European Football Championship 2008: Friendly Previews

At this stage it's all about honing your squad. With some respite between qualifying and the tournament proper, here's how some of the world's finest footballing minds are tinkering ahead of this week's friendlies.

In giving first call-ups to Olympique de Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda, Arsenal FC’s pacy full-back Gaël Clichy and AS Monaco FC striker Jérémy Menez for the game against Spain, Raymond Domenech is obviously trying to convey the impression he’s fine-tuning the French squad.

Shuffling the pack for these warm-ups is a subtle business. Too few changes and you look rigid, too many and you look clueless. Poland averaged 1.7 goals a game in qualifying, but coach Leo Beenhakker has still recalled DSC Arminia Bielefeld’s 30-year-old striker Artur Wichniarek to face Finland and the Czech Republic.

King Artur, as Arminia fans call him, has been a monarch in exile for Poland, having last represented them in August 2003, but he gives Beenhakker the chance to see how his team fares with a target man upfront. Or maybe he just wants some extra help marking the Czechs’ lanky Jan Koller at set pieces, who is currently ranked 16th in the Castrol Performance Index strikers' list.

Blooding youth
Meanwhile Czech coach Karel Bruckner has been quietly blooding a few stars from the team that reached the final of last year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Lubos Kalouda, who scored three goals from midfield and is already being touted as the new Pavel Nedved, may step up to make his debut against Poland.

Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari would like to steer Portugal to their first victory over the Azzurri in 30 years. “Italy have a peculiar way of playing,” he has said. “They usually give possession to the other team but they can settle the game in an instant.”

Beating such tactics is key if Scolari‘s team are to go one better than Euro 2004, but the coach is playing his cards close to his chest. He has talked of giving young players a chance, but makes only one significant unforced change, promoting Under-21 goalie Rui Patrício. Current incumbent Ricardo failed to make the CPI top 20 list of keepers.

Instant recall
Poland Coach Leo Beenhakker
The least surprising recall must be for Michael Ballack, who will win his 78th cap against Austria, Germany’s Group B opponents. He has hit a rich vein of form for Chelsea and will hope to score his 36th goal for his country. Injuries have deprived coach Joachim Löw of seven players (including an entire back four) so it’s hard to read too much into his squad.

Every coach enters these friendlies with similar goals –to not get beaten too comprehensively, and not to suffer any serious long-term injuries. Anything else is a bonus.

However their experiments – or failure to experiment – turn out, managers should console themselves by recalling the famous diktat by Rinus Michels, who won this tournament with the Netherlands in 1988. “The coach is always right. And in the unlikely event that he’s wrong, the above rule applies.”

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