You know, sometimes its not always good to be right, and that certainly seemed to be true today. To say that I am a France fan would be a bit of a stretch, but certainly against the Italians I'd hoped Les Blues were going to make something magical happen. It started all wrong for the French, with Ribery leaving the game in around the tenth minute because of what looked like an ankle injury. Samir Nasri came on, and for ten minutes he ran around without really getting into the game. With the red card given to Abidal (more on this later), the attacking minded Nasri came back off the pitch to make way for central defender Jean Boumsong. After only twenty five minutes of football, France was down a goal, down a man, without one of their most productive players (in terms of Ribery,) and down to one substitute. Not quite the start I imagine Head Coach Raymond Domenech had hoped for.

The French gave a good account of their selves, but it looked like the game was out of reach for them after Abidal was sent off. Needing a win, they would have had to produce two goals against a usually stout Italian defense, with ten men; having only scored once all tournament. It really didn't look good for the French and if it had not been for a rare save from keeper Gregory Coupet, they could have been down 2 - 0 before half time. The second goal was tremendously unlucky coming off Thierry's left boot from a free kick, but the second Italian goal seemed to be a long time coming. When Nicolas Anelka came on, I would have hoped to see more from him, but once again he lost himself on the pitch and was more or less invisible the last half an hour. Domenech summed it up quite well for the French, "Everything that could possibly go wrong, did go wrong." While I agree with Raymond to a certain extent, I really think that the idea of France going far in this years Euro was more of a good dream than anything else. Of course, they still are one of the most technically gifted sides in the world, but when you look at this side a few things pop into mind. It simply seemed unlikely that a team could make it to the Finals of the World Cup and lose in the fashion that they did, and then be able to succeed at a tournament like the Euro. Beyond that, this is the first major tournament in the last twelve years where neither Zidane nor former keeper Fabian Barthez has been apart of the squad. In their game against the Dutch, the average age of the French was 30 years and 144 days, the oldest starting squad ever in Euro history. Will the French be able to rebound in the future? I am sure they will, with promising players like Karim Benzema (who provided most of the French attack today,) and Samir Nasri who is still coming into his own, the French will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Following the game, long time French Internationals Claude Makelele and Lilliam Thuram announced their respective retirements from the national team. Both of them have been brilliant and I wish them the best in the rest of their careers. I expect a strong showing from them in the World Cup 2010.

Now, over the past few years, people have always asked me why I don't like the Italian football team. I can give you a multitude of answers, but yesterday I jokingly said that the Italian strategy had to be to dive and hope for the best. Yet, looking at todays match, both of the Italian goals came from dead ball situations. Was the first challenge by Abidal a penalty? I think it might be a bit harsh, there was obviously contact, but if you play the film back slowly, you see that in the final third of the challenge Luca Toni throws his arms in the air and crashes to the ground like a pile of bricks, all the while; Eric Abidal does make contact with the ball. Its obvious that Abidal tagged him, I just think that sending off a man in the 24th minute of such an important match ruins the game for everyone who is watching.

In any case, my biggest problem with Italian soccer has been their inability to win games without referee interference. Its my opinion that a good team shouldn't need to always count on the officials to win games.

Looking at Italy's World Cup run in '06, In the group stage, Italy racked up 7 points. Yet, against Ghana they received a penalty kick, and against the USA; defender Pablo Mastroeni received a questionable red card after Daniel De Rossi was sent off for leaving Brian Mcbride's nose covered in blood due to a blatant elbow. Now, on to the round of 16, Italy played Australia. In the 95th minute, Fabian Grosso dribbled into the box and took possibly the largest dive of all time. Anyways, after being awarded the phantom penalty, the Italians crowded around Grosso to congratulate him on his tremendous dive. To me thats bottom stuff right there, you've cheated another team out of a fair game and your going to rub it in to them; absolute classless.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr2oTmQ0GwM --- Could somebody tell me how to link stuff? I know this look terrible, but here is a video of the dive.

In any case, the next round against Ukraine the same stuff continued. While the Italians failed to get a penalty kick, the number of fouls showed it all as apparently the Ukrainians (who had previously the least amount of yellow cards, and fouls in the tournament,) racked up 3 yellow cards and 31 fouls compared to the 0 Italian cards and only 15 fouls. Those numbers just don't stack up anyway you look at it. Against Germany in the semi finals, it was keeper Buffon to the rescue, who saved the Italians on several occasions; and I will say that he is without a doubt one of, if not the best goal tender in the world.

And finally, against France. While it was the French who got the penalty kick early on, the Italians would rely on winning from the spot once again as they won on penalty kicks to secure the title. However, while Zidane's epic blow up will always be infamously remembered I will never understand how it is that Marco Materazzi, who is over 6'4; could crumble like he did after being head butted. I am sorry, but a real man that size should not be going to the ground so easy. Of course the French player deserved to get removed from the game, but its just a shame that these players feel the need to spend so much time on the ground. It ruins the integrity of the game, and while I know it happens on every time, it just seems like the Italians have made an art of it.

Now looking at the Euro, the only game where Italy has been successful has been against the French. What is the key to their success one might ask? There isn't any need to look very far. The Italians only, in my opinion, only are successful in top flight football when the officiating crew gets themselves involved. A team of world champion pedigree, should not have to rely on outside forces to win a game, simple as that, and until Italy can prove to me that they do not need the officials to win a major tournament, my opinion of them stands.

That was a very intense tangent. Whew. In anycase, the Dutch continued to look amazing, breaking down to the Romanians twice. Robin Van Persie continued to look deadly and capped his performance with a very nice goal, lets just hope he can stay healthy until our season at Arsenal starts. I really tip my hat to the Romanians, no one gave them a chance at all and they more than made a believer out of me. I hope that Adrian Mutu can shrug off his missed penalty kick against the Italians and know that he gave them one hell of a go through the entire tournament. Its sad when Cinderella stories end, and I think everyone (barring French and Italy fans) would have loved to see them advance, but hopefully they will be their to represent their country at the 2010 World Cup.

Tomorrow should be interesting. While Spain and Greece are playing for virtually no reason, everything will be on the line for the Swedes and Russians as they square off for the final spot in the quarter finals. I think its going to come down to whether or not Zlatan Ibrohimavich plays for the Swedish or not, hes been scintillating thus far and as long as his knee isn't bothering him, I assume he'll keep it up. On the other hand, the Russians have been impressive so far. Of course the Spanish dismantled them, but they did give a good account of themselves.

Predictions.. well yesterday I got one right, so I'll be happy with the same luck tomorrow. So here we go.

Spain 3 - Greece 0

Sweden 2 - Russia 1

~Tj

    It took the Germans 49 minutes to score against a spirited Austrian squad. Needing a win or tie  go through, the Germans played efficient football, not stretching themselves and allowing the goal to come to them. Michael Ballack will be relieved to have finally opened his scoring account at the Euro, but he can't be content with how his squad played. While Germany only needed a point to make it through, they looked the same as the team who lost to Croatia not a week ago. In my opinion the Germans did not take advantage of an opportunity to make a statement in a game they could have easily won.

   But credit is due to the Austrians, who fought properly and made their country proud in an effort to pull off a massive upset. For most of the game they had control and certainly looked more dangerous, but their touch and crosses let them down in the final third; where almost everyone of their attacks came to a screaming halt. Jens Lehmann was only tested a few times, and instead of taking advantage of his recent struggles with corners and high lofting crosses, the Austrians opted to go for the back post on most of their attempts, often times over shooting their forwards. A disappointing result for so much effort, but I think that the host country exits the tournament on a high note; very little was expected of them, and their heart and determination was obvious to anyone watching. 

    Referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzales must of been having a bad day from the start. He booked the Austrians on several occasions for less than convincing challenges, and it became rather frustrating that the game was interrupted so often by penalties.  Its international football. I am sure that a referee could find something to call on every single tackle, but that would ruin the game. It would have been nice if he could have let them play, because most of the first half was lost to the stop and start nature of an officials whistle. One of the more bizarre moments I've seen of the tournament so far was when Gonzales ordered both respective head coaches to the stands after apparently getting tired of their "constant bickering." A note to Mr. Gonzales, you should be paying attention to the field, unless you see the two said men in a full brawl, in my opinion it doesn't concern you. Coaches are going to argue, are going to talk trash to one another, its just another aspect of the game that an official should let be unless it begins to impact the integrity of the game. 

    Elsewhere the Croatians put down upset minded Poland with a squad that had 8 new faces as they rested up for their quarterfinal date against Turkey. I do feel a bit bad for the Poles, they seem to just have the worst luck when it comes to these major tournaments. The skill seems to be there, but sometimes you need Lady Luck on your side, and it just hasn't been their for the Polish side. Artur Boruc continued to impress with a string of amazing saves against the Croats. Before we signed Fabianski I really was hoping we would make a bid on the Celtic goal tender; but I think that in the years to come he'll be swooped up by one of the bigger Spanish sides or an Italian giant, he certainly has the skill. 

    Tomorrow looks to be an interesting day with France and Italy squaring off in what could be either an epic game or another bore between super powers, unfortunately my money is on the latter. The scenario is rather simple, with a win Romania can knock both France and Italy out of the tournament, but if they tie, they need France and Italy to also tie in order for them go through. Yet, if they lose, then it will be the winner of the France and Italy game who goes through. If both games end in draws, then Romania will be through because of their Goal Difference which is at zero. 

    Personally I am not a fan of the Italians; so I'm not going to go in to how they need to win. Alright I can't resist. Take as many dives as possible inside the eighteen and hope for the best, seems to be the most reasonable strategy for the Italians over the last six years. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

    In any case, the French; I pray will start Henry and Anelka up top. Franck Ribery has been doing a great job of putting dangerous balls into the area and those two will pounce on them eventually. I was quite impressed with Henry, as he showed a few of us that he still has the legs and is as deadly as ever. Of course hes a bit off his form, but expect him to play an important role in tomorrow's match.  I'll be dissapointed if French coach Raymond Domenech decides to play only one striker again, as I just dont think you can settle with a defensive formation. Sometimes you need to play to draw, and others; like tomorrow, you need to play to win. I'd expect the French to play rather aggressive, and after watching the Dutch destroy them with it, the Italians will most likely try to play the counter attack. Something that Lilliam Thuram and Gunner captain William Gallas will need to protect against; they both looked dreadful in their last game. And on a different tangent, if Domenech brings on Bafetimbi Gomis again, I'll likely break the Television. He's been dull and unconvincing in both games, bring on Benzema if your looking for a different attacking threat would be my advice to the French skipper. 

    Now in a miserable world, as so often happens when two super-giants square off, the game becomes more of a chess match then anything, with neither team really committing to the attack. Hopefully the game is wide open from the start, and both coaches throw caution to the wind.  Its dissapointing that both games are on at the same time, because I'd really like to watch Romania play and see if they can overcome steeps odds and be the second team to make it out of the group of death. For those in the states, I don't get ESPN classic; which is why I wont be able to watch them take on the Dutch, but it will be broad casted. 

My Predictions? I am always the optimist, so I am going to say. France 2 - Italy 1 and Netherlands 2  Romania 0.  

 ~Tj