European Football Championship 2008: And now the end is near

All good careers must come to an end. Here, we feature five national heroes for whom this summer’s Euro 2008 finals might be the final curtain, along with their possible replacements.

Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) 1098pts

At 34, the Azzurri skipper doesn’t look as assured as he did during the 2006 World Cup. For a player trained in the best defensive school in European football, being at the heart of Real Madrid CF’s porous defence must be an unnerving experience.

But Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has stuck by Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi in central defence and against France last September, the 34-year-old justified his coach’s faith with a clean sheet.

Andrea Barzagli, 26, has deputised in central defence (picking up 248 Castrol Performance Index points), while the man being touted as the new Cannavaro is Juventus FC star Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Criscito. Like the Italian captain, the 21-year-old hails from Naples but is taller (1.83m) and faster.

Nuno Gomes (Portugal) 60pts

With Pauleta gone, Nuno Gomes, 31, is the most likely lone striker in Portugal’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. The SL Benfica forward has a lower strike rate than his predecessor – 0.40 goals a game compared to 0.53 for Pauleta – and he scored just three in ten qualifiers.

Hugo Almeida (23, with two goals in six caps) and Hélder Postiga (25, 10 goals in 30 games) are in contention if Gomes fails to deliver. But Scolari is a bold coach and he may pick Ariza Makukula, a 27-year-old who made his debut (and scored) against Kazakhstan last October.

Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands), 2804pts

The Dutch No.1 celebrated his 37th birthday last October by announcing that he would quit international football after Euro 2008. The fourth-best keeper on the Castrol Performance Index behind Gregory Coupet, Jens Lehmann and Stipe Pletikosa – his decision is a blow to Bert van Marwijk, who replaces Marco van Basten as Dutch coach after the finals. Yet it could be good news for Maarten Stekelenburg, the AFC Ajax No1 (2376 pts) who played four qualifying games.

Stekelenburg joined Ajax when he was 15 and has been first choice for the past three seasons. Like van der Saar he is tall (1.97m) and at 25, is in prime position to make the Oranje keeper’s jersey his own.

Hakan Sukur (Turkey) – 365pts

At 36, Sukur is still banging in the goals for Galatasaray and, to a lesser extent, Turkey. He did score five goals in qualifying – bringing his tally for his country to 51 – but four of them came in a 5-0 romp over lowly Moldova. That still made him Turkey’s leading scorer in the qualifying round.

Villarreal CF’s Nihat Kahveci, 28 will be waiting in the wings, chipping in with three goals (earning 1088 points). For fresher legs upfront, coach Fatih Terim could call on 25-year-old Gokhan Unal (539pts), who scored twice in four starts.

Lilian Thuram (France) 943 pts

The 36-year-old defender could never have imagined, when he left the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe at the age of nine, that he would go on to win the World Cup, a UEFA European Championship and surpass Michel Platini as the most capped footballer in French football (136 appearances).

But this summer he faces serious competition from Philippe Mexès, Julien Escudé, Sébastien Squillaci and Jean-Alain Boumsong. In qualifying, coach Raymond Domenech stuck by Thuram (he was an ever-present) and mostly William Gallas (308pts), with only Sevilla FC’s Escudé (253pts) getting much of a look in.

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