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Euro 2008 - Favourites On Target So Far

The opening day of Euro 2008 provided no surprises but at least both games delivered goals as the Czech Republic and Portugal quickly took control of their group. When Switzerland saw their captain and star man Frei limp off just before half-time, you could see the life drain from some of their players and a solitary Czech Republic strike was enough to ensure the host nation were having a pointless start to the campaign.

The later match of the opening day saw centre half Pepe have a goal chopped in the first half but he was unperturbed and eventually clinched the opening goal in the second half as Portugal went onto record a 2-0 victory over their Turkish opponents.

Group A looked to be one of the more straightforward groups and Portugal and the Czech Republic should be able to build on their solid starts and qualify to the knock-out stages.

Sunday Best for Croatia and Germany
Group B made its debut on Sunday and managed to offer up plenty more excitement for the watching masses.

Croatia started like a team possessed and quietened down the co-hosts and the first penalty of the tournament within four minutes of kick-off, allowed Tottenham Hotspur's new signing Modric to open his nations account for the summer.

There was a lot of pre-tournament doom and gloom about Austria but in the second half they attacked Croatia in waves which rattled Slaven Bilic's team and had the home crowd roaring their approval. For the neutral it was a tremendous game of football and in the end, Croatia were extremely fortunate to escape with a 1-0 victory.

At 1-0 down, Poland were robbed of an equalising goal when offside was given even though Phillip Lahm appeared to be playing the Polish striker onside. There is no doubt that the Germans had a great slice of luck at that moment in the game.

Germany had a further slice of luck when Miroslav Klose miskicked before Podolski fired home to give Germany a two goal lead. Four games and four victories for the favourite team suggests that the top half of the draw is going to form but the bottom half of the draw was always the more difficult to predict.

Group of Death Gets Underway
With two groups now started, the remaining 8 teams will be looking to kick off their campaign strongly and Monday sees Group C, this year's Group of Death get underway.

Italy have not had their troubles to seek and any nation would consider the loss of their captain as a blow. Their match against Holland on Monday night will give them the first opportunity to prove that they can bounce back quickly.

However, it allows Holland an early opportunity to steal a result that could see them progress and Ruud van Nistelrooy will be looking to sniff out a weakness caused by the absence of his Real Madrid team mate Cannavarro.

The other match in Group C sees France take on Romania and the French have had a few concerns over injuries too with Thierry Henry and Frank Ribery missing training because of a few niggling injuries they had picked up. Whether this will be anything serious enough to prevent them from appearing for Le Blues will be answered come Monday night but you would think they will both be available.

With this group looking so tight on paper every team will have to weigh up how hard they should push for a victory. As things are expected to be tight any victory could be crucial and a win for one team coupled with a draw in the other game could result in a very good day for the team that wins.

Equally though, it could be catastrophic for the losing side and this may have an impact on how teams perform. It is looking extremely hard to predict what will occur in Group C but if any team can take an early lead, it should be expected that their opponent will throw everything at them in order to get back into the game.

Superstars versus Hiddink
On Tuesday, Group D finally makes their bow with many people's favourites taking their bow alongside Russia, Spain and Greece. Most people’s top tips in Spain and Russia take each other on which curiously enough puts more pressure on the Sweden versus Greece match.

Knowing that at least one of the top 2 is going to drop points, a victory for either Greece or Sweden could set them up for possible qualification to the knock out stages. Russia and Spain both had their wobbles throughout the qualification process but whilst Spain have some world class players who will be expected to perform, a lot of the reasons behind backing Russia lie with their manager Guus Hiddink.

Hiddink has achieved credible performances at major tournaments with Australia and Holland and a quite frankly unbelievable performance from South Korea at the 2002 World Cup, where they reached the semi-final stage. If Hiddink can take the South Korean to the final four of the World Cup, then there may be no limit as to how far he can take the Russian squad.

Group Stages 2nd Round
And after that, the round of matches begins again with Group A coming back to prominence.

Portugal and the Czech Republic square up against each other so at least one of the opening days' winning team will be losing their 100% record and both teams know that a win will be enough to guarantee qualification due to the head to head record of the teams.

This should be enough incentive for both of these teams to have a go on Wednesday and try and make sure the last group game is of importance only for pride and for who they may play in the knock-out stages.

Of course, the pressure is all on Switzerland and Turkey and both teams will be likely to go all out for victory in their match. A failure to win in your first two group games will inevitably see the losers flying home, unless of course it is Switzerland who lose, as they are already home.

One of the best things about these summer football tournaments is that group dynamics and momentum can change in an instant and any team that loses their open game gets a quick opportunity to bounce back. The first two days of Euro 2008 have served up some exciting moments and if the rest of the tournament continues in the same vein then there will be few complaints regarding the standard of football.

By Andrew Reilly

for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk

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