By Emmett Williams ⋅ June 7, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Euro blog

Emmett William’s Euro 2008 Diary

Day One of the European Championships went pretty much as expected as the Czech Republic defeated a brighter than expected Swiss team 1-0 and Portugal overcame stubborn and somewhat lucky Turkish team, 2-0.

To add insult to injury, Switzerland lost captain Sebastian Frei to knee ligament damage for the rest of the tournament. Any chance of the hosts advancing out of the group stage without their countries all-time leading scorer went away when he limped off the field in the first half.

Portugal 2-0 Turkey: Scolari’s impressive Portuguese side stake their claim
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic: Hosts possess endeavour but no cutting edge

The Czech Republic were not so impressive in a match that was often end to end. Jan Koller was often isolated with little help from the midfield and they will need more up front to get out of the group.

After a scoreless first half, Portugal scored two goals in the second half and could have had more, hitting the woodwork 3 times. They should ease into the next round as Turkey provided the most organized defense they will see in the group stage.

Despite being in last place after the first day of the matches, Turkey should be optimistic about their near future as they will get a Frei-less Switzerland on Wednesday and an unimpressive Czech Republic next Sunday. The problem the Turks have, and what may be their undoing, is a lack of ideas in the final third. At times they looked bright and organized in midfield, but failed to take advantage of the few chances they had.

Tags: Czech Republic, Euro 2008, Portugal, Portugal 2-0 Turkey, Switzerland, Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic, Turkey

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