Portugal and Czech Republic Win On Opening Day
The opening day of Euro 2008 has seen the Czech Republic and Portugal win their opening games. The Czech Republic beat Switzerland 1-0 while Portugal cast aside Turkey with a 2-0 victory respectively.
After the apparently important - but boring, and to me unnecessary - opening ceremony, which thankfully lasted for only 20 or so minutes, the football finally got under way. Despite there being no home interest, it was still a tournament football fans have been looking forward to. After all, many of the stars of the Premier League are on show - along with some of the best players on the planet.
Switzerland and nthe Czech Republic got us under away, and as hosts were looking to impress. Unfortunately for them, the Czech’s scored the only goal - when substitute Vaclav Sverkos slotted home a low volley in the 70th minute.
In the early stages Switzerland’s main threat came from captain Alexander Frei until he left the pitch in tears following an injury which looked serious enough to rule him out for the remainder of the tournament.
Despite this setback, Switzerland continued to threaten the Czech’s, but never really looked as though they would win the match. Sound harsh? Sorry, it’s just my opinion!
The Czech’s do have undoubted talent in their squad, but they underperformed today, a point backed up by coach Karel Bruckner who said his side were “not at their best”. Despite this, it was a professional display, and one which sees them finish the opening day as joint leaders of Group A.
The second match of the day saw Portugal face Turkey, and this provided much more in the way of entertainment. Portugal have some fantastic attacking players that can rival any national team in the world. Being coached by a Brazilian also adds to the flair I’m sure.
Real Madrid centre back Pepe opened the scoring on the hour, after a run from defence and a neat exchange with Nuno Gomes. Substitute finished Turkey off with an injury time second from Raul Meireles after a brilliant flowing move - something we saw from the Portuguese all night.
Cristiano Ronaldo was, as always, outstanding. But he was not alone. 31-year-old Deco showed flashes of his more youthful brilliance, while 21-year-old Moutinho looks to be an extremely skillful young player, and terrorised Turkey for the full 90 minutes.
With Ronaldo and coach Scolari both being continuously questioned regarding their futures, it must have been a relief to get away from it all and play some football - and they certainly did. Portugal finished as runners-up four years ago, in their own backyard, and it was evident on this display that they are determined to go one step further this time around.
The Portuguese always looked like winners in this one, despite Turkey also looking impressive at times - Kazim Richards (of Fenerbahçe) for one looks to be a fantastic player, and one to look out for.
Favourites to qualify from this group afer tonight’s matches for me are Portugal and Turkey - but I do think the Czech Republic can perform much better than they did against the Swiss. Plus, with a keeper like Cech it would be foolish to rule against them. They did only concede 5 goals in 12 qualifying matches, so maybe their defensive record will see them thorugh. At this stage though, Turkey looked more impressive - and Portugal streets ahead of all 3.
I’m sorry to say that I really do not see Switzerland reaching the knockout stages - despite the home support.
Any opinions on the first day?
[...] the first two matches between Switzerland and the Czech Republic, and Portugal and Turkey, we have identified the players [...]