Thursday, June 19, 2008

Euro 2008 quarterfinals

The group-stage of the Euro 2008 ended last night with a well-deserved Russian victory against Sweden. The Russians are a young exciting team that has tried to play football, and last night did excellently against an old and boring Swedish side.
I think this Euro 2008 has so far been great; it is long ago we have seen so much entertaining and good football on national level. Perhaps it is because at the European level, with only 16 teams, we tend to see less of the second-rate teams abounding in other tournaments, but truth is that teams like like Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Portugal all play entertaining attacking football, just like Croatia and Turkey play refreshing and beautiful football. Both Germany and Italy have also shown that they can, but still don't do it in every match.
But now, the quarterfinals look as follows:
  • Portugal-Germany: the Portuguese are favourites against the Germans. But the Germans are not to be underestimated!
  • Croatia-Turkey: The Croatians are favourites after three victories in a row, but the Turks have shown that they never give up! Predict a great match!
  • Netherlands-Russia: Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink will face his country with a young Russian team that is not afraid to play up against the best. At the same time, the Dutch have an amazing side that has won three impressive victories and scored stunning 9 goals on the way.
  • Spain-Italy: Italy always defeats Spain, and I believe it will happen again, but I certainly hope to be wrong as it will be a pity to see the exciting Spanish team out of the tournament.

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