You may want to forgive British people for wanting to forget about the finals of Euro 2008 which took place in Austria and Switzerland. That is because not one country within Britain managed to qualify for them!
With two host nations there was no need for any play-offs as the top two from each group simply qualified for the finals. Kazakhstan were the only new entrant and Serbia became a separate entity from Montenegro with Serbia going it alone for the first time although they finished third in their group behind Poland and Portugal so missed the finals. Montenegro had to wait until the 2010 World Cup before they started participating in matches.
It all meant that there were seven qualifying groups all of which contained seven nations each. Scotland completed a memorable double over France but still managed to finish behind both the French and group winners Italy. The Republic of Ireland and Wales missed out to Germany and the Czech Republic but Northern Ireland had a great campaign which included wins over Spain and Sweden – the two qualifiers from their group, and Denmark who finished behind the Irish in fourth place. Of Northern Ireland's seventeen goals, thirteen had been scored by David Healy making him the overall top scorer for the qualifying stage although his team had failed to make it.
With two host nations there was no need for any play-offs as the top two from each group simply qualified for the finals. Kazakhstan were the only new entrant and Serbia became a separate entity from Montenegro with Serbia going it alone for the first time although they finished third in their group behind Poland and Portugal so missed the finals. Montenegro had to wait until the 2010 World Cup before they started participating in matches.
It all meant that there were seven qualifying groups all of which contained seven nations each. Scotland completed a memorable double over France but still managed to finish behind both the French and group winners Italy. The Republic of Ireland and Wales missed out to Germany and the Czech Republic but Northern Ireland had a great campaign which included wins over Spain and Sweden – the two qualifiers from their group, and Denmark who finished behind the Irish in fourth place. Of Northern Ireland's seventeen goals, thirteen had been scored by David Healy making him the overall top scorer for the qualifying stage although his team had failed to make it.
England's campaign will probably be remembered for the image of manager Steve McLaren sheltering under an umbrella at the game at Wembley against Croatia. Scott Larson had replaced Paul Robinson in goal and after just eight minutes Niko Kranjčar's shot had gone straight through him. As McLaren hid behind his brolly, Croatian manager Slaven Bilic seemed completely oblivious to the weather and was emphatic in the rain on the touchline as his teamed quickly doubled their lead and although England rallied Croatia would go on to win 3-2 confirming their place as group winners. England had lost in Russia a month earlier and that capped together with this defeat saw the Russians take second place and England were out - and so was McLaren.
In Group A in the finals it was Portugal that stormed into the quarter-finals despite a defeat in their final group game against Switzerland. The game of the group was between Turkey and the Czech Republic with the Czechs only needing a point for second place. With the Czechs leading 2-1 and time running out captain Nihat Kahveci became a national hero with two goals in the last three minutes to put Turkey through 3-2.
In Group B Croatia continued where they had left off in England's qualifying group and won all of their group matches to top the group with nine points. This included a 2-1 win against Germany and that meant that the Germans still needed at least a draw in their last match against hosts Austria otherwise the Austrians or Poland could still sneak through. It was not to happen though as Michael Ballack scored the only goal of the game to secure Germany's place in the quarter-finals as runners-up to Croatia.
In Group C Holland were off to an impressive start when they swept away Italy 3-0 with goals from Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder and Van Bronckhurst and it continued on as they also smashed France 4-1 in their second game and then Romania 2-0 in their third. The defeat for Romania would cost them dearly and deny them a quarter-final spot. Going into the game they had a one point advantage over both Italy and France (1pt each) who were playing one another. The defeat for Romania allowed Italy through as they inflicted another defeat on the French by 2-0 through a Andrea Pirlo first half penalty and then a second half goal from Daniele De Rossi.
In Group D Spain were the third nation to go through with three wins out of three and these included a 4-1 opening fixture against Russia with David Villa grabbing a hat-trick. Defending champions Greece lost their first two games against Sweden and then Russia meaning that they could not qualify but it also meant that Russia's game with Sweden would decide which would go through with Spain. Because of Russia's heavy defeat against Spain, it meant that Sweden only needed a draw – however, goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin gave the Russians a 2-0 win.
The quarter-finals began with a high scoring encounter between Portugal and Germany. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose had put the Germans two up within the first half an hour but Nuno Gomes halved the arrears just before the break. Ballack made it 3-1 to the Germans on the hour and a late Helder Postiga goal was not enough for the 2004 runners-up Portugal.
After almost two hours of football between Croatia and Turkey and all of a sudden, the Croatians had forgotten how to score having been so comfortable in the group stage. That all changed though with just one minute left on the clock at the end of extra time when substitute Ivan Klasnić had surely scored the winner you would have thought. But sensationally in the second minute of injury time at the end of extra time when another new Turkish hero was born in Semih Şentürk's shot was deflected in. So after all this the game did in fact go to penalties and Turkey would be victorious as Modrić, Rakitić and Petrić all failed to score from the spot and Turkish keeper Recber added his name to the growing heroes list.
Another nation with maximum group points were Holland and they were up against Russia. Pavlyuchenko stunned the Dutch when broke the stalemate just before the hour but Holland saved themselves when Van Nistelrooy made it 1-1 with under five minutes remaining. Many probably thought that the Dutch would now go on to win the tie in extra time but in fact it was the opposite that happened as two late Russian goals scored by Torbinksi and Arshavin booked them a semi-final ticket.
World Champions Italy – who had won that crown two years earlier by virtue of penalties would have to now endure them again against Spain as 120 minutes of football could not produce a goal between the two nations. It would be Spain that would triumph on this occasion winning the shoot-out 4-2 with De Rossi and Di Natale missing for Italy.
In the semi-finals Germany took on the surprise package Turkey – trying desperately to achieve what their arch rivals Greece had done four years earlier and win the whole thing. Another dramatic game ensued as Boral gave Turkey the lead midway through the first half but Schweinsteiger quickly made it 1-1. Klose then gave the Germans the lead with just eleven minutes remaining but once again Turkey would simply just not be denied as Semih made it 2-2 with just four minutes remaining. But it proved to be one game too many for Turkey as typically Germany would be the ones to inflict a last minute winner upon them when Philipp Lahm scored the winner in the 90th minute.
Having now reached the semi-finals, top notch and billionaire Russians flew into Vienna for their second match of the tournament against Spain. They would come away though highly disappointed as Spain scored three second goals through Xavi, Güiza and Silva to easily reach the final.
Back in the final just three days later and Spain would win their first major trophy since 1964 as they defeated Germany 1-0 with Fernando Torres goal after 33 minutes. Of course much of this Spain team would go on to win the 2010 World Cup two years later.
In Group B Croatia continued where they had left off in England's qualifying group and won all of their group matches to top the group with nine points. This included a 2-1 win against Germany and that meant that the Germans still needed at least a draw in their last match against hosts Austria otherwise the Austrians or Poland could still sneak through. It was not to happen though as Michael Ballack scored the only goal of the game to secure Germany's place in the quarter-finals as runners-up to Croatia.
In Group C Holland were off to an impressive start when they swept away Italy 3-0 with goals from Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder and Van Bronckhurst and it continued on as they also smashed France 4-1 in their second game and then Romania 2-0 in their third. The defeat for Romania would cost them dearly and deny them a quarter-final spot. Going into the game they had a one point advantage over both Italy and France (1pt each) who were playing one another. The defeat for Romania allowed Italy through as they inflicted another defeat on the French by 2-0 through a Andrea Pirlo first half penalty and then a second half goal from Daniele De Rossi.
In Group D Spain were the third nation to go through with three wins out of three and these included a 4-1 opening fixture against Russia with David Villa grabbing a hat-trick. Defending champions Greece lost their first two games against Sweden and then Russia meaning that they could not qualify but it also meant that Russia's game with Sweden would decide which would go through with Spain. Because of Russia's heavy defeat against Spain, it meant that Sweden only needed a draw – however, goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin gave the Russians a 2-0 win.
The quarter-finals began with a high scoring encounter between Portugal and Germany. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose had put the Germans two up within the first half an hour but Nuno Gomes halved the arrears just before the break. Ballack made it 3-1 to the Germans on the hour and a late Helder Postiga goal was not enough for the 2004 runners-up Portugal.
After almost two hours of football between Croatia and Turkey and all of a sudden, the Croatians had forgotten how to score having been so comfortable in the group stage. That all changed though with just one minute left on the clock at the end of extra time when substitute Ivan Klasnić had surely scored the winner you would have thought. But sensationally in the second minute of injury time at the end of extra time when another new Turkish hero was born in Semih Şentürk's shot was deflected in. So after all this the game did in fact go to penalties and Turkey would be victorious as Modrić, Rakitić and Petrić all failed to score from the spot and Turkish keeper Recber added his name to the growing heroes list.
Another nation with maximum group points were Holland and they were up against Russia. Pavlyuchenko stunned the Dutch when broke the stalemate just before the hour but Holland saved themselves when Van Nistelrooy made it 1-1 with under five minutes remaining. Many probably thought that the Dutch would now go on to win the tie in extra time but in fact it was the opposite that happened as two late Russian goals scored by Torbinksi and Arshavin booked them a semi-final ticket.
World Champions Italy – who had won that crown two years earlier by virtue of penalties would have to now endure them again against Spain as 120 minutes of football could not produce a goal between the two nations. It would be Spain that would triumph on this occasion winning the shoot-out 4-2 with De Rossi and Di Natale missing for Italy.
In the semi-finals Germany took on the surprise package Turkey – trying desperately to achieve what their arch rivals Greece had done four years earlier and win the whole thing. Another dramatic game ensued as Boral gave Turkey the lead midway through the first half but Schweinsteiger quickly made it 1-1. Klose then gave the Germans the lead with just eleven minutes remaining but once again Turkey would simply just not be denied as Semih made it 2-2 with just four minutes remaining. But it proved to be one game too many for Turkey as typically Germany would be the ones to inflict a last minute winner upon them when Philipp Lahm scored the winner in the 90th minute.
Having now reached the semi-finals, top notch and billionaire Russians flew into Vienna for their second match of the tournament against Spain. They would come away though highly disappointed as Spain scored three second goals through Xavi, Güiza and Silva to easily reach the final.
Back in the final just three days later and Spain would win their first major trophy since 1964 as they defeated Germany 1-0 with Fernando Torres goal after 33 minutes. Of course much of this Spain team would go on to win the 2010 World Cup two years later.
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