UEFA Euro 2008 Group A

Group A of the 2008 UEFA European Championships is one of four groups competing of nations at UEFA Euro 2008. The group's first round of matches was played on 7 June, with the final round played on 15 June. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Basel and Geneva. The group consisted of co-host Switzerland, UEFA Euro 2004 host and finalist Portugal, as well as Czech Republic and Turkey.

Portugal won their first two games against Turkey and the Czech Republic, scoring five goals in the process, to qualify for the quarter-finals by winning the group. The second quarter-final place would go to the winner of the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic. As the two teams had identical records going into the game, if the match had finished as a draw, the quarter-final place would have been determined by a penalty shootout – what would have been the first group stage penalty shootout in a major international tournament. Meanwhile, Switzerland became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after losing to Turkey 2–1 in their second match, Arda Turan scoring a deflected winner in the last minute, having lost 1–0 to the Czech Republic in their opening match.

The final round of matches saw the Portuguese name an under-strength team for their match against Switzerland, their progression already assured. Their opponents, however, fielded a strong side and won the match 2–0, securing their first win in a European Championship. Meanwhile, with a place in the quarter-finals to play for, Turkey and the Czech Republic each had to win to qualify. The Czechs went into half time 1–0 up, and doubled their lead soon after half-time. Arda Turan brought the Turks back into the game in the 75th minute, before Petr Čech made an uncharacteristic error, dropping the ball at the feet of Nihat Kahveci, who was left with a simple finish. Boosted by the equaliser, Turkey went for the win, and two minutes later Nihat curled the ball past Čech from 20 yards. Then, with just moments left to play, the Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel pushed over the big Czech striker Jan Koller, resulting in a red card for the Turk. With no substitutions left, Turkey had to put Tuncay Şanlı in goal, but still managed to secure their place in the quarter-finals. Tempers continued to boil over as Milan Baroš was booked despite having been on the bench for the whole game.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portugal	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
Turkey	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
Switzerland	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3

All times local (UTC+2)

Switzerland vs Czech Republic

2008-06-07 18:00	Switzerland	0 – 1	Czech Republic	St. Jakob-Park, Basel Attendance: 39,730 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
		(Report)	Svěrkoš  71'

SWITZERLAND: GK 1 Diego Benaglio RB 5 Stephan Lichtsteiner 75' CB 20 Patrick Müller CB 4 Philippe Senderos LB 3 Ludovic Magnin 59' RM 19 Valon Behrami 84' CM 8 Gökhan Inler CM 15 Gelson Fernandes LM 16 Tranquillo Barnetta 90+3' CF 9 Alexander Frei (c) 46' CF 11 Marco Streller Substitutions: MF 10 Hakan Yakin 46' FW 22 Johan Vonlanthen 76' 75' FW 12 Eren Derdiyok 84' Manager: Köbi Kuhn

CZECH REPUBLIC: GK 1 Petr Čech RB 2 Zdeněk Grygera CB 21 Tomáš Ujfaluši (c) CB 22 David Rozehnal LB 6 Marek Jankulovski DM 4 Tomáš Galásek CM 14 David Jarolím 87' CM 3 Jan Polák RW 7 Libor Sionko 83' LW 20 Jaroslav Plašil CF 9 Jan Koller 56' Substitutions: FW 10 Václav Svěrkoš 56' FW 11 Stanislav Vlček 83' MF 5 Radoslav Kováč 87' Manager: Karel Brückner

Portugal vs Turkey

2008-06-07 20:45	Portugal	2 – 0	Turkey	Stade de Genève, Geneva Attendance: 29,106 Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
	Pepe  61' Meireles  90+3'	(Report)

PORTUGAL: GK 1 Ricardo RB 4 José Bosingwa CB 15 Pepe CB 16 Ricardo Carvalho LB 2 Paulo Ferreira CM 8 Petit CM 10 João Moutinho RW 7 Cristiano Ronaldo AM 20 Deco 90+2' LW 11 Simão 83' CF 21 Nuno Gomes (c) 69' Substitutions: FW 19 Nani 69' MF 6 Raul Meireles 83' DF 5 Fernando Meira 90+2' Manager: Luiz Felipe Scolari

TURKEY: GK 23 Volkan Demirel RB 22 Hamit Altıntop 76' CB 2 Servet Çetin CB 4 Gökhan Zan 51' 55' LB 3 Hakan Balta RM 18 Colin Kazim-Richards 4' CM 5 Emre Belözoğlu (c) LM 7 Mehmet Aurélio AM 21 Mevlüt Erdinç 46' AM 17 Tuncay Şanlı CF 8 Nihat Kahveci Substitutions: DF 20 Sabri Sarıoğlu 73' 46' DF 15 Emre Aşık 55' FW 9 Semih Şentürk 76' Manager: Fatih Terim

Czech Republic vs Portugal

2008-06-11 18:00	Czech Republic	1 – 3	Portugal	Stade de Genève, Geneva Attendance: 29,016 Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
	Sionko  17'	(Report)	Deco  8' Ronaldo  63' Quaresma  90+1'

CZECH REPUBLIC: GK 1 Petr Čech RB 2 Zdeněk Grygera CB 21 Tomáš Ujfaluši (c) CB 22 David Rozehnal LB 6 Marek Jankulovski DM 4 Tomáš Galásek 73' CM 17 Marek Matějovský 68' CM 3 Jan Polák 22' RW 7 Libor Sionko LW 20 Jaroslav Plašil 85' CF 15 Milan Baroš Substitutions: FW 11 Stanislav Vlček 68' FW 9 Jan Koller 73' MF 14 David Jarolím 84' Manager: Karel Brückner

PORTUGAL: GK 1 Ricardo RB 4 José Bosingwa 31' CB 15 Pepe CB 16 Ricardo Carvalho LB 2 Paulo Ferreira CM 8 Petit CM 10 João Moutinho 75' RW 7 Cristiano Ronaldo AM 20 Deco LW 11 Simão 80' CF 21 Nuno Gomes (c) 79' Substitutions: DF 5 Fernando Meira 75' FW 9 Hugo Almeida 79' MF 17 Ricardo Quaresma 80' Manager: Luiz Felipe Scolari

Switzerland vs Turkey

2008-06-11 20:45	Switzerland	1 – 2	Turkey	St. Jakob-Park, Basel Attendance: 39,730 Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
	Yakin  32'	(Report)	Semih  57' Arda  90+2'

SWITZERLAND: GK 1 Diego Benaglio RB 5 Stephan Lichtsteiner CB 20 Patrick Müller CB 4 Philippe Senderos LB 3 Ludovic Magnin (c) RM 19 Valon Behrami CM 8 Gökhan Inler CM 15 Gelson Fernandes 76' LM 16 Tranquillo Barnetta 66' SS 10 Hakan Yakin 85' CF 12 Eren Derdiyok 55' Substitutions: FW 22 Johan Vonlanthen 66' MF 7 Ricardo Cabanas 76' FW 14 Daniel Gygax 85' Manager: Köbi Kuhn

TURKEY: GK 23 Volkan Demirel RB 22 Hamit Altıntop CB 15 Emre Aşık CB 2 Servet Çetin LB 3 Hakan Balta 48' DM 7 Mehmet Aurélio 41' RM 10 Gökdeniz Karadeniz 46' LM 14 Arda Turan AM 11 Tümer Metin 46' CF 8 Nihat Kahveci (c) 85' CF 17 Tuncay Şanlı 31' Substitutions: MF 6 Mehmet Topal 46' FW 9 Semih Şentürk 46' MF 18 Colin Kazim-Richards 85' Manager: Fatih Terim

Switzerland vs Portugal

2008-06-15 20:45	Switzerland	2 – 0	Portugal	St. Jakob-Park, Basel Attendance: 39,730 Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria)
	Yakin  71', 83' (pen.)	(Report)

SWITZERLAND: GK 18 Pascal Zuberbühler RB 5 Stephan Lichtsteiner 83' CB 20 Patrick Müller CB 4 Philippe Senderos LB 3 Ludovic Magnin (c) RM 19 Valon Behrami CM 15 Gelson Fernandes 90+2' CM 8 Gökhan Inler LM 22 Johan Vonlanthen 37' 61' SS 10 Hakan Yakin 27' 86' CF 12 Eren Derdiyok Substitutions: MF 16 Tranquillo Barnetta 81' 61' DF 13 Stéphane Grichting 83' MF 7 Ricardo Cabanas 86' Manager: Köbi Kuhn

PORTUGAL: GK 1 Ricardo RB 13 Miguel 81' CB 15 Pepe CB 3 Bruno Alves LB 2 Paulo Ferreira 30' 41' CM 5 Fernando Meira (c) 78' CM 18 Miguel Veloso 71' CM 6 Raul Meireles RW 17 Ricardo Quaresma LW 19 Nani CF 23 Hélder Postiga 74' Substitutions: DF 14 Jorge Ribeiro 64' 41' MF 10 João Moutinho 71' FW 9 Hugo Almeida 74' Manager: Luiz Felipe Scolari

Turkey vs Czech Republic

2008-06-15 20:45	Turkey	3 – 2	Czech Republic	Stade de Genève, Geneva Attendance: 29,016 Referee: Peter Fröjdfeldt (Sweden)
	Arda  75' Nihat  87', 89'	(Report)	Koller  34' Plašil  62'

TURKEY: GK 23 Volkan Demirel  90+2' RB 22 Hamit Altıntop CB 13 Emre Güngör 63' CB 2 Servet Çetin LB 3 Hakan Balta RM 6 Mehmet Topal 6' 57' CM 7 Mehmet Aurélio 10' CM 14 Arda Turan 64' LM 17 Tuncay Şanlı CF 8 Nihat Kahveci (c) CF 9 Semih Şentürk 46' Substitutions: FW 20 Sabri Sarıoğlu 46' MF 18 Colin Kazim-Richards 57' DF 15 Emre Aşık 73' 63' Manager: Fatih Terim

CZECH REPUBLIC: GK 1 Petr Čech RB 2 Zdeněk Grygera CB 21 Tomáš Ujfaluši (c) 90+4' CB 22 David Rozehnal LB 6 Marek Jankulovski DM 4 Tomáš Galásek 80' CM 17 Marek Matějovský 39' CM 3 Jan Polák RW 7 Libor Sionko 85' LW 20 Jaroslav Plašil 80' CF 9 Jan Koller Substitutions: MF 14 David Jarolím 39' DF 13 Michal Kadlec 80' FW 11 Stanislav Vlček 85' FW 15 Milan Baroš[note 1] 90+5' Manager: Karel Brückner

Notes