The upcoming Euro 2008 championships to be held in Austria and Switzerland have caught the imagination and concentration of millions of soccer addicts all over the world. With sixteen of Europe's best teams fighting it out for a place in the annals of soccer history, expect action, drama and football of the top order this coming summer. With an eye on the upcoming championships, let us retell the inherent teams who would be lifting the chequered trophy come the 27th of June in Austria.
World Champions Italy as a matter of fact look to be on the strongest sides of paper. The Italians all the time come up with the goods in the big stage as demonstrated by their success in the last World Cup and with the likes of Luca Toni and Alessandero Del Piero in fine form, the Azzuri have a lethal frontline capable of coming up trumps against the very best. The defence is a tiny concern though with Fabio Cannavaro seeing the shadow of the player he was in the World Cup 2006 but with Buffon guarding the net, opposition strikers have much work to do to notch up goals against the Azzuri.
Joint favourites with Italy would have to be France and Portugal. Both these sides have been consistently good at major tournaments over the past decade or so and will be hoping to bury their shortcomings in modern finals by going all the way this time. France will be playing without Zinedine Zidane in a major tournament for the first time and will be heavily reliant on Frank Ribbery and Sameer Nasri in the midfield for pulling the opposition strings. Any way with Thierry Henry and upcoming Lyon sensation Karim Benzema in attack, expect goals galore when France come out to the field .
This tournament will ultimately see Cristiano Ronaldo play at the peak of his poweress and the Portuegse will hope that the dazzling wing compound of Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma will help them rise from the disappointments of the Euro 2004 when they were vanquished by Greece in their home turf. Their fellow Iberian rivals Spain have also be hoping that they can break their eternal chokers tag with a major silverware for the first time in forty four years. Spain come into the Euro 2008 finals with arguably the finest strike force in World football. The likes of David Villa, David Guiza and Fernando Torres have been nothing but sensational at club level and expect the Spanish to have a major in choosing the champions of European national football competitions this summer.
The Netherlands and Germany will be going into the Euro 2008 finals as the dark horses. With a host of superstars to rely upon in the face of adversity, both these sides are up in the reckoning for a place in the finals this June. Netherlands have been placed in the group of death along with Italy and France and much of their carrying out will depend on the carrying out of star strikers Rudd van Nistelrooy, Huntelaar and Robin Van Persie.
Other preponderant competitors consist of of Czech Republic, Sweden and Romania. With the likes of Adrian Mutu, Peter Cech, Pavel Nedved and Henrik Larsson in the ranks, these sides have the capacity of striking the very best in firm on their day.
All this will go down as mere paperwork when the official Euro championships kick off in short notice. The championships are notorious for throwing up unpredictable as Greece would testify last time around.
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