- Failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championship could cost the England Football Association as much as £8m in merchandising and revenue. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the good old boys network who hire crap coaches? Never fear England fans, I will be shocked if they don't pull out a spectacular performance against Croatia and Israel somehow rise to the occasion and at least draw with Russia. Click to continue reading...

Here are the re-links for your convenience. Cheers.
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group A
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group B
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group C
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group D
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group E
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group F
2008 Euro Qualifying Saturday Preview: Group G Click to continue reading...

The biggest and really only significant match of this group is Spain at Denmark. Both teams need to win this match if they hope to advance. Both sides will be missing key players due to injury as the Danes will be without Daniel Agger and the Spanish, David Villa. Helping Denmark out will be the return of Christian Poulsen and Spain should have ample firepower at forward to replace Villa, though Torres is slightly hobbled. Click to continue reading...

Only two matches from this group on Saturday: England hosts Estonia and Israel travels to Croatia. It's do or die time for the Israelis, if they lose this match they can kiss their qualifying hopes good-bye. Even if they draw, there chances are slim. Too much has to happen for them to move on. The good news is they'll be taking their strongest side to Zagreb, the bad news is Croatia is better. Click to continue reading...

Unless Ireland pulls off a huge upset on Saturday when the Germans travel to Dublin, this group is done. A draw is useless, they need the three points or else and they might just be able to do it. Die Nationalelf will be without the services of Miroslav Klose, Michael Ballack, and Tim Borowski, but still, they'll have Torsten Frings, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christoph Metzelder, and Per Mertesacker among others to keep Ireland from scoring. Click to continue reading...

Turkey has the most to gain this Saturday when they travel to Moldova. The Turks can take over sole possession of second place in the group with a draw, but with a win and a Greece draw or loss, could even find themselves on top. The problem is, even though Moldova sit at the bottom of the group, they are still a formidable opponent at home having yet to lose by more than a goal there so far. Click to continue reading...

All top three teams in the group are involved in must-win matches if they want to keep their positions on the table. The most intriguing of the three matches is without a doubt the Ukraine at Scotland. The Zhovto-Blakytni must win to have any chance of advancing though it looks mission impossible anyhow, and the Tartan Army need the three points just to keep ahead of their nemeses, Italy and France. Click to continue reading...

- Fans of Austria's National Football team are so ashamed of the squads recent run of eight straight losses that they've called for a withdrawal of the side from the 2008 European Championship, despite the free invite as hosts. More than 4000 people have added their names to a petition at www.rueckgrat.cc since it was launched a week ago today. The petitioners have made it clear that they are not blaming players nor coaches of the team, but feel that their participation in the tournament would be an insult to the sport. Click to continue reading...

- The Denmark women's boss, Kenneth Heiner-Moller, has denied that he accused China of bug-spying. The 36-year-old also refuted claims that he lodged a protest with FIFA about that matter. Apparently, prior to a Denmark staff meeting the day before the team met China, two individuals with cameras were caught behind a two-way mirror in the meeting room. Click to continue reading...

Following England's 3-0 victories over Israel and Russia, a lot of talk has emerged about who is England's best side. With the emergence of Gareth Barry in midfield and the inclusion of Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right, it has been brought to the forefront whether players who were unavailable due to injury, most notably David Beckham and Frank Lampard have lost their spots. Click to continue reading...

France 0, Scotland 1. Felt weird writing that. Ths Scots definitely deserve to go through if they can pull off at least a draw with Italy coming up in Glasgow. And if your looking for John Arne Riise's signature strike versus Greece, go here. Cheers.
Click to continue reading...

I apologize for not doing anymore updates, but at one point I was watching three matches at once and way too occupied to even think about writing. I hope this summary of what occurred today somewhat makes up for it.
Group A
Portugal never seems to learn, do they? An 88th minute strike by Serbian Marko Pantelić cost the Portuguese two valuable points and possibly their Euro chances. Click to continue reading...

Norway 2, Greece 2
Wow, what a first half. As the score indicates, neither team is playing very solid defense. Norway appears to be the more dominate side and probably should be ahead had Carew not squandered a one-on-one with the Greek keeper. It was a tough angle though. This has been an intense affair so far as nearly two 'disagreements' have occurred. Click to continue reading...

Greece has again taking the lead and again it was from the defender. After his initial vicious header attempt on goal from a free kick well outside the box was saved, the six-foot-four Kyrgiakos slammed the rebound that deflected off the bar with a diving kick. Though it looked like it bounced off both a Norwegian defender and Håkon Opdal, the Norway keeper, it still easily found the back of the net. Click to continue reading...

I will be posting this periodically as things happen, so keep checking back if you want to know what's going on.
Greece 1, Norway 0
I'm watching this match so I'll probably be updating it more often. John Arne Riise almost went to blows with a Greek player and two minutes later Greece scores on a corner. The ball crossed the net unscathed an found a diving Sotirios Kyrgiakos who redirected it to the opposite side of the net with a header, Greece 1-0. Click to continue reading...

If I had to pick two players on the England squad that it wouldn't bother me if they retired to a life of gardening and never wore the Three Lions shirt again, I'd be hard up to get past Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey.
Crouchy, despite his knack for scoring goals, is a turnover machine and because of his height tends to have fouls called against him more often then not especially when playing balls in the air. Click to continue reading...

Group A
Portugal tries to redeem itself, Serbia fights for it's qualifying life, Poland travels to Finland to battle for the top, & that other match
Group B
Les Bleus attempt to ruin the Scots' qualifying dreams, the Ukraine hosts the Azzurri with both sides in desperate need of points, & Lithuania look to beat up on the Faroe Islands
Group C
The Greeks travel to Norway with group supremacy and who has the better mythological gods on the line, Who's Hungary for some Turkey? Click to continue reading...

Iceland vs. Northern Ireland, Laugardalsvöllur - Reykjavik
Well, finally we have a group that doesn't have a guaranteed intense match, but that doesn't mean there isn't any drama. In fact, if you look down the road, the top three teams in this group: Sweden, Northern Ireland, and Spain, could all be tied with 19 points at the end of the day, and all meet each other in future fixtures. Click to continue reading...

England vs. Russia, New Wembley - London
The Russians go to England in what is easily the match of the day for Group E. I originally thought that this wasn't a must-win for the English, but now I'm beginning to have second thoughts. Neither Russia nor Croatia have a very difficult schedule ahead of them, though the Croatians have to go to London on the last day of qualifying. Click to continue reading...

Czech Republic vs. Republic of Ireland, Sparta Stadium - Prague
Continuing with the 'every group's got a cracker of a match' theme, we have the Irish traveling to Prague with basically their Euro hopes on the line. A devastating Marek Cech equalizer in the 91st minute of their Saturday tie with Slovakia could end up costing the Boys in Green their spot. Click to continue reading...

Norway vs. Greece, Ullevål - Oslo
Every group so far seems to have an incredible match and this one is no different. First place is at stake and because Norway has a game in hand, it means much more to them. Leapfrogging the Greeks means that the Turks home tie with Greece on October 17th will cost one or both of their opponents points, essentially rendering the game-in-hand of their closest competitors useless. Click to continue reading...

France vs. Scotland, Parc des Princes - Paris
Les Bleus can put a little distant between themselves and the second place Scots here with a win in Paris. In fact, it'd probably be a good idea if the did so, since even if Italy win, a French win at the Faroe Islands in October would all but assure themselves advancement. Just don't expect the Scots to make it too easy for them. Click to continue reading...

Portugal vs. Serbia, José Alvalade - Lisbon
Portugal did themselves no favors when they gifted Poland the 2-2 draw on Saturday. Though that doesn't make this game a must-win since the remaining of their schedule is quite easy, they could save themselves a lot of unwanted pressure by going ahead and getting the home win here. They suffered no major injuries, but will be without defender Marco Caneira and striker Hélder Postiga for this tie. Click to continue reading...