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.

Spain narrowly through

Villa wants to fly to the moon with his strike partner Torres

This is probably the weirdest match I've watched in the tournament so far. There are goals in the match, but it's exceedingly boring at the same time. Spain suddenly turned into Italy of the night as they keep lots of possession but couldn't really penetrate much through the Swedish defence. I find the Swedish more adventurous with their offence. Torres opened the scoring using the sole of his boots to push the ball into the net. Ibrahimovic equalised at the 34th minute when Sergio Ramos could not match the tremendous strength of the striker to close him down. From then on, it's being rather monotonous. Every time the Spanish moved near to the Swedish penalty box, their attack would be snuffed out before they could take a shot. Then, the Swedish will try to counter-attack but the quality is rather bad as the Spanish would similiarly block the shots. Another thing is the high amount of stoppages from fouls. It seemed so irritating that the whistle was blown so frequently. David Villa was relatively quiet UNTIL the very last minute when he pounced on a cross that is missed by Torres to go clear at the Swedish box. No mistakes on the spot as Villa slid in the winner. 4 goals in the tournament for the Spanish marksman.

Hmm..I was wondering if the Nederland match had affected the way I watch the match. Now, it seems that every match had to be played like the Dutch way for it to be fun..lol. Anyways, Spain would most likely avoid Nederland in this case for the quarter-finals..haha. They would be so glad to advance to the next round and need not wait anxiously until the last match for a decider. Sweden would feel that they're being robbed at the last minute but they can't really blame anyone for it since the defenders went sleeping at the last few seconds. The proponents of anti-football, Greece is out of the tournament and will not be able to defend their status quo as the 2004 champions. Well, they can't just continue smoking their way through and with old legs in the squad, I don't think they have that much stamina to maintain their parking bus positions. With Spain through, I would also expect them to rest key players in their final match against the Greeks.

Oranje demolition job

Rafael van der Vaart and Dirk Kuyt are ecstatic to put one past Les Bleus

Nederland ruthlessly crushed the French 4-1 to book their place in the next round of Euro 2008. This is pure Dutch masterclass as another team is run ragged by the Oranje offensive play. France came into the match being very aware of the way the Italians were dismantled by the rampage. Efforts were being placed to stifle the Dutch attacking motion. Makalele and Toulalan are placed in the middle to anchor the defence. Henry plays as the lone striker supported by Ribery in the AMC position. The Dutch played the similiar starting eleven that they used against Italy.

The first blood was drawn by the Oranje just within 9 minutes when Kuyt pumps in a header from van der Vaart's corner kick. The Dutch onslaught has begun. The French came close a couple of times during the first half to equalise but van der Sar was there to save the day as always. The first half ended with a goal in favour of the Dutch. van Basten's intention to seal the game was evident when he decided to pull out the defensive Engelaar for Arjen Robben. So, in goes Robben at the wing and Sneijder back at center along with van der Vaart. Dutch attack went one up notch. At the 55th minute, van Persie was thrown in to create an ultimate attacking force. 4 minutes later, van Nistelrooy does a nice back flick to Robben who in his energetic sprint dashed across the left wing to set up a goal for van Persie. 2-0 up, and the French felt that it's gonna take a hell of a task to get back on track.

France could have perhaps gotten a lifeline when Henry glided the ball across the goal mouth where it just managed to squeeze in. van der Sar didn't take much action because it looked as if it would be heading out. The Dutch pegged back immediately within seconds and Robben is at again but this time, he finishes it himself to restore Nederland's 2 goal cushion. It was a tight angle but he managed get it through. At the 92nd minute, Sneijder blasted one from outside the box, leaving Coupet with no chance at all. The world is left breathless at the sight of such stunning display of attacking football. This is the rebirth of Total Football.

Previously, Nederland had found themselves under criticism for lack of teamwork and quality. Four Four Two and Football Weekly had articles declaring that Total Football is dead. And they were proven WRONG big time.Obviously at press time, the writers could not imagine that the Oranje would actually put 7 goals past the World cup finalists and conceded only 1 goal in the process.

The 3-0 victory over the Italians is of no fluke as the French have discovered themselves after being thumped 4 goals. Never have I seen an international team so devastating in tearing apart another and what made it more impressive was that those were titanic teams and not little noobies. The Dutch defence can be horrible at times but the attack is so excellent that they could just play a game where they can outscore their opponents. The speed of attacking and counterattacking is devastating, and even at such high speed, passing accuracy is not compromised at all. I would say that it can easily reach 90% above. Another strange thing is how the Dutch attackers could intercept and tackle so cleanly and efficiently to the extent that it can sometimes put Rio Ferdinand to shame.

The team that finished second in Group D will have the misfortune in encountering the Dutch. The case in Group C is that regardless of what results Nederland gets against Romania, they will still finish first. As for our dear France and Italy, they have to slug it out and hope that Romania don't achieve victory. For the Oranje, the key players can take a nice rest as they prepare for the quarter finals.

Woeful Mannschaft stumbles

Ballack and Co. are clueless what to do next

What kind of *&$^#%@ tactic is Loewe putting out? Where was the team geist? This is possibly one of the worst Deutschland matches that I had ever watched. First touch was poor, passing was bad, off the ball is horrendous and defending was just awful. First of all, questions must be asked for the choice of the first eleven, particularly in the attacking department. Podolski on the wing, Schweinsteiger left out and Mario Gomez upfront sums up the the type of "attack" that would be "effective" against Croatia. Just because that sort of first eleven formation worked against Poland, it doesn't mean it will work against a better team like Croatia. And the German victory against Poland was partly contributed by the fact that the the Poles put up suicidal tactics of pushing their defensive line so upfront.

I can't believe that Loewe can't see that Mario Gomez is just not fit to be upfront. Yes, his domestic form is superb but international footie is a different story. Already in the Poland match there are ominous signs that he's gonna draw blanks. Most of the off-ball runs that he made were wrongly timed and he wasn't of any threat to either the Poland or Croatian defence. With no support from his partner, Klose is similiarly useless and can't do much upfront. Podolski's talent and goal poaching skills were not being utilised properly. Of course, his domestic form ain't as good as Gomez but he has proven more than enough that he's a different player altogether at the international level. Oh gosh, I would even rather gamble Kuranyi in than play Gomez upfront.

The midfield looked extremely lethargic and uninspirational. They were predictable and for some reason or so, captain Ballack was far from the form he was at Poland. They kept losing the ball just as quickly as they had won it. I was horrified to see Loewe putting Schweinsteiger to replace Gomez only at the 65th minute. One could see that there was an improvement in the German attack when Schweini plays on the left wing and Podolski was reverted back to his original role. The attack also became more organised for the first time during the match. It is only proper and vital that Lahm and Schweinsteiger link up together on the left too as they both have a strong understanding based on experiences in club and World Cup. Schweini provided the spark for the zombified Germans to press forward. The impact was evident with Schweini barely missing from a tight angle shot and he later inspired the Podolski goal which gave some form of hope in the last few minutes. Alas, too late is too late. I'm just surprised that Odonkor was subbed into the field earlier than Kuranyi and Schweini when he was meant to be an impact player and not a tactical one to be placed so early in the game.

To add insult to the bad tactics, there was a card frenzy at the dying minutes of the match. Schweini apparently got frustrated and reacted to one of the Croats by pushing him to the ground. The referee saw the incident and pulled out an immediate red out of his pocket. Lahm and Lehmann rushed to the referee in protest and both of them got a yellow card for that too. Now the Germans are in trouble with one of their vital attacking players out on a suspension from the decisive Austria match.

Salutations to Croatia for a passionate game of football where they played as a team and outwitted the Germans in almost every department. The bubbly and animated nature of the manager rubs onto the players and that gave them the spirit to move forward. This was the same Croatia team that beat England 3-2 in Wembley. Looks like the Germans would have to ensure that they get the three points from their Anschluss buddies if they wanna reach the quarter finals.

Btw, what's up with the Polish politicians nowadays? First, Podolski is being threatened to have his Polish passport withdrawn (very strange since Poldi himself said that he didn't even own one) Now the Polish PM feels like "killing" Howard Webb the referee, spawning threats from the British Polska community against the poor Brit ref. Seriously, let's leave politics out of football yea?

Portugal first to quarters

Goal-scorer Deco and Captain Nuno Gomes share their delight together

It's a reunion of Ronaldo and Cech at the opposite ends of the field. If Portugal wanna go through, they have to get past Czech's Cech first. And they have to rely on the experience of Ronnie who happened to beat Cech and put one past him just last month in Russia. This match is between the two favourites of group A and the winner of this match would guarantee a place in the next round.

The Czechs started the first half unauspiciously when they conceded a goal after just 8 minutes of playing time. Fumbles and confusion in the Czech half at that point of time, but Deco was at the right place and right time to do just a short tap in. The Czechs pulled one back to level with Sionko's header from a corner kick. It looked like a deadlock up till the 63rd minute when golden boy Ronaldo put on his scoring boots to give Portugal the lead again. Ronnie was at it again at the dying minutes of the game. Ronaldo's nicely-timed movement left the Czech offside line stranded and that allowed him to go one on one with Cech. Nice to see him unselfishly pass to Quaresma to seal the game once and for all.

Honestly, the Cech did his best to keep the balls out but the Portugese were just too good. Anyways, he could take pride with the fact that his country would have conceded more if not for his brave goalkeeping. Portugal is one funny team which doesn't have proper strikers apart from the aging Nuno Gomes but the superior quality of their midfield is good enough to get the goals. And with 2 wins out of 2, they look deadly enough to finish up Switzerland, which just crashed out of the tournament after losing to Turkey.