There for Portugal’s taking
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Portugal are the obvious favourites to win the group, though it is not completely out of Czech Republic’s grasp to upset the order. Both teams will be thrilled that they are each going to play their opening game against the group’s less fancied sides. Portugal will open their campaign against Turkey, while the Czech Republic will lock horns with hosts Switzerland. It will be absolutely essential for both Portugal and Czech Republic to take maximum points before their crunch tie just four days later.
After reaching the semi-finals of World Cup 2002, Turkey found it hard to live up to expectations. They failed to qualify for Euro2004 and the 2006 World Cup, which hinted that their World Cup success may have been a false dawn. Turkey are certainly a decent side with useful players like Yildiray Basturk, Emre Belozoglu, and Halil Altintop, but they lack the energy that the team of six years ago had. Coach Fatih Terim has finally turned the screw and got his country back into an international tournament, yet getting past a group containing Portugal, Czech Republic, and hosts Switzerland is a tough task. Terim was also coach of the Turkish national team that reached Euro1996, only to then lose all their group matches. To avoid the same fate, Terim will have to get his team to play consistently, something which he failed to do during qualifying.
As co-hosts of Euro2008, Switzerland will be eager to improve on their unimaginative outing at World Cup 2006. Though they topped their group in Germany—holding France to a creditable draw in the process—they were accused by the Swiss press of conservative tactics. The second round penalty shoot-out defeat to Ukraine was a damning indictment of Swiss timidity at the tournament. After both sides lumbered to a 0-0 scoreline, Switzerland failed to convert a single penalty and lost 3-0 in the shoot-out.
After a sixteen-year period of relative obscurity, Portugal roared back onto the world stage during Euro2000. Admittedly, at the youth level Portuguese football had made waves in the late eighties and early nineties, but the senior team, prior to the turn of the century, had enjoyed little success apart from the 1966 World Cup (third-place finish) and the 1984 European Championships (semi-final exit). The Portuguese public expected more, and during Euro2000 they started to dream again. Luis Figo and Rui Costa provided a spectacle of football, taking Portugal all the way to the semi-finals, only to then controversially lose to France. En route to the semi-final, Portugal had confidently defeated England and Germany.
Coach Karel Bruckner performed wonders with the Czech Republic in Euro2004 by taking them to the semi-finals of the event. Not since the European Championships of 1996 had the Czechs made a significant mark on an international tournament. They finished as runners-up then, but their performances at Euro2004 were far more sparkling.
