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Italy - Spain Genoa. "Luigi Ferraris" stadium. 22:00 In 2004, the Italian city of Genoa was declared the European Capital of Culture. Due to the high and responsible evaluation of the city, various cultural events take place throughout the year. Unfortunately, today's football, while not belonging to the high culture section, is an integral part of Italian society. Because of this, the football federation decided to hold such prestigious friendly matches in Genoa - at the very nice "Luigi Ferraris" stadium. Tickets were quickly snapped up. And there is nothing surprising about that. Firstly, Genoa is a city that loves football very much. Secondly, Italy's head coach Giovanni Trapattoni invited Italy's favorite. Today's match is supposed to be his farewell with the national team. However, as soon as Trapattoni called up Baggio for the farewell match, and the Italian press started seriously considering Roberto's participation in Euro 2004. The second most popular sports newspaper "Corriere dello Sport" even organized an action advocating for Baggio's inclusion in the squad going to Euro 2004: it daily publishes dozens of messages supporting Baggio, received from football fans. Trap himself probably doesn't seriously consider such a possibility: he wrote off the footballer two years ago, and since then who knows if anything has changed. Roberto's chances of participating in the European Championships are minimal, but he himself seems to hint that everything is in Trapattoni's hands. Faxes, letters, television messages defending Baggio keep coming and coming. Both on television and in newspapers. Speaking of other players invited to the match against Spain, it is impossible not to mention the usual situation for Italy - Serie A leaders did everything possible to prevent their players from participating in the national team's friendly matches. If the Spanish championship leaders Real Madrid and Inaki Saez's team delegated five players each (until injury), then AC Milan and Juventus, who will decide the fate of the Scudetto on Sunday, resorted to trickery. Although it is clear. Facing a mysterious injury and malaise, Milan responded with suspicion and fatigue. 2:2 - that's how the future match rehearsals ended. As for the Spanish national team coach, he lost his players to more real injuries. "We were hit by a defenders' injury epidemic," the Spaniard complained. In the championship matches on Sunday, defensive players Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena from Valencia got injuries, who were included in the initial list of national team players for these matches. They were replaced by Cesar from Real Madrid and Juanito from Betis. The first player played in the matches with the Danes, and the second was not called up to the national team since last September. Instead of Barcelona defender Luis Garcia, Betis player Juaquin was invited. Italian reporters show great interest in Morientes, who belongs to Real Madrid, but plays (and very successfully) for Monaco this season. The press is very actively pushing Morientes to Serie A - to Inter or Roma. Saez plans to hold the final test for the candidates traveling to Portugal in Italy: after that, he will finally decide on the lineup. Before Andorra, in the final test matches, those who the coach will rely on in the European Championship will already be playing. Netherlands - Greece Eindhoven. 21:30 The main news before the gathering of the Dutch team has become the absence of four key players on Dick Advocaat's list - there will be no Ruud van Nistelrooy, Patrick Kluivert, Phillip Cocu, and Marc Overmars. Each of them has received a different injury. At the last moment, to assemble the required number of players, the coaches brought Wesley Sneijder back to the national team from Ajax. Instead of van Nistelrooy, Patrick Kluivert or Roy Makaay can be substituted. Wesley Sneijder will most likely play next to Ruud van der Meyde. And instead of van der Meyde, Johnny Heitinga will probably play, Cocu will be replaced by John Heitinga in defense. Another change in the national team’s staff of the Netherlands. After several months of contemplation, Jan Wouters agreed to work as Advocaat's assistant coach. Wouters replaced Ruud Gullit, who will be in charge of Feyenoord club this summer. Before that, the Netherlands football legend Marco van Basten and Johan Neeskens refused to work with the national team. The Greeks traveled to Eindhoven, where the match will take place at the "Philips" stadium today, that had already started on Monday. The national team does not include "AEK" defender Michalis Kapsis, who got injured in the championship matches on Saturday. However, the Greeks can be represented again by "Olympiacos" defender Stelios Venetidis, who missed the friendly matches against Bulgaria and Switzerland due to a leg injury. There are 21 players in the national team - 8 legionaries from European clubs and 13 representatives of "Olympiacos", "Panathinaikos", and "AEK". Otto Rehhagel will once again rely on the players who earned the right to participate in the final tournament stage. These will be the first Greek matches of a series of three friendly matches to be played away. The Greek national team has not lost a match in 15 consecutive games. Portugal - Sweden Coimbra. 23:15 In the renovated Coimbra's city stadium, the hosts of Euro 2004 will attempt to beat one of the teams participating in their tournament for the first time. Previously, six attempts ended in failure. Portuguese coach Luis Felipe Scolari decided to allow national team players to prepare calmly for the Champions League match against Deportivo. Thanks to this, players like Simao Sabrosa, Armando Petit, Ricardo Carvalho, and several others who do not have a permanent place in the national team have the chance to show themselves. However, legionnaires representing English clubs do not always make it into the main lineups of their clubs. The Swedes' losses are much more serious. Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured his arm, and Michael Svensson injured his knee. There are also matches today: Czech Republic - Japan. Prague. 17:00 Latvia - Iceland. Riga. 17:00 Macedonia - Croatia. Skopje. 17:00 Bulgaria - Cameroon. Sofia. 17:00 Romania - Germany. Bucharest. 20:00 Norway - Russia. Oslo. 21:00 Denmark - Scotland. Copenhagen. 21:00 Switzerland - Slovenia. Geneva. 21:15 Israel - Moldova (16:00) Korea - Paraguay (13:00) Kazakhstan - Azerbaijan (16:00) Hungary - Brazil (16:00) Armenia - Turkmenistan (18:00) Belarus - Lithuania (19:00) Estonia - Albania (19:00) Poland - Ireland (19:00) Ukraine - Slovakia (19:15) Morocco - Argentina (20:00) San Marino - Liechtenstein (21:00) Bosnia and Herzegovina - Finland (21:00) Belgium - Turkey (21:15) Austria - Luxembourg (21:30) Northern Ireland - Serbia and Montenegro (21:45) Chile - Peru (02:00) USA - Mexico (03:30)
