Spain breaks hoodoo

Fabregas and Villa runs over to celebrate with a jubilant Casillas

It was goalless for 120 minutes, nothing to separate them and it had to be the penalties. Spain attacked till to death and Italy defended till to death, and thus nullifying each other in the process. Italy started the match without their regular center midfield partnership of Pirlo and Gattuso as they are being suspended from the previous match. Spain on the other hand fielded their strongest 11 on the field. Italy held their ground well with their classic trademark defensive play but there were a couple of times when Spain managed to get through using counterattack. Most of the Spanish shots were relegated to outside the box with attempts commonly by Silva and Villa. The Spanish became so desperate at times that they are willing to try anything including diving to avoid the dreaded penalty shootout. Of course, the referee would have none of that nonsense and promptly booked Villa when he tried to do that.

Italy's insistence in depending on Luca Toni as the main target man would be the death of their aspirations. Again, I want to reiterate that club football is different from international football. Luca Toni is has been superb in his time at Bayern but the group matches have already illustrated that he's incapable of causing much damage. He tries and tries but ends up looking embarassing especially when he tried to do too much at one point by attempting to execute a bicycle kick. With no hope at the front and with the lack of the playmaking skills of Pirlo, the Italians could only try to defend as much as they could and hope that they have a lucky break. Well, Deutschland was one step smarter when they decided to axe their so called "star striker" Mario Gomez to ensure that they had a chance in the quarters..lol

There was a "lol moment" when Buffon apparently spilled Silva's shot while catching it. The ball slowly rolled towards the goal line to his horror and he quickly got up and rushed back to grab it. Actually, he was one second late but fortunately for him, the ball slowly rolled and.....hit the crossbar...hahaha.

The penalty shootout proceeded after both managers have submitted the list of takers and the two captain goalkeepers are now placed at the center stage. Villa and Grosso were the first ones to take and both converted it well. 2nd round - Substitute Cazorla got the goal but De Rossi's was saved by Casillas. 3rd round - Senna scored and so does Camoranesi. 4th Round - Tension was back again when Guiza's shot was saved by Buffon. The penalty shootout could go all night..haha. It's so difficult to separate them. Di Natale was next for Italy but his shot was brilliantly saved by Casillas! Spain is back in the lead! And the final decisive point of the shootout is handled by Cesc Fabregas. I have to say good choice in putting him as the last taker as Fabregas has a high level of composure in front of goal. The Spanish wonderkid coolly slotted it past Buffon, bringing Spain to their first Euro semis in 24 years.

Casillas was definitely the hero of the night and his most memorable moment in the match has to be when he bravely kicks away an incoming Camoranesi shot to ensure that Spain keeps the clean sheet. Two saves in the shootout and he helped his country to finally break the 20-year+ jinx. Now, they are being set up for a rematch against the Russkis in the semis. A final showdown between Deutschland and Spain would be mouthwatering but based on the unpredictable nature of football, never discount the dark horses of Russia and Turkey...haha.

Nederland crashed out

van der Sar looks in vain as the Russians took the lead in extra time

Absolutely shocking. The best performer in the group stages got knocked out by a team which was whipped 1-4 by the Spanish. Hard to believe but Nederland is out of the tournament. From the start to the end of the match, Nederland looked like a shadow of the former self which ruthlessly demolished Italy and France. Russia on the other hand looked very lively. They were taking shots almost from everywhere and they were literally dancing around the Dutch box for most of the time. This is the point where I would say that Guus Hiddink had outwitted van Basten tactically. Being Dutch, he could read the Oranje game well and he learnt to exploit its weaknesses where Domanech and Donadoni had failed to do so. The weakest link of Nederland has always being its defence and what Hiddink did was that he fought fire with fire. He challenged the Oranje to their same kind of game : counterattacking. And the Russkis won the night because they kept their backline tight while the Oranje backline were leaking holes.

The first 45 minutes was goalless but one can get the feeling that it's just a matter of time before the Russkis score. They did so in the 56th minute after countless of missed chances. The heat is on Nederland to equalise and they are having a hell of a time trying to do their usual stuff. The Russkis positioned themselves in such a way that they will choke the Dutch in the vital points of their attack. The Russkis defended deep and were quick to close down whenever Nederland comes charging down the wings. As a result, van Bronckhorst was unusually very quiet and was relegated to defensive jobs only. Whenever Sneijder wanna line up a long range shot, 2 to 3 Russkis would position themselves in front of him to obstruct his view and to block the incoming shot. van der Vaart had a couple of shots on target but Akinfeev was there to save them. As the 85th minute looms about, it looked like the Russkis are gonna get away with a 1-0 win. The Oranje earned themeselves a lifeline when van Nistelrooy emerged with his goal poaching instinct to pop one into the net. They were certainly glad that they could at least extend it by 30 minutes and try to win it. Things seemed to be going their way when one of the Russkis was supposed to be sent off with a second yellow. The referee later retracted the decision since it was judged that Sneijder and the ball was outside play when the Russki slid in. The replay showed it but it's a very very close call. I would say it's just on the line but I think the referee would prefer 11 vs 11 on the field for fair competition sake rather than take one out to destroy the game. But all the hopes were quashed once again when the Russkis struck once more through super sub Torbinsky. Russian famous man Arshavin sealed the win 4 minutes later with a strike through vds' legs. A truly memorable moment for Russian football and it smelt like the time when Zenith Petersburg won the UEFA cup last month.

I really questioned the choice of van Basten's substitutes. By the 61st minute, he had used all his 3 subs and it looked as if he panicked too early. It is important that van Persie gets sub in but I disagreed that Dirk Kuyt was the one who was taken out. In fact, the first one that should go is either Engelaar or De Jong. I have no idea why van Basten wanna stick with his defensive midfielders when it is well known that the Dutch can't defend at all. The Oranje thrives on offence and risk-taking play but van Basten seemed to be rather conservative with his choice of players on the field. Like I say, if the defence cannot make it, then try to outscore the opponents and bring the ball into their half. Kuyt would have provided the sustained dynamism and energy in attacking. Ok, granted that Arjen Robben couldn't be placed on the field coz of his injury, but there are certainly more better sub choices than Heitinga or Afellay. I thought that Boulahrouz should have continued staying on even though his yellow is rather risky. Instead of Afellay, Huntelaar should be sent on to provide some marksman in the team. The Dutch seemed to be working on the basis of their weakness rather than their strength during the whole match. The two defensive midfielders were irrelevant in the attacking play and they can't even do their main job properly, that is to help out in anchoring the defence and to close up open holes. By right, with the substitutions, van der vaart should be in the centre, Sneijder in AMC supporting v. Nistelrooy, Hunterlaar as second supporting striker and v.Persie and Kuyt on the wings.

With Russia through, there are essentially 2 dark horses in the Semis with the other being the Turks. I'm sure Deutschland won't mind the elimination of their rival since they have one less superpower to compete for the cup. And right now they look even hotter to win the tournament. Italy could make a comeback as the favourites too. This is astonishing. The 3 quarterfinal ties that were played so far saw the elimination of the leaders of Group A, B and C. With Spain playing next, one wondered if they would be the next to follow this unauspicious pattern. It seemed like so, since history apparently showed that Spain were unfortunate in matches that fell on 22nd June. Well, I hope they go through instead of the Italians, for the sake of free flowing attacking football :)

Cruel end for Croatia

I didn't watch the match but managed to catch the replay. 0-0 until the last 2 minutes of 120 minutes of gruelling football. Croatia looked set to enter the semis when a "Barthez-eccentricity" move by Turkish goalkeeper Ruustu gifted them a goal at 119th minute. The Croatian manager, Bilic was already celebrating along the sidelines. And then less than 60 seconds later, with the last kick of the ball, Turkey dramatically equalised through Semih Senturk. Bilic was furious, partly because he had been motioning for the past one minute to make a substitution. The match went to penalty shootout and Croatia lost it to Turkey when 2 of their shots went wide and the last one being saved Ruustu.

Commiserations to the Croatians but that's football. It definitely hurts to lose like that, just a difference of less than 1 minute. Never say never until the man in black blows his final whistle.

Schweini Inspiration

Ronaldo could not stop Klose's head from meeting with Schweini's free kick

SCHWEINSTEIGER owned Portugal in 2006 and he shall and will continue to do so in 2008! A goal and two superb free kick assists from the combative midfielder had ran the Portugese ragged. Germany entered the match as underdogs given their lackluster performance in the group stages. However, for the first time, I'm confident with the Deutsche lineup because there's no Jansen, Gomez or Fritz in the starting eleven! Once again, it's a delight to see Schweini and Arne Friedrich back at the starting squad, Podolski and Klose as forwards and Lahm as left back. Hitzlsperger and Rolfes were new additions to the side, not exactly top stuff (I would prefer Borowski instead) but at least better than the underperforming dudes which eroded the traditional structure of the German attack.

From the start of the first half, I'm quite impressed with the way Deutschland kept their lines tight to prevent an early Portugese goal. The Portugese were restricted from having too much of space to run around. There's a massive improvement in the way the passes are being strung together. Deutschland played many short passes and some of them consists of one-twos that go deep straight into the Portugese box. In the 22nd minute, Podolski moved down the left wing and brilliantly set up a pass for Schweini who was rampaging down through the middle after losing his marker. Schweini promptly slid together with the ball into the net to give the Germans a 1-0 lead. That is really a superb intelligent run and reading of the game from him. Deutschland scored another within the space of 4 minutes, much to the shock of the Portugese. Schweini dispatched a floating free kick ball for Klose to head it in. 2-0 up and it really looked like an unlikely position for the Germans to be in. However, Portugal would definitely bound to get one back with their sort of attack and they pulled one back at the 41st. Ronaldo ran through the defence and had a shot at Lehmann but the German GK could only punch it away. Nuno Gomes was there to pounce on the rebounce and the flight of the ball was helped by one of the sliding German defenders.

Portugal started the second half strongly but the Germans continue to hold on. And then on the 62nd minute, another free kick ball from Schweini is connected by Ballack's heading into the net. Apparently, Ricardo made the wrong call to move forward to catch the ball. The two goal cushion is restored and Portugal had to double their efforts once again. All Deutschland had to do now is to defend the lead until 90 minutes is up. It's not that easy cos with the introduction of Nani, Portugal is refreshed with new legs. And this was evident when Nani provided a cross for Helder Postiga's header in the 87th minute and that made the last few minutes particularly interesting. No equalising goal from Portugal and Germany march on to the Semis with a 3-2 win.

Credit to Herr Flick, the assistant manager in handling the team in the absence of Loewe who was sentenced to the stands after his touchline ban from the last match. There's a little controversy over Germany's third goal since it was alleged that Ballack pushed the defender before heading the ball in. However, I would also argue in the same breath that Portugal was lucky with their first goal since the ball's flight path was reared away from Lehmann through a ricochet of the defender. In any case, I would say that Deutschland thoroughly deserve their spot in the semis with the solid play that they produce and they were the better team. This time round, there was teamwork circulating around the Mannschaft. Compare and contrast it with the Portugese who had wasted so many shots from outside the box by the midfielders who could have passed it to their teammates for better options. The difference between the German No. 7 and Portugese No. 7 is that Schweini always looks out for his teammates while Ronaldo just guns for glory. This is also rather evident in the different ways that they take their free kicks. Schweini's products resulted in two goals while Ronaldo is plain wasteful. Another thing which the Germans did right was that they constantly feed high balls to exploit their height advantage over the Portugese. Portugal's trademark counterattacking moves earned them some goals but some horrendous defending behind and the weakness of Ricardo the goalkeeper in dealing with high balls costed them dearly. Portugal was outmuscled and outplayed by Deutschland.

Well, Scholari's Portugese career ended sooner than he would like. Now he would start his new job at Chelsea earlier. Deutschland would face either Croatia (rematch!..haha) or Turkey next. If Frings manage to return to the team in time for the semis, the Mannschaft central midfield would be strengthened very much. If there's one weakness that I have to point out in this improved lineup, it is probably the error-prone Lehmann and his communication with his defenders. Anyways, that's kinda minor if the defenders in front of him does their job. It would certainly be interesting if the final ended up being Deutschland vs. Nederland..lol

Italian Revival

Andrea Pirlo bids adieu to all the Monsieur in the French team with his penalty kick

Ribery's injury and Abidal's red card sums up France's miserable night in Switzerland. 10 minutes into the game, France's chief playmaker Ribery had to be subbed off after a clumsy fall with Zambrotta. It was hard to see if France could create any sort of potent attack without Ribery since he was the essence of the team in pace and ball distribution. Then in the 25th minute, disaster is compounded with Abidal being sent off for allegedly tripping Luca Toni in the box. Andrea Pirlo dutifully converted the penalty to bring the Italians 1-0 up. Afterthat, many would have expected that the Italians wrap it up before half time but the score remained the same after Toni squandered a barrrage of great chances.

The Italians continue to push for a second goal in the second half. There were cheers around the Italian fans when they receive news that the Dutch went 1-0 up against up against the Italians in the 54th minute. Meanwhile, the French tried their best to at least equalize with shots from Benzeema and Henry. At the 62nd minute, the win is sealed when De Rossi's free kick cruelly deflected off Henry's boot into the net. More cheers to the Italians for the double confirmation when the Dutch struck again through van Persie in the 87th minute.

What seemed like a disastrous campaign for the Italians after losing 0-3 to Nederland and nearly losing to Romania in the next match was rescued by Lady Luck. The two Italian goals were largely products from fortunes and if they had depended on their own efforts, they would not have gotten anything. Rewinding back the sequence of events, if Adrian Mutu had converted his penalty, the Italians wouldn't even have anything to play for. Before the third round of group of matches, I was commenting to my friends that this France vs Italy match is about 2 stupid underperforming teams competing with each other to win when in the end it did not matter if Romania were to win their match. Of course, that did not happen as Nederland's second string "noob" team still manage to win in the end. Compare that to Portugal whose "noob" team lost against Switzerland. In any case, the Italians should savour the products of their fortune as much as possible before they meet the Spanish, where their streak of fortune could possibly end.

Aufwiedersehen Austria

Spielfuehrer Michael Ballack sends the Mannschaft marching into the quarters

It's unglamorous but the job's done. Deutschland is through to the quarters after beating their Anschluss buddy 1-0, courtesy of Michael Ballack. Loewe remains stubborn on his choices and Mario Gomez was there to start for the third time in a row.

Once again, it was some really poor attacking play by the Germans at the first half. The most notable was yet again, a chance that was squandered by Gomez. It was supposed to be just a simple tap in from a beautiful pass but Gomez's first touch was so "wonderful" that it went vertically upwards instead of rolling horizontally into the goal. It was nice to see good old Arne Friedrich back at the right and Lahm at the left. However, the lack of Schweinsteiger in front of him meant that Lahm always got stranded after making his penetrating runs.

The Austrians did not show any respect to the Germans. The defence had to work hard to contain the Austrians that kept running into the German box. They kept running in but the finishing is just rather poor for the Austrians, rendering them toothless. Looks like only one person would in their team would qualify for a lifetime supply of beer..lol. Anyways, both Loewe and the Austrian manager got sent off by the referee to the stands for arguing on the pitch..haha.

At the second half, Germany's moment came from a thunderous rocket free kick from Spielfuehrer Ballack. The powerful shot smashed through the top corner of the net. He would be so glad to have scored that because Germany didn't manage to build up on that momentum to score another. Mario Gomez was finally replaced once again, this time earlier than previous matches, by Hitzlsperger. A slight improvement in attack as Podolski moves up to his centre forward position again. There were a couple of shots that scare the Austrians but the goalkeeper was there to save it. Neuville came in for Klose at the final minutes of the game. Speaking of that, I'm starting to begin having doubts of Klose too as he hasn't been making himself useful upfront. A couple of useful play by the veteran Neuville but I think he should really have passed the pass at the final chance of the game.

The quarterfinals between Deutschland and Portugal is gonna be interesting because both have problems in the striker department. Portugal had to depend solely on Nuno Gomes while Germany's strikers have been firing blanks. The Germans might have an advantage though if Loewe seriously put Podolski upfront for the duration of the whole match instead of putting him there when he makes a substitution. But still given the way the Germans are attacking, the Portugese superiority in speedy wingers might just overcome them in scoring. In 2006, the Germans triumph over the Portugese because the solid defence is collaborated with a deadly attacking force that is specialised in some hard powerful shots. Uhh..hopefully Loewe would change his starting eleven tactics right for the next round before another boo boo performance starts to set in. Like what Shebby say, if he wants success, he has to be ruthless in chopping down players that don't perform.

Inti Carnival

Alright, time to take a break from Stan's coverage of Euro 2008 and now put some attention on the happenings in his life..lol. Last weekend was really crazy as Vincent and me implemented this crazy plan to be able to watch the Nederland match and at the same time be able to go for the charity run on Saturday. We slept early at 9 pm and woke up in the wee hours of 2am. Then we proceeded to the mamak stall to book a nice place to watch the match. After the entertaining match, which is at about 4 am plus or so, we went back to shower and then come out later again for the run. No sleeping as we step onto the 5km starting line.

Of course, the runs brought back some memories of cross country at Macritchie Reservoir and 2.4km runs at the track. I stick to the tactic I always use, maintaining speed and dashing when it's going downhill. Well, me and Vincent thought that we were going so fast that we were going to at least get some medals in the 40s position. But hell no, the guys in the 5km run are maniacs and by the time we reach there, we only manage to get the certificate as the all the medals have been snapped up already. In order to get the certificate, runners were given 45 minutes maximum to complete the 5km run. We finished ours in 28 minutes. We looked over the girls side and they easily have like 40+ medals left. In fact, only the first two girls beat our timing. The third one is at 29 minutes. I joked with Vincent if we had a sex change the night before, we would have gotten something..lol.

Afterthat we went and jalan around the carnival stalls. Christian fellowship had a booth selling pizzas and we bought half box of it. Nice to see them getting good sales too :) There was also a rock band performing at the pool side, mat rockers to be precise. I saw them performing at the music room at one of the nights. The instrumentals (drums, electric and bass) were very good but I think the vocalist need some improvement though. They performed two songs, Muse's "time is running out" and Red hot chili pepper's "by the way". Muse's song definitely not easy to perform cos the vocalist really need to match up with Matt Bellamy's high pitched soprano voice and don't sound like an "ah kua" at the same time. The sad thing is that not many people were there to rock out with the band. Firstly, the venue for the performance is so hidden and obscure. They would have more audience if they played in the hall or near the carnival stalls. Secondly, in this part of the world, not many know how to appreciate the spirit and talent of rock. Many of them are just so preoccupied with the cheap marketing nature of pop music, R&B and rap/hip hop music. Most Southeast Asian Chinese idea of music is Jay Chou, Lee Hom or one of those heavily marketed westernised R&B/pop flavour of the month. Not many of them would have known about guitar solos/starting rifts, some creative drumming beats/rolls or the intriguing plucking of the bass guitar. Ahh, I'm getting carried away on the topic of music..lol..maybe I'll do a historical research paper in the future on the "Musical Preference of Southeast Asian Chinese"..haha.

Besides the band at the pool, there's an interesting "ride" where two fellas will pay to enter an inflated giant balloon and attempt to move across the swimming pool using that. Quite funny looking at the methods that some of them use. Overall, I had quite a good dose of fun at the carnival. By 1pm or so, I was feeling really exhausted and immediately crashed to the bed and dozed off.

Speaking of tonight, it's gonna be a morning of high tension as I watch whether Deutschland would qualify for the quarters.