Euro 2008 squads take shape

While new Republic of Ireland manager can only look ahead to the next World Cup campaign, coaches around Europe have been busy this morning finalising their Euro 2008 squads as the Uefa deadline for final selections approaches.

Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo has been cut from World  Cup winners Italy's Euro 2008  selection.

Roberto Donadoni named a 24-man squad last week and waited until the today's Uefa deadline to decide on the one player he had to drop ahead of June's tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

Germany coach Joachim Loew cut the inexperienced trio of Marko Marin, Jermaine Jones and Patrick Helmes from his panel.

Marin, the 19-year-old Borussia Moenchengladbach winger, had yet to win his first cap when he was named to Loew's provisional squad earlier this month, while Schalke midfielder Jones and Cologne striker Helmes had played just five times between them.

Bafetimbi Gomis earned a place in France's squad, a day after celebrating his first cap with two goals in a 2-0 warm-up win over Ecuador.

Raymond Domenech, who had to cross out seven names from a provisional list of 30 players announced earlier this month, decided to keep the 22-year-old St Etienne forward.

Gomis had been expected to be dropped until he became the first player to score twice on his France debut since Zinedine Zidane in a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in 1994.

Croatia manager Slaven Bilic dropped midfielder Anas Sharbini and defender Manuel Pamic when he named his final 23-man squad.
   
"We have no injury problems and I have picked the team on the basis of the players' current form, not on merits from the qualifying campaign," Bilic told reporters in Croatia's Catez training base in Slovenia.
   
He added that the two players who lost out on a place in the squad would travel with the team to Austria and take part in training.
   
"Sharbini and Pamic are young prospects and they will come with us because they can fill in positions where we might have problems during the tournament," he said.
      
Austria coach Josef Hickersberger named his 23-man squad, adding Martin Harnik as a surprise fourth striker.
   
Harnik, who has yet to play 90 minutes for Austria, joins Roland Linz, Erwin Hoffer and Roman Kienast, who scored in a 1-1 friendly draw with Nigeria on Tuesday, in attack.
       
"It was a long night, we were up until two in the morning... It was a very hard decision as there were some difficult cases," said Hickersberger.
   
"I am convinced this is the right team, but ultimately the games during Euro 2008 will be the test.
 
Germany squad: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hanover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen); Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04); Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg SV), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), David  Odonkor (Real Betis); Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach)

Italy squad: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Morgan De Sanctis (Sevilla); Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Christian Panucci (AS Roma), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Lyon); Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Simone Perrotta (AS Roma), Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus); Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Marco Borriello (Genoa), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria, on loan from Real Madrid)

France squad: Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina), Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille); Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Lyon), Francois Clerc (Olympique Lyon), Sebastien Squillaci (Olympique Lyon), William Gallas (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona); Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Jeremy Toulalan (Olympique Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan); Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Olympique Lyon), Sidney Govou (Olympique Lyon), Samir Nasri (Olympique Marseille), Bafetimbi Gomis (St Etienne), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)

Croatia squad: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Vedran Runje (RC Lens), Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos), Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Simic (AC Milan), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Livorno), Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk), Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Luka Modric (Tottenham), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Jerko Leko (Monaco), Ivan Rakitic (Schalke 04), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco),  Mladen Petric (Borussia Dortmund), Ivica Olic (Hamburg SV), Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Igor Budan (Parma), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split).

Austria squad: Alexander Manninger (AC Siena), Juergen Macho (AEK Athens), Ramazan Ozcan (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Gyorgy Garics (Napoli), Ronald Gercaliu (Austria Vienna), Martin Hiden (Kaernten), Markus Katzer (Rapid Vienna), Juergen Patocka (Rapid Vienna), Emmanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Proedl (Sturm Graz), Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow), Rene Aufhauser (Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Umit Korkmaz (Rapid Vienna), Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Juergen Saeumel (Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (Austria Vienna), Ivica Vastic (Linz), Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Vienna), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam), Roland Linz (Braga), Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen)