Preview: While the author of the blog is trying to sink in to the fact that Fabio Capello's new reign as the England manager has officially begun, it's the final part of the four-part series of the spotlight on national teams and coaches ahead of Euro 2008. Today, the focus is on Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Sweden. As the 'saying' goes (which she don't really like) - Better late than never, the teams featured for today joined in the Euro 2008 party on the final day of qualification. With actually more than four nations fighting for the remaining places (England was one of those) on the last day, how did they get there?
The only time I was late for school was when I was in Primary Two. It was totally a mistake on my part. I overslept. In the end, I had to wait at the school gate (with the prefect who is taking down the names of those who are late) until the morning assembly was over before I can join my classmates. From then on, it served as a reminder of me not to be late for anything (and late for school is not something to shout about). In footballing matters, qualifying on the final day for a major competition especially have this significance - the drama of doing it at the last minute. When it seemed that after England was being thrown an unexpected lifeline from Israel ahead of their crunch qualifier at the Wembley against Croatia, it's not the time to mess up the chances. But then, life can be cruel sometimes...
Four years ago they were the host nation. Just about everyone expect them to beat surprise packages Greece in the final. But then, it was not to be in the end. I am talking about Portugal. And oh, especially how England fans so hate winger Cristiano Ronaldo given he was partly responsible (or so this is how the sentiment was like at that time) for England's quarter-final exit in the World Cup two years ago. But things had changed somewhat since. There was some drama along the way in Portugal's road to Austria and Switzerland, but they are there in the end. Runners-up to Poland in their qualifying group...
Portugal lost only one game in Group A, the only section with eight teams, but had to endure a nervous finale before claiming their place in the finals as runners-up to Poland. After clinging on for a 1-1 draw with Finland with ten men in their opening game, Portugal won 3-0 against Azerbaijan but then lost 2-1 in Poland. Progress was to be sporadic thereafter, despite winger Cristiano Ronaldo contributing eight goals. Portugal dropped some unexpected points, drawing 1-1 home and away against Serbia, 2-2 at home against Poland and – worst of all – 1-1 away against a surprisingly troublesome Armenia. Incidents following the 1-1 home draw with Serbia led coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to be banned from the touchline for three games, but Portugal won all three matches with his assistant Flávio Teixeira on the bench, meaning they needed only to avoid defeat in their final game against Finland in Porto to progress. With Finland knowing a win would likely see them qualify in Portugal's place, it was a tense affair, but a 0-0 draw sufficed for the home side, with Scolari saying: "I know we have to improve for the finals."
He is also known as 'Big Phil' back in his native Brazil. Luiz Felipe Scolari. Yes, England fans will remember that he was almost considered for the England job after Sven-Goran Eriksson left. But Scolari bowed out amidst the English media pressure. It was almost clear why the English FA wanted to get him. Scolari had worked wonders with Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, leading them all the way to the final and becoming the champions over runners-up Germany at that time. And Brazil was not among the favourites to win then. I am not sure if the Portugese FA has extended his contract (I swear, I saw an article somewhere about this!), but this is what I have in my blog archives so far - Big Phil drops Portugal contract hint. It was a year ago that appeared. Anyhow, Portgual has been drawn into Group A with co-host Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Turkey for Euro 2008. On paper, Scolari should be able to bring Portugal past the group stages.
I have to admit my knowledge of Turkey in terms of football is limited, unless it's about Turkey and Germany's footballing relations. Footballers and coaches from both sides had been each other's domestic leagues. But it was during the draw in Lucerne I learned that actually during the 2006 World qualifier play-offs, there were plenty of drama at the end of the Turkey-Switzerland match. But the both sides had already made up ahead of the draw. Peace on earth. Anyhow, they were runners-up to Greece in their qualifying group. So, how do they get there?
Turkey finished second in Group C behind European champions Greece, but made heavy work of qualifying after a stirring start. Fatih Terim's team won their first three games without conceding a single goal, Hakan Şükür celebrating his 50th international goal when he struck four in the third of those wins, 5-0 win against Moldova. Things got even better when an under-strength Turkey side came from behind to beat Greece 4-1 in Athens in their first qualifier of 2007. They then lost their way, however, with a run of one win in six that included a 3-2 defeat in Bosnia-Herzegovina and then a humiliating 2-2 draw in Malta, where Turkey came from behind twice. Crisis talk intensified in October 2007 when a 1-1 draw in Moldova was followed by a 1-0 home defeat against Greece, which saw the European champions celebrate qualification in Istanbul. Having slipped to third in the section, Turkey reclaimed the initiative with a 2-1 win in Oslo in their penultimate qualifier. A 1-0 home victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in their final qualifier kept them a point above Norway in second place.
It's not the first time Fatih Terim has took charge of the national team. From uefa.com - He had previously been appointed as Turkey coach in 1993 and led them to the finals of UEFA EURO '96™. They lost all of their games in England, but just getting there was a major landmark as Turkey's first finals appearance since the 1954 World Cup. Now for some reason, I see Turkey as the dark horse in their group for Euro 2008 to advance after the Czech Republic and Portugal (given only two from each group advance). We may never know! If somehow somewhat they meet Germany in the next round (given Germany is in Group B), it's going to be real interesting. Just on the historical reasons alone is enough.
Russian football has seen a rise in recent times. When even its own domestic league is becoming more exciting in the country itself, it's a sign. Hey, when even people like Ruud Gullit is saying that Russia could be Euro 2008 dark horses, why not? Especially when you got someone like the Dutch master Guus Hiddink as the national coach (Russia's first foreign coach actually), anything is possible. I know until his Russia side meet England in the qualifiers, I admitted I had always been an admirer of him. All that had to be put aside when the two sides face each other home and away. While many had said that England was unlucky to lose in Moscow, Hiddink never gave up when Russia was initially a goal down. They came to qualify at the expense of England losing to Croatia on the final day of qualifying. They were playing away at Andorra when the news from London came after the end of their last qualifier.
Guus Hiddink's maiden campaign as coach could hardly have had a more dramatic ending as Russia snatched second place in Group E at the death. After opening with home draws against Croatia and Israel, Russia won five of their next six games. Aleksandr Kerzhakov struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 home victory against Andorra and the only game of that sequence they did not win was a goalless draw in Croatia. Russia played back-to-back games against England in autumn 2007, losing 3-0 at Wembley but then staging a dramatic recovery in Moscow, where substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice in five second-half minutes – the first a penalty – to cancel out Wayne Rooney's opener. That result left Russia second in the section, needing six points from their final games in Israel and Andorra to be sure of qualifying. Hiddink said it was "simply impossible" to lose in Israel, against opponents already out of the running, but lose they did, their 2-1 defeat putting England back in pole position to qualify. However, the drama continued on the final day, with England unexpectedly losing 3-2 at home against group winners Croatia, allowing a ten-man Russia to seal their progress with a 1-0 win in Andorra, earned by Dmitri Sychev's goal.
Maybe he is lucky. Maybe it's not. But still, Dutchman Guus Hiddink had said before it does not boils down to luck that the teams he used to manage achieve success. Especially the case of South Korea in the 2002 World Cup where he became a hero to the Koreans when the national team went all the way to the semi-finals. Frankly admitting, that was my first time hearing of the no-nonsense Dutchman. South Korea's World Cup journey then was a fairytale. He was the man responsible. It's actually amazing to hear that when he was coaching Australia (and thus ending the Socceroos's international exile since the 1974 World Cup), he was also coaching PSV Eindhoven at the same time. After Australia lost to Italy on a dubious penalty in the round of 16, he left to coach Russia. It was all planned before the World Cup actually that he will be going there. And at one point, his name is being floated around for being the new Chelsea manager when Jose Mourinho left adruptly. Russia is being drawn into Group D ahead of Euro 2008 where Spain, Sweden and Greece are also at.
Suddenly after my father had said that he will be going to Sweden for a working trip (which coincides with the final Euro 2008 qualifiers), I became mildly interested to what is going on in the Swedish national team. When he returned home, he did talked about what he watched from his hotel room. Sweden's last qualifier was one of those. He did saw the England-Croatia highlights when he was there and almost launched into a mini rant of sorts when telling me how he felt of England's performance based on what he saw. In the words of one of Sweden's famous pop export ABBA - Mamma mia. Sweden did leave it till very late to qualify, just behind Spain in their qualifying group.
Sweden qualified in second place in Group F behind Spain, completing the job on the last night of qualifying when they beat Latvia 2-1 and Northern Ireland lost in Spain. Lars Lagerbäck's side made a bright start, winning their opening four games – including a 2-0 success over section favourites Spain courtesy of goals from Johan Elmander and Marcus Allbäck. They then suffered a setback when beaten 2-1 by Northern Ireland in Belfast in March 2007, with two goals from David Healy cancelling out Elmander's opener. Sweden were awarded a 3-0 win against Denmark in their next game after the qualifier in Copenhagen was abandoned after a Danish spectator attacked the match referee, who had just awarded Sweden a late penalty with the scores level at 3-3. Sweden would have qualified with two games to spare only to draw 1-1 at home against Northern Ireland. The champagne remained on ice after they lost their penultimate qualifier 3-0 in Spain. The victory over Latvia on 21 November 2007 – Kim Källström getting the winner - ensured qualification for a fifth successive major finals tournament. "We did what we had to do and that's all that matters," said Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Just recently, coach Lars Largerback had extended his contract till the end of the 2010 World Cup, thus making him the longest-serving coach in Sweden. In June, Russia (which was just being featured earlier) will be one of their group opponents. For the record, Sweden had not won a European Championship yet.
There you have it. The 16 national teams and coaches. With the exception of the co-hosts given they qualify automatically, I did feature each national team's road to Euro 2008. I did try to talk about what I know of each national coach. If ain't for the UEFA website's Euro 2008 page especially, I will not know much on those coaches I already know. The Wikipedia did helped me in a way or another. It's how I know more of the Netherlands coach Marco van Basten's life as a professional footballer. You know as they say, you learn something new each day and I do recognise that. If you think my entries had been a little lengthy, I do recognise that too. It's the best I can do. Those links which I had been providing do give some alternative reading if you are interested. From Getting there early to Hello and welcome, then More drama ensued and finally...At the last minute, it's my own mini guide to the teams and coaches of Euro 2008. Brief profiles of the host cities in Austria and Switzerland will be up before the end of the month.
Before I start to babble non-stop, a big thanks to the links which I had been using for this entry and the ones which I did not use but maybe you may want to check it out - Point to prove for Portugal, Profile of Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Turkey make up for lost time, Profile of Turkey coach Fatih Terim, Russia ready to complete EURO treble, Profile of Russia coach Guus Hiddink, Sweden make it five in a row, Profile of Sweden coach Lars Lagerbäck, UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A, UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group C, UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group E, UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F
