Day 19: Campeones!

I told you so.

A decent final, not the best game of the tournament by any means but certainly enjoyable. Spain were dominant if not in the end clear victors and should really have wrapped it up far earlier, the problem being that despite some of the brilliant positions that the midfield runners were playing themselves into, none of them, particularly Andres Iniesta, had the striker’s instinct to run straighter into the path of the pass and really capitalise, which was obviously the great advantage created by the Torres-Villa partnership.

That was, however, the only problem with Spain tonight and it would be unfair to dwell. Germany, on the other hand, were awful and were lucky to get nil and dirty kit. Defensive ineptitude combined with attacking incertitude to terminal effect. Before the tournament I would have argued that Miroslav Klose was every bit as world class a player as Michael Ballack – now, definitely not. He was exposed as a flat-track bully here, while his much-hyped former partner “Super” Mario Gomez has seen his reputation flattened by a truly horrific competition.

I’m not sure the German side needs an awful lot of changes, though. Joachim Low certainly needs to revive confidence but the potential is certainly there – witness their excellent World Cup two years ago. Podolski needs to return to a more central position, that’s for sure, as he’s been the only German striker to even look like scoring, and Bastian Schweinsteiger showed flashes of brilliance, and together with Ballack they should be the fulcrum of the team.

Spain are worthy champions. The best team has won and now that the duck is broken it’s quite plausible that they could push on to be the dominant force in world football – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Luis Aragones, objectionable racist prat that he may be, has certainly proved me wrong in terms of his enduring ability, and will be missed as he leaves at the end of his contract, possibly to Fenerbahce – now that will be interesting.

This isn’t quite the end of my Euro 2008 coverage, as I’ll be doing an awards post or two in the next few days, before broadening my horizons a bit into the wider sporting world. It’s been fun.

Days 17-18: The semi-finals, and Final Preview

So, approximately an hour to go until the final kicks off, and having not seen either of the semis in full, I figured it was worth waiting until now to look back at the results and take a look ahead to the appetising game that will close the tournament.

I saw the last ten minutes of Germany’s win over Turkey, and it looks like I got a pretty good deal. Sure, there were three goals before then, two for Germany, but as I understand Germany were underwhelming at best while Turkey were a little out of their depths despite their opposition. The two goals that I did see, one apiece for Semih Senturk and Phillipp Lahm, were impressive ones, however – Semih’s an excellent poacher’s finish capitalising on some enterprising wing play (and, it has to be said, disappointing full-back play), and Lahm’s last-gasp effort an expertly crafted team goal, regardless of any literal slip-ups at the back (mentioning no names, Colin Kazim-Richards…). Exciting as it would have been to see Turkey topple Germany, I certainly feel we’re in for a better final as a result, as this Turkey side lacks both the quality and the squad depth (not all their own fault) to put up a good fight against Spain, who must surely now be considered favourites.

Yes, I know they’re playing the nation of inevitable tournament wins, but after Luis Aragones’ side powerfully took the wind out of Russia’s sails in the second semi, it’s hard to identify a department in which Spain are not better than the Germans. As well as David Villa had played so far for his four goals, his injury led to an even more fluid and dangerous line-up thanks to the introduction of Fabregas, who put Russia to the sword with an exemplary performance, far outshining Andrei Arshavin whose three contrasting games here haven’t really given conclusive proof either way of whether he’s the real deal. A move to Barcelona awaits, but I can’t see him getting into that starting XI, no matter how poor they were last year.

So we’re left with the two teams who, while not being the best two in the tournament (that would be Spain and Holland), have certainly been the best teams in their halves of the draw, meaning we really do have the perfect final, and it’s not often you can say that. I’m optimistic of an exciting game in which Germany must take the initiative if they want to stifle Spain’s superior quality, but if the Spainsh, and particularly Fabregas and David Silva, are allowed to play the way they want to they will win. My money’s on Spain, as it has been from the start, and just once, I’d love to be right. Here’s hoping.

Days 13-16: The Quarter-Finals

Thanks to some issues with final exams and celebrating the end thereof, I haven’t been able to keep up to date daily with the goings-on at the Euros as usual, so I decided before last night’s game to roll all four quarter-finals into one big post. And here it is.

Firstly, Germany 3 – 2 Portugal. I never thought I’d be desperate for Germany to win anything but I was happily singing Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles throughout that game, which was less entertaining in truth than the score suggests. Germany’s first goal, scored by Bastian “Look At My Hair” Schweinsteiger, was quite similar to the celebrated Sneijder goal against Italy, however, but overall it only really got exciting in the last five minutes of each half when Portugal remembered they were professional footballers and started playing properly. It was an extremely disappointing performance from Portugal but I wouldn’t be too quick to blame it on Scolari leaving. I really doubt the amount of influence that had – it was common knowledge that he was probably going to leave after the tournament anyway as his contract was up, so none of them should have been surprised. I’d be very surprised if Scolari himself changed in any way after the news, he’s far too strong a personality for that, so all this nonsense of the Portuguese FA reporting Chelsea to UEFA or whatever for the timing of their appointment looks very much like covering for what turned out to be a very ordinary side.

I must confess I didn’t see all of the Croatia-Turkey match – I managed to walk out of the pub we were watching it in pretty much at the point it became interesting, about 75 minutes in. Having received news of the dramatic finale via text message, I’m in no position to comment on the quality of the goals (though I gather Rustu Recber was at fault for the Croatia opener – no great surprise there), but the 75 minutes I did see were quite dull. Turkey seemed to have started believing the hype that they could only play in the last five minutes to sneak a win, and Croatia dominated accordingly, though without creating many clear-cut chances. And of course it went to penalties, where Croatia were apparently surprisingly bad, but they’re a young side and will probably come back stronger as a result of this. I shall be cheering for Turkey in the semi-finals, if only because they may have to field their third-choice goalkeeper as an outfield substitute at some point as they only have 14 players who aren’t injured or suspended. Seriously. Unfortunately, this does suggest that if Turkey had any chance before their best players ruled themselves out of the game, they probably don’t have a hope of beating Germany at all now. But we can hope.

On Saturday night, Russia produced a first-class performance to dispatch the disappointing Dutch 3-1 after extra time, during which Andrei Arshavin bumped his price tag up by about 10 million pounds. It was certainly the best individual performance of the tournament so far, and there’s a compelling argument that despite only having played two games, Arshavin’s already the player of the tournament. He completely ran the show – involved in everything Russia did, driving them forward and bulldozing the Dutch defence, who were always going to be the weak link, and more than deserved his goal. That’s not to say the rest of the Russian team didn’t play very well, though – even Roman Pavlyuchenko managed to score as many as one goal in about ten chances this time. Luca Toni looks on with envy.

Speaking of Luca Toni, he continued to do his best Emile Heskey impression during the frighteningly dull 0-0 draw with Spain last night, which Spain deservedly won on penalties. If it weren’t for Toni’s sudden and hilarious ineptitude in front of goal, I might be complaining a bit less about the Italian mentality, but it was truly atrocious. From the very first minute Italy were playing for penalties, making no attempt to stop Spain controlling the game, just as long as they blocked everything, which they did, and very well (what did you expect?). Spain played the game in the right way, and though they weren’t spellbinding they tried to find a winner and came very close, particularly with the uncharacteristic mistake from Gigi Buffon that spilled onto the post. The Spain-Russia semi-final could well be the pick of the tournament.

Speaking of semi-finals, I anticipate further difficulties in watching all of the games live but I’ll see what I can and probably be reviewing them on Friday, before build-up to Sunday’s final begins. See you there.

Day 12: Russia close the group stage in style

Group D concluded last night to end the round-robin stage, and there was only one match I was going to watch last night, despite supporting Spain. Sweden – Russia was the one that counted, and boy, am I glad to have seen that Russian performance. 2-0 does not tell an adequate story of just how vastly superior they were to Sweden, who were out of ideas despite huffing and puffing as they always do. The return of suspended skipper Andrei Arshavin catalysed a stunning attacking performance, the Russians gliding past the Swedish defence seemingly at will.

Despite the brilliant performances all around from Russia, there were obvious standouts. Arshavin showed us why Guus Hiddink felt it was worth the possibility of him only playing one game to pick him for the squad, supporting Pavlyuchenko eagerly and dictating everything that Russia did. His goal just after half-time was more than deserved. The other major plus was Yuri Zhirkov, the left-winger now turned left-back who dominated his entire flank with boundless energy and superb creativity. He was unlucky not to score with a couple of great free-kicks.

Unfortunately for Russia, their only barrier to being a great side right now is the fact that everyone should have scored more. Their main striker, Roman Pavlyuchenko, looks first class in his work rate, pace and ability to get past defenders – but his finishing has been apalling throughout the tournament. Sure, he scored one last night, and what a good team goal it was, but he literally should have had 10. I counted. That inability to get the ball in the back of the net may cost Russia, probably against Holland in Saturday’s quarterfinal – and doesn’t that look like being a great game. Pick of the round for me, actually.

I saw very brief highlights of Spain’s comeback win against Greece. By all accounts it wasn’t too convincing but Xabi Alonso was unlucky not to score three magical goals and Ruben de la Red’s equaliser was a volley of such thundering speed it’s probably still moving. Spain are confident all right, and should have enough to see off Italy.

So that’s it for the group stages, which means that from now on it’s a knockout! We kick off the quarter finals with Germany v Portugal tonight, which I’m expecting to be a frustrating 0-0 for Portugal followed by an inevitable German win on penalties. I’m nothing if not unoriginal.

Day 11: France euthanased by Italy

So it was probably the most anticipated day of the competition so far – the (third) rematch between the two World Cup finalists. It was hyped pre-tournament as the group decider – but for first and second place, rather than potentially as low as third, depending on Holland and Romania. I was thrilled to see the game meaning so much to both teams, but once again France showed just how inflated their expectations were.

To be fair, they had a disastrous start. Franck Ribery was the one player they absolutely couldn’t afford to lose, but he succumbed to what looks like a really nasty ankle and knee injury (there’s no word yet on how long he’ll be out, but I’m guessing a good couple of months at least) after only seven minutes. The second disaster was entirely their fault, however – Eric Abidal (who despite noises from the BBC has proved himself in the past to be a competent centre-back as well as left-back) made a rash, doomed-to-failure challenge on Luca Toni in the penalty box for the clearest straight red I’ve seen in a while. It was at that point that Raymond Domenech proved there was no way back – he brought on Jean-Alain Boumsong to solve all their problems.

We should have seen this coming. France rested on their laurels far too much after a flattering trip to the World Cup final and relied on fast-fading old hands like Thuram, Makelele and Henry. The former two have now announced their international retirements (again), in the first of what must be a series of radical overhauls of the team. Benzema, Ribery and Nasri must become the focus, and Henry, Vieira, Govou, Sagnol, Coupet et al must be jettisoned.

In the game I didn’t see so much of (I caught a few minutes after it became clear that France-Italy wasn’t going anywhere), Holland’s second string (and what a second string it is, by the way) cruised to a 2-0 win over Romania, slicing through the defence that had caused so many problems to the French and Italians to further boost their hopes of going all the way. Their goals were far too easy, showing up the Romanians a tad, but Mutu et al will remain threats in World Cup qualifying.

So Italy set themselves up a mouth-watering quarter-final with Spain in what is probably the best result for the quality of the tournament. From what we’ve seen so far, though, you’d bet on Spain.

Day 8: Spain qualify and Greece go home. Ah, justice.

So after two games in each group, we already know all four group winners. While it’s impossible to deny that Portugal, Croatia, Holland and Spain deserve to have gotten through, I can’t help feeling that the new preference for head-to-head results over goal difference makes the groups less exciting than they could be. As a result of this, today’s potentially interesting Switzerland-Portugal game has been made completely irrelevant, and it could have been more had results changed just slightly over the draw as a whole.

But let’s not dwell. Spain secured their first place in the group by beating Sweden 2-1 thanks to a late, late goal from David Villa. Sweden will be disappointed but over the course of the game Spain were definitely the better side, having created much more than the Swedes and being refused what looked like a clear penalty for a foul on Silva just before half-time. Silva in particular was impressive, stepping up while Xavi and Iniesta failed to extend quite as much influence as they had over Russia, and the two strikers continued to work hard but without the top-quality service they’d gotten before. I was glad to see Fernando Torres score as I’d felt he’d deserved a goal against Guus Hiddink’s team, and while it wasn’t particularly pretty, his finish from a free-kick was clever under pressure. Iker Casillas didn’t have much to do in the Spanish goal but should have stopped Ibrahimovic’s goal – he got a hand on it but definitely had time and room to make more confident contact. Villa spared his blushes somewhat.

I’d been worried that Greece v Russia later that evening would be another terminal bore after the Greek showing four days previous, but to their credit they tried to attack…a bit more. Remaining for the most part tedious, unimaginative, and plain ineffective (witness Angelos Charisteas’ woeful attempt to head the ball in from Basinas’ wonderful free-kick), they should have been roundly thrashed by a superior Russia side, who were strong in defence and industrious in midfield, but nearly suffered by way of having all the finishing of this sen

So with Spain winners, Sweden and Russia will play in four days’ time for the right to meet Holland in the quarters. That could be a real cracker, and I’ve got a feeling now after the disappointing Sweden showing so far that, with Arshavin back, Russia could sneak that one. Today, Group A draws to a close, but with the simultaneous kick-offs I won’t be able to cover both games completely. I’ll be focusing on Czech Republic v Turkey, as it’s the only meaningful game being played, but will have to try to balance a bit more later in the week.

David Pleat Watch

To his credit, ol’ Pleaty had one of his better days watching Spain and Sweden, though he was denied a perfect outing by suddenly turning the Spanish right-back into a Russian, Sergei Ramos. His companion in the box, Jon Champion, was a worse offender by virtue of being a smart-arse. Trying to be clever with his Spanish pronunciations, he got David Villa right by interpreting the double L as a Y sound, but then got a bit too cocky and started referring to the left-back as ‘Capdeviya’. Unfortunately, the one-L’ed Capdevila is pronounced as it reads. Nice try, though.

Day 4: Spain set the standard and Greece get what they deserve

As impressive as Holland’s performance against Italy was, it was mostly their superb defending and opportunistic counterattacking two or three times a half that made them the team to beat in this competition. They’ve now been overtaken by Spain, whose 4-1 win over Russia yesterday afternoon came from entire halves of scintillating attacking play that for sheer quality outshone the Dutch resourcefulness. Yes, Russia were poor, but they were made to look worse than they were by the partnership of David Villa and Fernando Torres, which lived up to all our lofty expectations. It does make you wonder why Torres was withdrawn ten minutes into the second half, though. (I told you Aragones was mad.)

We’ll probably have to wait until the quarter-finals to be sure if Spain are the real deal, as I don’t see Sweden or Greece giving their centre-backs the test they still need, particularly after having seen their stale game last night, which Sweden won 2-0. It was a very dull game, lit up briefly by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s great goal from the edge of the penalty area (still second to Sneijder, but a worthy runner-up), but no amount of fireworks could make the Greek ‘football’ interesting. It was defensive to the point of incomprehensibility – spending 3 full minutes passing it between the three centre-backs at 0-0 thirty minutes in? Do they really intend to draw all three games to make it through? Mind you, they did look very limited in attack, but Charisteas, Gekas and Samaras were given so little opportunity to attack the defence that you have to wonder whether Otto Rehhagel is orchestrating this for a bet.

Greece got exactly what they deserved, and it will be a very tall order for them to get out of this group now. They may well beat Russia in their next game, who looked out of ideas without Arshavin and Pogrebnyak, but Spain in the final game? Not a chance. Good riddance.

Today we’re back to Group A, with Portugal-Czech Republic and Turkey-Switzerland. I’ll have a guess at 2-0 and 1-1 respectively, but I don’t expect any classics. Here’s hoping.

Euro 2008 Preview: Group D

Team: Greece

Manager: Otto Rehhagel is Greece’s longest-ever-serving national manager, who was highly sought after by many a European club after masterminding the Euro 2004 triumph – yet somehow has remained where he is, even signing a new contract to carry the team through to the next World Cup. He’s clearly a talented coach but he can’t really believe his squad can make lightning strike twice?

Strip: All white with blue trim. Second strip is the inverse.

Captain: Central midfielder Angelos Basinas was instrumental in the 2004 success, grabbing an assist for the cup-winning goal and taking charge of the midfield throughout the competition. Now captain, his influence cannot be underestimated (though watch me try).

Form: Incredibly, Greece gained more points in qualifying than any other team in Europe, though considering their main rivals were Turkey the achievement is less impressive than it might have been. They also highlighted Portugal’s need to improve if they intend to win the tournament by beating them 2-1 in a March friendly. More recently, though…a 0-0 draw with Armenia. That’s how bad the world’s 8th-ranked side have the potential to be.

Man to Watch: Stelios Giannakopoulos has been told he won’t be getting a new contract at Bolton, so he’ll be looking to prove his worth to potential employers this summer. I was surprised at how little he was used, relatively speaking, last season, though when he did play he didn’t pull up many trees. On his day he adds excitement to a very functional Greek line-up.

Prediction: No way is it happening again. I don’t think Greece will get out of their group, but they could scrape a couple of points here and there.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Antonios Nikopolidis (Olympiacos)

12. Kostas Chalkias (PAOK)

13. Alexandros Tzorvas (OFI Crete)

Defenders

2. Giourkas Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid)

3. Christos Patsatzoglu (Olympiacos)

4. Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos)

5. Traianos Dellas (AEK)

11. Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos)

15. Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiacos)

16. Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt)

18. Giannis Goumas (Panathinaikos)

19. Paraskevas Antzas (Olympiacos)

Midfielders

6. Angelos Basinas (Real Mallorca)

8. Stelios Giannakopoulos (free agent)

10. Giorgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos)

21. Kostas Katsouranis (Benfica)

22. Alexandros Tsiolis (Panathinaikos)

Forwards

7. Giorgios Samaras (Celtic)

9. Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg)

14. Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos)

17. Fanis Gekas (Leverkusen)

20. Ioannis  Amanatidis (Eintracht Frankfurt)

23. Nikos Liberopoulos (AEK)

Team: Russia

Manager: Guus Hiddink has proved himself time and again as one of, if not the, best manager in the world. I’m apparently the only one who believes him when he says he’s staying with Russia rather than going to Chelsea (that’s clearly Mancini’s job) , and he’ll continue to do well with them. They may not quite be ready this time but by the 2010 World Cup they could be a real force.

Strip: All white with Russian flag colours across the chest and blue collar. Second strip is all red with the same flag effect and white collar.

Captain: Highly talented Zenit Petersburg midfielder Andrei Arshavin is the creative fulcrum of all the Russian attacks, so, helpfully, he got himself sent off with 8 minutes to go against Andorra, meaning he’ll miss the first two group games against Spain and Greece. Thankfully, he’s more intelligent when it comes to picking out a pass.

Form: Russia did their best to throw away qualification by losing away to Israel, who had nothing to play for, but as we all know England just wanted it less, and the rest is history. Their campaign had few genuine highlights apart from the comeback win against England in Moscow, and they drew twice with Croatia without ever really troubling them. A comfortable warm-up win over Lithuania leaves them cautiously optimistic.

Man to Watch: The art of getting yourself suspended from key games seems to be a feature of great Russian players. Zenit’s big target man Pavel Pogrebnyak led the line superbly in his club’s UEFA Cup campaign before getting himself suspended for the final. His team won anyway, but the imposing striker will need to take the heat off the team while Arshavin is suspended.

Prediction: It’ll probably come down to their last group game against Sweden to determine which of them will accompany Spain into the knockout stages.  It could go either way but I fancy Sweden’s greater experience will be the end of what is a youthful Russian side.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)

12. Vladimir Gabulov (Amkar Perm)

16. Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit)

Defenders

2. Vasily Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow)

4. Sergey Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow)

5. Alexei Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow)

8. Denis Kolodin (Dinamo Moscow)

14. Roman Shirokov (Zenit)

22. Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit)

Midfielders

3. Renat Yanbaev (Lokomotiv Moscow)

7. Dmitri Torbinski (Lokomotiv Moscow)

10. Andrei Arshavin (Zenit)

11. Sergei Semak (FC Rubin)

15. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

17. Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit)

18. Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow)

20. Igor Semshov (Dinamo Moscow)

23. Vladimir Bystov (Spartak Moscow)

Forwards

6. Roman Adamov (FC Moscow)

9. Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg)

13. Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit)

19. Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow)

21. Dmitri Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Team: Spain

Manager: Probably the maddest manager in world football, Luis Aragones is approximately a million years old and is going senile. I’ve been wondering why he remains in charge of the national side for a very long time, and I reckon he’ll go at the end of the tournament.

Strip: Red shirt, black shorts, black socks. Second strip is the same but with a yellow shirt.

Captain: A close second to Gigi Buffon as the world’s best goalkeeper, Iker Casillas was probably the main reason why Real Madrid won La Liga this year and last. He’ll need to be at his best as the defence is Spain’s weak link, but he can almost always be counted on and should make a valuable difference this summer.

Form: Won their qualifying group despite the occasional scare from Denmark and Northern Ireland – runners-up Sweden were relatively unthreatening – but looked convincing for the majority of their matches. Their warm-up games were not unqualified successes – it took a late winner from left-back Joan Capdevila to beat Chile and the 1-0 win over the USA was low-key – but earlier victory over Italy (while playing badly, so you know the cliche there) means the omens are good.

Man to Watch: You’ll have heard all about Torres and Villa but Real Mallorca striker Dani Guiza is a less renowned name. This season was a real breakthrough for him, scoring 27 goals to fire his team to the Intertoto Cup. Brilliant on the counterattack thanks to his pace and movement, Guiza will probably be moving on this summer and will be intending to show off his skills as a supersub.

Prediction: My head says they’ll fail again, but it’s less reluctant this year than ever, which means I feel comfortable going with my heart. I think Spain will finally end their wait for silverware this year. They’ve got the best central midfield in the world – Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Senna and Alonso anyone? – and probably the best strike partnership in the world as well, with options like Guiza, Silva and Santi Cazorla on the bench. Winners.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

13. Andres Palop (Sevilla)

23. Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders

2. Raul Albiol (Valencia)

3. Fernando Navarro (Real Mallorca)

4. Carlos Marchena (Valencia)

5. Carles Puyol (Barcelona)

11. Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)

15. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

18. Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool)

20. Juanito (Real Betis)

Midfielders

6. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

8. Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona)

10. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

12. Santi Cazorla (Villarreal)

14. Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)

19. Marcos Senna (Villarreal)

21. David Silva (Valencia)

22. Ruben de la Red (Real Madrid)

Forwards

7. David Villa (Valencia)

9. Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

16. Sergio Garcia (Real Zaragoza)

17. Dani Guiza (Real Mallorca)

Team: Sweden

Manager: Lars Lagerback has been quietly successful with Sweden for 8 years now. Having previously collaborated with Tommy Soderberg until the end of Euro 2004, he’s proven that he has the tactical nous and motivational capability to carry the team on his own. Whether he will stay on after the tournament is unsure, but he looks content enough in his position for now.

Strip: Yellow shirt with blue trim, blue shorts, yellow socks. Second strip is all black with yellow trim.

Captain: Freddie Ljungberg, always managing to be both industrious and creative at the same time, is a fitness doubt for Sweden after an injury-interrupted season for West Ham, but is expected to be at least mostly fit, which they will settle for. At 31, this may be his last tournament on the front lines, and he’s still got enough quality to stamp his mark on Austria and Switzerland.

Form: They started qualifying strongly with four straight wins but things became difficult after David Healy sunk them in Belfast. The Swedes were, however, typically efficient, qualifying on the last day of the campaign to reach their fifth consecutive major tournament. Their friendlies tell us little – a 1-0 win over Slovenia was to be expected, while the same scoreline was their undoing against Ukraine. A few niggling injuries may stunt their progress.

Man to Watch: 28-year-old winger Christian Wilhelmsson seems to have travelled all over Europe recently at club level, turning out for Anderlecht, Nantes, Roma, Bolton and Deportivo in the space of just over two years, but remains a quality player who can cut inside or cross from out wide to great effect. Should work in tandem with Ljungberg on the flanks.

Prediction: Their superior experience to Russia and greater quality than Greece should see them through to the quarters, but they are unlikely to trouble the winners of Group C.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Andreas Isaksson (Man City)

12. Rami Shaaban (Hammarby)

13. Johan Wiland (Elfsborg)

Defenders

2. Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos)

3. Olof Mellberg (Juventus)

4. Petter Hansson (Rennes)

5. Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg)

14. Daniel Majstorovic (AEK)

15. Andreas Granqvist (Wigan)

23. Mikael Dorsin (CFR Cluj)

Midfielders

6. Tobias Linderoth (Galatasaray)

7. Niclas Alexandersson (Goteborg)

8. Anders Svensson (Elfsborg)

9. Freddie Ljungberg (West Ham)

16. Kim Kallstrom (Lyon)

18. Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham)

19. Daniel Andersson (Malmo)

21. Christian Wilhelmsson (Deportivo La Coruna)

Forwards

10. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter)

11. Johan Elmander (Toulouse)

17. Henrik Larsson (Helsingborgs)

20. Marcus Allback (FC Copenhagen)

22. Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen)