EURO 2008 INFO

Preparations for this year's European Championship begin in earnest tomorrow with all 16 countries playing in international friendlies.

It's one of the last chances for coaches to check out their players before they need to submit their squads for the June 7-29 tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

Also in action are teams that missed out, most notably England, who play France. Brazil and the United States also visit Europe - playing Sweden and Poland.

In other matches between Euro 2008 qualified teams, it's Spain versus Italy, Switzerland against Germany, Austria take on the Netherlands, Romania play Russia and Portugal host Greece. Also, the Czech Republic are in Denmark, Croatia play Scotland and Turkey go to Belarus.

Spain coach Luis Aragones has called up Getafe midfielder Ruben de la Red into a largely unchanged squad for their match at Elche but has dropped Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic.

De la Red replaces David Albelda, who was left out by Aragones despite playing in Spain's 1-0 win over France in February. Barcelona defender Carles Puyol returns from injury, while Mallorca's Fernando Navarro has been called in to anchor the backline.

Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez - Spain's all-time leading scorer with 44 goals in 102 games - appears no closer to returning in time for Euro 2008 after being left out again. Raul, who has scored 18 times this season, hasn't played for Spain since September 2006.

Alessandro Del Piero missed out on making Italy's squad, excluded from an attack that includes Marco Borriello and Luca Toni.

Roberto Donadoni recalled Juventus pair Gianluigi Buffon and Mauro Camoranesi to the squad after they missed February's 3-1 win against Portugal through injury.

France coach Raymond Domenech called up four new players and again left out Juventus striker David Trezeguet, who hasn't played for the national team since a 1-0 defeat against Scotland last September.

Midfielders Mathieu Bodmer and Mathieu Valbuena and defenders Mathieu Delpierre and Adil Rami were called up.

"I wanted to broaden (the squad) completely," said Domenech. "I wanted the maximum number of players to keep my options open and to cover potential injuries."

England's preparations weren't helped by 12 players taking part in matches with their Premier League clubs on Sunday. England manager Fabio Capello said he "was not ecstatic" when he found out that Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool were playing hours before the squad met. Capello has also had to deal with interest surrounding David Beckham's recall and the possibility he'll give the midfielder his 100th appearance for England.

"It is not my style to call up someone just to do them a favour," said Capello, who had an often prickly relationship with Beckham when the two were at Real Madrid. "I understand the nation's obsession with Beckham, but I am not obsessed with him. I called him up because I believe he will be useful for the team."

Beckham missed Capello's first match in charge, a 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland on February 6, for fitness reasons.

Ahead of playing in Switzerland, Germany captain Michael Ballack is wary of the team relying on its third-place finish at the World Cup in 2006.

"The shoulder poundings of congratulations have lasted a long time, but that's over now," said Ballack. "Starting now, this is a new tournament - the hardest of them all - and old accomplishments can't buy you a thing."

Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann remains the German No 1, but a bad performance is likely to reopen the debate over whether he will be ready for the tournament while only a reserve at Arsenal.

"Due to his class and experience, I believe Jens is irreplaceable as the starting goalkeeper," said Ballack.

In contrast, Netherlands have a goalkeeping quandary. With regular goalkeepers Edwin van der Sar and second-choice Maarten Stekelenburg out, coach Marco van Basten called up 21-year-old rookie Piet Velthuizen, who will vie with the 36-year-old Henk Timmer for a start against Austria in Vienna.

The Dutch are strengthened by the return of Clarence Seedorf, Andre Oojer and Robin van Persie from injury. Van Persie's return helps cover the absence of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who is recovering from ankle surgery.

Other friendlies see Ukraine take on Serbia, Bulgaria hosting Finland, Montenegro versus Norway, Hungary at home to Slovenia; Estonia against Canada and Slovakia playing Iceland.