Euro 2008 Preview - Group A
With the Euro 2008 Championships due to kick off in just over a week in Austria and Switzerland i thought i would preview the 4 groups over the next few days and try and pick the qualifiers for the Quarter Final Phase.
Group A: Czech Rep, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey.
The Czechs qualified by topping their qualifying group ahead of Germany, they scored 27 and conceded only 5 in 12 games winning 9 and losing just once.
They will be hampered by the loss through injury of Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky but with the likes of Cech in goal, Jankulovski and Ujfalusi in defence and Baros and Koller up front they have the experiance to get through the group.
Portugal finished 2nd behind Poland in their qualifying group in what was one of the weaker groups containing as it did the likes of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia and not suprisingly they only lost once in qualifying away to Poland. What was of concern was the less then convincing performances against the minnows dropping points in Finland and Armenia and only scrapping a 1-0 home win against Armenia.
However they do have Christiano Ronaldo who is at present in the best form of his life and arguably the best player in the world at this moment. He is supported in a strong squad by the likes of new Chelsea signing Boswinga and team mate Carvalho in defence and Deco, Simao and Veloso in midfield, and the World Cup Semi Finalists of 2006 must feel confident of progressing deep into the competition.
Switzerland the co-hosts have not played a competative game since a dire 0-0 with Ukraine in the 2nd round of the World Cup and to be honest their friendly results in the following 2 years do not inspire confidence and i find it hard to see them getting out of this group even with home advantage.
They have a number of promising players in their squad such as Djourou and Degen, Liverpool`s new signing at the back and Vonlanten, Fernandes and Barnetta in midfield, with Frei always likely to poach a goal but the key question will be how Phillipe Senderos can come back from his disasterous performance at Liverpool in the Champions League, rumour has it that he was so devasted by the performance Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger left him out of the squad for his own sake. He needs to be at his best at the back of the Swiss defence to give the co-hosts a chance of progress.
Turkey the final team in the group again finished 2nd in qualifying to Greece but were 7 points behind them in what was another week group which contained the likes of Moldova, Hungary and Malta.
They again have another solid squad with a good blend of youth and experiance though the defence looks a little suspect. However they have creativity and talent in midfield and attack with the likes of the Altintop twins, Emre, Tuncay and Nihat Kevachi so they may cause a suprise or two if they bring their A game to the table.
In summary i cannot see many goals in this group so any chances the forwards get they will have to take full advantage of. With this in mind i am going for Portugal with Ronaldo in such fine form to top the group and the key match for who finishes 2nd could be the Czech Republic v. Turkey with i would expect the Czechs coming out on top to take second place.
So Portugal and the Czech Republic to get through Group A and as far as a betting opportunity is concerned i will be going for Portugal at 11/8 to top the Group.
Silverfox.
