Friday, June 06, 2008
Euro 2008 Group B Preview:
Poland
Coach: Leo Beenhakker
Star Player: 1 Artur Boruc
Rising Star: 22 Lukasz Fabianski
Captain: 9 Maciej Zurawski
Qualification Stats: 1st in Group A, ahead of Portugal and Serbia
Top Scorer: Ebi Smolarek (9 goals)
Expectations: Group Stages
Poland will have to depend heavily on goalkeeper Boruc, very talented one too by the way, playmaker Zurawski to pick out top scorer in the qualifier Ebi Smolarek and co. if they are to get some goals, hopefully enough for them to qualify. Other than that, their squad looks a little above average.
AustriaCoach: Josef Hickersberger
Star Player: 10 Andreas Ivanschitz
Rising Star: 15 Sebastien Prodl
Captain: 10 Andreas Ivanschitz
Qualification Stats:
Automatically due to being host nationTop Scorer:
NoneExpectations: Group Stages
Austria's David Beckham in the form of captain Ivanschitz will be the co-host nation's inspiration and creative force. Roland Linz will need to bag a couple of goals and be strong up front, while defenders Emanuel Pogatetz and rising star Prodl will need to be strong at the back, covering for the very experienced goalkeeper Jurgen Macho.
CroatiaCoach: Slaven Bilic
Star Player: 19 Niko Kranjcar
Rising Star: 14 Luka Modric
Captain: 10 Nico Kovac
Qualification Stats: 1st in Group E, ahead of Russia and ENGLAND
Top Scorer: Mladen Petric (7 goals) - it was Eduardo with 10, but his injury ruled him out of Euro 2008
Expectations: Quarter Finals
After preventing England from going into the Euros and making Steve McClaren lose his job, Croatia will go into this tournament as the dark horses, much like the Czech Republic in the last two major tournaments. They have a wealth of midfielders with great vision and creativity, not least Kranjcar, Modric, Ivan Rakitic. They also have defensive rocks in Vedran Corluka and Robert Kovac, not to mention Dario Simic. They have a hard to beat side and an attacking force, even without Eduardo, that everyone would be afraid for. Slaven Bilic is another wild-card, the coach that downed England.
*GermanyCoach: Joachim Löw
Star Player: 13 Michael Ballack
Rising Star: 9 Mario Gomez
Captain: 13 Michael Ballack
Qualification Stats: 2nd in Group D, behind Czech Republic
Top Scorer: Lukas Podolski (8 goals)
Expectations: Semi Finals
1 Jens Lehmann
17 Per Mertesacker
__ 21 Christoph Metzelder
16 Philip Lahm
______________________________________ 2 Marcell Jensen
13 Michael Ballack (
C)
____ 8 Torsten Frings
7 Bastian Schweinsteiger
_________________________________ 20 Lukas Podolski
11 Miroslav Klose
______ 22 Kevin Kuranyi
Germany have a wealth of attackers, like Klose, Kuranyi, Podolski, Mario Gomez, Piotr Trochowski, Schweinsteiger and 2. Bundesliga striker Oliver Neuville, who is a seasoned campaigner for the European nation. Their defensive backup beyond the first four are impressive too, boasting Arne Friedrich, Clemens Fritz and Heiko Westermann. Their midfield still have Tim Borowski and ex-Villa winger Thomas Hitzlsperger not mentioned. So, Germany do have a good squad with much depth, and would be much able to put in a substitute in an event of any injuries to key men. Much to be desired from Germany, whom will do well to reach the finals and hopefully win it.
Ahh yes... Tomorrow's dooms day, I've bought my shin guard, $12 only though. I'm going to be a nervous wreck tomorrow whilst on the long journey to the place. And I wonder how many people would be there, and whether I would be able to perform tomorrow. Good luck sy and jeff.
Bye~!
my thoughts at 7:46 pm