In a little over 10 weeks' time, the 13th European Championship finals will get underway in Austria and Switzerland. This week's matches therefore represented the last chance for players to impress, with most national-team coaches set to name their 23-man tournament squads in mid-May.

Germany are favourites to land a third European crown and Joachim Low's side demonstrated their title credentials with an impressive 4-0 victory away to Switzerland. Two superbly-taken goals from Stuttgart's 22-year-old sensation Mario Gomez suggests he will be one of the star names this summer, playing alongside World Cup 2006 Golden Boot winner Miroslav Klose. At the back, industrious Schalke centre-back Heiko Westermann won only his second cap but came in for special praise from Low, and could now keep his place for the finals.

As for the Swiss, even their usual defensive solidity appears to have deserted them and coach Kobi Kuhn could be in for a tough time when they return to Basle for the tournament opener against the Czech Republic.

The Czechs drew 1-1 with Denmark in Herning, where striker Jan Koller ended a lengthy goal drought, while Turkey - another Group A rival - were held 2-2 by Belarus in sub-zero Minsk. Tuncay Sanli, in a rich vein of form for Middlesbrough, got on the scoresheet in some style and Fatih Terim's men showed fighting spirit to twice come from behind.

Otto Rehhagel, the coach of reigning European champions Greece, recently claimed his side were "far from ready" for their title defence but they looked in great shape in Dusseldorf, beating a Portugal side bereft of Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco and Nani 2-1. Two beautifully executed Georgios Karagounis free-kicks settled the affair, and the Greeks called on their experience to close out the game after Nuno Gomes pulled a goal back. The Portuguese looked distinctly average but will surely be a side transformed when their star trio return for the main event.

Greece look a solid bet to progress from Group D along with Spain, who saw off world champions Italy 1-0 in Elche courtesy of a stunning volley from David Villa. A tough season with Valencia is ending with a flurry of goals for Villa and in a Spanish attack featuring club team-mate David Silva and the outstanding Fernando Torres, he already looks a contender for player of the tournament. Villa managed to unlock the Azzurri's defence on this occasion but Roberto Donadoni claims he is "not too worried".

Italy were the only team from Euro 2008's 'Group of Death' not to win on Wednesday night, and surprisingly it was outsiders Romania who claimed the most convincing result. They swept Russia aside 3-0 in Bucharest, with the returning Marius Niculae - plying his trade at Inverness - among those to find the net. Guus Hiddink blamed "naivety and poor fitness" for his side's heavy defeat, but he can take some solace in the fact he was missing several of his big-name players.

France looked technically accomplished but missed Thierry Henry's cutting edge in their 1-0 win over a lacklustre England side in Paris, but the main talking point for the Group C contenders came in Vienna where Holland staged a remarkable recovery from three goals down to beat tournament co-hosts Austria 4-3.

Despite the advantage of playing on home soil, Austria have already been written off to even qualify from Group B due to a distinct dearth of goals in recent outings. Coach Josef Hickersberger appeared to have solved that problem as Andreas Ivanschitz and Sebastien Prodl (2) put his side into a comfortable lead, but in truth it was some horrific Dutch defending from Joris Mathijsen and third-choice goalkeeper Henk Timmer on set-pieces that provided the opportunities. Fortunately for Marco van Basten, the Oranje set about the repair job with gusto, particularly Ajax hot-shot Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. His brace bookended strikes from Johnny Heitinga and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to give the visitors victory, but van Basten must sort out the rearguard if the Dutch are to finish above Italy or France.

There was more suspect goalkeeping on show in Krakow, where Vennegoor of Hesselink's Celtic colleague Artur Boruc had a night to forget. Poland were taken apart in a 3-0 defeat by the United States, and Boruc in particular failed to command his area allowing Landon Donovan to wreak havoc from dead-ball situations.

Croatia are expected to follow Germany through from Group B, and their 1-1 draw with Scotland in Glasgow showed their familiar qualities. Niko Kranjcar netted with a smartly-taken looping shot and they attacked with relish on a slick Hampden surface, only to be denied on several occasions by goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

Finally Sweden were beaten 1-0 by Brazil in London, Alexandre Pato taking advantage of a rush of blood from substitute goalkeeper Rami Shaaban to swivel and shoot the South Americans to victory from out wide. The Swedes had Markus Rosenberg and Johan Elmander up front and carved out several chances, but goals are still proving hard to come by for Lars Lagerbeck's men. There has even been talk of an umpteenth swansong for Henrik Larsson, still scoring regularly for Helsingborgs, and with Group D rivals Greece relying on their old heads, the 36-year-old may yet be persuaded to ride to the rescue.

So Euro 2008 is shaping up to be something of a contest between youth and experience, with young guns like Gomez and Huntelaar breaking through while wily pros such as Koller and Karagounis chase one last hurrah.

As for the coaches, they must wait anxiously for almost two months of intense end-of-season action as their charges battle it out for club honours. Injuries will no doubt affect a few selections, but it is Low's Germany and Luis Aragones' Spain who look in the finest fettle as the countdown continues towards June 7.