Sportsocracy - 10th Edition - Euro 2008 Special

The European Championship is upon us. On the 6th of June a smorgasbord of football will hit our television screens.

With a whole shed load of top players turning out for all the major teams it could be the most significant tournament to date.

With not a homeland/British team in sight a lot of Irish/Scottish/Welsh/English and Northern Irish already have chose a team or stated their claim as a total voyeur of what will be a total footballing event.

On a personal level from a hearted point of view I will be following Sweden, Poland, Greece, Holland and any other team which has a Celtic player/legend in their squad but that’s my biased view.

As for a complete outright winner the masses are going with the favourites and a few possible dark horses.

I have heard France, Germany, Spain and Holland being uttered as possible favourites but some sceptic fans I know have spoke out at Russia, Croatia and even Romania being dark horses which will cause the favourites problems throughout the tournament.

Realistically I think it will be a stated favourite who will take the crown and be crowned European Champions with a dark horse or two making the semi-finals a possibility.

There are a few things which are obvious. There will be shock results, there will be upsets, there will be joy and sadness, there will be a few penalties chucked in, there will be flashes of brilliance, and moments of madness.

Stating the obvious before an event is generally in a word, speculation. At least it is guaranteed there will be a massive opening ceremony seeing as Switzerland and Austria seem to take part in no war or friction with anybody on the planet.

I think they also make millions from ski resorts and holiday makers so I’m expecting something special from them well spent Swiss/Austrian Euros.

On a downside if these euros where not spent we could have a ceremony consisting of people clutching Swiss army knifes and yodelling perhaps with a few giant horns thrown in but it would be so cliché most peoples brains would explode.

Moving away from the stereotypes, expect a colourful but entertaining on pitch display with a few famous faces thrown in to the opening celebrations cauldron with a hint of excitement to finish the recipe.

In addition if I don’t see a billboard advert or a pitch side advert not containing Toblerone throughout the tournament I would suspect foul play. In its homeland at a massive tournament such as this, I think it deserves the publicity, viva le Toblerone. On a serious note I respect the Austrians and Swiss as they are a composed set of great individuals which on a level politically and socially we could all learn from.

Never mind Alps shaped chocolate, and honey almond tastyness its about the football. Speaking of football, this tournament in a nutshell is all about the goals and players taking this semi-world watched staged bull by the horns.

Here are some usual faces, some not so usual which are tipped to shine in the tournament: -

Wesley Sneijder - Netherlands - The Dutch midfield stalwart, best known for his brilliant passing and set piece play. The ex-Ajax Amsterdam youth system player has come a long way since his Ajax early days and now resides at the Santiago Bernabau plying his trade for Real Madrid. Even though still in his early twenties he is capable of changing a match in an instance with a great pass or from set piece brilliance. Watch out for something special from Sneijder in the classy Netherlands side.

Arda Turan - Turkey - Galatasaray currently have a very tight grip on the midfield dynamo that can also slot in as a wing back and I can tell you why. Little Arda has attracted numerous top quality clubs in the last couple of months with his energetic but consistent displays. Galatasaray are clutching their 'Arda ace' close to their chest until after the European championships because if he has a brilliant European championship expect Arda to be on the move and Galatasaray to milk the transfer fee. Arda could be Turkey’s tenacious talent to tantalise television screens everywhere this summer, keep your eyes peeled for him.

Bafetimbi Gomis - France - In friendly matches he has looked sharp and you can see he is eager to impress France coach Raymond Domenech. The St Etienne striker has been on top quality form in the French league and has impressed the national side set up enough to gain a spot at the championships with his classy finishing. He has recently signed a deal with St Etienne which will keep him at Les Verts until 2012 and with his club and contract worries firmly put to one side he can fully focus if given the chance to shine at the European Championships. He has stiff competition from Olympique Lyonnais powerhouse striker Karim Benzema, the well experienced Nicholas Anelka and miracle man Thierry Henry, but if given a sniff of a chance by Coach Domenech the predatorial Gomis will do the business.

Luka Modric - Croatia - Yet again Croatia has produced another top class midfielder, in the past they have had such players as Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinecki, and Davor Suker but Luka is the future face of Croatian football and tipped for super stardom. Tottenham Hotspur clasped Luka with 16.5million pounds after a jostle for him with Newcastle United and now Luka is firmly tipped to shine at the Euros and also when he returns to white hart lane. The ex-Croatia Zagreb player will play a key playmaking role for the Croatians and expectations state that Luka will be the fulcrum of the croatia attacking line with his quick movement and neat passing play. Observe his workhorse creativity if you get the chance.

I will be back later on in the week with my first round up of all first stage matches. As for now have a happy time watching the European Championships and any other televised sport.

Sportsocracy - 9th Edition - The UEFA Cup final and the dawn of new hooliganism

The UEFA Cup final is definitely a highly regarded trophy in European football. It is a trophy which has had some of the most entertaining finals in history and its legacy still lives on today.

Flashback - Wednesday 14th of May, it is pushing towards the kick off time of 7.45pm and the stage is set.

The City Of Manchester Stadium is the venue and the two teams are ready to battle. Russian 2007 league champions, Zenit St Petersburg faced off against a very defensive, 4-5-1 playing Rangers side who in previous rounds had disposed of European giants such as Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon after failing to stay in the Champions League.

Zenit on the other hand started off their UEFA Cup campaign way back on the 16th of August 2007 in the 2nd qualifying round against Slovakian outfit Zlaté Moravce with a dominant two leg thriller with a 5-0 win.

Then in October a 4-1 win over two legs against Belgians Standard Liege led to Zenit qualifying to play in the group stages pitting their wits against England’s top 5 side Everton, Germans Nuremburg, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and Greek team Larissa.

Little did Zenit know at this time that they would be gracing the UEFA cup final in the following May.

The stages past and both sides made their way and battled through team after team falling in their wake and finally the semi-finals came.

Zenit St Petersburg had to face German stalwarts in Bayern Munich a team full of superstars of world football, such as Franck Ribery, Luca Toni, Miroslav Klose, Ze Roberto and Oliver Kahn.

Zenits top names include captain, Anatoliy Tymoschuk, a Ukranian midfielder with an established reputation in the game from his international World Cup and European championship qualification exploits, he has also had successful spells at Ukranian clubs Volyn Lutsk and Shakhtar Donetsk.

The main man for Zenit, the man who could take a game by the scruff of the neck and the man who Zenit fans pinned their UEFA Cup final winning hopes on, was Andrei Arshavin.

Playmaker and creator, Russian internationalist Arshavin is a Zenit lad through and through playing over 214 matches and accomplishing 47 goals to boot, he has never played in another professional side and shows a loyalty like no other to his club Zenit St Petersburg.

The 26 year old midfielder is a model professional and is the integral cog to manager Dick Advocaat’s team ethic and tactics.

Zenit disposed of Bayern Munich in the semi finals with a shocking 5-1 aggregate win. Zenit top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak grabbed 2 goals but a yellow card stopped him from taking part in the UEFA Cup final.

Pavel Pogrebnyak was Zenits hero that night, the night Zenit fans will never forget; he laid the foundations for Zenit’s path to the final and took Bayerns top class defenders to the "cleaners".

Zenit had now made the UEFA Cup final after disposing of Villareal, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and now Bayern Munich.

Rangers semi final was a different story. They had to face solid opponents in Fiorentina who had disposed Helsingborgs, Tottenham Hotspur and PSV Eindhoven.

Rangers had faced quality teams in previous rounds such as Werder Bremen and Sporting Lisbon but they had not faced the passion that oozed from Italian football.

Rangers knew they had a tough task ahead of them and knew that Fiorentina had the guile and firepower in the tank to cause any team in Europe Problems.

Rangers had rookie keeper Neil Alexander in the goals against Fiorentina but in front of him he had defenders Carlos Cuellar and aged 39 year old David Weir who had both been integral to Rangers campaign.

Rangers had in retrospect defended their way passed every round nicking singular goals or notching up quick doubles to get them by.

Fiorentina had looked comfortable in every round except against Spurs when they had to overcome a penalty shootout which they did but in the next round a 3-1 two leg thrashing of PSV Eindhoven showed what they where all about.

Rangers played Fiorentina and defended their way over two legs to a semi-final penalty shoot out victory, for the record this was one of three penalty shoot outs won by Rangers this season. All what faced them in the final was a well rounded, confident side in Zenit St Petersburg.
The final went ahead, both teams walked out at the city of manchester stadium to a packed stadium.

The Aftermath - Thursday 14th of May, morning 8 am.

The realization of the night before hit the back pages, Zenit crowned UEFA Cup champions with pundits and sportswriters labeling it the Arshavin final, as Andrei Arshavin took Rangers apart for both Zenits two winning goals.

To my surprise the UEFA Cup was also front page news. The stories surrounding the UEFA Cup final crept onto the front pages, shock horror scenes of riots involving Rangers fans assaulting police and stewards.

Screenshots of CCTV footage also appeared in newspapers, and then I switched my attention to the television. News channels had proper action of the riots with key moments including a police man being mobbed by gang of hooligans and being punched and stamped on viciously by the gang.

The gang of hooligans acting like hyenas preying on police and stewards giving good fans and British football a terrible name once again. Their reasons for rioting : - Big Screens went off due to a technical glitch and this obviously made some fans un-easy, so un-easy to the fact they had to lash out.

Most fans, as the CCTV footage showed, of which where already alcohol fuelled due to the celebratory nature of the day, which newscasts showed earlier, turned the day sour. The day was spoiled, and in no way was a glitched big screen a reason for rioting and acts of un-lawful hooligan like behaviour.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/7404660.stm for more information regarding the aftermath of the Manchester riots.

I questioned myself after seeing these violent and shocking images, is this a new dawn of hooliganism? A dawn in which ticketless fans turn up to locations expecting big screen treatment, and cheap booze which leads on to the smallest of things starting riots.

I think this process needs taking back to the drawing board. Ideas will go back and forth but I can never see this new wave of hooliganism being stopped in any other ways than having the appropriate amount of police on the streets.

All I can say is I hope the Austria and Switzerland police forces do not have to deal with as hostile fans at Euro 2008 as we witnessed in the aftermath of the UEFA Cup final in Manchester.