Euro 2008: Portugal To Go Through With Turks Or Czechs?

Spain's last-minute win against Sweden has added a lot of excitement to the ongoing European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.

However, tonight the attention shifts to Portugal taking on Switzerland. Portugal are already through from their group, winning both of their games. However, Big Phil Scolari will be keen on a thumping win which would give his side some much needed confidence going into the next round.

The Swiss will be playing for pride, trying to impress their home crowd after suffering defeat in both of their games.

Scolari is expected to rest the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco while giving opportunities to the likes of Nani and Miguel Veloso. FC Porto's Ricardo Quaresma will be looking to impress if he gets his first start of the tournament.

The other game between Turkey and Czech Republic will hold a lot of importance because it will decide who joins Portugal in the next round.

New rules introduced by UEFA mean that if the two sides should draw their game at the Stade de Geneve, the game will be decided on spot-kicks.

That is very exciting as far as I'm concerned, especially after recently witnessing a penalty shootout in Moscow between Chelsea and Manchester United.

Czech coach Karel Bruckner is unlikely to change the side that lost last time out to Portugal and will stick with Milan Baros despite his recent lack of goals.

Turkey coach Fatih Terim is planning on making three changes to the side that started against Switzerland last time out and confirmed Turkey will still be without captain Emre Belozoglu after he picked up a hamstring injury in training.

The history of fixtures between the two sides favours the Czechs, who have won three of the four meetings between the sides.

Whatever happens, I'm anxiously awaiting this clash between Czech Republic and Turkey and what's surprising about that is that I have not been too moved by the tournament so far.