We’ve been spoiled so far this summer. After 12 consecutive days of football which have harvested 24 games, Euro 2012 is taking a rare day off tomorrow before the knockout stages begin on Thursday evening at 7.45pm. As Group A winners Czech Republic ready themselves to take on Portugal in the first of the quarter finals, we’ve rolled out the Captain Poll for you to have your say:
Michal Bilek’s side arrive in strong form for Thursday’s game. Written off by many after a 4-1 opening day defeat to Russia, back-to-back wins propelled them to the top of Group A, with Vaclav Pilar and Petr Jiracek the main protagonists. Between them, the midfielders have scored all of their nation’s goals, notching a couple apiece, and look the main threat to Paulo Bento’s favourites. Michal Kadlec’s penalty duties and Milan Baros’ role as the lone forward means they cannot be overlooked, while the creativity of Tomas Rosicky (if fit) and Jaroslav Plasil is likely to provide their team mates with opportunities against a defence that conceded in all of their group games.
Cristiano Ronaldo looks almost certain to be the main man for a Portugal side that has also won the last two games. After a poor couple of performances, the Real Madrid man exploded into form against Holland, scoring twice and hitting the woodwork on a couple of occasions. Nani has provided an assist in each of the last two matches and has been somewhat unlucky not to find the net thus far, Helder Postiga’s guaranteed starting role has already seen him notch once, while Pepe’s threat from the back has seen him accrue 13 points, just one less than Ronaldo in the group stages.
