Basle, Switzerland - The last time so many Swiss were interested in the well-being of an individual knee was in 1985. In that year the alpine ski world championships were held in Bormio and Swiss hero Pirmin Zurbriggen was desperately attempting to recover from a meniscus operation in time to compete at the championships.
This time around it is the knee of Olympique Lyon defender Patrick Mueller that has kept the nation talking.
Mueller's place in the starting line-up for Saturday's Euro tournament opener against Group A opponents
Czech Republic in Basle is in doubt and the 31-year-old defensive kingpin of the co-hosts himself has said that he is not as ready for the tournament as his team-mates.
He played just one competitive game for his French club in the past season - and that was the opening match in August. He has, however, managed to recover sufficiently to play in Switzerland's two final warm-up matches, which the team both won. (3-0 against Liechtenstein and 2-0 against Slovakia)
Coach Koebi Kuhn, who had seen the Swiss side suffer defeats in five of six friendlies without Mueller, indicated earlier this week that it was Mueller's choice whether he would play against the Czechs or not.
Mueller though, would have none of that. "It is always the coach who decides." He did, however, offer some hope for Swiss fans: "They say it takes six months to recover from a cruciate ligament operation and the opening game is on June 7 - exactly six months after my operation."
There was some good news earlier in the week for Kuhn in the run- up to Saturday's game as Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta was cleared to play.
There is another reason why Swiss fans are hopeful that they will get off to a good Euro start: in 1985 Zurbriggen recovered in time to win two
gold medals and a
silver to help his country to the top of the medals standings.
Czech Republic coach Karel Bruckner, who will retire after the tournament, has ruled out Zdenek Pospech, who is suffering from a virus infection. But as the 29-year-old FC Copenhagen defender is no regular in the team, it should make very little difference.
"Nobody is irreplaceable," Bruckner said.
The other Group A game on Saturday sees the last Euro hosts Portugal take on Turkey in Geneva, with most of the focus on Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, who is widely accepted as the best player in the world presently.
Four years ago the then 19-year-old already showed glimpses of his greatness and was chosen into the team of the tournament, but his Euro campaign ended in disappointment as the hosts were stunned 1-0 by rank outsiders
Greece in the final.
This time around, Ronaldo is the man who could lead Luiz Felipe Scolari's side to the title.
VfB Stuttgart-based Fernando Meira is aware that hopes at home are huge. "We are better than we were in 2004. Our fans saw us play at the World Cup in 2006 and they saw that we developed further."
The defender is confident that Ronaldo will be the main star at this tournament. "We have a lot of good players, but even if Ronaldo has a bad day, he is still on a different level than other players."
Meira believes that the group will only be decided on the last match day, when his side takes on the hosts Switzerland in Basle. "But we are still looking for three points against the Turks."
The Turks are making their first appearance at a major tournament since they finished third at the 2002 World Cup.
Coach Fatih Terim has a full complement of players going into the match. Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop, who had been sidelined for two months with a metatarsal bone fracture, declared himself fit in
training this week.
