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If you look back to 2002 FIFA World Cup, you can see a talented team in Turkey which ended up winning third place in the tournament, the best ever result by any Turkish team in a major football tournament. Following the success of 2002 world cup, Turkey lost the momentum in the next four years failing to qualify for EURO 2004 and 2006 FIFA World Cup. So, since the dreamy finish at 2002 World Cup, Turkey is going to have their next big tournament in EURO 2008, which begins from 7 June 2008. So, it seems Turkey has got to revive their performance and regain their pride at the big stage. In this mission, Turkey is getting Fatih Terim as coach who in his first spell as Turkey coach led Turkey to qualify for EURO 1996, first time Turkey played in EURO competition. So, Turkish fans are hoping Turkey will revitalize their lost pride in EURO 2008 tournament.

In Euro 2008 tournament, Turkey was drawn in Group A where they will meet host Switzerland, last tournament’s beaten finalists Portugal and Europe’s emerging team Czech Republic. So, it is clear that reaching the knock out stage would not be easy for Turkey, as Portugal and Czech Republic are expected to form a tough challenge for Turkey, while Switzerland might play inspirational football in front of the home crowd. Here, it is noteworthy to mention that Turkey failed to qualify for 2006 World Cup begin lost to Switzerland on away goals. Considering all these things, it is apparent that Turkey has to show a solid performance in order to make it to the next round of EURO 2008.

Turkey in UEFA Euro Competition

This is going to be the third tournament for Turkey in Euro competition, 1996 and 2000 being the previous two tournaments Turkey took part. In 1996, Turkey failed to impress losing all the group stage games without scoring any goals. However, Turkey made a solid come back making the quarter finals thanks to a win, a draw and a defeat in the group stage. However, their run ended in the quarter final, being defeated by Portugal 2-0. So, ahead of Euro 2008, Turkish fans are hoping that Turkey would replicate their Euro 2000 success, if not go beyond.

Fatih Terim announced the 26-men preliminary squad of Turkey for Euro 2008 tournament. Three players will be dropped from the squad when Terim will declare the 23-men squad by May 28. The biggest and surprising omission of the preliminary squad is Turkey’s star striker and their all time leading goal scorer Hakan Sukur. He is one of the star footballers emerged in last one decade in world football. In the absence of Sukur, goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber might wear the captain’s armband during Euro 2008 competition. Here, I am giving the 26-men preliminary squad of Turkey from turks.us:

Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce), Rustu Recber (Besiktas), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor).

Defenders: Gokhan Gonul (Fenerbahce), Sabri Sarioglu (Galatasaray), Gokhan Zan (Besiktas), Ibrahim Kas (Besiktas), Emre Asik (Ankaraspor), Servet Cetin (Galatasaray), Hakan Kadir Balta (Galatasaray), Ugur Boral (Fenerbahce).
Midfielders: Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahce), Mehmet Topal (Galatasaray), Tumer Metin (Larissa), Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munchen), Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray), Kazim Kazim (Fenerbahce) Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough FC), Arda Turan (Galatasaray), Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle United FC), Yildiray
Basturk (VfB Stuttgart).

Forwards: Gokdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan), Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal CF), Semih Senturk (Fenerbahce), Halil Altintop (Schalke 04), Mevlut Erdinc (Sochaux).

Striker Nihat Kahveci is perhaps the main strength of Turkish attack. In fact, in absence of Hakan Sukur, Turkish fans will look at Nihat Kahveci to fill up the void left by Sukur. The current Villarreal striker has been regularly scoring in La Liga and finding the goals easy to come by these days. He is in good form which could be a big relief for Turkish fans. There is someone whom you should watch out in Euro 2008: Gokdeniz Karadeniz. This playmaker is currently playing for Russian club Rubin Kazan. Both Gokdeniz and Kahveci are expected to be in the fore front of the Turkish attack. They have a very experienced goalkeeper too. So, the Altintop brothers are also there to serve their best to Turkey in Euro 2008. I think, Turkey has a balanced squad and could be a threat for any side if they can play their natural football. However, the absence of Hakan Sukur could be felt too. Overall, I think, Turkey has a good chance in Euro 2008 tournament.

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Portugal is one of the big names in world football and undoubtedly one of the football powers in Europe. With the kick off day of EURO 2008 approaching, Portugal is now gearing up for winning their first ever title in a major football tournament. Actually, Portugal’s success in international stage was never consistent. In the 60’s, Portugal emerged as a big power thanks to the stars like Eusébio, then in the 80’s they appeared to bounce back in the list of elite names of world football. Finally, Portugal restored their past glory in the last one decade thanks to their widely known ‘Golden Generation’ consisted of the stars like Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Sérgio Conceição, Vítor Baía etc. However, still Portugal has not won any major titles in football. Portugal finished fourth in 2006 FIFA World Cup, which is their second best success after Eusébio’s Portugal became third in 1966 FIFA World Cup. In Euro 2004, Portugal played their first ever final in any major international football tournament, but they failed to win the final being defeated to Greece 1-0. So, Portugal is going to play EURO 2008 as the runner up of its previous competition.

Portugal is drawn in Group A, where they have to face host Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey. So, it is sure that Portugal will find it very challenging to make it to the quarter final from this group, though it is true that Portugal starts the tournament as the most favorite in Group A. Portugal got the ticket of EURO 2008 finishing second in Group A of Euro 2008 qualifying round, behind Poland. Czech Republic is considered as a strong side of Europe now, while the third place winner of 2002 World Cup, Turkey, is also a strong competitor for a quarter final place from Group A. Switzerland is the host country who will be inspired by the home fans to play their best. So, Portugal has to face a number of strong challenges to reach the next round of EURO 2008 tournament. Here, I am giving the group stage schedule of Portugal in EURO 2008:

Now, let us have a look at the squad by decaled by Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for the upcoming Euro 2008 competition. You know that Portugal’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is always driven for win and holds a positive outlook always in his style of playing. I think, the 23-men squad he announced recently is perfect for his style of football. There is at least a notable omission. Midfielder Maniche has been opted out of the squad. The former Porto and Benfica midfielder is currently playing on loan at Inter Milan from Athletico Madrid. Though his performance at Inter is not that bad, Scolari was not impressed with his form. The Brazilian coach, I think, has formed a relatively young side ahead of the European championship. The coach denied giving any reason behind the omission of Maniche, who scored a number of important goals for Portugal including the winner in Portugal’s 2-1 victory over Holland in the semi final of Euro 2004, and another winning goal for Portugal against Holland in the quarter final of 2006 world cup. In fact, Scolari dropped about half of the squad played during Euro 2004 tournament.

Well, almost all the members of Portugal’s golden generation have gone into retirement including Luis Figo. So, Euro 2008 is going to be the first major tournament for Portugal with the players of new generation. So, it would be interesting to see if Portugal can continue their momentum that their golden generation brought over the last one decade.

The Portugal squad for Euro 2008 includes a number of young players from U-21 squad. However, the good thing is that most of the young players are not inexperienced vastly because of their vivid presence for the last few seasons in different European domestic leagues. Cristiano Ronaldo is perhaps the main strength of Portugal squad. The winger is now at his prime form becoming the highest goal scorer of English Premier League this season and scored 42 goals overall for Manchester United. Nani is another attacking winger who also had a good season at Manchester United.

Portugal’s main strength lies in their attack. With the likes of Ronaldo and Nani along with experienced players like Nuno Gomes, Simão Sabrosa, Portugal has an excellent front line. Porto striker Ricardo Quaresma, Werder Bremen ‘s Hugo Almeida and Hélder Postiga are young and experienced. Ricardo Quaresma is expected to be a key player for Portugal in the tournament.

In the absence of Figo, it would be very tough to get someone to fill up the gap in the Portugal midfield. However, there are a number of talented players like Deco, Petit, who will retire from international football after the tournament. Ronaldo and Nani will be in the two wings, while Nuno Gomes might play up front or could play as a deep lying midfielder or deep lying centre forward.

Portugal defense consists of some experienced players. Ricardo Carvalho, Fernando Meira could be the main strength in the central defense with the options like Pepe in hand. However, many think that their defense often becomes exposed to the opposition. Miguel, Bruno Alves, Paulo Ferreira and José Bosingwa are the options for right back, while I can see a void in the left back position. I think, this is the main weakness of Portugal squad.

For goalkeeper, I think, Portugal has one of the most formidable keepers in Europe. Ricardo Pereira is specialists for penalty shootouts and he has saved Portugal a number of times in the past at bigger stages. So, I think, with a seemingly problematic defense, Ricardo has to be at his prime during the tournament in order to bring notable success for Portugal in Euro 2008 competition. Here, I am giving the full list of Portugal squad for Euro 2008 from uk.eurosport:

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Ricardo Pereira (Real Betis), Quim Silva (Benfica), Rui Patricio (Sporting)

Defenders: Miguel Monteiro (Valencia), Jose Bosingwa (Porto), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Fernando Meira (VfB Stuttgart), Bruno Alves (Porto), Pepe (Real Madrid), Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista)

Midfielders: Raul Meireles (Porto), Joao Moutinho (Sporting), Deco (Barcelona), Armando Petit (Benfica), Miguel Veloso (Sporting), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nani (Manchester United)

Forwards: Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Helder Postiga (Panathinaikos)

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EURO 2008 gets underway from 7 June 2008. After FIFA World Cup, ERUO is considered to be the most popular and highlighted football tournaments across the world. EURO 2008 will be organized jointly in Austria and Switzerland. This the second time, the most popular European football tournament is going to be hosted by two countries, after EURO 2000 being held jointly by Belgium and Netherlands.

There will be 16 teams in the competition, and except Austria and Switzerland, who automatically qualified for the tournament, all other 14 teams have gone through the qualifying round to reach the final of EURO 2008. The participating teams will be divided into four groups of four teams in the group stage. Two teams from each group will make it to the quarter final of EURO 2008. From the quarter final stage, the tournament will follow knock out system.

Here, in this blog we will be reviewing the squads of all the 16 participating teams of EURO 2008 before the tournament kicks off. In this post, I am going to review the squad of Czech Republic:

Czech Republic may not be a football power in the world, but in Europe, they are considered as one of the good sides. Czech Republic’s performance in the recent EURO tournaments is excellent. Czech Republic started emerging as a high profile side in Europe since they reached the final of 1996 EURO competition where they were beaten by. However, they failed to impress four years later in EURO 2000, but again they bounced back in EURO 2004 reaching the semi final of the tournament. However, their performance in FIFA World Cup is not up to the mark as they could not even get into the second round of 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Czech Republic is placed in Group A of EURO 2008 along with host Switzerland, Portugal and Turkey. So, it is, for sure, that this would not be easy for Czech Republic to become one of the two teams to enter into the quarter final from Group A. With Portugal being the most favorite in the group, it seems that Turkey would be the main competitor of Czech Republic for the second place in the group. Well, you should not forget that Czech Republic was the champion of Group D in EURO 2008 qualifying round, leaving European giant Germany in the second place. So, you can not say that last tournament’s beaten finalist Portugal is guaranteed the top place in Group A. Moreover, Switzerland will try their best to get into the next round as they have home advantage in the tournament. So, it seems that Czech Republic will have to play their best to secure a place in the quarter final. Now, let us have a look at the 23-man squad of Czech Republic for the tournament.

If you are a fan of Czech Republic, then it is definitely bad news for you to know that Czech Republic will be without their regular captain Tomas Rosicky, who underwent a surgery to his knee recently. The side will also miss their star player Pavel Nedved, who failed to impress Coach Karel Brueckner to make it to the 23-men primary squad. Last but not the least; Czech Republic midfielder Daniel Pudil has been out of the tournament being fallen in an injury, even though he was able to win a place in the 23-men squad. Karel Brueckner has called Rudolf Skacel to replace Daniel Pudil in the primary squad. The final squad will be announced on May 28. Here, I am giving the list of the 23-men primary squad of Czech Republic for EURO 2008 from socceramerica website:

CZECH ROSTER:
Goalkeepers: Jaromir Blazek (Nuremberg, Germany), Petr Cech (Chelsea, England), Daniel Zitka (Anderlecht, Belgium).
Defenders: Zdenek Grygera (Juventus, Italy), Marek Jankulovski (AC Milan, Italy), Michal Kadlec (Sparta Prague), Tomas Sivok (Sparta Prague), Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow), Zdenek Pospech (FC Copenhagen, Denmark), David Rozehnal (Lazio, Italy), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina, Italy)
Midfielders: Tomas Galasek (Nuremberg, Germany), David Jarolim (Hamburg, Germany), Marek Matejovsky (Reading, England), Jaroslav Plasil (Osasuna, Spain), Jan Polak (Anderlecht, Belgium), Rudolf Skacel (Hertha BSC Berlin on loan from Southampton), Libor Sionko (FC Copenhagen, Denmark), Stanislav Vlcek (Anderlecht, Belgium).
Strikers: Milan Baros (Portsmouth, England), Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Jan Koller (Nuremberg, Germany), Vaclav Sverkos (Banik Ostrava).

The only new face in primary squad is Banik Ostrava striker Vaclav Sverkos. There are some high profile footballers in the squad, despite the absent of Rosicky and Nedved. Goal keeper Petr Cech is experienced and could be impressive in the goal. Newcastle United defender David Rozehnal, midfielder Marek Matejovsky (Reading) are very successful in their club career. If you are an avid fan of football, then you may not need any introduction for striker Milan Baros, who is currently playing for Portsmouth on loan from Olympique Lyonnais. The former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker is going to lead Czech Republic attack in the tournament. Fellow striker Martin Fenin is very talented and has all the quality to watch out during the tournament. Though he has not got his first goal for Czech Republic, the 21-year old could get it at the big stage of EURO 2008.

Czech Republic is going to play a friendly match against Lithuania at home before coach Brueckner declares the final squad. Now, let us see who will be in the final squad of Czech Republic for EURO 2008. Let’s wait and see who are going to impress Coach Karel Brueckner.

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Jens Lehmann is 38 years old now and he has just finished his season at Arsenal. At this age, most footballers do not continue playing and in retirement for a long time. However, Jens Lehmann is not like this and he is very experienced. He has left Arsenal and he is looking for a good club. However, he is confident that he will play in EURO 2008 for Germany and he will be in superb form. Of course, many people may think that Jens Lehmann may not be good choice for Germany in EURO 2008 because he spent most of the time at the bench for Arsenal last season.

Lehmann is determined that he will try his best to impress everyone in EURO 2008. He is too eager to show others that his time has not finished yet. Well, I think that Jens Lehmann should consider retiring and if he really likes football that much, he should consider becoming a coach. In fact, goalkeeping is a very important position and Lehmann was a very successful goal keeper both in club level and in international level. So, if Lehmann decides to become a coach then he can give a lot of useful tips to the goalkeepers of new generation.

What do you think of Jens Lehmann in EURO 2008? Will he be able to impress everyone with his performance?

Actually, I remember 1998 football world cup when Croatia became a mighty team in that world cup. Well, Croatia still a strong team in Europe and it is going to be in EURO 2008. Earlier today, Croatia played against Moldova in a EURO 2008 friendly match and Croatia defeated Moldova by just 1-0.

Croatia fans are happy with this win but, it is perhaps not enough because Croatia will have to do better than this. The only goal of the match came from Croatian captain Niko Kovac.

I am sure that Croatia will miss their star striker Eduardo Da Silva. You know that Eduardo Da Silva is a good striker and he plays for Arsenal club in England. A few months back, he suffered an injury and he is still not sure if he can play or not.

In the past, Russia and Kazakhstan were the same country and they had the same football team- Soviet Union national team. Now, they are two different countries and they have two different football clubs. They took part in a friendly match and Russia defeated Kazakhstan by 6-0. Russia coach Guus Hiddink is perhaps happy now to see that his club could do so well. If you remember, Russia eliminated England and qualified for Euro 2008. So, many English fans will surely want that Russia does not do well in Euro 2008. However, the practice match of today perhaps tells that Russia is in good form. Russia is going to play their first match in Euro 2008 against Spain on 10 June. Just 2 weeks left before that.

Fredrik Ljungberg has perhaps passed his prime. He is now 30 years old and he is no long in top form he was once. However, this season he has been playing for West Ham United in English premier league and his performance was not bad. He is hopeful that he would be abele to make in to the Sweden squad in EURO 2008. However, he has suffered a bad injury in an EPL match this Saturday against Newcastle United. This injury will perhaps end his season for English premier league this season. However, Fredrik Ljungberg is now hopeful and also determinted that he can become fit very soon and become a part of Swedish squad in EURO 2008. This is a sad story because Fredrik Ljungberg is a talented footballer. In the past, many times he helped his country to win. So, it will be sad matter for Swedish fans not to have Fredrik Ljungberg.

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Bernd Schneider is the captain of German football club Bayer Leverkusen. He is suffering from an injury now. However, he is determined to come back in time and make a place in EURO 2008 Germany squad. His fans will surely pray for him that he recovers from injury very soon. EURO 2008 is perhaps the most important and most prestigious football event after world cup football. So, let us see if Bernd Schneider can make into EURO 2008 Germany squad.

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It seems like a competition. In the same year, UEFA European Championship EURO 2008 and Beijing Olympics 2008 are taking place. In fact, June 2008 will be the month of EURO 2008, while August 2008 will be the month of Beijing Olympics 2008. Both the events are big business for the respective organizations. UEFA and FIFA are behind EURO 2008, while International Olympic Committee (IOC) is behind Olympics 2008. The two events are also the big business for the host countries. Austria and Switzerland are hosting the football event, while China is organizing Olympic 2008. Now, some people are debating in the media that which event will be able to attract more attention in the media and among the sports fans. In this age of satellite tv, both events have become global events indeed. In EURO 2008, only European football teams are taking part. So, it should be limited to European countries. However, because of satellite TV channels, almost all the players taking part in EURO 2008 are known to other continents. For example, there are many fans in Asia who are crazy for European football. So, you can make sure that EURO 2008 will be indeed a global event.

I think that Beijing Olympics will have one problem. The time zone means that many American TV viewers will be sleeping while many events of Beijing Olympics 2008 will take place. This is something that will give EURO 2008 a huge advantage. All the matches will be played in ideal time for Asian, European and Africa regions. Football is not that popular in America but there are some American football fans and even EURO 2008 time and schedule will be ideal for them to enjoy in their tv sets.

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There are only a few weeks left before EURO 2008. Now, UEFA officials are spending very busy time finalizing the preparation. One important thing is the ticket. In the past, we have seen that some tickets are counterfeited and this causes a lot of unhappiness among fans. This time UEFA has taken some strong measures to stop any kind of counterfeiting or forgery of EURO 2008 tickets. One of the important initiatives taken by UEFA is all the tickets will be bar coded. So, this will ensure the ticket can not be counterfeited easily.

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