It has finally comes down to this. Co-host Switzerland and the Czech Republic will get the ball rolling in this opener. One thing is for certain though: Euro 2008 will be the swansong for both coaches Jakob Kuhn and Karel Brueckner as they will retire after the tournament.
It was definitely disappointing that one of those I had look forward to see in action is not there. Tomas Rosicky. He has been the captain for the Czech Republic until he had to rule himself out of the tournament due to injury. The person who has become the captain in Rosicky's place Tomas Ujfalusi has admitted that his thoughts will be with Rosicky (who was also part of the side that gave Germany a 3-0 loss at home and the Czechs qualified as a result). Ujfalusi added that his crocked teammate will be one of the biggest supporters of the team.
One of the major news so far out of the Swiss camp is about the health of Swiss coach Jakob Kuhn's wife Alice who was being admitted to the hospital since early this week over suffering epileptic seizure. Since then, his wife's condition have been stabilised and he thanked everyone for their support over his wife's condition. Other than that, it's looking ahead of the opener.
Switzerland had the most stingiest of defences two years ago during the World Cup in Germany. That was until they met Ukraine in the quarter-finals which went all the way to the penalty-shootouts which the 'Nati' lost. The national team was very young then (in terms of age) and two years ago, most of them are still with the squad. Patrick Muller (Lyon) and Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen) are back after shaking off injury concerns.
Over at the Czech Republic's corner, Right-back Zdenek Pospech has manflu, but leftback/winger Marek Jankulovski has declared himself fit. While the captain Tomas Ujfalusi is saying there is nothing to worry about his muscle strain.
It will be a case of young upstars in the Swiss squad over the case of experience in the Czech Republic squad. Both goalkeepers on both sides, Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg) and Petr Cech (Chelsea) are also first-choice keepers for their respective clubs. Czech Republic's Jan Koller is very tall, and so will any of the Swiss strikers be able beat him in the air?
Jakob Kun is statistically at the moment, most successful coach in Swiss football. Karel Brueckner didn't have any experience of coaching in any of Europe's major football clubs but he knew most on the squad from his time as the coach of the U-21 side. For more info on Kuhn, here and on Brueckner, here. The guys both coaches have selected - Switzerland, Czech Republic. And an in-depth focus at Switzerland's Tranquillo Barnetta and Czech Republic's Jan Koller.
Two more reading material - Czech test for Swiss, Swiss co-hosts meet Czechs in opening match. And that is about it. Get ready to roll...no pun intended.
