıoğlu (Galatasaray S.K.), Emre Belözoğlu (Newcastle United F.C.), Hamit Altıntop (FC Bayern Munich), Kazım Kazım ( Fenerbahçe S.K.), Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray S.K.), Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough F.C.), Yıldıray Baştürk (VfB Stuttgart), Arda Turan (Galatasaray S.K.), Mehmet Topal (Galatasaray S.K.), Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Tümer Metin (Larissa F.C.), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan), Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal CF) , Halil Altıntop (FC Schalke 04), Semih Şentürk (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Mevlüt Erdinç (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard).

Coach Fatih Terim. A squad that could be in trouble. A lot of miisng experience, but the Turks love a scrap and will fight hard. Players to watch,
Nihat Kahveci, the Villareal forward/midfielder holds the key for the Turks. If he fires then athey are a shot. Hold him and it's curtains. Sanli is the other player to watch as well...

[JK]

and a striker who finds the nest with ease when supplied well. He will also retire after Euro 2008, so expect a big send off...

You really think Baros is that good? (LOL Actually if memory serves correct he did alright in the last one of these)

[Dirko]

Selective quoting

ha...Baros is OK, but Koller is a gun !!

And for the record Baros was the top scorer in 2004 Euro with 5!!

[MightyEagles]

I'll be going for Greece just like Eagle Chris.

[RoosterMarty]

Henrik Larsson has been named in Sweden's squad, big surprise but he's a favourite of mine so it will be great to see him on the world stage for one last time.

[johntheclaret]

Pointless thread about a pointless non entity of a tournament.

Needs locking before anyone else wastes anymore time on it

[Dirko]

England =

[Dirko]

GROUP B

AUSTRIA squad:
Jurgen Macho (AEK Athens),Alex Manninger (Siena), Helge Payer (Rapid Vienna), Johannes Ertl (FK Austria), Gyorgy Garics (Napoli), Andreas Ibertsberger (TSG Hoffenheim), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Prodl (Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (FK Austria),Mertin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow), Rene Aufhauser (Red Bull Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Veli Kavlak (Rapid Vienna), Christoph Leitgeb (Red Bull Salzburg), Thomas Prager (Heerenveen), Yuksel Sariyar (FK Austria), Jurgen Saumel (Sturm Graz), Mario Haas (Sturm Graz), Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen) Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Vienna), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam), Roland Linz (Braga)

Coach:Josef Hickersberger. Ranked 102, and wouldn't be there is they weren't co-hosts...Frankly quite crap. Out in the first round. Player to watch is Andreas Ivanschistz, the best player to come out of Austria in the past 10 years, which isn't saying too much, but he can go well and the Captain will be hoping for a good tournament.

CROATIA squad:
Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Runje (Lens), Galinovic (Panathinaikos); Corluka (Manchester City), Simic (AC Milan), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Knezevic (Livorno), Vejic (Tom Tomsk); Pranjic (Heerenveen), Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Modric (Dinamo Zagreb), Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Leko (Monaco), Rakitic (Schalke), Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Pokrivac (Monaco); Petric (Borussia Dortmund), Olic (Hamburg), Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Budan (Parma), Kalinic (Hajduk Split).

Coach:Slaven Bilić. Well the team all the English hate !! Knocked the Poms out at Wembley and they have assembled a strong squad with only Eduardo being the notable missing person. Very good shot to get to the next stage. Player to watch is Modric...will be going to Tottenham next year and is a gun. Great play maker who was decisive in knocking out England.

GERMANY squad:
René Adler, Robert Enke, Jens Lehmann, Arne Friedrich, Clemens Fritz, Marcell Jansen, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Christoph Metzelder, Heiko Westermann, Marko Marin, Michael Ballack, Tim Borowski, Torsten Frings, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Jermaine Jones, Simon Rolfes, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Piotr Trochowski, Mario Gómez, Patrick Helmes, Miroslav Klose, Kevin Kuranyi, Oliver Neuville, David Odonkor, Lukas Podolski.

Coach:Joachim Löw. One of the favourites. A well put togerther side, very well balanced and have some genuine superstars in the squad from the goal to the goal line. Player to watch is Ballack. A superstart og the game when on song. He holds so much of the Germans fortunes. Klose is a goal scoring machine in tournaments and expect him to go well. I'd tip this mob for the final !!

POLAND squad:
Boruc (Celtic), Fabianski (Arsenal), Kuszczak (Manchester United); Bak (Austria Vienna), Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade), Golanski (Steaua Bucharest), Jop (FC Moscow), Kokoszka (Wisla Krakow), Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Zewlakow (Olympiacos); Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Dudka (Wisla Krakow), Gargula (GKS Belchatow), Krzynowek (Wolfsburg), Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk), Majewski (Dyskobolia), Murawski (Lech Poznan), Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze), Guereirro (Legia Warsaw); Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow), Matusiak (Wisla Krakow), Saganowski (Southampton), Smolarek (Racing Santander), Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze), Zurawski (AEL Larisa).

Coach:Leo Beenhakker. A talented squad again draw with the Germans ! Have a solid core who are capable of holding, but lack the fire power to win when it matters. Player to watch is Smolarek. Scored the most goals in the qualifiers for Poland, and is their main hope of getting on the sheet. Expect a first round exit.

[Dirko]

GROUP C

FRANCE squad:
Grégory Coupet, Sébastien Frey, Mickaël Landreau, Steve Mandanda, Eric Abidal, Jean-Alain Boumsong, François Clerc, Julien Escudé, Patrice Evra, William Gallas, Philippe Mexès, Willy Sagnol, Sébastien Squillaci, Lilian Thuram, Hatem Ben Arfa, Alou Diarra, Lassana Diarra, Mathieu Flamini, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda, Samir Nasri, Franck Ribéry, Jérémy Toulalan, Patrick Vieira, Bafetimbi Gomis, Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema, Djibril Cissé, Sidney Govou, Thierry Henry.

Coach:Raymond Domenech. Le Frogs have an awesome squad that is capable of taking the tournament out and in fact they are my favourites. In a tough group, but they have class all over the pitch and should beat both Romania & The Netherlands to progress (draw against Italy). Players to watch, the whole squad ! keep an eye on Henry to see if he can produce on the big stage as well as Ribery a fantastic midfielder who plys his trade in the Budesliga.

ITALY squad:
Morgan De Sanctis, Marco Amelia, Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso, Marco Materazzi, Christian Panucci, Gianluca Zambrotta, Riccardo Montolivo, Massimo Ambrosini, Alberto Aquilani, Mauro Camoranesi, Daniele De Rossi, Gennaro Gattuso, Simone Perrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Marco Borriello, Luca Toni, Antonio Cassano, Alessandro Del Piero, Antonio Di Natale, Fabio Quagliarella.

Coach:Roberto Donadoni. The Azzuri (aka Divers) have a good squad, that should squeeze past The Netherlands and finish second in the group. Can see them bundling out in the semi's to France. Players to watch. Pirlo is all class, and is involved with just about all things going forward. Toni should knock in enough goals to see the Azzuri through to the next stage.

THE NETHERLANDS squad:
Van der Sar (Manchester United), Stekelenburg (Ajax), Timmer (Feyenoord); Bouma (Aston Villa), De Cler (Feyenoord), Heitinga (Ajax), Mathijsen (Hamburg), Melchiot (Wigan), Ooijer (Blackburn); Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Engelaar (FC Twente), De Jong (Hamburg), Sneijder (Real Madrid), Van der Vaart (Hamburg), De Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar), Boulahrouz (Seville), Huntelaar (Ajax), Kuyt (Liverpool), Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Van Persie (Arsenal), Robben (Real Madrid), Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic).

Coach:Marco van Basten. The Oranje, one of the most talented squads in football land. Absolute superstars all over the pitch. Pity they can never produce on the big stage. Would be favoured to go through in any other group, but the French & Italians will have their measure. Out in the group stage. Players to watch, Ruud van Nistlerooy, probably his last big tournamnet for the Oranje, and will want to go out in style. Robben is a gun and hopefully will fire also.

ROMANIA squad:
Lobont (Dinamo Bucharest), Coman (Rapid Bucharest), Popa (Politehnica Stiinta Timisoara); Contra (Getafe), Sapunaru (Rapid Bucharest), Ghionea, Goian (both Steaua Bucharest), Moti (Dinamo Bucharest), Tamas (Auxerre), Rat (Shakhtar Donetsk), Radu (Lazio); F Petre (CSKA Sofia), Nicolita (Steaua Bucharest), Cocis (Lokomotiv Moscow), Codrea (Siena), Chivu (Internazionale), Radoi, Dica, O Petre (all Steaua Bucharest), Cristea (Dinamo Bucharest), Deac (CFR Cluj); Mutu (Fiorentina), Marica (Stuttgart), M Niculae (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), D Niculae (Auxerre), Bratu (Dinamo Bucharest).

Coach:Victor Piţurcă. Drawn in a hellish group, will put on a show but no match for the French, Italians nor the Dutch. Out in group stage. Players to watch. Adrian Mutu. If he's clean and ready will knock in a few. Very good player as is Chivu who is central to holding the Romanians together.

[Dirko]

GROUP D

GREECE squad:

Nikopolidis (Olympiacos), Chalkias (Aris), Tzorvas (OFI Crete); Antzas (Olympiacos), Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid), Vyntra, Goumas, Spiropoulos (all Panathinaikos), Torossidis, Patsatzoglou (both Olympiacos), Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt), Dellas (AEK Athens); Katsouranis (Benfica), Basinas (Real Mallorca), Karagounis, Tziolis (both Panathinaikos), Giannakopoulos (Bolton), Amanatidis (Eintracht Frankfurt); Samaras (Celtic), Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Charisteas (Nurnberg), Gekas (Bayer Leverkusen), Lymberopoulos (AEK Athens).

Coach:Otto Rehhagel. The reigning Euro champions after their superb campaign in Portugal four years ago. A talented team orientated squad, no real super stars just a very solid core. In a tough group, but if they can take care of either Sweden or Russia should progress. Players to watch include Sotirios Kyrgiakos a rock solid defender who is capable of scoring, played incredibly every minute of Greece's qualifiers ! Gekas is the other one to watch the Leverkusen hit man can knock them in.

SWEDEN squad:

Isaksson (Man City), Shaaban (Hammarby), Wiland (Elfsborg); Nilsson (Panathinaikos), Mellberg (Aston Villa), Hansson (Rennes), Stoor (Rosenborg), Alexandersson (IFK Gothenburg), Majstorovic (Basle), Dorsin (CFR Cluj); Linderoth (Galatasaray), Ljungberg (West Ham), Svensson (Elfsborg), Granqvist (Helsingborg), Kallstrom (Lyon), S Larsson (Birmingham), Andersson (Malmo), Wilhelmsson (Deportivo La Coruna), Ibrahimovic (Internazionale), Elmander (Toulouse), H Larsson (Helsingborg), Allback (FC Copenhagen), Rosenberg (Werder Bremen).

Coach:Lars Lagerbäck. The reliable Swedes are back again. They rarely fail to let down and would be along with Greece & Spain the favourite to progress from this group. Larsson has come out of retirment for a swansong and provides some much needed firing power. The back half looks suspect. Players to watch, Ibrahimovic, well what can you say about one of the best players in world football. If he fires expect Sweden to go deep into finals action. Ljunberg is an enigma, who promises so much but often does not deliver...

SPAIN squad:
Iker Casillas, Andrés Palop, Pepe Reina, Raúl Albiol, Fernando Navarro, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Álvaro Arbeloa, Juanito, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fàbregas, Santi Cazorla, Xabi Alonso, Marcos Senna, Rubén de la Red, David Villa, Fernando Torres, Sergio García, Daniel Güiza, David Silva

Coach:Luis Aragonés. One of the favourites for the tournament, and should progress deep into the semi-finals where they will implode as usual. Have one of the most talented squads along side France & Portugal, but too often the ego's get in the way (think Holland). Players to watch, Fernando Torres, had a good season for the 'Pool and will be out for goals, and if Fabregas is back to full fitness he will provide plenty of headaches as well. Solid from back to front...

RUSSIA squad:
Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Malafeev (Zenit St Petersburg), Gabulov (Amkar Perm)'; Ignashevich, Berezutsky, Berezutsky (all CSKA Moscow), Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow), Yanbaev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Anyukov, Shirokov (both Zenit St Petersburg); Zyryanov (Zenit St Petersburg), Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Bilyaletdinov, Torbinsky (both Lokomotiv Moscow), Bystrov, Pavlenko (both Spartak Moscow), Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Ivanov (Krylya Sovetov Samara), Semak (Rubin Kazan); Pogrebniak, Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow), Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Adamov (FC Moscow), Saenko (Nurnberg).

Coach:Guus Hiddink. The Russians qualified in the same group as Croatia and England. They made it, the Poms didn't. A even squad with no real superstar factor, but Guss has them playing a nice brand of football. Player to watch (when he comes in after suspension) Andrei Arshavin. Capable of fliing the hole behind the strikers, and can score as well. By game 3, the Russians would want to be looking good at going through to warrant his spot...

[Dirko]

GROUP A

Switzerland Czech Republic Portugal Turkey

GROUP B

Austria Croatia Germany Poland

GROUP C

Netherlands Italy France Romania

GROUP D

Greece Sweden Spain Russia

[smithy]

How did the Portugal keepers name get through this sites swear filter ?

[Pidge]

Portugal, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden to progress. I tip either France or Germany to win with Sweden a dark horse

[devilsadvocate]

Pointless thread about a pointless non entity of a tournament.

Needs locking before anyone else wastes anymore time on it

HAHAHAHAHA, that's hilarious, love your work JTC!!!!

[Dirko]

Get in the Fantasy League DA !

refer to the other thread !!

You too JTC !!

P.S Sorry no English players available

[johntheclaret]

How did the Portugal keepers name get through this sites swear filter ?

I just noticed that. I bet he has a beard

[devilsadvocate]

Great work on this thread SJABC.

IMO, Portugal can definitely win it if Ronnie, Nani and Quaresma (underrated!!) all dominate.

Unfortunately, we all have to put up with the divers for the next 2 weeks at least, but hopefully the Dutchies can come through the group of death with the Arsenal squad.

I watched Spain v US a few nights ago and Spain were terrible. I'd expect them to go through but lose in the quarters.

I expect the 2 finalists to come from one of the following 4: Germany, France, Portugal and Netherlands.

Agree with SJABC, that the Frenchies should be favourites to win it with their squad.

[johntheclaret]

Yeah, got to agree with DA. Great work SJABC. Ya b4st4rd

[JK]

Went to lay a bet on the Croats but then noticed the Doitch boys at 15/1 so took that instead ... Really think the Spaniards have too much quality in their squad to not make the final, even though thats been their story for as long as I can remember, so will go out on a limb and tip them to win it (even though recent form has been ordinary)!