Euro 2008 Qualifying: We Have Our Sweet Sixteen

The last round of Euro 2008 qualifiers got done last night (not counting the rescheduled Serbia vs Kazakhstan game, because neither can qualify) and the big news is that England won’t be attending the festivities next summer, despite Israel handing them a golden ticket on Saturday. So Austrian and Swiss bars won’t make quite as much from drunken English men and women as expected come tournament time, but the truth is that England didn’t play well enough to deserve qualification. Fourteen other nations did though, and they’ll be joining the co-hosts next year. Portugal drew 0-0 with Finland which was uninspiring but just enough. Turkey got the 1-0 win over Bosnia they needed with a goal from Nihat (pictured) and so eliminated Norway, while Sweden beat Latvia 2-1 to make sure someone would be representing Scandinavia.

Here are the 16 teams who’ll be competing at Euro 2008 next summer:

Austria (co-hosts)
Switzerland (co-hosts)
Poland (Group A winners)
Portugal (Group A runners up)
Italy (Group B winners)
France (Group B runners up)
Greece (Group C winners)
Turkey (Group C runners up)
Czech Republic (Group D winners)
Germany (Group D runners up)
Croatia (Group E winners)
Russia (Group E runners up)
Spain (Group F winners)
Sweden (Group F runners up)
Romania (Group G winners)
Netherlands (Group G runners up)

A strong looking field with plenty of big names but no whipping boys. Except maybe Austria. Should make for an excellent tournament.

WorldCupBlog is still looking for bloggers to captain the following teams as we build towards Euro 2008:

Austria, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden

Do you have a passion for any of these teams? Do you want to write and share your opinions as we head towards Euro 2008 and beyond to World Cup 2010? It’s not a paid position, but you’ll get a big, appreciative audience and a bullet proof guarantee of good times. If you’re interested in joining the WCB Euro 2008 team, shoot an email to daryl[at]worldcupblog.org outlining why you’d be perfect.