Fernando Torres, pre-tattoo

Young Fernando Torres started his goal scoring exploits early. The clip below is from youth game between Atletico Madrid and A.C. Milan in 1999. Check out the fourth goal!

Nike: Take it to the Next Level

Sweet Nike commercial:



How many soccer players can you name from the commercial?

Spain at (looong) last!

Well deserved victory for the best and most entertaining team in the tournament. It doesn't happen every time (*ahem* Greece *ahem* Euro 2004), but this time around, the most deserving team took home the trophy.

Cesc Fabregas was undoubtedly the best Gunner in the tournament and deserves tournament MVP considerations. Yes, he only started two games, but has made an impact in every substitute appearance. Fabregas is the spark in the Spanish attack. Robin Van Persie finally is fit enough to step on the pitch and did well in his limited opportunities in a very deep Dutch squad, scoring two goals.

William Gallas is, uh, William Gallas - didn't do enough to keep France from being eliminated in the first round. Phillipe Senderos started all three games but Switzerland never had a realistic chance of advancing. Johan Djourou and Lukasz Fabianski never got off the bench.

Bakary Sagna, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo missed out due to injuries. Curiously, Gael Clichy and (ex-Gunner) Matthieu Flamini were not picked by Raymond Domenech for the French squad despite both having great seasons. Things may have turned out differently for France if Clichy and Flamini were able to contribute.

Euro 2008 features some great goals, and picking a goal of the tournament is not easy. Wesley Sneijder's no look volley (click for video) takes the cake because of the difficulty and athleticism required and finishes a sweet team effort in a sensational Dutch counterattack.

What's next? English Premier League season starts in 46 days. Wahoo!

Speaking of English Premier League, anyone interested in little Fantasy Football?

Squad Numbers for The Upcoming Season

Arsenal's squad numbers for the upcoming season was officially announced today. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Manuel Almunia, as expected, took over Mad Jens Lehmann's #1 shirt. Carlos Vela, back on loan, is given the #12 shirt and new signing Aaron Ramsey is the new #16. Vito Mannone took Almunia's old #24.

There are still some nice numbers unclaimed: Freddie Ljungberg's old #8 and of course, Thierry Henry's #14.

Speaking of shirts, The-Cannon.com has a nice list of historic Arsenal kits dating back to the 60s. The Gunners donned some truly hideous shirts in the past: 95/96 away, 91-93 away, 88-91 away (hrmm, I see the problem here... bad things happen when you stray away from the red/white home shirt)

Still on the topic of kits, this is the 08/10 Arsenal home shirt. Can't say I like it. Too much red. Maybe I'll grow to like it, I guess.

Honestly, I prefer this over the one above:


Cesc is the last Arsenal player left in Euro '08. Against Italy, Spain was much more dangerous after Cesc came on as a substitute. Plus, it was his penalty that sent Spain into the semi-finals. It's hard to imagine him continue to ride the bench and he really deserves to start ahead of Xavi or Iniesta.

Euro 2008: Bring on the knockout stages

I'm usually not a fan of these international tournaments, but I must admit Euro 08 has been pretty exciting so far (much better than WC06, Euro04, WC02... okay that's as far back as I go). This edition of the tournament featured some surprise teams - 3 teams I didn't pick advanced to the knockout stages - Turkey, Italy and Russia. Holland also surprised the world by giving the two World Cup '06 finalists good old fashion beatdowns with a combined score of 7-1. Ouch. Equally painful is my pre-tournament picks to advance:

Actual (Prediction)
A1: Portugal (Portugal)
A2: Turkey (Czech Republic)
B1: Croatia (Germany)
B2: Germany (Croatia)
C1: Holland (France)
C2: Italy (Holland)
D1: Spain (Spain)
D2: Russia (Sweden)

Picked 5/8 to advance, only 2/8 in the right finishing order. This is why I don't get paid to do this, folks.

Thoughts form the tournament so far:

• Good bye, Greece! See you never. Please.
  
• Is Spain lucky or what against Sweden? But that doesn't take away David Villa's sweet finish late in injury time
  
• How in the world did you miss 3 ft from front of a wide open goal, Mario Gomez?
• Arthur Boruc is a very underrated 'keeper
• Welcome back Robin Van Persie. Can you do this and this in an Arsenal shirt too, please?
• What's up with Buffon's bandana around the neck?
• What's up with the pixelated numbers on the Puma jerseys?
• Wesley Sneijder, you are a beast.
  

Knockout round match-ups and picks:

Quarterfinals:

Portugal vs. Germany
Croatia vs. Turkey

Netherlands vs. Russia
Spain vs. Italy

Semi-finals:

Portugal vs. Croatia (upset special!)
Netherlands vs. Spain

Finals

Netherlands vs. Croatia

Bend it like Beckham? No no, bend it like Roberto Carlos!

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:

Euro 2008 Preview

Outside of the World Cup, European Championship (ofter referred to as "Euro"+year; this year's edition is Euro 2008) is probably the biggest soccer tournament in the world. In fact, I believe Euros is a better competition in terms of quality than the World Cup, as most soccer powers are based in Europe and the 16-team field, vs. World Cup's 32, means there are no pushovers in this tournament.

With Euro 2008 set to kick off in less than 3 days, here are my knee-jerk predictions for the group stage:

Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland

Portugal should have no problem advancing from this group. In addition to superman Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese have loads of attacking talent with Deco, Simao, Quaresma, etc. Defense is solid if not spectacular.

#2 is tougher to call between Czech Republic and Switzerland. You can never underestimate Switzerland's advantage of playing in front of their home crowd (see World Cup 2002, Korea and Japan), but the Swiss do not have any big-name talents. The Czechs are without international-retired Nedved and are missing Tomas Rosicky and will be a big blow to the team. Regardless, with Petr Cech in goal, I don't see them conceding too many goals. Switzerland and Czech Republic are playing against each other in the first group A matchup, and the winner of the game will most likely emerge from the group along with Portugal.

Pick: A1: Portugal. A2: Czech Republic.

Group B: Poland, Austria, Croatia, Germany

Relatively straight forward group. I don't foresee Poland or Austria giving Croatia and Germany too much trouble. The Germans are experienced, have loads of talent and must be considered one of the favorites to win the tournament. As long as mad Jens Lehmann doesn't do anything crazy to unsettle the team, Germany should easily qualify. Croatia (with their tablecloth shirt and all) should be able to cope with missing their qualifying-round leading goal scorer, Eduardo, and qualify alongside Germany.

Pick: B1: Germany. A2: Croatia.

Group C: Italy, Holland, Romania, France

This is a perfect example of a "group of death", with WC2006 champs Italy, France and Holland all drawn in the same group, plus Romania (sucks for Romania). A victory (and the 3 points) is especially critical in this group. Holland goes into every competition with high hopes and almost never fail to disappoint, but this may be the year they finally deliver. Their first game is against Italy, who are still shell-shocked by the loss of their captain Fabio Cannavaro for the tournament through injury. I see Holland taking the first game against Italy and qualifying from the group.

France has a good mix of experience (Henry, Thuram, Gallas, Makelele, Ribery) and youth (Nasri, Benzema) and should take advantage of Italy misfortunes to qualify also.

Pick: C1: France. C2: Holland.

Group D: *Spain, Russia, Greece, Sweden

Not a terribly exciting group. Spain will overwhelm this group and wouldn't be a surprise if they win all three games and finish at the top of the group with 9 points. Greece was the surprising winner of Euro 2004 with their suffocating brand of soccer but I don't see them repeating their 2004 performance. Do you recognize a single name on the Russian team? Me neither. Sweden has enough talent and experience with Larsson, Ibrahimovich, Ljungberg, Mellberg, Issaskson, et al. to finish runner-up to Spain.

Pick: D1: Spain. D2: Sweden.