Sub-plots aplenty as Euro survivors target semis
Chris Wright
Europe’s footballing wheat has been sorted from the chaff and the
current eight best teams on the Old Continent will do battle from
Thursday for the right to claim semi-final berths at Euro 2008.
After some tumultuous first-phase action - not least Holland putting
seven goals past world champions Italy and vice-world champions France
for just one in reply and Turkey coming back from the dead to beat the
Czechs - the business end of the tournament is at hand.
Five of the survivors - the Germans, the Italians, the Russians (as
the Soviet Union) and the Spaniards - have won the event before whereas
the upcoming match-ups feature three countries yet to claim either a
continental crown or a World Cup.
The shifting sands of European politics have markedly shaped the
Championships since France hosted the first tournament in 1960, that
tournament being won by a Soviet Union which would disappear from the
map 30 years later, while the former Yugoslavia were twice runners-up.
Germany have won the title three times - twice as West Germany and
then as the united version in 1996 for what remains the Fatherland’s
last major title to date. Now Joachim Loew’s men are looking hungry for
more and 2004 finalists Portugal will beware the danger of a premature
exit on Thursday in Basel.
Portugal, with their injection of native Brazilian nous from the
sergeant-majorish coaching manual of Luiz Felipe Scolari, have huge
talent - but Germany have the sheer athleticism and stamina to halt them
in their tracks. In a tasty sub-plot Scolari will take over at English
Premiership outfit Chelsea after the event - where he will meet up with
none other than the Blues’ German dynamo Michael Ballack.
Sunday’s all-Latin meeting in Vienna of old rivals Italy and Spain
will have them salivating from Rome to Rioja, Cagliari to Compostela and
back again.
The Italians, always the tortoise, never the hare at these events,
have thrown off the psychological trauma of going under the Dutch
steamroller. With their traditional slow start out of the way Roberto
Donadoni’s men know they almost always beat the Spanish - including in
the 1934 and 1994 World Cup quarters.
Fixtures:
Quarter-final fixtures (all at 1845 GMT): Thursday, June 19, at
Basel, Switzerland: Portugal v Germany. Friday, June 20, at Vienna:
Croatia v Turkey. Saturday, June 21, at Basel: Holland v Russia. Sunday,
June 22, at Vienna: Spain v Italy. AFP |
