It's been nearly a month since the NBA finals, a month since the Red Wings were crowned, so long that it's easier to look forward for NFL action, and years since early season baseball has mattered to anyone other than Mike and the Mad Dog.
Could Euro 2008 have had better timing? Not for an American sports fan.
Sifting through channels it would have been easy to skip right by a MLS match, but Euro 2008 possessed a different allure. For those of us lucky enough to watch in high definition, a delight to the eyes it was.
Stadiums full of unruly fans bearing the colors of their country and chanting for the heroes of their lands. Of course no European soccer match is complete without the commentary of the lovable, albeit opinionated Irishmen Tommy Smyth; whom we heard from plenty.
For anyone watching, there was no shortage of drama. Spain's first game was a plethora of David Villa, with a hat-trick in the contest and no retaliation from the Russian's he became the tournament's biggest scoring threat very early on.
With David Villa's individual efforts fresh in their minds and a triumphant game one dethroning of the defending World Cup champion Italians a day earlier, the Dutch squad went to work. A sea of orange jerseys took the "Group of Death" to school with a three game sweep by a margin of +8 in the goals column.
All stats aside, the Dutch looked unbeatable, not to mention merciless, capitalizing on any and all opportunities in the early going.
The group stage was not without its drama, a defeated Italian squad squeaked through after drawing a tie with Romania and then handling France two to nil in a rematch of World Cup 2006's final match. I will not let it go unsaid that watching the Italian national side is a bit like watching a child learn to figure skate.
Not to discredit the skill of any Italian player in the least. However, at times it seems that Luca Toni and company would rather exaggerate a collision in an effort to earn a free kick, sooner than fight through to keep a play alive. That said, the group stage is all about a top two finish.
With Spain and Holland clearly in control it was time for some dark horse teams to make a run. The Croatians, who have earned international futbol's respect in recent years, upset heavily favored Germany and went on undefeated through Group B. However the Croats would not be the only underdog handed a ticket to the quarter finals.
After losing their first to Portugal, a "never say never" Turkish side dazzled with a comeback victory and a late game winning goal to earn a match against Croatia in the quarter finals.
Russia ousted Sweden to end the group stage, and Euro 2008 was cut to eight teams (half of the initial 16). Notably not mentioned in this group was World Cup 2006 runner-up France.
The remaining teams were: Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Holland, Russia, Spain and Italy. Teams would play one game with the winner advancing and the loser sent packing. With each game it became more and more apparent that no one wanted to go home.
Germany opened the quarter finals with a bang. In the 22nd minute of the opening quarter final match Bastian Schweinsteiger made his way past Portugal's "at times lazy" defense and put a great pass from Podolski in the back of the net.
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6 months ago
Great write-up: it's quite a job to recap the tournament. Well done.
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