Euro 2008 Preview: Group A, Czech Republic vs Turkey

Czech Republic

vs

Turkey

Sunday, June 15, 2045 CET
Geneva (Switzerland) - Travel to Geneva

THE BIG PICTURE

It couldn’t be any closer between Czech Republic and Turkey going into this game. Same points, same goal difference, same goals scored. Portugal have won Group A, Switzerland will finish last. So this is effectively a playoff for second place and quarterfinal qualification. Winner goes through. And if it’s a draw… straight to penalties.

Here’s what the table looks like:

GROUP A - Teams		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Portugal	2	2	0	0	5	1	6
	Czech Republic	2	1	0	1	2	3	3
	Turkey	2	1	0	1	2	3	3
	Switzerland	2	0	0	2	1	3	0

CZECH REPUBLIC

Three Key Players:

Petr Cech - if it does go to penalties, there are definitely worse keepers to have

Tomas Ujfalusi - experienced, hard as nails defender and captain

Milan Baros - got confused and thought it was Euro 2004 by having a good game against Portugal, we’ll see if he can repeat that trick today

Czech Republic squad
Czech Republic Team Profile

Visit Méd’a at the Czech Republic Euro 2008 Team Blog for more.

Buy Czech Republic team gear here.

TURKEY

Three Key Players:

Arda Turan - young winger caught the eye and scored the winner against Switzerland

Nihat - quick as you like striker

Servet Çetin - central defender and giant of a man. Been solid so far.

Turkey squad
Turkey Team Profile

Visit Musab at the Turkey Euro 2008 Team Blog for more.

Buy Turkey national team gear here

BIG BATTLES

Milan Baros vs Servet Çetin - It’s hard work being a long striker, even harder when you’ve got a big defender like Çetin all over you. We’ll see how Baros copes today.

Adventure vs Caution - Will the two teams go for the win? Or will we see two teams settle for a draw and take their chances in the shootout?

Nihat vs Ujfalusi - Ujfalusi is strong, Nihat is quick. Both are smart. So we’ll find out whether it’s preferable to have pace or power today.

Bet on Euro 2008

LIVEBLOG

Follow the Czech Republic vs Turkey LiveBlog here.