Turkey lost to the Portuguese at Euro 1996 and again four years later, but the Turks today will rely on a stronger midfield that includes Brazilian-born Fenerbahçe midfielder Mehmet Aurelio to try to avenge those defeats and reach the quarters.

Faith Terim, 54, is a good coach whose name has popped up as a possible replacement for Avram Grant at Chelsea FC. Turkey’s 35-year-old goalkeeper Rüstü Recber (Beşiktaş) had an outstanding Word Cup in 2002, but injuries and some uninspired play cost him his place at Barcelona -- and may have cost him his starting position for Euro 2008. His replacement is Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe).

Terim and the Turks expect great things from Aurelio, Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan in Russia) and Arda Turan (Galatasaray). Mevlut Erdinç, the 21-year-old striker who plays for Sochaux in France, could cause problems for the Portuguese defense, but the key up front will be striker Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough FC). Veteran Hakan Şükür was omitted from Terim’s final roster and Tuncay should also get some help up from Kazım Kazım (Fenerbahçe). The latter, who was born in England, scored an impressive goal for Fener against Chelsea in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League quarters.

Portugal reached the final in 2004 when it hosted the tournament (losing only to eventual champ Greece). The squad is orchestrated by fleet-footed striker Cristiano Ronaldo, the top goal scorer in the EPL with Manchester United, who is surrounded by a roster that includes defender Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), midfielder Deco (Barcelona) and striker Ricardo Quaresma (Porto).

Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil. His contract with Portugal runs out after the tournament and he is one of the many names in the hopper to replace Grant as the manager of Chelsea. But Portugal is without veterans Luis Figo, Pedro Pauleta and Costinha, and has been struggling offensively in Scolari’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

Probable teams

Portugal (4-3-3): 1-Ricardo; 4-Jose Bosingwa; 15-Pepe; 16-Ricardo Carvalho; 2-Paulo Ferreira; 8-Armando Petit; 20-Deco; 10-Joao Moutinho; 11-Simao Sabrosa; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo; 21-Nuno Gomes.

Turkey (4-4-2): 23-Volkan Demirel; 2-Servet Çetin; 3-Hakan Balta; 4-Gökhan Zan; 20-Sabri Sarıoğlu; 5-Emre Belözoğlu; 7-Mehmet Aurelio; 17-Tuncay Şanlı; 22-Hamit Altıntop; 8-Nihat Kahveci ; 21-Mevlüt Erdinç.

Venue: Stade de Geneve, Geneva

Capacity: 30,000

Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)


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Swiss place all their hopes in home crowd
The Swiss probably have a better chance, albeit a very slim one, than co-host Austria of advancing to the second round; but they must first clear the Czech hurdle in Basel today and they are banking all their hopes on the home crowd.

Captain and striker Alexander Frei (Dortmund) is back after missing much of the European season with a thigh injury. Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos (who speaks six languages) has yet to find personal success with club or country. Coach Kobi Kuhn has had a hard time drumming up interest and support in what he calls a “tennis and sailing nation.” Tennis, we get it: Roger Federer. But sailing? In a land-locked country? Wait a minute, the Swiss syndicate Alinghi is the defending America’s Cup champion.

The Swiss, using a tight defense, did not concede a goal in the 2006 World Cup, winning their group, but were ousted by Ukraine on a penalty shootout. This time around, it is going to take more than guile on defense to progress to the knockout stage, especially since the creative midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen) is out with an injury. Up front, the most dangerous attackers for the Swiss could be winger Johan Vonlanthen (Red Bull Salzburg) and Valon Behrami (Lazio).

The Czechs have a veteran team and this tournament could be its last hurrah. They reached the semifinals of Euro 2004, but failed to get past the first round of the 2006 World Cup. The team has the towering Jan Koller (Nuremberg) and the shorter Milan Baros (Portsmouth) up front, but will be missing a link through the midfield with the absence of Pavel Nedved (Juventus) and Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), who was omitted from Coach Karel Bruckner’s final roster. Goalkeeper Petr Cech (Chelsea) is among the best in the world. In front of him, the backline is anchored by David Rozehnal (Lazio), Marek Jankulovski (A.C. Milan), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina) and Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow). Cech is relishing the chance to try and stop former teammate Frei from extending his Swiss goal scoring record. The pair played together at French club Stade Rennes five years ago and will face each other today. “It'll be the first time I have played against him so I'm curious to know what it will be like,” Cech said on Thursday. Before the dissolution of the former Soviet bloc, Czechoslovakia was the one and only winner of a European title on a penalty shootout in 1976.

Probable teams

Switzerland (4-4-2): 1-Diego Benaglio; 5-Stephan Lichtsteiner; 20-Patrick Mueller; 4-Philippe Senderos; 3-Ludovic Magnin; 16-Tranquillo Barnetta; 8-Gökhan İnler; 15-Gelson Fernandes; 22-Johan Vonlanthen; 9-Alex Frei; 11-Marco Streller.

Czech Republic (4-5-1): 1-Petr Cech; 2-Zdenek Grygera; 21-Tomas Ujfalusi; 22-David Rozehnal; 6-Marek Jankulovski; 20-Jaroslav Plasil; 3-Jan Polak ;17-Marek Matejovsky; 4-Tomas Galasek ; 7-Libor Sionko ; 9-Jan Koller.

Venue: St. Jakob Park, Basel

Capacity: 40,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

TODAYSZAMAN