Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel may sign for Man City for this coming Premiership season for what some speculators are claiming may be 10 million Euros. Demirel was sent off during the recent Euro 2008 championships against the Czech Republic for pushing over Jan Koller in the 92nd minute, resulting in a red card.

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After Germany sent the Portuguese packing in the first quarterfinal, there are seven sides left in contention for the Euro 2008 title, and for the other nine, summer has begun. Of course, in football circles, summer means more than just sunshine and margaritas by the pool. Summer is transfer season, and for some of the recent dropouts from Euro 2008, the end of their tournament means they can concentrate on getting just slightly more ridiculously wealthy.

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"Koller was literally, literally, right up his backside there."
Andy Townsend commenting on Jan Koller's positioning in the Turkish penalty box.

"Magnus Hedman - another man familiar with these shores."
Steve Rider before Spain v Sweden, forgetting Switzerland and Austria are landlocked.

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Michael Ballack put Germany through to the quarterfinals by busting out the long lost Herr Krupp Gun on Austria. His set piece upper-90 goal will be remembered for a long time. (Or maybe only until Thursday when the lose to Portugal.)

Croatia continued to convince us it will surprise some teams in the knockout round.

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Slowly but surely, the records are being broken. It feels as if, one by one, new legends are being created on an almost daily basis at Euro 2008, and last night we had a new one to add to the list: the greatest comeback by an international team in the finals of a competition. To be honest about it all, the first seventy-five minutes of last night's match between Turkey and the Czech Republic were fairly ordinary. Click to continue reading...

Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic
What a way to kick off the final round of group games. Turkey were on the verge of elimination, down 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, but they put together an amazing comeback to beat the Czechs, including two goal in the last three minutes.

It was a nervy opening to the game, with a couple Turkish players booked in the first 10 minutes. Click to continue reading...

In a tournament that is quickly becoming a classic, it will be tough to top Turkey-Czech Republic for the best match at Euro 2008. Trailing 2-0 with 15 minutes to play, the Turks seized second place in Group A with three goals in the final quarter hour. The Czechs had built a comfortable lead on goals by Jan Koller in the 32nd minute and Jaroslav Plasil in the 62nd. Click to continue reading...

Turkey 3, Czech Republic 2
Switzerland 2, Portugal 0

In a tournament that is quickly becoming a classic, it will be tough to top Turkey-Czech Republic for the best match at Euro 2008. Trailing 2-0 with 15 minutes to play, the Turks seized second place in Group A with three goals in the final quarter hour. Click to continue reading...

Andy Gray said "This is the best I have seen seen Turkey play." Me thinks he held back a bit. It would not have been awry if he had said that this was the best any team could have played. In the second half the sea of red breached the white shores time and time again. The 25,000 Turkish fans raining down Turkiye Turkiye provided a lifeline to their players, and not even Jaroslav Plaisil's goal could snuff out what now looks like destiny.

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Greetings from the Stade de Geneve where Portugal and the Czech Republic are about to kick off in search of a probable place in the Euro 2008 quarter finals and bragging rights to Group A.

It has been a warm and sunny day by the Alps with both sets of colourful fans bringing the French-speaking city to life. Click to continue reading...

Czech Republic 1-0 Switzerland
So, not a bad game to kick off the tournament. The Swiss may not be one of the favoured teams, but they gave a good account of themselves overall, despite the loss. The Czechs took a while to get going, and although they had more quality than their opponents, I'd say they were lucky to come away with a win, and they needed a few good saves from Petr Cech to keep them in the game. Click to continue reading...

Euro 2008 kicked off today in Basle, Swizterland. The Czech Republic faced off against the co-hosts Switzerland. Many pundits have picked Switzerland to get out of Group A. For myself, I didn't. In fact, the Czechs are my dark horse pick for winning it. Today, this morning for those of us in Colorado, the Swiss showed why the pundits shouldn't have gone with them. Click to continue reading...

Czech Republic The Czechs topped their group in the qualifiers losing just once and leaving tournament favourites Germany clinging on in 2nd (how's that work out?). With Cech between the sticks, it's no surprise they go into the competition with one of the stingiest goals against figures. I can't see them conceding much in the group [. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to the first of my previews of the teams lining up to try to get their paws on the Henri Delaunay Trophy and wrestle it from the reigning Euro Champs from Greece.
First up in Group A (aka 'the Group of Mild Discomfort') along with Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey are the 'bouncing' Czechs. Click to continue reading...

San Marino vs. Czech Republic, 1315 EST
Olimpico - Serravalle

San Marino has a grand total of zero points and a goal difference of -36 in the group. In other words, it's 'pad the stats' time for Jan Koller, Milan Baroš, Tomáš Rosický, and Stanislav Vlček. I'm surprised Pavel Nedvěd didn't come out of retirement for this one. With Petr Čech or even Martin Vaniak in goal and Marek Jankulovski, Tomáš Ujfaluši, and David Rozehnal among others in front of one of them, San Marino has absolutely no chance of scoring here. Click to continue reading...