The Contenders...Czech Republic

Contender's ready.... here we take another look at one of the final sixteen Euro 2008 teams, today's choice is...

Czech Republic

THE MANAGER...
The Czechs will be led to Switzerland and Austria by 68-year-old Karel Bruckner, one of the real characters of international management. Bruckner, has been in charge of the national side since 2001 and will be retiring at the end of Euro 2008. Bruckner built up the Czech Under 21 team that went on to victory in the 2002 Under 21 European Championships in Switzerland and was then given the job of leading the country to Euro 2004, where they lost out to eventual winners Greece in the semi-finals.

QUALIFYING STAGES...
The Czech Republic qualified for Euro 2008 by coming out on top of a group that consisted of Germany, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Wales, Cyprus and San Marino.
Here is how the Group D qualifying table finished up...

Czech Republic	12	9	2	1	27	5	29
Germany	12	8	3	1	35	7	27
Republic of Ireland	12	4	5	3	17	14	17
Slovakia	12	5	1	6	33	23	16
Wales	12	4	3	5	18	19	15
Cyprus	12	4	2	6	17	24	14
San Marino	12	0	0	12	2	57	0

THEIR GROUP...
The Czechs have been drawn in Group A alongside Portugal, hosts Switzerland and Turkey.

PLAYERS TO WATCH...
Marek Jankulovski... Left back Jankulovski has been a fixture in the AC Milan squad since joining from Udinese in 2005. The marauding style of this defender gives the Czechs good width and he has been known to unleash a vicious strike at goal in the past.
Jan Koller... Striker Koller, pictured, seems to have been around for years but still manages to get in amongst the goals. The 35-year-old has a great scoring record with 50 goals from his 80 international caps. Koller is undoubtedly coming to the end of his career, but will still prove a danger to every team he comes up against.

THE KIT...
The Czech Republic play in kit made by Puma.
Their home kit consists of red top with blue collar, white shorts and blue socks with white piping. The away kit is a white top with red collar, white shorts with red piping and white socks with red piping.

Buy the Czech Republic home and away strip here...

THEIR CHANCES...
The Czechs on their day can be an exciting, fast-flowing side who play some great football and entertain. Having had a great qualifying campaign and a decent draw this really could be their chance to shine and give boss Karel Bruckner a great send off as he heads into retirement.

The Contenders...Switzerland

Today we take a look at the second of the hosts for Euro 2008 and another one of the teams not expected by many to make much of an impact. If there is to be a side who provide a shock I reckon it could very well be this one...

Switzerland

THE MANAGER...
Switzerland will be led into this summer's competition by Jacob Kuhn. The 65 year old, who was capped 63 times by his country will quit after the tournament and will be looking to go out on a high before being replaced by Ottmar Hitzfeld. Having played over 500 games for FC Zurich during his 16 year career Kuhn has managed the national side since 2001 and made his first task on taking the job to cull the older players and try to bring through the youths who had won the 2002 European Under 17 Championship. Kuhn has already succesfully led the Swiss to the Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

QUALIFYING STAGES...
Like Austria, Switzerland qualified for Euro 2008 automatically by being a host nation. During the last few years manager Kuhn has tried to organise his young squad by playing in numerous friendlies, though not always with success. The Swiss achieved a position of 17 in the FIFA rankings after the 2006 World Cup though have been sitting in around the 40s since then and currently hold 46th position. Over the last year Switzerland have played friendlies against some of Europe's top sides with the best result achieved being a 2-1 win over Holland and a 1-1 draw against Argentina. Here are Switzerland's last five friendly results...

26/03/2008 Switzerland 0 Germany 4
06/02/2008 England 2 Switzerland 1
20/11/2007 Switzerland 0 Nigeria 1
17/10/2007 Switzerland 0 USA 1
13/10/2007 Switzerland 3 Austria 1

THEIR GROUP...
Switzerland were drawn in Group A and will face the tough, but not impossible task of trying to qualify by beating the Czech Republic, Portugal and Turkey.


PLAYERS TO WATCH...
Alexander Frei... Striker and captain Frei, pictured, is one of the more experienced campaigners in the Swiss squad. The Borussia Dortmund hitman was part of the Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup squads and has 56 international caps to his name. He is also only 3 goals away from becoming Switzerland's all-time top scorer.
Philippe Senderos... Arsenal's somewhat erratic defender will play a crucial part in the Swiss' assault on this summer's tournament. Senderos, who is from Spanish and Serbian descent, is prone to the odd slip up or sending off, but can also be crucial at set pieces and was a huge loss at the 2006 World Cup after receiving a shoulder injury. The Swiss never conceded a goal during that tournament and went out on penalties to Ukraine in the last 16 without Senderos in the side.
Gelson Fernandes... Born in Cape Verde, midfielder Gelson could be a player to make his big breakthrough at this summer's tournament. Signed by Sven Goran Erikkson during last summer for Manchester City, the former England manager has hailed Fernandes as the 'Best Young Player in Switzerland' and there are high hopes that he will take to the big stage and come of age this summer.


THE KIT...
Switzerland play in kit made by Puma.
Their home kit consists of red top, white shorts and red socks with white lines. The away kit has white tops with red flashes, red shorts and white socks with red lines.
Buy the Swiss home and away strip here...

THEIR CHANCES...
Switzerland could surprise many and have proved with their performance at the 2006 World Cup that manager Kuhn can get them organised and they can be very stuffy at the back. In what is undoubtedly going to be a tight group I can see home advantage counting here and the Swiss qualifying from the group stages.