The greatest nations known to man will soon go head-to-head in the most prestigious sports tournament on the face of the earth. Capital of the world will be Lisbon, Portugal.
The participants will have six months to prepare their arms, who they will face will be known tomorrow, Sunday 30 November 2003 when the draw will see the tournament take shape. These are the contestants:
PORTUGAL
Hosts and organizers, Portugal didn’t have to qualify. Now, that bares a pro as well as a con. The pro is obvious but the con is that the Portuguese haven’t played a serious match since the last World Cup in which they put up a dismal performance. Nevertheless, they have the home advantage and with a public as the Portuguese, losing is not an option.
FRANCE
Former world-champions and holding European Champions France cruised through the qualification round as if it were non-existent. They are, without a doubt, the favourites for the title once again. Key players are Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane.
SWEDEN
Nobody messes with Sweden. That much became clear this qualifcation round. They only lost one match and that was a tricky tie to group-runners up Latvia. A force to reckon with, the Swedes could go far.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Are the Czechs any good? Just ask the Dutch. The Central European nation overthrew Holland and won the group to automatically qualify for Euro2004. Their only weakness being their lack of depth in the team, their substitutes aren’t nearly as good as their starters and in an intense and long tournament, that could cost them.
ITALY
They really are always there, aren’t they? Powerhouse Italy is tipped by many as the only real challenge to France’s superiority. And who can argue with that? With a solid defence and impressive attacking power, the Italians won’t settle for anything less than the title.
SPAIN
The Spaniards always arrive with a star-studded team but they never managed to win a title. Only some believe they can turn that misfortune around this time but whether they’ll win it or not, they are quite good enough to beat some major teams. NOT meeting Spain is (as always) a pro.
ENGLAND
Out of four, England was the only British nation to make it to the finals. Amazingly, the English never won the EC before and they aren’t named as one of the top favourites this time around either. Still, with players such as Beckham and Owen one would expect them to go far.
GERMANY
Admired by some, feared by most, the Germans always find a way of winning. Heaven knows how. The World Cup finalists will be looking to win the title once again but looking at their squad, one has to conclude that they would have to win it on team-effort. Their players are technically often outclassed by their direct opponents.
HOLLAND
With a very entertaining style of play, the Dutch are the most frequently broadcasted nation in Europe and extremely popular worldwide. But despite that, they had severe trouble qualifying for this tournament and they left it to the very last match when something seemed to spark in the team as they trashed Scotland by six goals to nil. Will they be in shape on time?
DENMARK
The second Scandinavian team to make it to the finals, the Danes will be looking to repeat and better their excellent performance at the last World Cup. They have the players, the skills and the will. But will they have the luck they need, being seeded in pot three?
CROATIA
They managed to qualify after beating their neighbour and rival Slovenia in the play-offs. Not as strong anymore as a couple of years ago, the Croatians appear to be one of the underdogs of the tournament.
RUSSIA
The Russians are what you would call a fighting team. They don’t quit and they hate to lose. A serious threat to any other team and being placed in the third pot, the Russians will be drawn with two theoretically better teams. A giant killer? No, giant killers are small themselves. That can’t be said about Russia.
BULGARIA
From Eastern Europe, the Bulgarians are relatively unknow. Maybe I can clear that up for you when I say “Petrov (Celtic Glasgow)” or “Dimitri Berbatov (Bayer Leverkusen)” or even ”Marian Hristov (Kaiserslautern)”. The Bulgarians are by no means a walkover and have what it takes to be this tournament’s surprise package.
SWITZERLAND
Last year we saw FC Basel fight their way through the Champions League and many believe it sparked Swiss football. The Swiss are seeded in pot four and will face tough opponents but nevertheless stand a chance of progressing.
GREECE
Unpredictible. That is the key word when you talk about Greece. And I’ll have to leave it at that as well. Could they go far? Yes, they could. Could they be eliminated in the first stages? Yes, they could.
LATVIA
Come again? No, your eyes are not cheating on you, Latvia made it to the finals after beating Turkey! The small baltic nation is living a fairytale but one cannot help but think it might not last that long.
THE SEEDINGS
And that leaves us with the seedings for the draw tomorrow. Below are the pots the nations are divided in and the co-efficient that put them there. For the record: teams from the same pots will not end up in the same group. The co-efficients are based on the performances in the Euro2004 qualification rounds ONLY.
1 --- Portugal --- hosts
1 --- France --- 3.000
1 --- Sweden --- 2.389
1 --- Czech Republic --- 2.333
2 --- Italy --- 2.313
2 --- Spain --- 2.313
2 --- England --- 2.313
2 --- Germany --- 2.188
3 --- Holland --- 2.167
3 --- Croatia --- 2.125
3 --- Russia --- 2.056
3 --- Denmark --- 2.056
4 --- Bulgaria --- 1.889
4 --- Switzerland --- 1.611
4 --- Greece --- 1.563
4 --- Latvia --- 1.250
The participants will have six months to prepare their arms, who they will face will be known tomorrow, Sunday 30 November 2003 when the draw will see the tournament take shape. These are the contestants:
PORTUGAL
Hosts and organizers, Portugal didn’t have to qualify. Now, that bares a pro as well as a con. The pro is obvious but the con is that the Portuguese haven’t played a serious match since the last World Cup in which they put up a dismal performance. Nevertheless, they have the home advantage and with a public as the Portuguese, losing is not an option.
FRANCE
Former world-champions and holding European Champions France cruised through the qualification round as if it were non-existent. They are, without a doubt, the favourites for the title once again. Key players are Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane.
SWEDEN
Nobody messes with Sweden. That much became clear this qualifcation round. They only lost one match and that was a tricky tie to group-runners up Latvia. A force to reckon with, the Swedes could go far.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Are the Czechs any good? Just ask the Dutch. The Central European nation overthrew Holland and won the group to automatically qualify for Euro2004. Their only weakness being their lack of depth in the team, their substitutes aren’t nearly as good as their starters and in an intense and long tournament, that could cost them.
ITALY
They really are always there, aren’t they? Powerhouse Italy is tipped by many as the only real challenge to France’s superiority. And who can argue with that? With a solid defence and impressive attacking power, the Italians won’t settle for anything less than the title.
SPAIN
The Spaniards always arrive with a star-studded team but they never managed to win a title. Only some believe they can turn that misfortune around this time but whether they’ll win it or not, they are quite good enough to beat some major teams. NOT meeting Spain is (as always) a pro.
ENGLAND
Out of four, England was the only British nation to make it to the finals. Amazingly, the English never won the EC before and they aren’t named as one of the top favourites this time around either. Still, with players such as Beckham and Owen one would expect them to go far.
GERMANY
Admired by some, feared by most, the Germans always find a way of winning. Heaven knows how. The World Cup finalists will be looking to win the title once again but looking at their squad, one has to conclude that they would have to win it on team-effort. Their players are technically often outclassed by their direct opponents.
HOLLAND
With a very entertaining style of play, the Dutch are the most frequently broadcasted nation in Europe and extremely popular worldwide. But despite that, they had severe trouble qualifying for this tournament and they left it to the very last match when something seemed to spark in the team as they trashed Scotland by six goals to nil. Will they be in shape on time?
DENMARK
The second Scandinavian team to make it to the finals, the Danes will be looking to repeat and better their excellent performance at the last World Cup. They have the players, the skills and the will. But will they have the luck they need, being seeded in pot three?
CROATIA
They managed to qualify after beating their neighbour and rival Slovenia in the play-offs. Not as strong anymore as a couple of years ago, the Croatians appear to be one of the underdogs of the tournament.
RUSSIA
The Russians are what you would call a fighting team. They don’t quit and they hate to lose. A serious threat to any other team and being placed in the third pot, the Russians will be drawn with two theoretically better teams. A giant killer? No, giant killers are small themselves. That can’t be said about Russia.
BULGARIA
From Eastern Europe, the Bulgarians are relatively unknow. Maybe I can clear that up for you when I say “Petrov (Celtic Glasgow)” or “Dimitri Berbatov (Bayer Leverkusen)” or even ”Marian Hristov (Kaiserslautern)”. The Bulgarians are by no means a walkover and have what it takes to be this tournament’s surprise package.
SWITZERLAND
Last year we saw FC Basel fight their way through the Champions League and many believe it sparked Swiss football. The Swiss are seeded in pot four and will face tough opponents but nevertheless stand a chance of progressing.
GREECE
Unpredictible. That is the key word when you talk about Greece. And I’ll have to leave it at that as well. Could they go far? Yes, they could. Could they be eliminated in the first stages? Yes, they could.
LATVIA
Come again? No, your eyes are not cheating on you, Latvia made it to the finals after beating Turkey! The small baltic nation is living a fairytale but one cannot help but think it might not last that long.
THE SEEDINGS
And that leaves us with the seedings for the draw tomorrow. Below are the pots the nations are divided in and the co-efficient that put them there. For the record: teams from the same pots will not end up in the same group. The co-efficients are based on the performances in the Euro2004 qualification rounds ONLY.
1 --- Portugal --- hosts
1 --- France --- 3.000
1 --- Sweden --- 2.389
1 --- Czech Republic --- 2.333
2 --- Italy --- 2.313
2 --- Spain --- 2.313
2 --- England --- 2.313
2 --- Germany --- 2.188
3 --- Holland --- 2.167
3 --- Croatia --- 2.125
3 --- Russia --- 2.056
3 --- Denmark --- 2.056
4 --- Bulgaria --- 1.889
4 --- Switzerland --- 1.611
4 --- Greece --- 1.563
4 --- Latvia --- 1.250
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