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.
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
2 comments:
My friend, Alex, is actually in Geneva for study abroad and went to the Portugal vs Czech game. hehehe!
Sweet! I'm looking forward to another World Cup in the US in my lifetime. I'd probably take a few weeks off of work and fly all over the country to catch games!
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