Czech Republic The Czech Republic has qualified for four European Championships in four attempts and has only lost two qualifying games along the way.
How they qualified They topped Group D beating out Germany by two points and finished a mammoth twelve points ahead of third place the Republic of Ireland. Jan Koller led the scoring with six goals.
The Coach Karel Bruckner took over the full national team in 2001 after a successful spell in charge of the under-21 side. Since then Bruckner has integrated many of the players from the under 21s that finished second in the 2000 European Championship with remnants from the 1996 European Championship side that finished as runners-up to Germany.
A failure to qualify from the group stages at the 2006 World Cup nearly cost the veteran coach his job but he managed to ride out the criticism. Nonetheless the 67-year-old has decided to retire at the conclusion of the 2008 Euros.
Key Players Tomas Rosicky is injured and he will be badly missed by a side that many consider to be in decline. Goalkeeper Petr Cech will be a key to Czech hopes and confidence as will a back four that has depth with the likes of Grygera, Jankulovski, Rozehnal, Ujfalusi and Kovac to choose from.
Milan Baros was the top scorer at Euro 2004 and is an enigma. The striker has consistently failed to deliver the goods at club level with Liverpool, Aston Villa, Lyon and Portsmouth but put a Czech top on him and another player appears. A scoring rate of almost a goal every two international games places his striking rate among the best in the world.
Great Euro Memory It took a golden goal by Germany’s Oliver Bierhoff in the 1996 final to kill off Czech hopes of becoming European Champion at the first attempt. The Czechs battled Germany all the way and with a break at the right time they could well have won the 1996 tournament.
Synopsis Their finish ahead of Germany while scoring twenty-seven goals and conceding only five flatters to deceive. There is a fine line between experience and old age when it comes to a soccer team and it may just be that the balance has tilted too far in a squad in which nine players the wrong side of 30. Martin Fenin who moved to Eintracht Frankfurt last summer after impressive performances at the under-20 World Cup is the only player under the age of 23 in the squad.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Drawn in Group 3 with Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and San Marino.
Portugal Portugal has now made it to the last four European Championship Finals and qualified for the knock stages in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
How they qualified Portugal finished a point behind Poland in Group A and three points above Serbia and Finland while drawing six of their fourteen games. Ronaldowas the top scorer with eight goals.
The Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari’s relationship with the Portuguese media has plummeted to depths so low that the Brazilian coach might even be regretting turning down the England job in 2006!!
Scolari has proven time and time again that he can create teams that are difficult to beat and in a number of cases his teams have been incredibly successful. Conversely the Scolari-approach more often than not sacrifices players natural flair at the twin alters of the isms – pragmatism and cynicism.
Key Players Cristiano Ronaldo’s importance almost goes without saying (but I thought it should be mentioned anyway) but if you look through the squad of players available to Scolari you cannot fail to be impressed.
The likes of Alves, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Meira, and Miguel are all excellent defenders, while the midfield has a mixture of creativity, strength, experience and pace with Deco, Petit, Nani, Moutinho, Veloso and and Raul Meireles all pushing for spots.
If you look past Ronaldo perhaps the key forward for Portugal might be Werder Bremen’s Hugo Almeida. Almeida’s abilities might be best described as rugged and willing but he might be given the chance to complete a Portuguese puzzle that has repeatedly been missing a piece up top.
Great Euro Memory It was 3-2 loss but the 1984 semi-final against France was an extra time epic in Marseille.
Synopsis Finished as runners up to Greece when they hosted four years ago and a lack of goals from their recognized strikers (or striker) has cost Portugal silverware at past European Championships and World Cups. Portugal looks solid defensively and Cristiano Ronaldo could carry his country deep into the tournament once more.
However, all the other teams are more than aware of Ronaldo’s capabilities and no doubt they will set out to try and nullify him. Deco has been an important part of Scolari’s plans but his form has been generally disappointing over the last year. No goals and only three helpers for Deco during the qualifying stage carries a warning that his most effective days at the top level may be on the wane.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Drawn in Group A with Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania and Malta.
Over the next ten days the blog will be dedicated to the 2008 European Championships. Part 1 covers some of the history of the tournament and an outline of the groups, game-days, officials and some odds and ends. From there is will be a preview of two teams per day and on day ten will come the predictions.
History The idea of holding a European Championship came, like many other good sports ideas, from a Frenchman.
Henri Delaunay, who was head of the French FA, proposed a tournament for all European counties even before the first World Cup was held in 1930. However, it took until the formation of UEFA in Basle, Switzerland in June 1954 for the notion to take root.
Delaunay was appointed as UEFA’s first General Secretary but died in 1955. In recognition of his leadership and vision the European Championship trophy was named after him.
The tournament started out as the European Nations Cup in 1960 and consisted of group games with the winners moving on to a knock out round of eight. The winners at the quarter final stage would then play semi-finals and a final in the country of one of the final four.
This format continued until 1980 when all eight group winners competed in two groups with the group winners playing for the trophy and the two group runners up playing for bronze. Four years later in France a cross over semi final round was added and the format was maintained when West Germany hosted in 1988 and Sweden in 1992.
When England held the finals in 1996 the number of qualifiers expanded to sixteen countries and from that point onwards the competition became a cash cow for UEFA. It is now arguably the third most watched sporting event in the world after the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics.
The Groups and Games Days Group A Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal and Turkey – June 7, 11, and 15.
Group B Austria, Croatia, Germany and Poland – June 8, 12 and 16.
Group C Romania, France, Italy and Netherlands – June 9, 13 and 17.
Group D Spain, Russia, Greece and Sweden – June 10, 14 and 18. Quarter Finals Winner A vs. Runner-Up B – June 19, Basle
Winner B vs. Runner-Up A – June 20, Vienna.
Winner C vs. Runner-Up D – June 21, Basel.
Winner D vs. Runner-Up C – June 22, Vienna.
Semi- Finals Winner A or Runner-Up B vs. Winner B or Runner-Up A – June 25, Basel. Winner C or Runner-Up D vs. Winner D or Runner-Up C – June 26, Vienna.
Final June 29, Vienna.
The Stadiums St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Capacity 42,500.
The Officials UEFA has assigned 12 referees and 24 assistants (plus eight fourth officials) to officiate the games. Each referee trio is made up of a referee and two assistant referees from the same country. The trios have worked together as teams over the last year.
Referee - Konrad Plautz (Austria); Assistants Egon Bereuter & Markus Mayr.
Returnees The Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, Croatia, Italy and Greece all appeared at the 2004 finals in Portugal. Missing from the 2004 line-up are Denmark, England, Bulgaria and Latvia.
Five coaches Luiz Felipe Scolari (Portugal), Lars Lagerback (Sweden), Karel Bruckner (Czech Republic), Kobi Kuhn (Switzerland) and Otto Rehhagel (Greece) return from 2004. Portugal, the Czech Republic and Greece all appeared in the last four in 2004.
David Beckham will make he return to the England squad for the friendly against Brazil this Friday (on FSC at 3 p.m. ET) as a Real Madrid player. However, most of the speculation regarding his international future has centred on his next stop - the Los Angeles Galaxy.
During the interview Lalas expressed reservations (not surprisingly) about releasing Beckham for friendly matches. But the bottom line to the issue is that Lalas and the LA Galaxy have no say in the matter as long as the FA restricts call ups to dates reserved on the FIFA international calendar.
The calendar details dates reserved for competitive fixtures as well as friendlies although strangely it does fail to block time for next summer’s European Championship.
So how many friendly internationals can the Galaxy expect to lose Beckham for? As it turns out the answer is not many. The only remaining date in 2007 reserved on the FIFA chart for international friendlies is August 22. That means that if McClaren decides to keep Beckham around for the fall qualifiers – assuming of course that McClaren is still around – then the Galaxy will be missing his services for the ESPN nationally televised derby game on August 23 against Chivas.
Looking further into the future dates are reserved for friendlies on February 6 and March 26 in 2008. The February date is unlikely to conflict with Galaxy commitments although March 26 might be a problem should LA qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League – albeit an unlikely prospect at this time.
So once you get past the headlines you find out that there is very little substance to the rash of headlines relating to the release or non-release of Beckham for friendly internationals.
As it turns out David will not even have to miss the 2008 Oscars scheduled for February 24.
The clamber by English fans and media to have David Beckham dropped after last summer’s World Cup has now been matched by the outpouring of support for his recall. Steve McClaren has now succumbed to both and in the process showed himself to have the integrity, sincerity and expediency of a third-rate sleazy politician.
Beckham made a convenient scapegoat for England’s poor performances in Germany and even at age 32 he did not deserve to be dropped by McClaren when he took over. Beckham rarely hurt England during the tournament while having a hand in the majority of goals that they scored.
However, upon his appointment as England manager, McClaren needed to distance himself from England’s disappointing showing at the World Cup and from his former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson. Eriksson and Beckham had become so closely associated in the public’s mind that the sacrificing of Beckham at the altar of short-sightedness was too much of a temptation for a man who seems to select a squad with both eyes on the next-day’s headlines.
In making the initial decision McClaren opted to satisfy the baying masses rather considering the long term implications of his decision. Now, he has not only made one wrong decision he has made two.
Is this England squad so devoid of quality that it needs David Beckham to beat the might of Estonia? Estonia, a country that has never come close to qualifying for a major tournament and so far in Euro qualification has played five, lost five, scored none and conceded ten. McClaren seems to think so as why else would he recall the Real Madrid star? What a message of encouragement and faith to the rest of the England squad.
But the implications of Beckham’s recall go far beyond the England team given that he will join the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS in a couple of months. Outwardly you can expect Galaxy and MLS brass to brag that this as an affirmation of their decision to bring Beckham to North America as it shows he is still a player of international class. But beyond the upcoming games against Brazil and Estonia, Beckham’s recall has the potential to cause havoc with the club's and the league’s plans.
When the decision was made to sign Beckham earlier this year it was surely predicated on the fact that his international career was ended and that his body and soul would be dedicated to MLS.
But given McClaren’s about-face it is difficult to see how he could possibly dump Beckham again before Euro 2008 qualifying is complete at the end of this year. That means that Beckham will miss games against Colorado Rapids, Chivas, Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls – all while being paid by the Galaxy.
It would also mean that should the LA Galaxy reach the MLS Championship game scheduled for November 18 in Washington Beckham’s availability would in doubt given FIFA regulations for international call-ups. England is scheduled to play their final and possibly crucial qualifying game against Croatia at Wembley three days later.
And if that is not enough to make MLS and Galaxy officials hyper-ventilate then how about the prospect of Beckham missing a month in the summer of 2008 at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland?
This is a follow up to some questions that arose after I mentioned the income generated by the Champions League.
Here are a series of links that you might find interesting. UEFA distributes Champions League money based on a number of different criteria including final position, television revenue generated in the country of each entrant(s), points gianed in group play, and performances in the qualifying stages. It also looks like this money is distributed through the national associations which can be confusing. It is not wrong then to say that the national associations receive money from the Champions League, however, the national associations have to them move the money to the clubs.
UEFA also distributes money generated by the European Championship with all countries benefiting at some level.
As the FIFA link shows each national association received $1M per year in the last 4 year cycle - one of the prinmary reasons why small countries vote for Sepp Blatter. the GOAL project funding is another.
With the amount of "guaranteed" money being spread around to "national" associations you can see one of the reasons why Gibraltar is so eager to join UEFA/FIFA.
The first mention that I have come across about a suggested expansion of the European Championship from the present sixteen teams to possibly twenty-four.
Here is a link to an article from Henry Winter that appears in Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph. Winter says that when the Premiership kicks-off on Saturday we can expect to see the end of the ridiculous practice of players kicking the ball out whenever someone goes down – sometimes with injuries as severe as a broken nail.
Thank goodness. This “convention” has become abused over the years, was first seen at the European Championship in 1988 if I remember correctly. Now it looks like the Premiership is placing the decision whether to stop the play or not, back in the hand – or the mouth – of the only person who is supposed to decide – the referee.
I think this World Cup has been one of the poorest I can remember. Going into the Final I would only rank Italia '90 as being worse. A great final might push World Cup 2006 up to number 7 or 8 of the eleven that I remember going back to 1966 but...
It seems to me that given the ingredients that go into making a tournament great, this one falls well short. Things like memorable matches, great individual performances, great goals etc have been few and far between.
Up until Euro 2004 I felt that the European Championship had surpassed the World Cup but the last tournament was so dreadful that I have reconsidered that position.
Has the Champions League now taken over as soccer's showcase tournament? Even that statement comes into question when you consider the lack of goals at the semi final stage last season.
Or, am I just being overly critical given that viewership around the globe seems to continue to rise? How could all these people be wrong?
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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