I can’t kick a ball to save my life but I am an avid fan of the beautiful game. At the Emirates Stadium in May 2008, in seat no. 13 i.e., the gaffer’s seat (Monsieur Arsène Wenger’s seat!)
The first week of Euro2008 saw three major upsets: world champions Azzurri were stunned by Oranje; the Croats creating a Kroatastrophe (yes, they are doing quite well so far even without Eduardo; this after all was the team which put the Three Lions out of Euro2008) in a match that saw Herr Schweinsteiger (behaving like err, a schwein) being sent off - for more of the match, go here and here; and 2006 World Cup runners-up Les Blues literally feeling les blues after being crushed by the Flying Dutchmen.
I’d like to touch particularly on the Italy-Romania match which was the 13th match of the 13th edition of UEFA Euro Championship and took place on Friday the 13th of June 2008. Gigi Buffon who had let in four goals so far compared to only two at the 2006 World Cup showed he was no buffoon after all when he used his hand and foot to save ex-Chelshit player Adrian Mutu’s penalty shot. Mutu found himself in that position no thanks to Panucci who earlier equalised for Azzurri. So yeah, it was hero to (almost) zero moment for both Panucci and Mutu in my opinion.
Hiyaahhh! How do you like my karate chop and kung fu kick? Buffon promoting the summer flick Kung Fu Panda
Just before half-time, Luca Toni who had until then appeared ineffective and useless slotted in a goal only to have it wrongly ruled out for offside. Speaking of controversial referee decisions, van Nistelrooy scored for Oranje from an apparently offside position. And Howard Webb, the sole England representative at Euro2008 was criticised for giving a late penalty to Austria.
We are now into the second week of Euro2008 and I’m sure there are many more thrilling matches to come. Defending champions suffered a Greek Tragedy (with such focus on defence, you’d think they’d be able to stop those goals!) and follow co-host Switzerland out of the tournament. After defeating Russia in style, sluggish second-half Spain only just about managed a win over Sweden - I had actually hoped the match would end in a draw to add further drama to the tournament.
And this morning, Switzerland, although down and out, gave a fine performance by beating group leaders Portugal 2-0. And I’m saving the best for last: there was Turkish Delight all around as they ‘czechmated’ the Czechs and had them czeching out of Euro2008 after having trailed the Czechs by two goals; all goals scored in the last 15 minutes of the match, thanks in part to Cech (to me, this is almost reminiscent of the Bolton-Arsenal match in March. In that match, Arsenal, reduced to 10 men, also fashioned a comeback and scored three goals in the last thirty minutes). The result was only marred by the sending off of the goalie in injury-time and Turkey will be playing without him in their quarter-finals match against Croatia. So much drama! Had Turkey drawn with Czech Republic, the match would have gone into penalty shoot-outs (no extra time) as both teams were level on points after two games, won one, lost one, scored two and conceded three. And mind you, the Turks haven’t got a great record against the Czechs - they haven’t won in their last 11 meetings and their only win in 14 overall was a 1-0 triumph in December 1958, half a century ago (info thanks to BBC). For more of the Turkey-Czech Rep. match, go here and here.
P/S: Oh yes, how could I have forgotten about Big Phil’s move to Stamford Bridge. Not sure if I like the idea of him at the football pitches in England though.
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