Why we have a mountain to climb

WHEN it comes to timing you can be sure the Swiss have covered all the angles. As the countdown clock on the Austria-Switzerland EURO 2008 bid website clicks down to mere hours and minutes, decision day is almost here and the Alpine countries’ campaign seems to have peaked at just the right time.

UEFA's executive committee convenes at its lakeside headquarters in the Swiss town of Nyon today to hear the final presentations of the seven prospective candidates hoping to host the third largest sporting event on the planet Austria/Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia, Greece/Turkey, the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the solo bids from Russia and Hungary and the Celtic campaign for the Irish and Scots.

Each have 15 minutes to make their final case for selection but it is the Austrians and the Swiss who appear to have most reason to feel confident when the hulking Swedish frame of UEFA president Lennart Johansson trundles into Geneva's Intercontinental Hotel tomorrow afternoon to announce Excom's decision to the continent's media.