Saturday, June 7, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Day 2 Previews

Group B action begins with a pair of games from Austria- the co-hosts facing Croatia and Germany against Poland.

Austria vs. Croatia
The venue: Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria
The broadcast: ESPN2, 12:00 pm ET
The storyline: Austria are the consensus weakest team in the tournament.  Croatia has designs on advancing past the group stages and will look to this game to fine tune their Eduardo-less offense.
The prediction: This could be a rough couple weeks for Austria. The Croats silence the home fans with a 1-0 win.

Germany vs. Poland
The venue: Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria
The broadcast: ESPN2, 2:45 pm ET
The storyline: The bitter rivalry took an ugly turn this week with a Polish newspaper running a picture of coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of his German counterpart Joachim Low and captain Michael Ballack under the headline "Leo Give Us Their Heads!" Needless to say the Germans, not known for their sense of humor, were not amused.
The prediction: Poland have never beaten Germany. Don't count on that changing Sunday. Germany win their opener 2-0.

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