Swiss are the first team to roll! Euro 2008
June 11, 2008
Switzerland rolled out of the Euro 2008 competition this evening, beaten 2 -1 by the Turks.
On a water logged pitch, the two teams battled it out in the first half whilst it hammered down with rain. If this had been a league match it would of been called off after about 10 minutes but I think the referee was waiting to make a judgement at half time.
Unfortunately for him the Swiss scored and only a mad man would have denied them a chance to win. The home fans where absolutely bouncing and in fairness the Swiss where by far the better team. Even if the game did resemble a water polo match more than a football match at times.
At half time the groundsmen worked for the full 15 minutes trying to drain water off the ppitch and that may ultimately be what has sent the Swiss out.
The rain stopped and the pitch eased up a little which suited Turkey much better.
second half they where the better team and once they got back on level terms, despite Swiitzerland threatening on more than one occassion, I always felt Turkey would come out on top.
So Turkey live to fight another day and will fancy themselves to go through after this.
3 days to go and counting!!!!
The opening day of a major tournament is quite often a cagey affair with no teams wanting to be the first to concede in a championship.
The opening games on Saturday are Switzerland vs Czech republic and Portugal vs Turkey.
I can’t see there being too much to get excited about in the opener and expect it to be a 1-1 draw, both teams have a couple of decent players but neither have anything that makes the pulse race and get me jumping off my feet.
The second game on that opening day of Euro 2008 though is a different story. Portugal are many peoples favourites, with the remarkable Christiano Ronaldo lining up to drive his country men on to greatness. Let’s not put them down as a one man team though as they are anything but. They have oodles of talent throughout in the likes of Deco, Nani, Gomes, Postiga and Carvalho and that is why I am thinking that perhaps the best time to play these guys is in the opening game. Hit them before they have a chance to get into their stride. A couple of games in they’re going to be hard to beat as players find their form and the team starts playing a high tempo, smooth passing game. Turkey therefore are in for a difficult opener but not an impossible one.
If they can hit the Portuguese early on and stun them with an early goal I fancy the Turks to cause an upset right there on day one!
Turkey, fresh from a 2-0 win against finland, are quietly fancying themselves to do a job on Portugal an I for one won’t be surprised to see them get that job done. My prediction Turkey 2 – Portugal 1
