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The European Championships kick off in Basel on Saturday June 7, where co-host nation Switzerland take on the Czech Republic. This Group A match kicks off a three-week festival of football that will see 31 matches between 16 teams at eight venues in Switzerland and Austria.
Group A looks like a fairly competitive group with Portugal and the Czech Republic topping the bookmakers’ bets for the two teams to advance to the knockout stages of the tournament. Portugal are the favorites to win the group having reached the final of Euro 2004, only to be beaten by Greece and two years ago they reached the World Cup semi-finals. Head coach Felipe Scolari has a talented squad of players at his disposal and the semi-finals should be a minimum goal while many pundits are tipping them to win the championship. If Portugal wants to have a successful tournament, a lot will depend on the form of Cristiano Ronaldo, without a doubt the best player in the world today. The Manchester United winger heads to Austria and Switzerland on the back of an English Premier League and Champions League double and if he continues his fine form, he could well be the key to helping his country win their first major title. .
Like Portugal, the Czech Republic will be optimistic of reaching the Euro 2008 round of 16. They are a team with a great qualification record and a good performance at the European Championships. They booked their place in this year’s Championship in impressive style, losing just once during qualifying. They have a good mix of experienced and young players on the team and should be a threat to any team they play for during the Tournament.
Turkey and Switzerland form Group A and neither team has much experience in European finals, with only two previous appearances each. Switzerland will be hoping to defeat the two group favorites with home advantage; however, they may find both Portugal and the Czech Republic too good, while it would be a surprise to see Turkey make any impact.
Overall, Group A looks like a battle between Portugal and the Czech Republic as to which team will finish first. It may well depend on the result of the match between the two teams to determine who will have the advantage in the Quarter Finals, playing the runners-up of Group B. Portugal have the better team on paper and for that, look at the best bet to win the Group. A.
Euro 2008 Group A Betting Odds [http://euro2008.betting-directory.com/groups.php]