Sunday, December 02, 2007

Giants clash in controversial Euro draw

As far as entertainment is concerned, sitting through a football draw can be very much considered on a par with a rainy February afternoon spent watching your toenails grow. In other words; a fruitless exercise, best avoided. Nevertheless, the ensuing ceremonial pomp and circumstance are made just a little more tolerable when the prospect of a summer watching Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Ribery, et al strut their stuff lies ahead. In fact, sometimes such a draw can leave the viewer rubbing their hands in anticipation.

Though there is no doubt that the 'group of death' moniker is appplied all too liberally in draws for sporting competitions, today's Euro 2008 draw on the shore of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland threw up a series of heavyweight group-stage combinations unseen since the championship expanded to it's current 16-team format back in 1996.

An illustrious catalogue of European Championship winners such as Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Jurgen Klinsmann were on hand to see world champions Italy drawn in the perilous Group C, alongside defeated finalists France, traditional guardians of 'total football' Holland and a resurgent Romania, who topped their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch.

When jovial Austrian TV host Rainer Pariasek, nominally in charge of proceedings, announced cheerfully that it was 'fantastic' for the French to be drawn as the Azzuri's final group opponents, Les Bleus' head coach Raymond Domenech looked distinctly unimpressed. Domenech's pre-draw criticism of Uefa's seeding system proved to be spot-on, as the European game's governing body singularly failed to dodge a bullet they had themselves loaded with their, frankly misjudged, seeding policy. Making co-hosts Switzerland (world ranked 44th) and Austria (91st, two slots above those much-heralded footballing giants Guyana) top seeds was nothing less than a half-baked nod to those who, reasonably it must be said, believe that such tournaments benefit from the prolonged involvement of their hosts.

However, it will require a freakish portion of luck and favourable circumstance for the Austrians to progress from a Group B loaded with historical resonances - a section which also comprises neighbours and bookies' favourites Germany, Poland and Croatia. Indeed, Croatia boss Slaven Bilic, who so skilfully masterminded the double defeat of England in their qualifying campaign, could barely restrain his delight at the draw; swapping high-fives with his coaching staff and sporting the broad grin which has become all too familiar to English fans of late.

A playful smile also teased across the face of Turkey's seasoned coach Fatih Terim when his charges emerged alongside Switzerland in Group A - the most recent meeting of the two nations, during qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, was a fractious affair that descended into a mass brawl, drawing record bans and fines for those involved, and diplomatic intervention was required to diffuse the resulting hostilities. However, the former Milan boss failed to see the funny side moments later when the warring pair were joined by the distinctly more formidable Portugal and the Czech Republic, to make up another intriguing foursome.

Group D should provide an altogether more tame affair, as Euro 2004 group-stage foes Spain, Greece and Russia were re-united, and this time around will be joined by a faltering Sweden side which scraped qualification ahead of plucky Northern Ireland.

The finals will kick-off on June 7th, with co-hosts Switzerland meeting Karel Bruckner's Czechs at the St Jakob Park Stadium in Basle and culminate at Vienna's newly-renovated Ernst Happel Stadion on Sunday, June 29th.

Organisers Uefa earlier this week revealed that none of the 15 matches under suspicion of match-fixing in their 96-page report on corruption in the European game were, in fact, Euro 2008 qualifiers. Under the stewardship of Michel Platini - a man who of course steered hosts France to victory in Euro '84 with a phenomenal haul of nine goals in five games - Uefa will be hoping to avoid further controversy in the run-up to a championship which promises to be brimming with enough titanic clashes to match the skill and drama of classic tournaments past such as France '84 and Euro 2000.

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