With three games to play, Germany on Saturday became the first nation to qualify for the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. If the unbeaten Germans continue their form, the team is likely to secure the last remaining seed, as the team with the best record during qualification. However, General Manager Oliver Bierhoff hopes that isn’t the case, because the other three seeds in the four-group tournament will be Austria, Switzerland and, likely, Greece. Why, he asked, would anyone want to avoid being placed with the three weakest teams in the tournament? Indeed, the fourth seed will inevitably end up in the group of death. As a result, Bierhoff called the draw procedure “a planning error” on the part of UEFA.
His comments drew angry responses in Zurich but little was said in Vienna, conspicuously. The Swiss have been a resurgent side in recent years — they were dumped out of last summer’s World Cup on penalties without losing a game — but Austria’s ranking has now tumbled to 85th in the world. The Guardian’s Raphael Honigstein points out that that’s behind both Haiti and the Cape Verde Islands. “There’s never been a worse host nation in the history of international championships,” he says. “Everybody will clamor to get into their group, the group of life, and they know it.”
Even Austria coach Josef “Hicke” Hickersberger conceded that, “getting into the quarterfinals wouldn’t be a sensation, it would be a world-sensation.” Said Honigstein, “They simply don’t have any decent players.”