Euro 2008: Croatia’s defeat of Germany sends out early warning to England’s Fabio Capello

By Tim Rich in Klagenfurt

Croatia (1) 2 Germany (0) 1

They were ghosts in an affair that did not belong to them. One was chained to the past, the other concerned only with the future.

They would have looked down on the figure of Slaven Bilic, sometimes on his haunches, sometimes sprinting down the technical area and once, when Niko Kranjcar drove his shot into Jens Lehmann’s body from eight yards, pirouetting with rage and frustration. More darkly, they would have noted the way he dashed over to the dismissed Bastian Schweinsteiger, as one of the finest performances in Croatia’s history turned as ugly as the bleak gunmetal skies overhead. If Bilic does manage in the Premier League, you could sell ringside tickets for his first confrontation with Phil Scolari.

Fabio Capello, who was studying England’s chief opponents for a place in the World Cup finals, knew that in September he would meet the Croatia manager at rather closer quarters. Steve McClaren, whose most famous view of Bilic was from underneath an umbrella in Wembley’s relentless rain, would probably not want to gaze on him again.

McClaren was commentating for the BBC, a brave decision that must have been like going to your former girlfriend’s wedding. Whatever happened, there would always be a sense of what might have been. This would have confirmed what Capello already knew; he faces a side capable of beating anyone.

For Bilic and Croatia it is what lies ahead that matters. This was the first surprise result of the tournament and it meant that if Germany are to progress to the final, it will probably be via a quarter-final against Portugal. Two supreme exponents of the penalty shoot-out pitched together. Croatia’s path should be more straightforward.
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“We played a phenomenal game,” Bilic reflected on a display that merited comparisons with their 3-0 rout of Germany in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals. “We closed them down, attacked them early. We managed to control the whole game. They had some chances because Germany is Germany.” But only one of those, a thunderous shot from Lukas Podolski, was converted.

For all their billing as favourites, this German side contains weaknesses that Poland lacked the quality to exploit, but which Croatia did. Had McClaren studied the German press before coming to Klagenfurt, it might have stirred a stab of envy. Here was Joachim Löw, who like him had succeeded the man he understudied and received only undiluted praise. After the opening victory over Poland, Bild, Germany’s version of The Sun, simply stated: “Jogi, we believe in you.” Their faith might just have been shaken a little last night.

In Lehmann, Löw possesses a goalkeeper who has been unable to kick off the rust that is the result of his not being Arsenal’s first choice. He could have done nothing to prevent Croatia’s beautifully worked opener but, although their second took a deflection off Podolski, Lehmann was out of position and went down too sLöwly. The ball struck the post and Ivica Olic slid the rebound into an unguarded net.

Rather more embarrassingly, Lehmann had earlier almost alLöwed Luka Modric’s shot to squirm under his body. Afterwards, his manager confirmed he was still his first choice, but this can be put down to a lack of alternatives.

Before kick-off, Löw had been expected to dispense with the raw and uncertain Marcell Jansen and switch Bayern Munich’s battle-hardened defender, Philipp Lahm, to left-back. This he did at the interval, but by then it was too late.

Jansen had already been roughly handled by Vedran Corluka when Danijel Pranjic’s measured cross arrived at the far post. Darijo Srna reacted before Jansen and Croatia were alive with self-belief.

Michael Ballack, who might be meeting his new club manager, Scolari, rather sooner than he imagined, had put little store by the opening victory over Poland, whose defensive frailties even Austria managed to expose last night. Germany’s true worth, he said, would be revealed when they returned to Klagenfurt. “Our movement was not fluid enough; because of that we eked out very few chances,” Ballack reflected. “We were beLöw par in every area.”

The loss of Schweinsteiger was a bLöw upon a bruise. Löw agreed he should not have reacted to Jerko Leko’s tackle from behind by pushing the Croatian substitute to the ground.

But the sight of Leko throwing his hands to his face as if he had been punched, conjured other memories of Bilic – in the Stade de France in 1998, pretending he had been elbowed by Laurent Blanc and costing a great defender a place in a World Cup final. He, like McClaren, would treat Bilic’s touchline histrionics with caution.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Portugal gets day off after advancing to quarter-finals at Euro 2008

NEUCHATEL, Switzerland — Portugal needed only two matches to show its strength as a team at the European Championship. Still, players and coaches are mostly attracting everyone’s attention for what they will be doing after the competition is over.

Portugal had another solid performance in its second consecutive victory at the Euro 2008 on Wednesday, beating the Czech Republic 3-1 to reach the quarter-finals ahead of its last Group A match against the already eliminated Switzerland on Sunday in Basel.

But the team’s results and free-flowing style of play have become almost a secondary topic, with the club future of squad members dominating most of the news.

All the talk after the convincing victory over the Czechs was about Chelsea’s surprising announcement that it had hired coach Luiz Felipe Scolari as manager. After the team’s 2-0 opening win against Turkey, the news was about Ronaldo’s future, and then about Deco’s and Joao Moutinho’s.

It has been a trend for Portugal at this European tournament.

“We cannot let the speculation distract us from our focus at the Euro,” Scolari had said before the Chelsea announcement.

Scolari reiterated his position not to talk about the subject in a statement Thursday, but it will be difficult to ignore.

The size of the British media covering the squad, already large because of Ronaldo’s presence, is expected to increase in the coming days.

The high-profile signing of Scolari will continue to dominate talk at the team’s base camp in Neuchatel as long as Portugal continues playing in the European tournament.

Scolari’s spokesman, Acaz Fellegger, said the coach was not planning to talk to the media or even leave the team’s lakeside hotel on Thursday.

“He will only talk on Saturday at the official press conference, the day before Portugal’s match against Switzerland,” Fellegger said.

Scolari gave his team a break Thursday, cancelling the team’s practice session. The daily news conference also was cancelled.

Before Scolari’s deal was announced, it was Ronaldo who had to brush off questions about his future. Actually, his teammates had to do it most of the time, since Ronaldo only talked to reporters after the team’s matches.

The world’s media have been speculating about where the star winger will play after the European tournament, with Real Madrid reportedly willing to pay a world-record transfer fee to sign him from Manchester United.

“It remains the same situation. I’ll talk about my future only after the Euro,” Ronaldo said after Portugal’s match against the Czechs, when he scored his first goal for the national team since October.

FC Barcelona playmaker Deco, who also scored Wednesday, had to go through the same grilling from reporters a couple of days ago.

He admitted he intends to leave the Spanish club after a struggling season in which he was jeered by fans, but he doesn’t want the news about his future to distract him.

“I just want to think about Portugal right now,” Deco said.

Other players in the middle of media speculations include 21-year-old midfielder Joao Moutinho, who plays for Sporting Lisbon but has been linked with a move to Barcelona, and winger Ricardo Quaresma, who has already announced he wants to leave FC Porto.

“It doesn’t help anybody to talk about anything else than the Euro,” Moutinho said.

Portugal will resume training Friday in Neuchatel. Most of Portugal’s players left the team’s hotel Thursday in cars and did not talk to the media.

The Portuguese team is trying to repeat its successful campaign of four years ago, when they reached the final at home before losing to Greece. Two years later, Portugal reached the semifinals at the 2006 World Cup, losing to France.

The victory against the Czechs secured Portugal first place in Group A, which means it will face the second-place team from Group B, which contains Germany, Poland, Austria and Croatia.

Turkey, a 2-1 winner over Switzerland on Wednesday in Basel, will fight with the Czechs for the last Group A spot.

Source: http://canadianpress.google.com/

Greece and Russia both fighting to avoid early Euro 2008 exit

Greece is only one match into the European Championship and already close to surrendering the title it won four years ago. After losing to Sweden 2-0 in its Group D opener, the Greeks need a positive result against Russia in Salzburg on Saturday

And to make things tougher, Russia is in a similar position.

“It’s a very important game. If we lose we’re out. Everyone knows that,” Greece striker Dimitris Salpingidis said. “We will do everything possible for victory in the next game.”

But a defeat at the Wals-Siezenheim stadium could also end Russia’s chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals and bring to a close Guus Hiddink’s record of reaching the knockout rounds of every international tournament he has coached at.

Russia could go into the match without his top three forwards. Striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has been ruled out of Euro 2008 with a left knee injury and attacking midfielder Andrei Arshavin is suspended for the Greece game. On Thursday, Hiddink said replacement striker Roman Pavlyuchenko had a leg muscle injury and it was unclear if he would be fit for Saturday.

Greece appeared content to play for a draw and offered virtually nothing in attack against Sweden, with coach Otto Rehhagel widely criticized for fielding a lineup that included five defenders and seven players from the team that won Euro 2004. Hiddink, meanwhile, has called his players naive and lambasted them for handing Spain a 4-1 win with basic errors.

Now, Hiddink seems to be trying to goad Greece into playing a more attacking style on Saturday.

“I think as European champion you should take a little bit more initiative,” Hiddink said. “But OK, that’s their way of playing, we have to deal with that.”

Russia didn’t deal with that style of play against Spain, attacking early and then giving the ball away too easily to set up Spanish counterattacks.

“We had wallets in our pockets and we gave them to the Spanish team — ‘Take it please,’” Hiddink said. “It was naive. We were not outplayed, we gave it away.”

Hiddink might get his wish for a Greece team prepared to take risks and attack.

“We only had two chances in the whole 90 minutes … It’s out of the question to talk about qualifying from the group if we play this way,” attacking midfielder Yiannis Amanatidis said. “The Russia game will be like a cup final for us. We have to fix our mistakes and play a more attacking game.”

Russia defender Roman Shirokov, who was left badly exposed by his midfield and could do little to prevent David Villa scoring the first European Championship hat trick since 2000, also thinks Russia will have an easier game if Greece attacks.

“I don’t think the defensive style of Greece will be good for Russia,” he said. “It is much better if the opponent is open — then we can go forward with the ball. I would prefer them to play an open game. It is very hard to get through Greece’s defensive lines.”

Russia was the only team to beat Greece four years ago, but Shirokov said that result offered no clues or confidence for Saturday’s encounter.

“It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t know about Greece, but the Russian team is completely different,” he said.

Current Russia players Igor Semshov and Dmitri Sychev both came on as second-half substitutes in their team’s 2-1 win over Greece in the final group match four years ago, when Russia had only pride to play for having already been eliminated after two straight losses.

“The situation is completely different,” Shirokov said. “That game was the last game and for the Russian team it wasn’t so important, so the players felt more comfortable on the field. This is the second game, a very important match that both teams need to win, that’s why it will be a different game.”

History is not on Greece’s side — the Greeks have only beaten Russia once in their eight previous meetings. Russia has won four times. Greece’s only win came 15 years ago, when they beat Russia 1-0 at home in a World Cup qualifier.

Central defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos hopes the defeat by Sweden would give Greece the same spur it got after a shock 4-1 home defeat to Turkey in March last year.

“After we lost to Turkey, we didn’t lose a game and we qualified for the European Championship. We wanted a win (against the Swedes) and it would have given us a good start, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “We’re not stressed but we know how important the game is. That’s all.”

Source: http://www.iht.com/

Euro 2008: Italy may sack Roberto Donadoni

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni is likely to be sacked if the World Cup holders make an early exit from Euro 2008 in Zurich tonight.

Following the 3-0 defeat by Holland on Monday, another reverse against Romania would end Italy’s competition and almost certainly cost the 44-year-old his job.

Donadoni, who replaced Marcello Lippi two years ago after Italy won the World Cup, is under pressure after losing to the Dutch. The former World Cup finalist is expected to make wholesale changes with Alessandro Del Piero, who has not started for Italy since September, set to return while fellow forward Antonio Cassano is also in contention. Both came on as substitutes against Holland.

Donadoni may also switch formations from 4-3-3 to 4-3-2-1 but another striker, Luca Toni, called on the coach to field Del Piero and Cassano in a three-man front line. Toni said: “Playing with Antonio and Alessandro we are more attacking. The problem is that, even with Cassano and Del Piero on the field, we didn’t score.”

Fabio Grosso, who also came off the bench against the Dutch, is expected to start at left-back while defender Giorgio Chiellini and midfielder Daniele De Rossi could be brought in as well.

Romania, who drew 0-0 with France on Monday, expect the Azzurri to go on the attack. “Hopefully they will leave some gaps at the back for us to exploit,” said Cristian Chivu, captain of a Romania side who will aim to keep it tight. Former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu warned: “We will defend, defend, defend. Our plan is not to get beaten.”

Forward Ciprian Marica faces a late test on a head injury and, if fit, is expected to replace Daniel Niculae.

Alan Smith’s Game Zone

After being humiliated by Holland, all of Italy expects. Not only that, this football-mad nation demands that under-fire coach Roberto Donadoni acts decisively by making the right changes to turn a pedestrian unit into something more athletic.

Against the Dutch, some ageing legs in midfield struggled to get about the pitch, leaving centre-forward Luca Toni without proper support.

While Daniele De Rossi should help solve that problem, Fabio Grosso’s likely inclusion at left-back can provide a rampaging threat to complement the skills of Alessandro Del Piero ahead.

As for Romania, they will surely prove more adventurous than against France, when negative tactics ruined the contest. If they harbour serious ambitions of scoring, coach Victor Piturka must allow Adrian Mutu to stay closer to lone striker Daniel Niculae, while right-winger Banel Nicolita needs to get behind Grosso. They shouldn’t be afraid, since Italy’s defence, for the first time in ages, is their weakest point.

Key Clash
Fabio Grosso v Cosmin Contra

Such is the athleticism and stamina of Grosso, he’ll probably end up as a thrusting left-winger if Italy grab hold of tonight’s game. Contra, Romania’s highly experienced right-back, who also likes to get forward, might get pinned back on the edge of his own box as a result.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Euro 2008 Debate: Day Five – Why Scolari Might Fail

Yesterday saw the inevitable come to pass when Luiz Felipe Scolari was announced as the new manager of Chelsea as of July 1. The Brazilian coach has on numerous occasions insisted he would not decide on his future until after EURO 2008, but with pressure obviously mounting from the Blues and an ultimatum most likely issued as well, he took the decision he felt he had to and signed on at Stamford Bridge.

As it is, it always looked like being Felipão’s last hurrah with Portugal barring a dramatic change of heart, but the official announcement of his Chelsea appointment gives the remainder of this tournament an added element of finality and obviously, whether the gruff gaffer admits it or not, added nerves and pressure to deal with.

He will want to go out in style – on the perfect note – having led Portugal to a World Cup semi-final and a EURO final, the big win gained with Brazil in 2002 has eluded him with their European ancestors, and he will be itching to put that right in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

His side have made an impressive start and perhaps even surprised a few, following their laborious qualification campaign. They secured qualification – and indeed a first place finish – yesterday evening with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic to follow on from their 2-0 triumph over Turkey on the opening day. They face already-eliminated co-hosts Switzerland in their final game, which is sure to be a game played in good spirit and at an easy pace.

While they remain strong candidates to be there or thereabouts and at least in the final four, to go on and win it is another proposition entirely. Do they have what it takes? What are their weaknesses and will Scolari work around them?

It must first be noted that though both wins were by a two-goal cushion, it is to an extent immaterial, as the second against Turkey and the third against the Czech Republic were scored right at the death. While Portugal were good value for their goals and showed ruthless aggression on the counterattack, it must also be acknowledged that they could quite easily have been held in both encounters – particularly yesterday’s.

Stubborn Scolari

Indeed, it was yesterday’s win that exposed some frailties, if not on part of the players, perhaps the coach. Facing a side with a notoriously strong midfield in the Czechs, Scolari’s decision to field the match-winning trident that performed so well against Turkey certainly looked like a mistake. Petit looked every one of his 31 years plus a few more, while touted youngster João Moutinho was muscled into obscurity and even Deco, who was involved in all three goals, was not otherwise allowed some of the creative freedom to consistently impose himself on the game as he would have liked.

Scolari’s decision not to vary his tactics could have cost him, as Libor Sionko came close on several occasions when the score was 1-1 and even 2-1. While there is no doubt Portugal simply played better and deserved their win, lessons must be learned so that these minor mistakes do not cost them against the likes of Germany or France.

Had Miguel Veloso been granted a starting place ahead of Sporting team-mate Moutinho, pressure would have been eased off Petit and surely the Portuguese would have kept better possession as a result. Against Germany – a meeting many have already pencilled in as the semi-final – playing yesterday’s midfield is almost certain to end in defeat against Torsten Frings and Michael Ballack.

Out With Simão?

There is also good reason to suggest that one of Scolari’s favourites, Simão Sabrosa, be dropped for Ricardo Quaresma. Simão has been unable to hit top gear in either game so far, with his hesitance preventing half-chances from turning into genuine opportunities.

Quaresma, meanwhile, is not the perfect candidate as a substitute. He may have scored a tap-in at the death yesterday evening, but he also looked on edge and a little too eager to impress in the short time he was given. Having the in-demand Porto star on from the beginning will offer similar dynamism and creativity to that of Cristiano Ronaldo and could be key in kicking Portugal in into top gear.

However, the conservative coach within Felipão may see him restrain himself on the big stage and air on the side of caution, possibly to his own detriment, his liberal side sees him currently fielding two lightweight playmakers in midfield enforced by Petit, who is hardly the most physical of holding midfielders. When the big games come around, the balance will need to be right or Scolari’s Portugal reign may end with yet another soon to be forgotten near-miss.

ALSO…

Sincere condolences to co-hosts Switzerland, who are the first side to be eliminated from the tournament. It certainly goes to show the caliber of performers at this summer’s showpiece, as Köbi Kuhn’s men put in two strong performances and have precisely 0 points to show for it. They certainly lacked a little fortune which is usually almost eerily ever-present with host nations in major tournaments.

The injury to captain and all-time leading goal-scorer Alexander Frei in the opening game was huge, as he had looked to be their main attacking threat. Gökhan Inler, Gelson Fernandes, Valon Behrami, Tranquillo Barnetta and substitute Hakan Yakin certainly acquitted themselves well in that game, and the same group came to the fore again in the torrential war with Turkey. While Gelson’s performance dropped, Erin Derdiyok, who turns 20 today, was drafted in as Frei’s replacement up front and was an absolute revelation.

Many of the above will certainly be in demand this summer, while Switzerland are likely to be joined by fellow co-hosts Austria this evening, who are also fighting for survival against Poland. Turkey, meanwhile, can be extremely proud of their performance yesterday. They toiled through conditions that almost completely nullified their style of play without ever dropping their heads, getting their just rewards in the second half when conditions cleared up and they were able to clinch a late, late winner. They are capable of causing an upset or two, without question. They play for qualification against the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Sulmaan Ahmad

Source: http://www.goal.com/