United’s contingent at Euro 2008
June 7, 2008
Being Premiership Champions and Champions League Winners, you would be forgiven for thinking the bulk of our players will be away at the Euros which start today. Unfortunately for us (the supporters, England ones in particular), but fortunately for United, that won’t be the case as only 5 of our players will compete in this summer’s tournament.
In his time at United, Ferguson has always created a squad with many British players and his latest squad is no different. Throw in a few South American’s, a South Korean and a handful of Europeans and you’ve got our team. With no British teams qualifying, many of our players will be putting their feet up in preparation for the new campaign so on a positive note, we can expect to hit the ground running next season.
That said, here’s the players that will be representing their countries in this year’s tournament and how we think they will fare.
Cristiano Ronaldo & Nani for Portugal
Obviously tipped to be one of the stars of the tournament but will all the hype surrounding his potential Real Madrid move have any impact on his performance? We should expect to see both Ronaldo and Nani playing key roles for Portugal with both trying to get on the ball and play.
Portugal have been drawn in the group A along with Switzerland, Turkey and Czech Republic and will kick off tonight against Turkey followed by matches against Czech Republic and Switzerland. Playing the home nation is never an easy task but a I fully expect them to qualify with 2 if not 3 wins.
Patrice Evra for France
Despite a successful club campaign last season, Evra will start as second choice to Barcelona’s Abidal. With the speed and versality of Evra, I fully expect him to have a role to play for France, especially if things are not going well. Evra will probably be used as an impact player.
France have been drawn in group C and will start their campaign against Romania on Monday. It is then two very difficult games against the Netherlands and Italy with both of these teams having a very realistic chance of qualifying. This is a tough group to call but I’m going for France and Italy, sorry Holland.
Edwin van Der Sar for the Netherlands
This is Van der Sar’s last outing as an International player so it goes without saying he will want to go out with a bang. The Dutch squad is strong this season but they are in a very difficult group starting out against Italy on Monday followed by games against France and Romania.
The Dutch have an excellent chance of progressing but it remains to be seen whether the team can play to their potential having fallen so many times before. Unfortunately for Edwin, I fear the Netherlands may be one of the early casualties of the tournament.
Tomasz Kuszczak For Poland
Unfortunately for Kuszczak, he probably wont get a game this summer unless there is an injury to Poland’s usual goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
Poland are in group B and play their opening game against Germany followed by matches against Austria and Croatia. Germany are sure-fire favourites to win this group and I expect Croatia to join them in the latter stages.
Nani dribbling against Arsenal in the 4 - 0 thrashing
February 28, 2008
A lot of people, including Sir Alex Ferguson, called this show boating. I call this skillful retention of the ball.
