"What a beauty" was my cry when gargantuan super Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic rifled in a thunderbolt of a shot outside the right hand angle of the area against Greece. One of the highlights of many beautiful first round goals in first round, group stage matches.
The beautiful game is shining brightly once again. The first round has been immense, full of fight, upsets and shocks, great goals and as Ruud Gullit would say "shexy" Dutch football.
As the Grolsch adverts say and as I will quote "Shtop", with the tournament metaphors and superlatives and lets get down to the nitty-gritty again.
The first phase - Group stage.
The first group, Group A. This group originally before the tournament suggested the fact that it was no group of death and football optimists suggested that this group would be firmly took by the two group favourites Portugal and the Czech Republic, this was not the case. Switzerland wanted to do their home nation proud on home soil, and Turkey looking like considerable dark horses this group could be tough. Portugal and Turkey did race through to the next phase but it was a encapsulating finish to the group stage for Turkey and the Czechs. Portugal comfortably got through to the quarter finals stage, even though they lost to Switzerland in their last match. It was Turkey who shocked the Czechs in a winner takes all deciding group game as Turkey beat the Czechs with a stunning last gasp winning goal from NiHat Kahveci who fired a shot from the left hand side of the area which looped over Petr Cech and went in off the right hand side of the cross bar and smashed into the net. The Turks came from 2-1 behind to snatch the match 3-2. In my view one of the most exciting matches of Euro 2008 so far. Portugal group winners, Turkey 2nd place quarter final qualifiers.
The proceeding group, Group B. This group contained Croatia, Poland, Germany and Austria. A group again pundits said the favourites Germany and Croatia would take, they did but they did not see Croatia giving the Germans a rough time. They beat the Germans, the polish and Austria and comfortably won the group with the Germans trailing in 2nd place. Poland even though their team contained not many top drawer players they where kept from embarrassment with world class goalkeeper, Artur Boruc in impressive goalkeeping form keeping Poland within a chance in some of their group stage matches but they failed to gain the points needed and went out. Austria failed to impress with home advantage and bowed out with no wins in the tournament at all. Croatia Group winners, Germany 2nd place quarter final qualifiers. Shining moment from this group was Lukas Podolski hitting top form and striking Germany To victory over the Poles.
The next corresponding group, Group C. The group of death, "da da deeeerrrr" as the creepy sound effect would go, if this was on TV that is. The world champions Italy faced off against former European and World Champions France who also faced off against 1988 European Championship winners Holland and throw Romania in and you have a group of death. This is the group everybody wanted to see. We knew before this group even played a fixture that a possible favourite for the tournament would be going home. It was c'est la vie for the French who got hammered off the Dutch, drew with Romania and then beat comfortably off the Italians. It was Holland’s "shexy" attacking football which lit this group up. The Italians scraped through due mainly to the heroics of Gianluigi Buffon who saved a "possible" match winning penalty against Romania which gave them the boost they needed. Holland topped the group and the Italians qualified for the quarter finals stage in 2nd place.
Last but not least Group D. We had the Swedish, the Spanish, the Russians and the Greeks fighting it out for the two quarter final stage places. Spanish striking starlet, David Villa stole the first round show with 4 goals - including a hatrick against the first game jittering Russians and a last gasp winner against the Swedish. Swedens Zlatan Ibrahimovic also nestled in with a couple of goals himself, one a humdinger of a rifled shot against greece which was laid on by Celtic Legend, Henrik Larsson, in a comfortable 2-0 win. Holders Greece became the whipping boys of the group but it was Russia who had the last laugh. The eastern Europeans inspired by Dutch manager, Guus Hiddink, had picked up a head of steam and started to look like a real threat. Fuelled on by the strike partnership of the magical orchestrator Andrei Arshavin and the predatorial, Roman Pavlyuchenko they made the quarter finals stage with a win over Sweden. Spain finished group leaders with Russia taking the second placed spot and a place in the quarter finals.
My dream XI (4-4-2, and 3 subs) of the first round was as follows : -
GK - Artur Boruc - Poland - Single handedly tried to keep Poland in the competition with some great saves, was unlucky to have such a leaky defence in front of him.
DF - Philip Lahm - Germany - Most consistant defender in the first group stage, his attacking forward runs and defensive back tracking from his full back position was second to none.
DF - Pepe - Portugal - The big Real Madrid centre back showed his worth with some great composed play and even ending up on the scoresheet with a stunning well worked goal which he placed into the net.
DF - Rat - Romania - Impressive against the Italians and French team, he did well moving from his wing back position up the field to link with the Romanian midfield as well as getting back defensively with some great slide tackles.
DF - Capdevila - Spain - Very Creative defender, clever and reacted great to set Torres free with a 30 yard daisy cutting pass which Fernando set up David Villa to tap in against Russia.
MD - Luka Modric - Croatia - Creative fluent midfielder, Croatias pivotal point, great passing and very secure with the ball at his feet. Oozes dynamism, Spurs have signed a 'corker' of a midfielder.
MD - Wesley Sneijder - Holland - World class, a real threat everytime the ball was at his feet. Showed his class, brilliant with both his feet and showed his class with a fantastically finished goal against the French.
MD - Orlando Engelaar - Holland - Calm composed and a joy to watch nothing tricky he is a player who makes the game look simple, he keeps it simple and does nothing stupid. Rarely lost possession throughout the tournament when he was on the pitch.
MD - Hakan Yakin - Switzerland - If he was brought off the pitch you could see the difference he made. Yakin was instrumental for the Swiss a diamond in the rough, a great player but could not do it all on his own in a very average Swiss side.
ST - David Villa - Spain - A special player, who scores special goals. His off the ball movement and on the ball pace is enough to trouble any level of defender. Individually creative, creates chances for himself and has bags of composure when in goalscoring positions.
ST - Lukas Podolski - Germany - The Pole come German has been hit and miss in the German Bundesliga this season. In Germanys first match he was on top form netting 2 goals with clinically composed finishing.
The quarter finals shaped up like this : -
Portugal vs Germany
Turkey vs Croatia
Holland vs Russia
Spain vs Italy
The second phase - Quarter finals stage
Quarter final, match 1 - Portugal vs Germany - The Ronaldo injected sportscar that is Portugal faced off against the ultra powerful steered Michael Ballack engine room that is Germany. As you can tell Jeremy Clarksons job is safe, but cars to one side this was clash of the titans. The Germans height advantaged side against the tricky, close controlling Portuguese. The Germans pressed Portugal to go inside and did it well by cutting off Ronaldo with their wingbacks, and another impressive display from Lahm, it forced Portugal into making errors and It was the Germans who took this match and progressed to the semi finals.
Quarter final, match 2 - Turkey vs Croatia - It was Turkey who pushed this match to a penalty shoot out in the 119th minute of extra time. Croatia thought they had won with a Klasnic extra time goal themselves but it was Turkey who won the penalty shoot out as the Croatians found it hard to concentrate and missed a few penalties and also with the well travelled goalkeeper Rustu Recber saving the Turks bacon and putting them through to the semi finals.
Quarter final, match 3 - Holland vs Russia - "Shexy" football was destroyed as Russia pumelled Holland into submission. The dutch legendary manager Guus Hiddink led the Russians to a stunning 3-1 victory over the mighty favourites Holland. It was players like Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko and Zherkov who inspired the Russians to a memorable victory. Holland put out by one of their own countrymen, the irony.
Quarter final, match 4 - Spain vs Italy - Another penalty shootout found the result of this match up between two greats. Iker Casillas spanish stalwart in the nets found his penalty saving form making two impressive but comfortable saves from Di Natale and De Rossi as well as an in game save from close range as Mauro Camoronesi gunned down on goal with a quick shot which Iker belted away with his shins with a reaction save. Spain Through.
Now all what leaves us is the semi finals : -
Turkey vs Germany
Russia vs Spain
Who will win? Who knows, but im sure we will find out. Will Germany take the crown, will Russia come through as dark horse winners, will Spain finally win a major competition this century. The semi finals await. See my next post for the XI dream team of the quarter finals stage and my reviews of the semi final match ups.
The beautiful game is shining brightly once again. The first round has been immense, full of fight, upsets and shocks, great goals and as Ruud Gullit would say "shexy" Dutch football.
As the Grolsch adverts say and as I will quote "Shtop", with the tournament metaphors and superlatives and lets get down to the nitty-gritty again.
The first phase - Group stage.
The first group, Group A. This group originally before the tournament suggested the fact that it was no group of death and football optimists suggested that this group would be firmly took by the two group favourites Portugal and the Czech Republic, this was not the case. Switzerland wanted to do their home nation proud on home soil, and Turkey looking like considerable dark horses this group could be tough. Portugal and Turkey did race through to the next phase but it was a encapsulating finish to the group stage for Turkey and the Czechs. Portugal comfortably got through to the quarter finals stage, even though they lost to Switzerland in their last match. It was Turkey who shocked the Czechs in a winner takes all deciding group game as Turkey beat the Czechs with a stunning last gasp winning goal from NiHat Kahveci who fired a shot from the left hand side of the area which looped over Petr Cech and went in off the right hand side of the cross bar and smashed into the net. The Turks came from 2-1 behind to snatch the match 3-2. In my view one of the most exciting matches of Euro 2008 so far. Portugal group winners, Turkey 2nd place quarter final qualifiers.
The proceeding group, Group B. This group contained Croatia, Poland, Germany and Austria. A group again pundits said the favourites Germany and Croatia would take, they did but they did not see Croatia giving the Germans a rough time. They beat the Germans, the polish and Austria and comfortably won the group with the Germans trailing in 2nd place. Poland even though their team contained not many top drawer players they where kept from embarrassment with world class goalkeeper, Artur Boruc in impressive goalkeeping form keeping Poland within a chance in some of their group stage matches but they failed to gain the points needed and went out. Austria failed to impress with home advantage and bowed out with no wins in the tournament at all. Croatia Group winners, Germany 2nd place quarter final qualifiers. Shining moment from this group was Lukas Podolski hitting top form and striking Germany To victory over the Poles.
The next corresponding group, Group C. The group of death, "da da deeeerrrr" as the creepy sound effect would go, if this was on TV that is. The world champions Italy faced off against former European and World Champions France who also faced off against 1988 European Championship winners Holland and throw Romania in and you have a group of death. This is the group everybody wanted to see. We knew before this group even played a fixture that a possible favourite for the tournament would be going home. It was c'est la vie for the French who got hammered off the Dutch, drew with Romania and then beat comfortably off the Italians. It was Holland’s "shexy" attacking football which lit this group up. The Italians scraped through due mainly to the heroics of Gianluigi Buffon who saved a "possible" match winning penalty against Romania which gave them the boost they needed. Holland topped the group and the Italians qualified for the quarter finals stage in 2nd place.
Last but not least Group D. We had the Swedish, the Spanish, the Russians and the Greeks fighting it out for the two quarter final stage places. Spanish striking starlet, David Villa stole the first round show with 4 goals - including a hatrick against the first game jittering Russians and a last gasp winner against the Swedish. Swedens Zlatan Ibrahimovic also nestled in with a couple of goals himself, one a humdinger of a rifled shot against greece which was laid on by Celtic Legend, Henrik Larsson, in a comfortable 2-0 win. Holders Greece became the whipping boys of the group but it was Russia who had the last laugh. The eastern Europeans inspired by Dutch manager, Guus Hiddink, had picked up a head of steam and started to look like a real threat. Fuelled on by the strike partnership of the magical orchestrator Andrei Arshavin and the predatorial, Roman Pavlyuchenko they made the quarter finals stage with a win over Sweden. Spain finished group leaders with Russia taking the second placed spot and a place in the quarter finals.
My dream XI (4-4-2, and 3 subs) of the first round was as follows : -
GK - Artur Boruc - Poland - Single handedly tried to keep Poland in the competition with some great saves, was unlucky to have such a leaky defence in front of him.
DF - Philip Lahm - Germany - Most consistant defender in the first group stage, his attacking forward runs and defensive back tracking from his full back position was second to none.
DF - Pepe - Portugal - The big Real Madrid centre back showed his worth with some great composed play and even ending up on the scoresheet with a stunning well worked goal which he placed into the net.
DF - Rat - Romania - Impressive against the Italians and French team, he did well moving from his wing back position up the field to link with the Romanian midfield as well as getting back defensively with some great slide tackles.
DF - Capdevila - Spain - Very Creative defender, clever and reacted great to set Torres free with a 30 yard daisy cutting pass which Fernando set up David Villa to tap in against Russia.
MD - Luka Modric - Croatia - Creative fluent midfielder, Croatias pivotal point, great passing and very secure with the ball at his feet. Oozes dynamism, Spurs have signed a 'corker' of a midfielder.
MD - Wesley Sneijder - Holland - World class, a real threat everytime the ball was at his feet. Showed his class, brilliant with both his feet and showed his class with a fantastically finished goal against the French.
MD - Orlando Engelaar - Holland - Calm composed and a joy to watch nothing tricky he is a player who makes the game look simple, he keeps it simple and does nothing stupid. Rarely lost possession throughout the tournament when he was on the pitch.
MD - Hakan Yakin - Switzerland - If he was brought off the pitch you could see the difference he made. Yakin was instrumental for the Swiss a diamond in the rough, a great player but could not do it all on his own in a very average Swiss side.
ST - David Villa - Spain - A special player, who scores special goals. His off the ball movement and on the ball pace is enough to trouble any level of defender. Individually creative, creates chances for himself and has bags of composure when in goalscoring positions.
ST - Lukas Podolski - Germany - The Pole come German has been hit and miss in the German Bundesliga this season. In Germanys first match he was on top form netting 2 goals with clinically composed finishing.
The quarter finals shaped up like this : -
Portugal vs Germany
Turkey vs Croatia
Holland vs Russia
Spain vs Italy
The second phase - Quarter finals stage
Quarter final, match 1 - Portugal vs Germany - The Ronaldo injected sportscar that is Portugal faced off against the ultra powerful steered Michael Ballack engine room that is Germany. As you can tell Jeremy Clarksons job is safe, but cars to one side this was clash of the titans. The Germans height advantaged side against the tricky, close controlling Portuguese. The Germans pressed Portugal to go inside and did it well by cutting off Ronaldo with their wingbacks, and another impressive display from Lahm, it forced Portugal into making errors and It was the Germans who took this match and progressed to the semi finals.
Quarter final, match 2 - Turkey vs Croatia - It was Turkey who pushed this match to a penalty shoot out in the 119th minute of extra time. Croatia thought they had won with a Klasnic extra time goal themselves but it was Turkey who won the penalty shoot out as the Croatians found it hard to concentrate and missed a few penalties and also with the well travelled goalkeeper Rustu Recber saving the Turks bacon and putting them through to the semi finals.
Quarter final, match 3 - Holland vs Russia - "Shexy" football was destroyed as Russia pumelled Holland into submission. The dutch legendary manager Guus Hiddink led the Russians to a stunning 3-1 victory over the mighty favourites Holland. It was players like Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko and Zherkov who inspired the Russians to a memorable victory. Holland put out by one of their own countrymen, the irony.
Quarter final, match 4 - Spain vs Italy - Another penalty shootout found the result of this match up between two greats. Iker Casillas spanish stalwart in the nets found his penalty saving form making two impressive but comfortable saves from Di Natale and De Rossi as well as an in game save from close range as Mauro Camoronesi gunned down on goal with a quick shot which Iker belted away with his shins with a reaction save. Spain Through.
Now all what leaves us is the semi finals : -
Turkey vs Germany
Russia vs Spain
Who will win? Who knows, but im sure we will find out. Will Germany take the crown, will Russia come through as dark horse winners, will Spain finally win a major competition this century. The semi finals await. See my next post for the XI dream team of the quarter finals stage and my reviews of the semi final match ups.
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