Euro 2008 Around the Corner

The 2008 European Championship kicks off this Saturday – 19 days of top-level international football, every game broadcast live on ABC/ESPN networks. (All games at 11am and 1:45pm; the full schedule is below.) The quadrennial tournament (co-hosted this year by Austria and Switzerland) is second only to the World Cup in the international game; the strength of the field, top to bottom, is probably better. The format is similar to the WC: a 16-team field split into four groups, with the top two in each group advancing into the quarterfinals. The bad news: All the highest profile matchups – notably the entire Italy-France-Holland showdown in Group C – take place on weekdays, midday. See UEFA's Euro2008 website for more info.

World champion Italy took a blow in their first training session in Austria: Captain and 2006 world player of the year Fabio Cannavaro tore ankle ligaments on being tackled by a teammate during practice, and is out of action following surgery that same day.

Former England manager Sven-Goran Ericksson has been named Mexico's head man; he has until WC qualifying starts June 21 to learn some Spanish.

The U.S. men played much better at Spain on Wednesday, than they had at England last week, but still lost, 1-0, in both teams' last tune-up before serious play starts. Spain opens Euro2008 play Tuesday; the U.S. starts WC qualifying June 15 against Barbados. www.ussoccer.com for more info. (Apologies for originally posting that the game was a 0-0 draw. That result was taken from an international sports news site which shall remain unnamed. Mea Culpa.

Euro2008 Schedule

All times Central Standard
Saturday, June 7
11am: Switzerland - Czech Republic (Group A) – ESPN Classic
1:45pm: Portugal - Turkey (Group A) – ESPN Classic

Sunday, June 8
11am: Austria - Croatia (Group B) – ESPN2
1:45: Germany - Poland (Group B) – ESPN2

Monday, June 9
11am: Romania - France (Group C) – ESPN2
1:45: Netherlands - Italy (Group C) – ESPN2

Tuesday, June 10
11am: Spain - Russia (Group D) – ESPN2
1:45: Greece - Sweden (Group D) – ESPN2

Wednesday, June 11
11am: Czech Republic - Portugal (Group A) – ESPN2
1:45: Switzerland - Turkey (Group A) – ESPN2

Thursday, June 12
11am: Croatia - Germany (Group B) – ESPN2
1:45: Austria - Poland (Group B) – ESPN2

Friday, June 13
11am: Italy - Romania (Group C) – ESPN2
1:45: Netherlands - France (Group C) – ESPN2

Saturday, June 14
11am: Sweden - Spain (Group D) – ESPN2
1:45: Greece - Russia (Group D) – ESPN2

Sunday, June 15
1:45: Turkey - Czech Republic (Group A) – ESPN Classic
1:45: Switzerland - Portugal (Group A) – ESPN2

Monday, June 16
1:45: Poland - Croatia (Group B) – ESPN Classic
1:45: Austria - Germany (Group B) – ESPN

Tuesday, June 17
1:45: France - Italy (Group C) – ESPN
1:45: Netherlands - Romania (Group C) – ESPN Classic

Wednesday, June 18
1:45: Russia - Sweden (Group D) – ESPN2
1:45: Greece - Spain (Group D) – ESPN

Thursday, June 19
1:45: Quarterfinal (Winner A - Runner-up B) – ESPN

Friday, June 20
1:45: Quarterfinal (Winner B - Runner-up A) – ESPN

Saturday, June 21
1:45: Quarterfinal (Winner C - Runner-up D) – ABC

Sunday, June 22
1:45: Quarterfinal (Winner D - Runner-up C) – ESPN

Wednesday, June 25
1:45: Semifinal (W25 - W26) – ESPN

Thursday, June 26
1:45: Semifinal (W27 - W28) – ESPN2

Sunday, June 29
1:45: Final – ABC