The long and arduous qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 is finally over. Starting from Aug 2006 , teams all across Europe were split into 7 qualifying groups in a bid to win 1 of 2 coveted slots in each group to go to Austria-Switzerland next year.

In a 2-part special, UrbanWire gives our take on the teams that qualified for Euro 2008, starting first with the teams that finished second in their respective groups.

Group A: Portugal

With all that talent, it seemed impossible for Portugal not to qualify for Euro 2008. But nobody would have expected them to practically sleepwalk towards the tail-end of the qualifiers, drawing with the likes of Bosnia and Armenia and just scrapping past Kazakhstan with a 2-1 victory.

Perhaps Big Phil Scolari has gone soft on his charges. It certainly didn’t help that he was tipped to take over the England post after the 2006 World Cup. Maybe it has got to do more with the retirement of the talismanic Luis Figo that unsettled the balance in the team.

Nonetheless, the current golden boy of the world of football, Cristiano Ronaldo may have led the goal-scoring charts for Portugal with 8 during the qualifiers. But for Portugal to succeed at Euro 2008, he must wholly take on Figo’s mantle as the heartbeat of the team.

Group B: France

Beaten twice by Scotland, the French have to thank Georgia and Italy for their participation in Euro 2008 after the 2 dealt successive deathblows to destroy Scotland’s European dreams.

Essentially a team in transition with plenty of new players coming in, France have to improve dramatically before they will be considered challengers in Euro 2008

Still while they might have struggled during qualification, especially against Lithuania and Georgia, on paper, they have enough depth to be a world-beater. One player in particular that UrbanWiresuggests football fans take a closer look at is Marseille’s 20-year-old midfielder, Samir Nasri who’s set to become the next Zinedine Zidane.

Group C: Turkey

Mediterranean football is on the rise again following the successful qualification of both Greece and Turkey from Group C.

With Fatih Terim as manager and evergreen captain Hakan Sukur, Turkey has a formula for success, given that the duo led Galatasaray SK to the 2000 Uefa Cup.

A highlight of their qualification campaign will most definitely be their 4-1 annihilation of arch-rival, Greece, in Athens.

With their qualification, the Turks have put an end to a barren spell that had seen them away from a major international Championship since the 2002 World Cup where they finished 3rd.

Group D: Germany

Sammy Lee and Chris Hutchings might have flopped badly but Joachim Low has shown that assistant managers can make the step up, leading the German juggernaut hurtling towards Euro 2008.

With 35 goals scored (although 19 were against minnows San Marino), the days of German football being dull and effective are probably a thing of the past.

Although Germany were the first side to qualify for Euro 2008, Low will probably be disappointed with the draw against Cyprus and the heavy 3-0 mauling dished out by Czech Republic.

Interestingly enough, he’s managed to do something that his predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann wasn’t unable to rectify; he improved the defence which conceded just 7 goals over 12 games. However with first-choice keeper Jens Lehmann now playing second fiddle at Arsenal, Low might have a goalkeeping problem come Euro 2008.

Group E: Russia

Yet another Guus Hiddink team has managed to Guus-step their way into a major tournament. They might not have been favourites to qualify from Group E but under the Messiah of Managers, they always had a good chance.

Lady Luck was certainly smiling on Hiddink’s men following their startling 2-1 capitulation against Israel, with Croatia beating England at Wembley for Russia to qualify with a 1-0 victory over Andorra.

They may not be as technically gifted as the English, but at least they’ve been consistent and that’s what matters most in a race for qualification.

Group F: Sweden

If any team benefited from the opposition’s change of manager, it had to be Sweden. Imagine if Lawrie Sanchez hadn’t left for Fulham, the Northern Irish might not have lost the crucial momentum.

But credit to the Swedes for their successful campaign where they’ve maintained their cohesion and grit. Marcus Allback, the FC Copenhagen striker, in particular, showed that unlike his poor showing at Aston Villa, he does have the ability to score, with 6 goals to his name.

A 2-0 victory over Spain will probably be the highlight of their campaign. But if Northern Ireland hadn’t lost 1-0 to Latvia, it would have been them heading to Euro 2008based on their better head-to-head against Sweden.

Group G: Holland

15 goals scored in 12 games. That’s a statistic as un-Dutch-like as they come. Somehow, the Masters of Total Football struggled to hit the net despite manager Marco van Basten’s best intentions.

A major disappointment for the demanding Dutch fans were the 2 lacklustre 1-0 victories over traditional whipping boys Luxemburg.

Granted, van Basten didn’t exactly have his first team throughout the entire campaign, but then again the Dutch team is filled with so much attacking talent in reserves like Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt that it’s still rather incomprehensible that they would struggle for goals as badly as they did.

 

Click here for the second part of our 2 part special!