CHAPTER 178: My EURO 2008 Preview

" Football is a fertility festival. Eleven sperm trying to get into the egg.
I feel sorry for the goalkeeper. " - Bjork

4 years have passed and football followers are once again waiting on the verge and eagerly expecting for yet another football event.
I don’t really have much to say and I’m sure there are all those professional as well as unofficial journalists with countless reports, articles and opinions on how things going on the upcoming EURO 2008.
So in that regards I’ll just simply my thoughts, expectations and predictions for the tournament in my own simplified way:

General expectations
I’m sure that every tournament there are always big expectations for the big teams to perform. This is evident as these teams usually have the most recognized set of players besides their football history and heritage (how some football fans would call it: DNA).
The usual suspects; Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, Germany (and so on and so forth).

I think that with the inclusion of arguably the best player in the world at this moment (and that has a lot to do with the impressive stats he had the recent finished season), Portugal is looked as potential winners. This might well be the event whether Cristiano Ronaldo can ensure his height of greatness in the football arena (no doubt if he leads Portugal to victory, then he will sweep all personal awards). But this will also be the event to see whether he can shake off that ‘choker’ and not a ‘big-match player’ tag that some fans view him as. Portugal definitely has the craziest skillset of wingers against other teams, but they still lack a great striker.
With that said, I think that this Portugal team is like that France team in World Cup 1998 (where there wasn’t any recognized striker in their squad – Henry and Trezeguet were still ‘young’). And there’s the Scolari factor (the only coach in the tournament to have won a World Cup).
Italy comes in as World Champions, but I’m not sure whether they can repeat the feat of emerging victorius. The loss of Cannamalo Cannavaro could be a huge set back. But they still they have Buffon (who for me is the best keeper in the world). I also believe that this tournament is a big test for Luca Toni to prove that he’s got what it takes to deliver in this type of tournament.
Germany……….well history shows that they might not have the best set of players or excelled phenomenon ally in the qualifying stages but they always managed to be among the top performers as the tournament progresses. I think it could be the same outcome in this EURO.
However, out of all the teams, I believe that Spain has the best overall squad. There’s quality all over the pitch. From defense (Casillas, Puyol, Sergio Ramos,……) to the midfield (Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Xabi Alonso,…..) and the striking duo (Torres-Villa) and also their backup (Palop, De La Red, and La Liga Pichichi Dani Guiza-27 goals and none of them penalties). The only concern is of course that Spain always has this underachiever and choking tag. So whether they can mentally surpass all challenges is yet to be seen. Could this be Spain’s year?

The ‘other’ teams….
I’ll pick Croatia as the ‘underdog’ to perform well. They beat England and topped their qualifying group. Also add the Luka Modric and Slaven Bilic factor.

Expected games
The interesting thing is that from all the group stages, the anticipated battle for control of the group and getting the ticket to the quarterfinals seems to be seen on the second games.
Group A: Portugal – Czech Republic
Group B: Croatia – Germany
Group D: Spain – Sweden

With the exception of Group C games of course.

How things are going to turn out (prediction)
Group A: Portugal.
Group B: Germany.
Group C: No idea.
Group D: Spain.

• I think that Spain will meet up with France in the quarter finals, a rematch form their World Cup 2006 clash, where I believe this time Spain will triumph.
• I also think that should Netherlands meet Portugal again, the Dutch will win. Although looking at their paths in the tournament, it only seems viable if they make it to the final itself. Whether that happens, it has to be seen.

Players to look out for
There’s an article on Soccernet stating on promising players to look out for in EURO 2008. I agree on the choices (Benzema, Joao Moutinho, Mario Gomez, Huntelaar, etc.).