Preview: SUI v CZE

Euro 2008 starts with co-hosts Switzerland playing against Czech Republic at St. Jakob-Park, Basel. Eyefootball previews the match.

Match: Switzerland v Czech Republic

Venue: St. Jakob-Park, Basel.

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)

The UEFA Euro 2008 opens in Basel on June 7, with the tournament co-hosts playing Czech Republic at St. Jakob-Park.

The co-hosts, Switzerland, face the difficult Czech Republic, and they will need to prove that they are not push-overs.

Jakob Kuhn' side qualified automatically for the finals.They will be desperate to have a positive start and to qualify from the group stages. They had gone out of the tournament in first-round on the two previous occassions that they played.

The Swiss started with defeats in both the occasions, 1996 and 2004, and they would be looking forward to change things this time around.

Czech Republic qualified as winners of Group D, and they finished two points clear of Germany. They won nine matches and lost just one in twelve qualifying matches.

Karel Bruckner will be a positive man, as they defeated a tough German side 3-0 in the last game of the qualifiers on 17 October 2007. He would be looking forward to build on this and make the tournament memorable.

Czech Republic had played three times in the Euro before this, their best performance is in 1996 when they finished runners-up to Germany following a 2-1 defeat in final at Wembley Stadium.

Switzerland does not have a good record against the Czechs, having beaten 14 times, and won only seven times.