One of the best ways of keeping up with this summer's highs and lows is on the web. Now that so many of us have internet access at home or at work, or can access it on the high street and in public libraries, there's absolutely no excuse to get confused between Vieri and Vieira. We take a look at some of the top websites and point out some of the other features now available on the web that are sure to make this summer's festivities a truly interactive affair.

Way back when
If back in 1992, just as the Danes were lifting the trophy, a straw poll had been held, asking the British nation just what exactly the internet was, a large proportion would have probably thought that it was something you found on Grimsby docks. How times change. Even back in 1996, when the blasted Germans beat us on penalties again, the internet was only beginning to be taken seriously. Now of course, all that has changed. We have an incredibly powerful tool available to us, day and night and, not surprisingly, almost any detail about Euro 2000 can be found nestling within its pages. Where in 1992 there was nothing and in 1996 little more than news, in 2000 we have an array of football-related trickery available.

Hot off the press
The bread and butter of the internet, and certainly of football, is up-to-date information and there are plenty of football sites out there ­ official and unofficial ­ to keep any statto well-oiled.

First port of call for many will be the official Euro 2000 website. This site is well designed and slick, with a pan-European slant, but with homepages for each of the competing nations and a regularly updated news headline section. You can also find out more about past tournaments here and there's even a section on the supporters of each nation. If it's England-specific information you're after, England's own official site is worth a glance. However, while it's visually appealing, as with all official sites you can't help but feel that there's a corporate whiff that makes it that little bit stale. No snappy journalism or controversy here ­ that's all left to the tabloid and other independent sites.

Some of the well-established football websites, such as BBC Football and Sporting Life, have their own sections on Euro 2000. There are some excellent sites dedicated to European football and, in particular, Euro 2000. A particularly good one is Football 365's Euro 2000 site, which can be found at http://english.eurofinals365.com. As with all the 365 sites, the content is snappy and witty with polls, features and more, as well as the obvious news pieces and match reports. Accessible in five languages, it is a truly European site.

For the European scene in general, Eurofootball is an excellent source for info about continental, as well as English football, and has a Euro 2000 section packed to the rafters with useful information. Much of it comes from well-established sources, such as Reuters, so there's no danger of an 'Alan Shearer buys house on Mars' story here.
One of the better Euro 2000 sites, at least in terms of features and categories, has to be WSP where barely a stone has been left unturned. There are guides to the host cities, information on the stadiums where the games will be played and even advice on how to get tickets. But before you get too excited, all the tickets are already sold out. The site itself is fairly basic in design and each category, although interesting, could be more detailed.
Finally, the national   papers have an online presence, and many of them are excellent resources for football, even if they do not have specific Euro 2000 sections. For the best of these, try Soccernet from the Daily Mail, the Guardian's Football Unlimited, The London Evening Standard, The Sun Online and The Mirror.

Scores on the doors
News and more news is all very well, but what if you want a more lively web experience? What if you can't watch the game but you can get to a PC? There is a huge array of other ways of enjoying a live game than simply logging on after the event to check the score.
One of the best and most popular ways is a 'scoreboard' or, as it is also called, vidiprinter. These are small windows that, like any other application, run on your desktop and which keep you up to date with the football results as they are happening, from  goalscorers to sendings off and substitutes. Two of the best of these can be found on the Football 365 and BBC Football  websites. If you want bang up-to-date information when the game is not actually on, there are other services that perform similar operations, such as the same two's Newsflash (Football 365) and the Goalflash (BBC) features, both which bring you newsflashes as they come in.

The wireless
But if that's just not fast enough for you, there's always the tried and trusted wireless. No matter where you are in the world, you can always rely on the comforting, dulcet tones of the BBC, particularly BBC Radio 5 Live. It's a mine of information and is without peer if you're stuck in the middle of a savage land where footballs are oval-shaped or where hockey isn't played on grass. It's just a click away and can be listened to live as long as you have a piece of software called RealPlayer on your PC, which allows you to listen to radio stations via the internet. All you need is a sound card in your PC and you can tune in, but be aware that the sound quality won't be as good as a real radio broadcast.

Yell about it
Football is an emotive subject and let's face it, anyone who's a football fan likes to have an ear to bend about their views. Now, in this age of the net, you can share your opinions with all and sundry using an internet discussion forum, or chat room. You'll find all sorts of people using them, but they are nevertheless compelling, especially if you're stuck in front of your PC and your current chore is too boring for words. The WSP site  has message boards and a chat facility, as does Football 365 and FootballNews, but these are just two of many ­ search around on the net and you'll have no trouble finding one.
If you're just too busy you can have match reports and news emailed to your desktop every day, and this is a format preferred by many. Again, lots of sites offer this service ­ among which are Sportal, Football 365 and Eurofootball. What better  than to log on in the morning and receive a juicy email of Euro 2000 titbits?

Games
Some sites have football games you can play to while away the time between watching football on TV, reading about football in the press and surfing football sites on the web, assuming you've got any time left. The BBC site and ESPN arcade  both have a selection of games, from spot the ball to retro Space Invaders-style football-themed action. They're normally very quick to access, though some might require you to download some software, such as Macromedia Shockwave.

Fancy a flutter?
Most of us like a flutter, so don't forget that, as well as the peculiar shops containing strange furrow-browed men and thousands of scrunched up pieces of paper on the floor, there are sites where you can try to make a bob or two online, all from the comfort of home. It's easy to do and there's not a single scrunched paper to be seen.
The odds are stacked against England, but who can be sure? FootballNews has a betting section but you'd do just as well to go to one of the established UK bookmakers with an online presence, such as William Hill or Ladbrokes. If you're worried about security, don't be ­ these sites have secure servers, meaning it is highly unlikely you'll have to worry about fraud.

Shopping
Then of course there's shopping. Quite why the men and womenfolk of England feel that by sporting an England jersey the team is more likely to win we simply don't know, but if you fit that bill there are places catering for you. Topping the list if you want a brand-new England shirt, for children or adults, is England Direct, the official England merchandising site. It's very much geared to selling, with anything from shirts to home furnishings on the menu. But if you'd prefer a foreign jersey, Eurofootball has a shopping site that's worth looking at. The best place to go to find one of those classic old England jerseys ­ you know, the red one we wore back when we were good ­ is retro website Toffs.

Grand finale
Finally, if you're one of the lucky ones who has managed to secure a ticket to one of England's games in Holland or Belgium, it's important that, bearing in mind some of the unsavoury things that have happened to England fans in the past, you have a voice should anything untoward occur. The Football Supporters Association, a voluntary, non-profit organisation was set up in 1985 to hear the grievances of British fans who feel that they have been badly treated abroad. So all that's left is for you to turn your PC on, log onto the net and follow England's quest for Euro glory!