What to do tonight? What to do tonight?
Euro has been dictating my sleeping habits for the past fortnight. Now for the first time since the last 16 days, there's no matches to be watched.
And what a Euro I should say. Bar last night's match, this is an incredible edition of European Championships. I am enjoying every single moment of it.
Early pacesetters of Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands and Spain won their first two matches therefore having the luxury of resting their key players for longer stretch of time compared to their opponents. Still, three of them were sent packing.
Portugal were undone by Germany's superior setpieces, and were undone by Bastian Schweinsteiger. (Did I spelled him right? I didn't even check.) They should probably have better memories, that actually it was the same man who scored two goals in last World Cup third place playoff. If was practically a pointless match then, and Germany was playing on their backyard then, but still. Schweinsteiger was sent off in their 2-1 reverse against Croatia, and suspended, but only for one match (which quizzed me, because Turkey's goalkeeper Volkan had to serve a two-match suspension for an offense I think very similar). He said Germany's Chancellor Merkel told him something and that sort of inspired him. He scored the opener and set up two from identical situations (though Ballack's goal was kind of cheeky because he pushed Ferreira I think). I think a lot of United fans are supporting Portugal because of Ronaldo, which is quite ironic, because Portugal had more Chelsea than United, even their own manager. Too bad they bowed out, but I think it was a gallant performance.
That match turned out to be the only quarterfinal to be decided in regulation time. I made a wallpaper (as you can see from my previous posts here) for the scores and now I have problems writing down the score since the next three all went to extra time, and two even had to be decided on the dreadful lottery of penalties. Croatia faced Turkey in Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna (written as Wien in Austrian native language I suppose), one of the worst stadiums in this current edition of Euro in terms of goal scored. The premonition were almost true, Croatia being denied to score in a bizarre string of misses. It was drab and dull for a hundred and eighteen minutes until an error by 35-year old Ruştu (similar to the error by Nikopolidis of Greece against Russia) finally led to the opening goal of the match. With literally seconds left surely Turkey will not have any heroic comebacks this time. But they prove everyone wrong, defying the logic of mind, defying their own incredible comeback against the Czechs to strike an equalizer, the ball crossing the goal line on - read this properly - exactly, exactly 120:59 minutes. The second half of extra time was given a minute of stoppage time, meaning that goal was scored at literally the last second. I would never ever dreamed of such epic drama. Scriptwriters would never write anything like this. Bilić was furious he could not do his third substitution during the stoppage time, and probably he was rightly so to be angry. But in the end he was a graceful loser, congratulating the brave team in red.
Then back to Basel for what I hoped to be the best quarterfinal tie among the four. Two of the most fluid football teams in this tournament, Netherlands and Russia. Netherlands came into the knockout stage humiliating two World Cup finalists, winning all three matches and en route to the quarterfinals, becoming the top scoring team as well as boasting the best defence. The Russians on the other hand, had a disastrous start losing 4-1 to Spain, then scraped a 1-0 win over defending champions then turned on their maestro performance winning 2-0 against the Swedes, inspired by their back-from-suspension Arshavin. Fuck I hate that now Arshavin is a household name. Benitez should've signed him before this tournament. He caught my attention ever since Zenit St Petersburg's win over Bayer Leverkusen away from home. He then went on to win the UEFA Cup with his club, which caught more attention from footballing fans, but it was not until this match where he really made millions notice him. The Russians were clearly the better side, and hats off to Guus Hiddink, what a tactician he is. To be honest, at the start of the tournament, I didn't think Russia deserved to be there, because they needed help from the Croatians to qualify. But truth is, qualification never matters. Ask Greece. They were the best time in qualification, but they could not muster even a single point to be brought home. OK enough of that. Back to the story, the Russians were all over the Dutch. But the Dutch grabbed their equalizer by who else but van Nistelrooy. It was from a setpiece, which was quite disappointing considering their entertaining flair in the group stages. There was this one moment which caught my attention, when the referee gave Kolodin a second yellow card and the inevitable red, but then referred to his assistant who said the ball was already out of play during the tackle, then the referee rescinded the red card and Kolodin stayed on the pitch. It was the first time I ever witnessed such event, and although I know referees are entitled to retract red cards, none ever did, except for this one, and to me it was an incredibly brave thing to do. The tireless Russians went on to score two goals, Arshavin setting up one and scoring one himself to book their place in the semis for the first time since their disbanding of Soviet Union.
After the impressive match (although it was a stalemate after regulation time, the match produced over 50 shots in 120 minutes, a totally incredible figure) my expectations were high for the last quarterfinal tie. It turns out to be incredibly boring. I was so frustrated that I wasted my 3 hours for such a boring football match. Italy were super-defensive, and Spain were super-uncreative. And it was at Ernst Happel. This match will stage the final, and it is unfortunate that time and time again in this tournament the fifty thousand plus crowd is served with such low supply of goals and entertainment. Penalty kicks it was, and whoever won it did not deserve it.
My brother asked me during the Netherlands-Russia game, who I think would win the tournament. I answered, "Whoever that wins this match." Actually, that is not what I think. That is what I hoped. The Dutch and the Russians, both coached by Dutch masterminds, are the two teams that have so far played the most entertaining football, and I always hope in any major international tournament that the most entertaining team would win, although usually it does not happen. Even when Russia lost 4-1 against Spain in their first match, they were good, but probably not good enough. Now with Arshavin back in the starting eleven, I hope they'll conquer the boring Spaniards and win the Henry Delaunay Trophy. But I would prefer the Spaniards not to be boring in the semis. Then I wouldn't matter who'll win.
And for the other semifinal, I hope Turkey will write more incredible drama against the Germans. Probably from three goals down. Or with a 'keeper as an outfield player. That is very much a possibility, considering they have nine unavailable players out of the squad of 23 due to suspensions and injuries.
I don't know why, it is during these major championships that average players start to get to life. Players who will be grabbed by clubs after the championship and probably not shine as brightly as they did internationally. But for now, in the moment, let us just savour the moment.
Euro has been dictating my sleeping habits for the past fortnight. Now for the first time since the last 16 days, there's no matches to be watched.
And what a Euro I should say. Bar last night's match, this is an incredible edition of European Championships. I am enjoying every single moment of it.
Early pacesetters of Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands and Spain won their first two matches therefore having the luxury of resting their key players for longer stretch of time compared to their opponents. Still, three of them were sent packing.
Portugal were undone by Germany's superior setpieces, and were undone by Bastian Schweinsteiger. (Did I spelled him right? I didn't even check.) They should probably have better memories, that actually it was the same man who scored two goals in last World Cup third place playoff. If was practically a pointless match then, and Germany was playing on their backyard then, but still. Schweinsteiger was sent off in their 2-1 reverse against Croatia, and suspended, but only for one match (which quizzed me, because Turkey's goalkeeper Volkan had to serve a two-match suspension for an offense I think very similar). He said Germany's Chancellor Merkel told him something and that sort of inspired him. He scored the opener and set up two from identical situations (though Ballack's goal was kind of cheeky because he pushed Ferreira I think). I think a lot of United fans are supporting Portugal because of Ronaldo, which is quite ironic, because Portugal had more Chelsea than United, even their own manager. Too bad they bowed out, but I think it was a gallant performance.
That match turned out to be the only quarterfinal to be decided in regulation time. I made a wallpaper (as you can see from my previous posts here) for the scores and now I have problems writing down the score since the next three all went to extra time, and two even had to be decided on the dreadful lottery of penalties. Croatia faced Turkey in Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna (written as Wien in Austrian native language I suppose), one of the worst stadiums in this current edition of Euro in terms of goal scored. The premonition were almost true, Croatia being denied to score in a bizarre string of misses. It was drab and dull for a hundred and eighteen minutes until an error by 35-year old Ruştu (similar to the error by Nikopolidis of Greece against Russia) finally led to the opening goal of the match. With literally seconds left surely Turkey will not have any heroic comebacks this time. But they prove everyone wrong, defying the logic of mind, defying their own incredible comeback against the Czechs to strike an equalizer, the ball crossing the goal line on - read this properly - exactly, exactly 120:59 minutes. The second half of extra time was given a minute of stoppage time, meaning that goal was scored at literally the last second. I would never ever dreamed of such epic drama. Scriptwriters would never write anything like this. Bilić was furious he could not do his third substitution during the stoppage time, and probably he was rightly so to be angry. But in the end he was a graceful loser, congratulating the brave team in red.
Then back to Basel for what I hoped to be the best quarterfinal tie among the four. Two of the most fluid football teams in this tournament, Netherlands and Russia. Netherlands came into the knockout stage humiliating two World Cup finalists, winning all three matches and en route to the quarterfinals, becoming the top scoring team as well as boasting the best defence. The Russians on the other hand, had a disastrous start losing 4-1 to Spain, then scraped a 1-0 win over defending champions then turned on their maestro performance winning 2-0 against the Swedes, inspired by their back-from-suspension Arshavin. Fuck I hate that now Arshavin is a household name. Benitez should've signed him before this tournament. He caught my attention ever since Zenit St Petersburg's win over Bayer Leverkusen away from home. He then went on to win the UEFA Cup with his club, which caught more attention from footballing fans, but it was not until this match where he really made millions notice him. The Russians were clearly the better side, and hats off to Guus Hiddink, what a tactician he is. To be honest, at the start of the tournament, I didn't think Russia deserved to be there, because they needed help from the Croatians to qualify. But truth is, qualification never matters. Ask Greece. They were the best time in qualification, but they could not muster even a single point to be brought home. OK enough of that. Back to the story, the Russians were all over the Dutch. But the Dutch grabbed their equalizer by who else but van Nistelrooy. It was from a setpiece, which was quite disappointing considering their entertaining flair in the group stages. There was this one moment which caught my attention, when the referee gave Kolodin a second yellow card and the inevitable red, but then referred to his assistant who said the ball was already out of play during the tackle, then the referee rescinded the red card and Kolodin stayed on the pitch. It was the first time I ever witnessed such event, and although I know referees are entitled to retract red cards, none ever did, except for this one, and to me it was an incredibly brave thing to do. The tireless Russians went on to score two goals, Arshavin setting up one and scoring one himself to book their place in the semis for the first time since their disbanding of Soviet Union.
After the impressive match (although it was a stalemate after regulation time, the match produced over 50 shots in 120 minutes, a totally incredible figure) my expectations were high for the last quarterfinal tie. It turns out to be incredibly boring. I was so frustrated that I wasted my 3 hours for such a boring football match. Italy were super-defensive, and Spain were super-uncreative. And it was at Ernst Happel. This match will stage the final, and it is unfortunate that time and time again in this tournament the fifty thousand plus crowd is served with such low supply of goals and entertainment. Penalty kicks it was, and whoever won it did not deserve it.
My brother asked me during the Netherlands-Russia game, who I think would win the tournament. I answered, "Whoever that wins this match." Actually, that is not what I think. That is what I hoped. The Dutch and the Russians, both coached by Dutch masterminds, are the two teams that have so far played the most entertaining football, and I always hope in any major international tournament that the most entertaining team would win, although usually it does not happen. Even when Russia lost 4-1 against Spain in their first match, they were good, but probably not good enough. Now with Arshavin back in the starting eleven, I hope they'll conquer the boring Spaniards and win the Henry Delaunay Trophy. But I would prefer the Spaniards not to be boring in the semis. Then I wouldn't matter who'll win.
And for the other semifinal, I hope Turkey will write more incredible drama against the Germans. Probably from three goals down. Or with a 'keeper as an outfield player. That is very much a possibility, considering they have nine unavailable players out of the squad of 23 due to suspensions and injuries.
I don't know why, it is during these major championships that average players start to get to life. Players who will be grabbed by clubs after the championship and probably not shine as brightly as they did internationally. But for now, in the moment, let us just savour the moment.
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