Camino Barcelona Blog

Hi everyone!!!

Here we are again with some news about the European championship. Seven countries have already passed to the quarters; today we are waiting for the last country to pass, Sweden or Russia. The only big surprise of the Championship was that France did not go through to the next leg, but considering in which group they were, one of the ‘big’ teams had to come back home soon…

So, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey, Netherlands, Italy and Spain have passed to the quarter finals. We are going to see very interesting matches this week, starting with Germany – Portugal. After the win versus Austria with the result of 1-0, the German press has warmed up its tone for the players and especially for Ballack. Germany’s problem right now is Lukas Podolski who might not play in the quarter final match versus Portugal, because he was injured in calf. This is really good news for Portugal .On the other side the goalkeeper Jens Lehman said that he is prepared for the match and that he knows a secret way to stop Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal. However Germany has a lot to improve in its game and this was clearly seen in its last match versus Austria. The match Germany – Portugal will be very difficult, where Portugal is whiskered as winner.

Croatia is also in big trouble, defender Knezevic is injured badly and will not be able to play anymore in this tournament. Croatia will play versus a very competitive Turkey which has shown that they can overturn the disadvantages. Turkey’s team seems to me very fast and aggressive. The challenge between these countries will send to the semifinals one team from the Balkans.

Group C confirmed what was said at the beginning of the tournament: that was the group of hell . From yesterdays results Netherlands and Italy passed to the quarters.

France could not do anything in front of the “Azurri” and was obligated to interrupt its dream for European championship. Italy’s place to the quarters was also secured by the Netherlands, who won 2-0 against Romania. The tulips won their third match and are now at the head of the group. However Marco Van Basten still remains with his foots on the earth. He is seriously thinking for the other matches, “The real European championship starts now” – he said.
The Frenchmen are very disappointed by their coach Domenech and after a poll made by the French newspaper “Le Figaro”, almost 82% of the Frenchmen’s think that Domenech should leave his coach position.

On the other side, Italy will meet Spain and the Netherlands will wait for the second runner-up of group D.

Greece and Spain are going to play a non important game today. That’s it because Spain has already classified for the quarter finals as first of the group and Greece is already knocked out from the group. This is the second endurance between the two countries in Euro football cup; the first match was in Portugal 2004, where the result was a draw. This time, I’m pretty sure that Spain will win.

Sweden on the other side is ready for the Russian roulette. These two countries will play today on this decisive endurance to the quarters. The Swedish team seems whiskered as winner. They also have the luxury to end the game in draw because they have better goal average than Russia.

Below you can find the Quarter finals matches, dates and times:

Portugal – Germany 20:45 on 19th June

Turkey – Croatia 20:45 on 20th June

Netherlands – (Sweden or Russia) 20:45 on 21st June

Spain – Italy 20:45 on 22nd June

I find it really hard to predict which teams might win… hmm… probably Portugal, Turkey, Netherlands and Spain

Which countries do you think will get to the semis?

Take care,

Genta

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Genta's Posts, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.