First squad named...

Croatia have become the first country to name their chosen 23-man squad for Euro 2008.

Coach Slaven Bilic, who has just signed a new two-year extension to his contract, produced no real surprises when he named the men he hopes will take the Henri Delaunay trophy back to Zagreb in July. The Croats have also named two youngsters who they will be taking to the tournament as reserves, players Bilic believes are future stars. The squad is...

Goalkeepers
Stipe Pletikosa Spartak Moscow
Vedran Runje Lens
Mario Galinović Panathinaikos

Defenders
Dario Šimić AC Milan
Robert Kovač Borussia Dortmund
Josip Šimunić Hertha Berlin
Vedran Ćorluka Manchester City
Dario Knežević Livorno
Hrvoje Vejić FC Tom Tomsk

Midfielders
Niko Kovač FC Salzburg
Jerko Leko AS Monaco
Darijo Srna Shakhtar Donetsk
Niko Kranjčar Portsmouth
Luka Modrić Tottenham Hotspur
Danijel Pranjić Heerenveen
Ivan Rakitić Schalke 04
Ognjen Vukojević Dinamo Zagreb
Nikola Pokrivač AS Monaco

Forwards
Mladen Petrić Borussia Dortmund
Ivica Olić Hamburg
Ivan Klasnić Werder Bremen
Igor Budan Parma
Nikola Kalinić Hajduk Split

Reserves
Manuel Pamić FC Salzburg
Anas Sharbini HNK Rijeka

Bilic said, "We chose 23 players and we are also taking two youngsters. Not because we want to give them a chance to fit in or to thank them, but because they are young, talented and playing in the positions we need."

Croatia face Moldova in friendly matches later this month before their opening Euro 2008 fixture against Austria and Bilic will be hoping his players come through the next couple of games unscathed.

The Contenders...Austria

Having had a short break it's now time to start winding up to the big tournament itself. Over the next few weeks we'll be taking a look at the sixteen contenders for Euro 2008, the top players to look out for, the venues for the matches and anything else I can muster up the energy to include. Today we start by looking at our first team, one of the hosts and everyone's favourite whipping boys...

Austria

THE MANAGER...
The Austrians will be led into Euro 2008 by Josef Hickersberger. One of the most succesful figures in Austrian football and in his second spell in charge of the national team Hickersberger will be hoping to get the best out of his young squad and do better than he did when last in charge of his country.
Hickersberger led Austria to the World Cup in 1990 after taking charge for the qualifying stages in 1988. After a poor tournament he managed to hang onto the job until a defeat to the Faroe Islands during qualifying for Euro 92 saw him being sacked after 29 matches in charge.
Having travelled around since managing sides in Germany, Austria and then the Middle East the 60 year old returned to manage Austria Vienna and led them to the 2003/04 Austrian league title and a place in the group stages of the Champions League before returning to manage the national side.

QUALIFYING STAGES...
Being a host, Austria didn't need to endure the qualification process, which is probably a blessing in disguise as they would probably have failed to make their own tournament if they had faced up against some of Europe's big guns. Ranked 102 in the world, one place ahead of Benin and their lowest ever FIFA ranking, the Austrians have spent the last year or so playing friendly matches and blooding young players in a bid to get themselves ready for their biggest test in years. During these games they have managed one victory in the last eleven matches, a 1-0 win over the Ivory Coast. They have faced some stern opposition though in England, France, Holland and Germany during these games but it doesn't bode well for when they come up against their tough group rivals when Euro 2008 gets underway. Here are the Austrians last five friendly results...

26/03/2008 Austria 3 Holland 4
06/02/2008 Austria 0 Germany 3
21/11/2007 Austria 0 Tunisia 0
16/11/2007 Austria 0 England 1
17/10/2007 Austria 3 Ivory Coast 2

THEIR GROUP...
Austria were drawn in Group B and will face tournament favourites Germany. The scourge of England, Croatia and surprise package Poland who had a tremendous qualifying campaign finishing top of their group ahead of Portugal.


PLAYERS TO WATCH...
Andreas Ivanschitz... Attacking midfielder Ivanschitz, pictured, is the Austrian captain and plays his club football in Greece with Panathinaikos. The 24 year old is a huge favourite of the fans and media alike and has been dubbed the' Austrian Beckham'.
Emanuel Pogatetz... Probably the most recognisable of the Austrians, Pogatetz plays his football in the Premiership for Middlesborough. The 35 year old defender is one of the most experienced players likely to make the Austrian's final squad.
Martin Harnik... German born Harnik could prove to be the surprise package for the Austrians in Euro 2008. The 20 year old striker, who holds an Austrian passport and chose to play for them ahead of Germany, has been gaining praise after breaking into the Werder Bremen first team from their Under 23 squad this season.

THE KIT...
The Austrian's play in kit made by Puma.
Their home kit consists of red top, white shorts with red flashes and white socks with red tops. The away kit has black tops with gold flashes, black shorts with gold flashes and black socks with gold tops.
Buy the Austria home and away strip here...

THEIR CHANCES...
The Austrians, even with home advantage, will do well to get a point from Group B...simple as that in my view. If they do get anything then I'm a Water-Skiing Squirrel!

Another chance to win Euro 2008 tickets..

Euro 2008 sponsors JVC are giving fans the chance to win tickets for the big event with this quirky and quality game that can also help you while away the hours at work. Every fortnight from now until this summers' tournament you can win a pair of tickets, and the more people who play, the more tickets JVC will release as prizes.

You can play a mini version of Euroball here by clicking on the widget above. Please give my ads a few clicks too while you're at it and ad a few pennies to my Yard of Ale fund for the Euros!

Euroball is a take on 'table football' and though frustrating to begin with, once you get the knack you'll be spending far too much time plugging away in the hope of bagging some briefs. So far there's been six winners who have all got their hands on some goldust Euro 2008 tickets, with a Dutch lady holding the highest score so far of 2,568, 450..something I can only dream of...a Dutch lady that is. Anyway, lost my train of thought for a second there so get yourself over to the Euroball website and see if you can get yourself onto the Euroball Champions winners rostrum.

A sign of the times...

Today's addition to the YOYWYW banner brings one of the most famous and most blagged things in Austrian history.

The small village of FUCKING lies near Salzburg in the Tarsdorf municipality and is a place that tourists flock to in their droves to have their picture taken next to the sign at the entrance to the village. Not only has the signpost become a pictorial must-have, but it has also been stolen so many times that the Local authorities have tried every possible means of attaching the Fucking signposts to the ground. Current projects involve embedding the signs in concrete and welding several poles together. But this has done little to dissuade raggamuffins from trying to loot the items.

The problem has caused so much trouble that in 2004 matters came to a head and a referendum was taken on whether the village's name should be changed. Thankfully the 104 Fucking inhabitants decided against this and it Fucking remains.

Amazingly the residents even refuse to capitalise on their village's fame. One resident produced T Shirts which were frowned upon by the locals and he was forced to stop trying to sell his 'I like Fucking in Austria' garments....genius.

Today's banner addition..

Following on from yesterday's Austrian, our Arnie, today we see the addition of Swiss legend and tennis genius... ROGER FEDERER and one of his many cows, Juliette!

Federer has dominated world tennis for years now and during his reign has managed to gain himself a herd of cattle that was given to him by his homeland for winning major titles like Wimbledon. Unfortunately for Fed, our pictured cow Juliette didn't last long and was slaughtered due to not being able to produce enough milk. You could kind of say it was a Deuce (or lack of it) point!!

YOYWYW banner

Every day we'll be adding to the YOYWYW banner at the top of this blog to bring you an insight into the host nations Austria and Switzerland.

As you can see so far the 'Hills are alive with the sound of music' as the YOYWYW yodellers Helmut and Heinrich belt out some traditional Austrian tunes while our beautiful barmaid Gretel shows off some of her lovely jugs...of ale that is!

Today's addition is Austria's most famous son, no, not Adolf Hitler but the one they call Arnie...

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger

Keep your eyes peeled for our banner changing and if you have any suggestions as to what we could be adding to our Alps then please leave a comment and we'll see what we can do.

89 days and counting...

The countdown clock is ticking to this summer's big Euro 2008 football tournament.
With the Home Nations all having failed to qualify it's going to be a long summer for British and Irish footie fans as we sit watching the cream of Europe battle it out in Switzerland and Austria.

The opportunity to be served a jug of ale by busty Austrian beauties has passed us all by and there will be no yodelling 'Engerland..Engerland' in the Alps or bagpipes blowing in Berne this time round. It is a undoubted disaster for no Home Nations to be represented at a tournament of this stature and we'll all have to make do with watching from afar this time round...a crying shame!

With this void in all our lives for Euro 2008 and to keep the interest in the tournament up I've decided that the way forward is to be involved in as many Fantasy Football competitions as I can. This blog is designed to keep you informed of any new Euro 2008 Fantasy competions that appear (and there will be plenty) and to keep you abreast of the numerous betting opportunities that will be on offer up to the tournaments big kick off in 89 days.

Over the next couple of months we'll be looking at the countries involved in Euro 2008, the tournament itself, the players, the managers, the venues, the fixtures... but mainly the many Fantasy competions that will be on offer. I will also be setting up Super Leagues in tournaments so we can all battle it out and also keeping you abreast of odds and offers available from the many online bookies as the battle commences to get your 2008 betting stakes.

England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales may not be there and we're all at a loss because of this no matter what nationality we are. But I tell you what, we're gonna have a damn good time watching this tournament even without our own teams to follow so keep coming back to 'You only Yodel when you're winning' and let battle commence...