Euro 2008:The Surprises Keep Coming!

We're now left with just 4 games of the showpiece event of the summer,Euro 2008 and we've had plenty of upsets worth mentioning.It all started from the league stage itself, when France,the World cup Finalists, had to lock horns with Italy,the World cup champions for the only available quarter final spot and both the sides knew that even a win against the other might not be enough to see them through.
However, Italy prevalied in the tight game and edged France by a 2-0 margin to sail through.Gigi Buffon deserves all the credit for Italy's progress.He was the man who saved a crucial penalty at the dying stages of Italy's second league game,against Romania,with the scores level at 1-1. Italy would well and truly have been dead had that gone in and that would have put an unexpected end to their Euro dreams. And again, Buffon was instrumental in making a few crucial saves against france. We must not forget the side which caused so much chaos, Netherlands! They scored 9 goals in the three league games and conceded just one, against France and were looking to be the hot favourites for the title. However, as I posted in my last post, the Dutch had started too well and as we've often seen in sports, fairytale starts often don't yield the right results at the end and that's what happened with Netherlands last night.

Holland were knocked out of Euro'08 last night by an inspired Russia and I suspect it has more to do with Guus Hiddink's mastermind than the Russian squad. This man always achieves the results least expected of him, be it in the wolrd cup with South Korea or with Australia and now, another underdog side, Russia! The game was locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes. Russia opened the scoring in the last 20 minutes or so and Holland pulled it back via the talismanic Van Nistelrooy. But it was the Russian Czars who prevailed at the end of the extra time, scoring two late goals to knock the Dutch out.

The earlier quarter final, between Croatia and Turkey was more dramatic. To start with, Turkey had started with 8 players on a yellow card and their first choice goalkeeper was serving a ban following his behaviour in the previous game. The Croats were the hot favourites and they showed it when they opened the scoring in the 119th minute(after the score was 0-0 at the end of 90). The turkish side showed their fighting spirit when they equalised in the 122nd minute to drag the game to penalties. That is where the Croats lost it, as they fired two of their penalties outside the post to hand the Turkish side a 3-1 victory on penalties and a semi final date with Germany, one of the clear favourites now even though the term itself loses its meaning once the knock out stage starts, as we've seen.

Tonight my favourite side, Spain will take on Italy and I back Spain to come out of this one as winners. It is a tough call as Italy are always a strong side but this spanish team can beat anyone. A Spain v Germany final would be a fitting end to this competition and I'd be happy if any of the two sides win.

Euro 2008! The Favourites and the Dark Horses

Well,the Euro fever is at its peak,with just two more nights of league phase games and then we move to the business end of this spectacle,i.e. the knockout phase.Predicting anything in football is always dangerous as you might have to eat up your words later but I would like to stick my neck out here and say what I believe!

Netherlands would be everyone's favourites,given the command they've shown in beating Italy,France and Romania and they've conceded just one goal in the three league games!I've been following football and sports in general for quite a while now and I can say that Netherlands aren't going to win this time.They've started just too well and over the knockout games,you never know,just one bad decision,a penalty or something against you and all your good work can be undone.I would like them to win but then,I'm sorry to say,they won't.

Teams like Italy,Germany and Portugal would be in the fray for the second favourites spot and they've quietly squeezed through to the knockout stage,without getting much attention.Portugal had an opportunity to win all three games but they ended up on the wrong side in their last league game.

My favourites are Spain.I know it's not a wise choice but this time it comes more out of heart than head.Spain have,on numerous occasions,started their camapigns at World cup or Euro with a bang,scoring goals by the dozens but then fizzled out.All this despite having a good enough side.This time I want them to win and they've shown that they're capable of beating the best.

Croatia are the dark horses.They're playing way too freely not to scare any of the top sides.Germany,well, I saw their young side do so well in the previous world cup and was sure that their players would mature into a world beating unit two years later but that freedom is lacking this time from their game.
Best of luck to them!

There's space for all forms of Cricket!

After a month long of tonking the ball in a pre determined manner, slogging the good length deliveries over mid wicket,going for big shots right from the first ball and encouraging the belief that being a bowler means death(especially in the sub continent) the past week has served a pleasant change to a genuine cricket lover.

England,the world's most tradational venue and one of the few countries which actually has a well defined "season" of International Cricket, played hosts to the Kiwis and since the first test overlapped completely with the IPL, there wasn't much focus on it.It was only in the third test that I sat back in a relaxed mood to be taken by the charm of good old Test Cricket.Sadly, the Kiwis lost that by an innings and 8 runs but the result is not the talking point.It is about the feel of watching test cricket, the joy that one gets when a Ryan Sidebottom takes a 6 wicket haul to dismiss the kiwis or a Jacob Oram makes a fighting century at a rate much less than run a ball in swinging conditions at Lord's to take his side to a formidable total. Over the last two months we've witnessed so much of T20 that we've forgotton how much fun we can derive when a bowler's teasing the opposition with his swing, when batsmen are afraid to touch the ball in the "corridor of uncertainly" and when the ugly looking slog sweep is just not employed.

However,the future of Test matches was never under threat from T20, but that of 50 over cricket was.Today was India's opening match in the Kitplay cup, hosted by Bangladesh, against Pakistan and going by the fun it provided for at least 80 overs,I dont think any form of cricket is under threat by any other.All of them have a niche for themselves and they have their own audience.However, I must admit that now the common audience would be very few. The die hard, traditional fans would not get as much pleasure from a slogged six by a Swapnil Asnodkar as they would get by watching Rahul Dravid play a perfect cover drive or a Sachin Tendulkar playing a straight drive back past the bowler which almost hits the stumps.

It would be wrong to say that cricket is the loser in the long run.No. If anything, cricket is gaining audience worldwide with the invention of IPL as it was broadcast successfully in over 170 countries in the world!And dont even think about Indian audience turning their back to it,it just can NEVER happen