By Khilen Mehta

Austria- With only friendly games to prepare themselves for co-hosting the finals, Austria have endured some tough times. Austria fans are so worried about their teams potential performance in the championships that they even petitioned the FA to allow them to withdraw in order to save further embarassment. This is likely to be a major learning curve for the Austrians given the fact that they are playing in their first European Championships. Prior to the finals, Austria have suffered defeats against Germany and the Netherlands and although they previously beat the Ivory Coast, a run of 10 games without victory does not inspire confidence.

Manager- Josef Hickersberger, “I’m convinced we will see a very different national team

Key Player- Roland Linz is a regular goalscorer in the Portuguese League

Prediction- One of the easiest groups, but still not a hope

Poland- They qualified with a game to spare for the Championships when they beat Belgium. Helped by nine goals from striker/winger Euzebiusz Smolarek, this is Poland’s first appearance in the Championships after a previous twelve attempts at trying. Up until the end of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008, Poland had appeared in all 13 UEFA European Championship qualifying competitions, and had played 90 matches. In that time, they had won 38, drawn 24 and lost 28 of those fixtures with 131 goals scored and 100 conceded.

Manager- Leo Beenhakker, “This is definitely one of the biggest successes of my career,”

Key Player- Euzebiusz Smolarek was a prolific scorer in qualifying

Prediction- Could throw a surprise spanner in the works with their pace