EURO 2008 - facts, pictures and commentaries

[isolde]

Due to popular demand - Croatia 

NATIONAL TEAMS - CROATIA

The Croatian national football team represents Croatia in international matches and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation. The current team has been in existence since 1990 and was recognised by FIFA and UEFA in the summer of 1992, one year after Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. A previous Croatian team existed for a couple of years during World War II

The team played their first competitive matches in the qualifying campaign for the Euro 1996 and qualified for the finals to make their first appearance in a major international tournament. They have been a strong force in international football ever since, finishing third in the 1998 World Cup, led by Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker. They have qualified for every World Cup that they have entered as an independent nation.

The team was FIFA's "Best Mover of the Year" in 1994 and 1998, are the only team to win the title more than once and have been more volatile in the FIFA World Rankings than any other nation, having been rated as high as third, and as low as 125th (though this low rating was only because Croatia were not ranked prior to their independence, and it therefore took some time to build up points when they started playing independently). They are still undefeated in all competitive matches they played on home soil since 1994. They also qualified for both 2002 and 2006 World Cups without losing a qualifying match.

Coach: Slaven Bilić

Group E Final Standings

Team Squad

Team Collage

[Radooo]

can you do one for romania? We passed Netherland in qualifications

[KoSaC]

  thank you .

[isolde]

NATIONAL TEAMS - ROMANIA

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.

Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.

However, after that performance, they only qualified for 1970, 1990, 1994 and 1998 editions. Their finest hour came at the 1994 World Cup where Romania, led by Gheorghe Hagi, reached the quarterfinals, defeating Argentina in their way before losing to Sweden on penalty shootouts.

As at Euro, Romania's biggest performance was in 2000 when they advanced to quarterfinals from a group with Germany, Portugal and defeated England before falling to eventual runners-up Italy.

Romania also played at Euro 1984, Euro 1996 and Euro 2008.

Coach: Victor Piţurcă

Group G Final Standings

Team Squad

Team Collage

[dinnu]

 

[Radooo]

thanks

[numpty]

isolde, how can you forget 2004 runners-up portugal?   

post the 2008 champions Portugal please, pleaase, please, with sugar on top

[isolde]

NATIONAL TEAMS - HOLLAND

The Netherlands national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association. It won Euro 88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978 but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina. At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football and was nicknamed "Clockwork Orange" for its precision passing.

Coach: Marco van Basten (my favorite player of all times )

May I also note that poor dutch team has been known as the best ever losers of all time and even by having brilliant players like Cruijff, Neeskens, Koeman, Gullit, Van Basten and many others they have NEVER WON THE WORLD CUP  This is their record... just for the record 

Team Squad

Team Collage

[isolde]

isolde, how can you forget 2004 runners-up portugal?   

post the 2008 champions Portugal please, pleaase, please, with sugar on top

first the champions, then the runner-ups  (and ok, the truth is I cant look any more at the software I am doing the collages on, but you will have it before the championship starts for sure )

Last for tonight, but indeed the current European Champion - I present to you - HELLAS 

NATIONAL TEAMS - GREECE

The Greece national football team is the national football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation. They are the reigning European Champions. Greece had previously participated in a European Championship only in Euro 1980, but their first win did not come until the first match of Euro 2004, a 2-1 win over the hosts Portugal. Greece went on to win the tournament, stunning defending champions France in the quarterfinals and the heavily favoured Czech Republic in the semifinals before beating Portugal for a second time, 1-0, in the final


Coach: Otto Rehhagel

Group C Final Standings

Team Squad

Team Collage

[ciccio1971]

congratulation  Isolde . 


soon Ciccio

[makatas]

Thanks Isolde  Our team will rule again (not)   

[isolde]

NATIONAL TEAMS - PORTUGAL

The Portugal national football team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), finishing 4th at the last World Cup. Portugal have qualified four times for the FIFA World Cup; 1966, 1986, 2002 and 2006. The first appearance saw them reach the semi final, losing 2-1 at Wembley to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times after surprise defeats to Morocco, United States and South Korea. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.

In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 (The European Championships), where they lost to Greece, and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to France. The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio's 1966 third place finish as they lost to hosts Germany 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart, finishing in fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.

Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari

Group A Final Standings

Team Squad

Team Collage

[stasy]

I bet on Netherlands 

[bran360]

you must have had a lot of free time on your hands to put this together. +1 karma for you

[belgarion]

this is very nicley put together isolde but it just seems like sumat is missing but i cant put my finger on it