Champs or chumps? The 2008 European football championships finally kick off on June 7 when Switzerland meet the Czech Republic in the tournament's opening match in Basel. Not content at merely being good hosts, the Swiss team have said they want to win the event. Current form suggests however that the Alpine nation will have a mountain to climb.

Summary

---

SPORTS - Cover story

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Champs or chumps? The 2008 European football championships finally kick off on June 7 when Switzerland meet the Czech Republic in the tournament's opening match in Basel. Not content at merely being good hosts, the Swiss team have said they want to win the event. Current form suggests however that the Alpine nation will have a mountain to climb.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Switzerland coach Kobi Kuhn must surely regret the day back in 2001 when he sketched out his ambitious plans for Euro 2008, or at least wish those plans had never become public. Penned as part of his application for the job, before Switzerland even knew they would host the event, Kuhn set out his blueprint for developing the national team over the coming seven years. The title simply read: European Champions 2008.

Kuhn has since tried to put that title into context, explaining that he wanted to set the highest target for his team and that they will be trying to win the tournament but never said they expected to win it. Nevertheless Kuhn's ambiti...

See the full content of this document

---