EURO 2008 INFO

The Hamburg coach picks his 10 talking points for the summer’s football festival

1 The hosts can’t win it Some questioned the wisdom of staging the tournament in Austria and Switzerland, but all the games are sold out and Euro 2008 is expected to make £1.25 billion, the most for a European Championship. Football’s popularity is amazing. Just when you think it can’t get bigger, it does. But, unusually, we have a major tournament where the host countries are not serious contenders. Austria and Switzerland are the lowest-ranked nations and neither would be there if they weren’t hosts. The Swiss have a strange team. In their friendlies they beat Holland and drew with Argentina, yet they lost to the USA and Japan.

2 Where are the young players? There is only one teenager at the tournament, the Swiss reserve striker, Eren Derdiyok, and he turns 20 on Thursday. I don’t understand it. In the past, tournaments always had young stars. Remember Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo taking Euro 2004 by storm? I fear this is another sign of how people are becoming ever-less willing to take gambles in football. Coaches are selecting experienced squads and leaving emerging talents at home. If we are not careful the pressure on coaches to succeed is going to make football boring.

3 The boldness of Big Phil I would like to think that the coaches with the most courage will be rewarded, and Luiz Felipe Scolari is one of the few showing courage with young players. He said goodbye to Man-iche to include Joao Moutinho, one of the most exciting talents in Europe. Originally a No 10, Moutinho now plays right midfield because of his dynamism and he was captain of Sporting Lisbon when he was just 19. Anchoring Scolari’s team is another youngster, Miguel Veloso, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani are also in their early 20s.

Portugal could be one of the favourites. The only thing is that they have no top striker. There’s Werder Bremen’s Hugo Alme-ida, but while he’s decent he’s unproven. Scolari could play Ronaldo centrally but he’s really a counter-attacking forward rather than a No 9. He doesn’t like playing with his back to goal and his dribbling is far more effective on the flanks.

4 Beware the teams with no stars When Pavel Nedved retired from international football, the Czechs were panicking, but Karel Bruckner’s team topped Germany’s qualifying group, conceded just five goals and beat the Germans 3-0 away. With Tomas Rosicky missing, they have no big names but are mentally strong and have unbelievably tough defenders and a great goalkeeper in Petr Cech. Jan Koller has more than 50 international goals and though he looks clumsy, he’s always better on the ball than you think, as I found out when I played indoor football against him. I don’t see the Czechs winning but they’ll get through their group, and Sweden are similar. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the best-paid footballer in the world and could be one of the stars of Euro 2008.

5 Don’t mess with the Germans The Germans are the Germans. They’re favourites. A poll showed 50% of Germans reckon their team will win, and if there’s one country that can handle high expectations it’s Germany. They have the coach from nowhere, Joachim Loew, who was almost unknown until being Jurgen Klinsmann’s assistant but now statistically has the best record of any German manager in history. He is a very intelligent guy who pays attention to detail and is popular with his players because he stays loyal to them. This approach will see him stick with Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Jens Lehmann and Christoph Metzelder, even though they all had poor seasons at club level. If Germany are suspect anywhere, it’s at the back.

Stupidly, a Polish newspaper printed a mock-up image of Leo Beenhakker, the Poland coach, holding the severed heads of Loew and Michael Ballack. Beenhakker had to apologise and is furious. You don’t mess with the Germans.

6 You can have too many options Talent-wise, I don’t see anyone better than Holland, while France have world-class players to choose from in every area, but does Raymond Domenech use Karim Benzema and Bafetimbi Gomis up front, or Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka? Does Marco van Basten use Klaas-Jan Huntelaar or Ruud van Nistelrooy, and who does he leave out from Dirk Kuyt, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder? I know what my Dutch lineup would be, but Van Basten is still tinkering and has suddenly made Orlando Engelaar, the FC Twente captain, a first choice in midfield. Domenech also faces questions over selections. It’s as if Holland and France have too many options.

7 Italy’s new flexibility Italy have defensive worries. Marco Materazzi will get two bookings and be suspended, it’s guaranteed. Andrea Barzagli, Materazzi’s likely partner, is good but the leadership of injured Fabio Cannavaro will be missed. In midfield they are strong, and Luca Toni is one of the most complete strikers in the world. Another advantage for Italy is their new tactical flexibility. Roberto Donadoni can play 4-3-3, using Andrea Pirlo, Rino Gattuso and either Daniele De Rossi or Alberto Aquilani in the middle, or withdraw Mauro Camoranesi to create a midfield diamond and go 4-4-2.

8 England must be kicking themselves I still wonder why England didn’t make it. Croatia did from the same qualifying group and Slaven Bilic says his side are among the favourites, which is strange – a big strength is usually their underdog mentality. Croatia might go through from their group, but I don’t see them as contenders. Losing Eduardo is a blow, their defence is old and I always think you need at least two stars to win a tournament. They only have one, Luka Modric. Guus Hiddink says he still can’t believe Russia are at the finals. He knows that, after losing to Israel, they only made it because of England’s disaster against the Croats at Wembley.

9 King Otto II? Winning Euro 2004 with Greece has got to be the greatest achievement by any coach in modern times. I admire Otto Rehhagel a lot. His secret is man-manage-ment, making ordinary players achieve more than they knew they were capable of. The Greeks still have an ordinary-looking squad but qualified with more points (31) than any team. They’re a compact, defensive side full of old warhorses and should not be underestimated.

10 The Fernando Torres problem Playing in England, Torres is great, but in La Liga he didn’t score as easily and his record is ordinary for Spain. I wonder if it’s because of styles. Spain play with a slow build-up, which makes it harder for him to judge his runs. He missed six qualifiers and Spain won them all, while their two defeats came in games in which he started. His only goals were against Latvia and Liechtenstein. An injury to David Villa means Torres is likely to start Spain’s first game, against Russia on Tuesday, but when Villa is back it’s a problem for coach Luis Aragones, because Torres and Villa have never gelled.

Four young players poised to make a big impact

ANTONIO CASSANO (Italy) The ‘enfant terrible’ of Italy, no top club would touch him after he was bombed out by Real Madrid, so he went to Sampdoria and single-handedly kept them from relegation. Already been causing rows in training but is a fi ghter. If he gets the chance he’ll shine

MIGUEL VELOSO (Portugal) One of the best young players at the fi nals, he was unbelievable at the European Under21 championship last summer and is the anchor of Portugal’s midfi eld. His passing is excellent and his tactical discipline superb for someone only 22

STEFAN RADU (Romania) A young defender who has already impressed at Lazio after joining them from Dinamo Bucharest in January. Can play in the centre or at full-back. Seen as the next Christian Chivu

MARIO GOMEZ (Germany) Germany’s player of the year after a great scoring run for Stuttgart. He’s strong and knows how to fi nish. He might start as a substitute because Lukas Podolski was Germany’s top scorer in qualifying, but watch Gomez if he gets his chance