Footie Girl

Premiership Weekend Roundup: October 4-5

2008-10-06T14:19:00.001-04:00

Manchester City 2-3 Liverpool
Oh, that was just gorgeous. Ok, not Liverpool going behind 2-0 by halftime, or Xabi Alonso practically having his ankle taken off by Zabaleta. (And seriously, what is it about him that encourages people into dangerous tackles?) But everything after that was great. And even before City were reduced to 10 men, Liverpool's second-half performance was light-years removed from the way they'd played before the break. It wasn't quite an Istanbul-style comeback, but a win like this is a hyge psychological boost. If they keep pulling off stuff like this, they just might have a chance at the title -- assuming, that is, that being considered favourites doesn't make them immediately collapse.

Blackburn 0-2 Manchester United
I said when United were trying to sign Dimitar Berbatov that I didn't think it was a good idea, because he's a lazy player. And he may indeed be lazy, but I don't care anymore, because he's turned out to be a fantastic addition to the team, not only scoring goals but creating opportunities for his teammates. The score was only 2-0 but it could've been more, even if Wes Brown hadn't scored the opening goal with the help of a foul on the keeper by Nemanja Vidic.

Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal
Sunderland held Arsenal off for 85 minutes before Grant Leadbitter gave them the lead, coming on as a substitute and scoring a beautiful goal with practically his first touch of the game. It wasn't enough to give them the victory, though, as Cesc Fabregas equalized in added time -- with a header, of all things. This is especially noteworthy since (a) Cesc is roughly as tall as I am, which is to say, not very, and (b) he doesn't even have poofy hair giving him a couple of extra inches anymore.

Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa
With Drogba injured and Anelka not 100%, apparently Chelsea are copying the "who needs strikers" strategy that Man United pioneered last season. That's nice for them. I was attempting to study for an economics quiz, so I wasn't paying much attention, apart from noting that John Terry doesn't really need to hike his shorts up that much. I'm just saying.

Other results
West Brom 1-0 Fulham
Wigan 0-1 Middlesbrough
West Ham 1-3 Bolton
Tottenham 0-1 Hull
Portsmouth 2-1 Stoke
Everton 2-2 Newcastle

Holy crap, I just realized that Hull are in third place. Hull.

Champions League Matchday 2: September 30-October 1

2008-10-02T13:48:00.000-04:00

Aalborg 0-3 Manchester United
A goal for Wayne Rooney, two for Dimitar Berbatov, thank you very much. Let's all just forget about that weak draw with Villareal, shall we? I think it's safe to assume that Celtic are going to be eliminated at the group stage, as per usual, and based on this performance Aalborg really aren't much of a threat, so no worries until the knockout rounds start. Now United just need to get things sorted out in the Premiership.

Liverpool 3-1 PSV Eindhoven
Well, Robbie Keane scored his first goal for Liverpool. And his goal celebration looks just as stupid as it did when he was at Spurs. I think Jamie Carragher needs to sit him down and have a word with him. Or, you know, just take a look at Steven Gerrard, celebrating his 100th goal in a Liverpool shirt. The knee-slide is always a classic. (Thank god he's stopped that back-patting thing he was doing for a while.)

Arsenal 4-0 Porto
Blah blah beautiful football blabbity blah talented youngsters blah blah blee. Y'all know it's only a matter of time before Van Persie is broken again.

Cluj 0-0 Chelsea
Is it bad for me to be disappointed that Didier Drogba isn't more seriously injured? Probably, yes. Anyway, yay Cluj! Long may you inspire bad vampire-related puns in the sports media.

Group A
Cluj 0-0 Chelsea
Bordeaux 1-3 Roma

Group B
Anorthosis Famagusta 3-1 Panathinaikos
Inter 1-1 Werder Bremen

Group C

Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-2 Barcelona

Group D
Liverpool 3-1 PSV Eindhoven
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Marseille

Group E
Aalborg 0-3 Manchester United
Villareal 1-0 Celtic

Group F
Fiorentina 0-0 Steaua Bucharest
Bayern Munich 1-1 Lyon

Group G
Arsenal 4-0 Porto
Fenerbahce 0-0 Dynamo Kyiv

Group H
Zenit St. Petersburg 1-2 Real Madrid
Bate Borisov 2-2 Juventus

Premiership Weekend Roundup: September 27-28

2008-09-29T12:06:00.000-04:00

On the one hand, I am insanely busy right now. Booo. On the other hand, I finally have Setanta set up at my new apartment so I can watch the games properly. Yaaaay. So here we go...

Manchester United 2–0 Bolton
Yes, okay, that penalty was ridiculous. I'm not even going to try to defend that. I'm more interested in seeing Wayne Rooney come on as a substitute and link up with Cristiano Ronaldo to score a beautiful goal. And now, in seeing whether he's actually going to get to start their Champions League game this week.

Everton 0–2 Liverpool
Fernando Torres did basically nothing for an hour, and then won the game in the space of two minutes. (Should have had a hat trick, actually.) And it was an excellent performance from the whole team; they thoroughly deserve their spot at the top of the table.

Arsenal 1–2 Hull
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Other results
Stoke City 0–2 Chelsea
Newcastle 1–2 Blackburn
Middlesbrough 0–1 West Brom
Fulham 1–2 West Ham
Aston Villa 2–1 Sunderland
Portsmouth 2-0 Tottenham
Wigan 2-1 Manchester City

A recap

2008-09-23T10:26:00.001-04:00

Manchester United: Drew with those Chelsea bastards.

Liverpool: Drew with Stoke. Stoke.

My team: Made it to the playoff final and lost on penalties.

I: Do not want to talk about it.

Premiership Weekend Roundup: September 13-14

2008-09-15T19:01:00.001-04:00

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United
Ok, see, this is why it's not such a great idea to like both Liverpool and Manchester United. Because yeah, I wanted United to win, and Berbatov to be amazing on his debut, and Wayne Rooney to score a hat-trick or something. And instead I got Rooney marooned out on the wing, an own-goal for Wes Brown, and the Edwin van der Sar Comedy Experience. And yet I can't really be upset, because just look at Jamie Carragher's face.

Other results
Arsenal 4-0 Blackburn
Chelsea 3-1 Manchester City
Fulham 2-1 Bolton
Hull 2-1 Newcastle
Portsmouth 2-1 Middlesbrough
West Brom 3-2 West Ham
Wigan 1-1 Sunderland

world. gone. mad.

2008-09-12T17:56:00.002-04:00

Not that long ago, I think I was complaining about this summer having been boring in the footballing world. Apparently things were just building up quietly, though, because all in the past week everybody appears to have lost their damn minds. Managers are being sacked right and left (or not being sacked; nobody is really sure), and even more bizarrely, England are winning games!

I was debating on Wednesday if I should even bother watching the game against Croatia. In the end I decided not to, because I didn't really have the time -- or the whatever exorbitant price Setanta was charging. And I figured that the best attitude to adopt towards England games was a sort of weary bemusement. You know, like, "Oh god, what new ways to be mediocre are they going to find now?"

And instead they go out and beat those pesky Croatians 4-1. I don't know what to think about all this. I still haven't had a chance to watch the game, but I'm wondering now if maybe it would be better if I just didn't watch them again, ever, and then they can go on winning games and I can go on being pleased about it, without the unpleasantness of actually having to watch Frank Lampard stroll around in midfield and all that.

I am grumpy today.

2008-08-31T23:35:00.003-04:00

Oh Liverpool. It is too early in the season for you to suck this badly. First the fiasco of Champions League qualification, then Gerrard and Torres both get hurt, and then an anemic draw against Villa, just to finish things off.

Meanwhile, United didn't have a Premiership game this week, because they were too busy losing to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Super Cup.

Oh, and Toronto lost yesterday too, in stoppage time. Excellent. I think maybe I'll just pretend that this week didn't happen.

Premiership Weekend Roundup: August 23-24

2008-08-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

Manchester United 1-0 Portsmouth
Ok, now I feel like the season has started properly. I was quite happy to have missed last weekend's games and particularly United starting off by drawing at home to Newcastle. I know that they drew against Reading to start things off last year, and still won the league, but come on. In other news, Darren Fletcher is currently United's leading -- and only -- scorer. My brain is still having trouble processing that.

But I am becoming more reconciled to the idea of their signing Dimitar Berbatov. It's been blatantly obvious that they need a striker, and I didn't have a really good reason for not wanting it to be him. So what the hell. He can sulk around all he wants up front if it means that they score a few more goals. Because you can't expect Fletcher to do it all on his own, after all.

(This also match reminded me of one of the things I missed this summer, namely Nemanja Vidic flinging himself into headers and coming away all bloody. I do like that.)

Liverpool 2-1 Middlesbrough
Liverpool were not exactly convincing this week or last (a narrow 1-0 victory over Sunderland). But I don't really care. Two games, two wins, six points, thank you very much. Last time it was Fernando Torres popping up with a late winner, this time it was the man himself, Steven Gerrard, with a screamer in stoppage time. Plus the bonus of a goal from Jamie Carragher of all people. I can recognize that Carra isn't quite the player that he was a couple years ago, but I still hate to think of him not being in the team week in, week out. Even with the attraction of Daniel Agger coming in to replace him.

You know what Liverpool could really use, though? Wingers. I have been saying this for ages now, and maybe eventually Rafa will listen to me. I live in hope. Buying Robbie Keane is fine and all, but it would be nice to have more than two players that Xabi Alonso can pass to. (Unless Rafa decides to play Gerrard on the left, a la Fabio Capello. You never know.) And speaking of midfielders, apparently the Gareth Barry deal is dead, and I for one couldn't be happier about it.

Other results

Chelsea 1-0 Wigan - Deco is certainly off to a great start in a Chelsea start, pulling the strings in their 4-0 stomping of Portsmouth and picking up another goal here. I do have a bizarre affection for him, though; must remind myself that he's evil now.
Fulham 1-0 Arsenal - The Gunners beat West Brom last week thanks to a goal from Samir Nasri, but apparently Fulham were just too much of a challenge. This is what happens when half your midfield leaves, Arsene.
Sunderland 2-1 Tottenham - Spurs are still without a point, after they lost their game against Boro last week.
Newcastle 1-0 Bolton - Newcastle are apparently scoring all their goals this year via headers from diminutive strikers.
Manchester City 3-0 West Ham - City had a terrible time of it last week, losing to Villa and getting thumped in the UEFA Cup. Fortunately, they had West Ham waiting to beat up on.
Stoke 3-2 Aston Villa - Stoke recovered from their first-week defeat to Bolton in a back-and-forth game against Villa, who are not defending any better this season than last.
Blackburn 1-1 Hull - Blackburn are off to a decent start, with four points from their first two games -- but so, somewhat surprisingly, are Hull.
Everton 2-1 West Brom - You wouldn't have picked West Brom to be the one promoted team without a win, would you? Me neither.

Things that are good

2008-08-12T22:09:00.000-04:00

1. Toronto FC finally won a game -- not only that, but it was an away win! And a game they really shouldn't have won at all. They were missing a bunch of players, and they had a grand total of two shots on target -- but one of those was the only goal of the game, a gorgeous free kick by Chad Barrett. Picking up three points means that TFC have pulled themselves up into playoff contention again, although it's all looking very tight at the bottom of the Eastern division.

2. The Canadian women's team has made it to the Olympic quarter-finals, despite losing 2-1 to Sweden this morning. They finished as one of the two best third-place teams in the group stage, and as a reward, they'll face the USA on Friday. Oh goody.

3. Manchester United beat Portsmouth in the Community Shield. Although it seems that I don't care so much about the Community Shield if it doesn't involve somebody beating Chelsea. Still, it was nice to see Gary Neville and his dubious moustache again.

4. Cristiano Ronaldo is staying at Old Trafford. This is mostly good in the "oh, thank god that's over" sense. (As an aside, I have a confession to make: I don't really get the hoopla about tapping up players. You can't really stop people from talking to each other. What you can do is have contracts with steep penalties for breaking them. Yes?)

5. I am off on vacation for the next week. Not that you'd really notice, with the level of posting around here recently, but anyway.

Time to break out the oxygen masks

2008-08-06T13:40:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I know it's been quiet around here lately. But frankly, there hasn't been much that I've felt like writing about. I'm choosing to ignore Toronto FC's terrible run of form, and the transfer window is no more exciting than it was a month ago, which is to say, not at all.

But finally, we have some games that actually matter. The Olympic football tournament has kicked off, with the first round of women's games being played this morning (or this evening, if you're in Beijing, which I sadly am not). Yes, the opening ceremony isn't until Friday, but the football has started already for some unknown reason.

The Canadian women won their first game, beating Argentina 2-1 with goals from Candace Chapman and Kara Lang, so they're off to a good start. They're still not one of the favourites for the tournament -- Germany, Norway, the USA and Brazil are the big names, just like they were at the World Cup last year -- but I'd say they have an outside chance. At the very least, they should be looking to improve on their World Cup showing, when they narrowly failed to get out of their group.

Other than Argentina, Canada is up against Sweden and hosts China in Group E (the men's side is Groups A to D). Sweden also won their opening game 2-1 against China. In Group F, Brazil and Germany played out a scoreless draw, while North Korea beat Nigeria 1-0. And in Group G, the Abby Wambach-less USA went down 1-0 to Norway, and Japan drew 2-2 with New Zealand. The top two teams from each group will move on to the quarter-finals starting August 15, along with the two best third-place finishers; the final is on August 21.

I don't know how much of the tournament I'll actually be able to watch, seeing as most of the games seem to be scheduled at some ungodly hour in the morning. Plus most of them aren't even being shown on TV. But the CBC is streaming everything live on their website; there's a full schedule here. Also, Kickster is doing profiles of all the women's teams.

As for the men's side, things have been complicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling that clubs are not legally obliged to release their players for the Olympics, since it's not part of the official FIFA calendar. This means that players like Lionel Messi, for example, could end up being dragged back to Europe -- although I kind of expect the clubs to back down this time, just because it's going to make them look bad if they don't. Wouldn't play too well with Barca's goody-goody image.

Anyway, the first round of men's games is tomorrow, with 16 teams competing for medals:

Group A: Ivory Coast, Argentina, Australia, Serbia
Group B: Netherlands, Nigeria, Japan, USA
Group C: China, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium
Group D: South Korea, Cameron, Honduras, Italy

And the summer drags on

2008-07-23T15:48:00.001-04:00

Yawn. I think the most exciting soccer-related thing I've come across recently was the head wound I picked up at my game on Monday. Seriously, y'all.

Anyway, I figured it was time for another periodic update from the Great White North...

Toronto FC's extended streak of mediocrity continues, as they drew 1-1 with the Montreal Impact yesterday in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship (god, what a stupid name). Toronto took an early lead with a goal from Rohan Ricketts, but Roberto Brown equalized for Montreal just 10 minutes later. Once Montreal had that goal, they could just sit back and defend, because a draw was enough for them to win the mini-tournament. They'll move on to face Real Esteli of Nicaragua at the end of August in an attempt to qualify for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.

I suspect there was a bit of complacency from TFC and their fans going into this competition, since they were the only MLS team. But after starting out by beating Montreal, they took just one point from their two games against Vancouver, losing 1-0 at home and drawing 2-2 on the West Coast. That meant they needed a win in their final game, and they didn't get it. The Impact and the Whitecaps help their own against the supposed big boys from MLS, and I think that's not such a bad thing. A close, hard-fought competition like this -- and the rivalry, particularly between Toronto and Montreal that it should inspire -- can only help the state of professional soccer in Canada.

Meanwhile, in the domestic league, Toronto played out a scoreless draw with San Jose on Saturday. They had an early goal incorrectly called back for offside, and then Amado Guevara missed a penalty in the second half. But even so, not being able to score a single goal against the last-place team in the league is kind of embarrassing.

The week before, Toronto lost to Chicago 2-1, pushing their abysmal away record to one win and six losses. Chicago scored in stoppage time to take away Toronto's chance of picking up at least a point. The real robbery, though, came earlier in the game when Maurice Edu was taken out by the Chicago keeper and instead of being awarded a penalty, he was booked for diving. That yellow card also meant that he was suspended for the game against San Jose. Way to go, ref.

And in their two friendlies -- you know, because they really needed another couple of games to cram into the schedule -- Toronto drew 1-1 with Pachuca back on July 5, with Pachuca winning the ensuing penalty shootout 4-3. And last week, Toronto lost 1-0 to Independiente, as the Argentinean team scored off a free kick in the second half.

I think I said in my last post about TFC that they just hadn't been playing well enough. And it probably didn't help having all these extra games on top of the MLS matches -- as one of the commentators pointed out on Saturday, it means they have less time on the training field, which could explain some of their defensive sloppiness. The problem right now is that they don't have enough firepower up front -- Danny Dichio is struggling with concussion, and Jeff Cunningham is struggling, period -- which means that they can't afford to give up even a single goal.

Looking on the bright side, Toronto did look better in the last couple of games I saw, against Independiente and San Jose. No, they didn't win, but they were at least trying to pass the ball around again, rather than just hoofing it forward to Dichio -- which doesn't work all that well even when he's playing, let alone when he's in the treatment room. And they can take hope from the good form shown so far by 16-year-old Abdus "Ibby" Ibrahim, who made his debut for TFC against Pachuca and followed that up by scoring his first league goal against Chicago. They do still need a reliable finisher, though.

Just to add to the fun for Toronto, Maurice Edu and Marvell Wynne have been named to the U.S. Olympic team. They'll join up with the squad after the TFC game against Real Salt Lake on July 28. The team will miss them, but it's nice to see a couple Toronto players being recognized for their good performances this season.

Which is more than I can say for the All-Star team. When the results from the fan voting came out, TFC had six players in the top 15 vote-getters. But when the "First XI" was announced (taking into account the votes from coaches and the media)? A big fat zero. Thanks a lot, MLS. They did get a token with the addition of Jim Brennan to the roster, after seven more players were picked by all-star team coach Steve Nicol and the league commissioner. But still: bah.

Hey look, actual news!

2008-07-16T12:01:00.000-04:00

Ronaldinho has joined Milan for €21 million. OH MEELAHN. WHY. Haven't they learned their lesson about overweight Brazilian former superstars? I mean, if they Milan medical team can keep Paolo Maldini's geriatric knees ticking along, then theoretically they can do anything, but still. And it's not like they needed another midfielder anyway. They really should've been spending their money on defenders who are under the age of 30. And maybe a striker who's not 18. Or Pippo Inzaghi.

Actually, most of the transfer news this summer is making me kind of angry because it just makes no sense. Like this unending Gareth Barry to Liverpool, Xabi Alonso to Juventus saga. Except that Juventus don't want Xabi anymore because they went and bought themselves another midfielder instead. But maybe Arsenal want to buy him now. Or Barry. Either one will do, apparently.

So...basically, they are totally interchangeable. Which raises the question, then: WHY WOULD YOU SELL ONE JUST SO YOU COULD BUY THE OTHER? ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE MONEY IN THE PROCESS. I've been trying to wrap my head around this thing for ages, because I like to believe that Rafa Benitez is not insane. But I don't really get it. I mean, I can kind of understand why you'd prefer to have Barry in the squad, because he's more versatile. But as a straight-up central midfielder? Barry is a good player, sure, but Xabi is very good.

The problem at Liverpool isn't with him, it's with the players around him. I said last summer that they needed to buy a striker and a decent winger or two, and the same thing is true this year. They've got Torres now, which is great, but with Crouch gone they need a second striker, and the fact that Dirk Kuyt spent most of last season playing right wing should tell you that they still need wingers too. The other role that needed filling was the fullbacks, but that's hopefully been sorted with the addition of Dossena and Degen. You know where they didn't need any more players then, and still don't? CENTRE MIDFIELD. *sigh*

Also in the WTF files: Berbatov to Man Utd. They do need a striker, absolutely, but Berbatov just isn't the one I'd pick. He's not as old as I thought (for some reason, I was convinced that he was 30 already), and he's a very good player, but he's still lazy and sulky. I don't get why Sir Alex would want that in the team. Especially not for the kind of crazy money that Spurs are asking. Spend that on a replacement or two for Ronaldo once he and his hair gel waltz off to Madrid.

Enough already

2008-07-11T15:54:00.002-04:00

I keep meaning to post something here, but I am just so bored by the transfer window, y'all. Was it this bad last year? I don't remember, or maybe I am just conveniently blocking it out of my memory. Because this summer's version is apparently an endless stream of stories about things that HAVE NOT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Lampard to Inter. Barry to Liverpool. My forehead to desk.

Oh wait, that last one is real.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2008-07-04T16:31:00.001-04:00

Now that the Euro fun and games are over, I'm trying to catch up on all of the stuff I've missed in the past few weeks.

Toronto FC
Toronto continued their quest for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League with a 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Field on Tuesday. Vancouver's goal came on a 36th-minute penalty after Jim Brennan was called for holding Vancouver's Jim Clarke in the 18-yard box. It was a very lackluster first half from TFC, and John Carver made three changes at halftime in an attempt to recharge the attack. Toronto dominated the second half, and Jeff Cunningham appeared to score in the 80th minute, but it was ruled out for offside.

All in all, a disappointing result for Toronto -- their first home loss of the season. But they should be a bit encouraged by the fan support, as the stadium was almost full despite the fact that the game wasn't included in the season ticket package.

The rematch between TFC and the Whitecaps will be July 9th in Vancouver. Before that, they play a friendly against Pachuca at BMO Field on July 5, followed by an away game against the Chicago Fire on July 12 and another friendly against Independiente on July 15.

Toronto may have lost to the Whitecaps, but their MLS home record is still without a defeat. They beat the Colorado Rapids 3-1 back on June 14, despite missing several key players due to international duty. That was followed by a scoreless draw with Kansas City on June 21.

I was at that game, and although Toronto didn't lose, I thought it was a mediocre performance -- it kind of reminded me of a lot of their games last year. Maybe it was because they were still fielding a lot of second-string players, despite having everyone back from internationals. Maybe they're all just tired; I don't know. But their awful road form continued -- Toronto is now 1-5-0 away from BMO Field this season -- with a 2-1 defeat to the New England Revolution on June 28. They really have to sort that out if they want to be genuine playoff contenders this year.

A few other odds and ends

Toronto have signed 16-year-old striker Abdus Ibee Ibrahim from FC Dallas, in exchange for a conditional draft pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft.
Mo Johnston is in talks with Paul Dickov (just released by Manchester City) and Darren Huckerby (most recently of Norwich City). Both players apparently watched the Toronto-Vancouver game this week, and Dickov trained with the team yesterday. I don't know much about Huckerby, but I can tell you that Dickov has a very punchable face.
Amado Guevara, Greg Sutton and Maurice Edu have made it into the list of the top 10 players in fan voting for the All-Star Game, which makes up 25% of the total vote for the all-star team (the rest comes from coaches, players and the media). The team will be revealed next Thursday, July 10.
The All-Star Game is apparently going to be part of a three-day Soccer Jam, whatever the hell that is. According to their press release, it will involve "plenty of fun, interactive soccer and music and activities that will appeal to soccer fans of all ages." It all sounds kind of horrifying, frankly, but then again I've never been much of a keener for stuff like that. Anyway, the whole shebang will be bookended by Toronto v. Montreal on July 22 and the All-Star Game against West Ham on July 24.
The draw for the preliminary round and group stage has been done. Assuming that Toronto beats out Vancouver and Montreal for the one Canadian spot, they'd face the Nicaraguan champions in the preliminary round. If they win that, they'll be put into Group C along with Atlante (Mexico), Olímpia or Marathon (Honduras), and Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) or New England Revolution (USA).
Ottawa has joined the list of potential sites for an MLS expansion team, as Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is reportedly exploring bringing a soccer team to the city. Vancouver is another possibility -- and a more likely one, in my opinion -- with NBA star Steve Nash interested in helping to get an MLS team in his hometown. The league has already granted franchises to Seattle for 2009 and 2010, bringing the total to 16 teams, and is likely to cap expansion at 18 teams a couple years after that, so the competition could be intense.
In other expansion news, MLSE is looking into the possibility of expanding BMO Field from its current capacity of 20,000 to about 30,000 seats. The club has sold out every league game this year, including 16,000 season ticket holders, which suggests that the demand is there. The sticking point, though, is likely to be who'll pay for the project, with the City of Toronto insisting that it won't contribute any more than the $9.8 million it put into the initial construction.
On a related note, take a look at BMO Field's financial results for the first quarter of 2008. They reportedly lost money in the quarter -- more than they'd hoped -- but expect to be able to make it up over the rest of the year.

Canada men's national team
Canada opened their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-0 away victory over St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and then followed that up with a 4-1 win in the return leg in Montreal. In the next round, Canada will be facing Jamaica, Honduras and Mexico in Stage III of the CONCACAF qualifiers, which run from August to November. Canada’s three home matches are August 20 against Jamaica in Toronto, September 6 against Honduras in Montreal and October 15 against Mexico in Edmonton. Canada needs to finish as one of the top two teams in the group to advance to the next stage.

It's not all smooth sailing for the team, though: as usual, they're not happy with the CSA, and this time it's about which stadium should be their home field. The CSA wants to spread their games around the country -- and on top of that, they have a deal with the City of Toronto and MLSE to play at least six national team-related games at BMO Field each year. (These don't necessarily have to be senior men's team games, though.) The players, on the other hand, much prefer the natural surface at Montreal's Saputo Stadium.

I wonder, too, how much of their preference for Montreal is due to the crowd support they get there. Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton is a natural grass surface, but it's a huge venue to fill (60,000+ seats); Toronto is the right size, but it's a turf field and the away teams tend to get as much support as the Canadians do -- or more. Saputo Stadium is maybe too small -- only about 13,000 seats, but in addition to a much better playing surface, I suspect there's also less chance that the fans will be cheering for the other guys. But I'm with the Globe and Mail's Ben Knight in hoping that this will change in Toronto in the future.

Actually, combining this issue with the possibility of expanding BMO Field, you know what I'd really like to see? A whole soccer complex on the CNE grounds. A main pitch with a natural grass surface and expanded stands, for Toronto FC and (the majority of) national team games. Plus a couple of turf fields -- with a bubble over them in the winter -- for use in training and by community soccer leagues. I know it'd take a fairly significant injection of cash, but how awesome would that be?

Canada women's national team
The Canadian women's team finished second overall in the eight-team Peace Queen Cup in South Korea from June 14 to June 21. Canada opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over Argentina, followed by a 3-1 victory over their Korean hosts. A 2-0 win over New Zealand meant that they finished top of their group. Unfortunately, they lost 1-0 to the USA in the final, after Angela Hucles scored off a free kick in the 90th minute.

The team is now in a residency camp in Vancouver to prepare for the Olympics in August. They'll warm up for the Olympics with a friendly against Brazil at BMO Field on July 10. (Which reminds me that I should try to round up some people from my women's team to go and watch them. Or any of my teams, really; I shouldn't be assuming that only the women would want to go.)

The womens' U20 team, meanwhile, has just won the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in Mexico. Canada won all three of its group games, beating Nicaragua, Jamaica and Costa Rica, and beating Mexico 2-1 in the semi-final. The Canadian team went on to defeat the USA 1-0 in the final, with a goal from Karla Schacher just before halftime. The result means that Canada, along with the USA and Mexico, has booked a spot at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile this November.

Phew. My typing fingers hurt now.

Euro 2008 Final: Spain 1-0 Germany

2008-07-02T16:32:00.001-04:00

I wanted to get this post up sooner, but I've been blog-less for the past few days as a result of a beer-filled long weekend out of town. I did watch the final on Sunday, though, and although I was cheering for Germany, I can't say I'm disappointed that Spain won -- they were the best team both over the course of the tournament and in the final itself.

Germany started the stronger team in this game, with Miroslav Klose spurning a good chance to score as early as the third minute. They looked particularly dangerous as they attacked Sergio Ramos down Spain's right wing. But Spain were on top soon enough, with Jens Lehmann called on to make a great save in the 14th minute when Christoph Metzelder and his awful playoff beard almost deflected Andres Iniesta's shot into the net for an own-goal.

In the absence of injured Golden Boot winner David Villa, Fernando Torres was playing as a lone striker -- a familiar role from his time at Liverpool -- and causing lots of trouble for the lumbering German defence. He'd already sent a header off the post with Jens Lehmann well beaten, when he scored the game's only goal in the 32nd minute. Xavi's through ball split the defenders, Torres outmuscled Philipp Lahm and then, with Lehmann coming out to claim the ball, clipped it perfectly over the keeper and into the net.

If Torres was the pivotal figure for Spain, so too was Michael Ballack for Germany. Ballack has had horrible luck in major finals, and it didn't get any better for him here. He was already hampered by a calf injury -- although I think you'd have had to chain him down to stop him playing -- and then he got a cut over the eye toward the end of the first half, after a collision with Marcos Senna.

I think that just added to his sense of frustration, because a few minutes later he got booked for an altercation with Carles Puyol, and he seemed to spend the second half getting increasingly pissed off at the entire world. He did have a couple decent shots on goal over the course of the game -- one deflected by Ramos, another one going just barely wide -- but mostly he was cro-magnon-ing around and fouling people.

And with Ballack not at 100%, the rest of the team was also malfunctioning. Philipp Lahm was hauled off at halftime and replaced by Marcell Jansen -- supposedly due to injury, but come on. (Poor Lahm -- I swear I remember him being a good defender; I don't know what went wrong.) Klose got kicked in the balls early in the second half. And then later in the game had the indignity of being replaced by Mario Gomez. It just wasn't a good day for them, really.

Germany did have a good spell of pressure partway through the second half, but Iker Casillas and his defence held firm. Luis Aragones sent on Xabi Alonso for Cesc Fabregas -- who'd been much less effective than in the semi-final -- to shore up the midfield, and shortly thereafter brought on more fresh legs in the form of Santi Cazorla -- to replace David Silva, who'd come dangerously close to getting sent off after going nose-to-nose with Lukas Podolski. (I think Silva must have been on his tippy-toes at the time.)

There was a chance that things could've gotten out of hand, with the Germans trying to muscle their way back into the game, but the referee did a good job of calming things down -- although I still don't understand why he'd booked Casillas in the first half. Anyway, Spain reasserted themselves, passing their way through Germany as they'd been doing all game. Lehmann had to make another good save from Ramos' diving header in the 66th minute, and then from the corner, Iniesta's shot was cleared off the line by Torsten Frings.

The clock ticked inexorably down, and Germany had still only managed one shot on goal all game. Spain, meanwhile, continued to threaten, with Dani Guiza coming on for Fernando Torres -- who'd worked his ass off -- and almost immediately setting up Senna for what should have been their second goal. Spain might have liked to pad their one-goal lead, as there was always a chance that Germany could surprise them with an equalizer, but the Germans were mostly just lumping the ball forward in the late stages of the game, and Spain were always able to regain possession.

And so it finished 1-0 -- albeit a pretty action-packed one-goal game -- with Spain becoming European champions for only the second time. They'd already overcome their reputation as chokers with that penalty shootout victory over Italy, but they've now killed it off completely with such a comprehensive win. As for Germany, I said before the game that they had been more than the sum of their parts, but they showed their limitations here against a Spanish team that was undoubtedly superior.

I'm not going to pick a team of the tournament, because I'd probably end up like the TSN/Sportsnet crew, who went with an unorthodox sort of 2-5-3 formation. But a few awards to round things up...

Game of the tournament: Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic
It's hard to narrow this down, because there were so many great games, and Turkey in particular were involved in several incredible results. But this was the epitome of their tournament: a comeback from 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go that was highlighted by brain farts on the part of both goalkeepers, with Petr Cech dropping a cross to gift Turkey an equalizer in the 87th minute, and then Volkan Demirel getting sent off in stoppage time for flattening Jan Koller -- no mean feat.

Runner-up: Russia 3-0 Holland
Holland had disposed of Italy and France with ease in the supposed group of death, but an Andriy Arshavin-inspired Russia were brilliant in the quarterfinal and essentially beat them at their own whirlwind attacking game.

Goal of the tournament: Wesley Sneijder vs. Italy
A textbook-perfect counter-attacking move, with Gio van Bronckhorst clearing the ball off the line at a corner, and then pelting downfield to get involved again with a crossfield pass to Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt then headed the ball down for Sneijder to hook it past Gigi Buffon from an almost impossible angle. A fantastic team goal and a fantastic finish from Sneijder.

Runner-up: Bastian Schweinsteiger vs. Turkey
Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski sometimes seem to have a telepathic connection -- see also Schweinsteiger's goal against Portugal in the preceding game; here, Podolski broke down the left and crossed to Schweinsteiger coming in from the other flank, who flicked the ball brilliantly across the keeper with the outside of his right boot.

Player of the tournament: Marcos Senna
UEFA's technical panel may disagree with me -- they gave the Golden Ball to another Spanish midfielder, Xavi. But Xavi had periods where he was brilliant and periods where he was invisible. Senna was also often invisible, but for the right reasons: you want your defensive midfielder to go unnoticed, because that means he's doing his job. He was the solid base for Spain's tiki-taka attacking play, and a shield for their not always convincing defence. Consistently good throughout the tournament.

Hotass of the tournament: Iker Casillas
Captained his team to the title. Possibly the only keeper in Swisstria who actually knew how to deal with crosses. A big part of the reason why Spain gave up only three goals, and none of those in the knockout rounds. Went mano-a-mano with world champion Gianluigi Buffon in a penalty shootout and emerged victorious. And celebrated winning the whole shebang by stripping down and spraying his teammates with champagne. Well done.

Euro 2008 Final Preview

2008-06-28T13:05:00.001-04:00

My two favourite teams in the tournament are also the last ones standing, which makes this simultaneously my dream final and a nightmare. I'll be cheering for Germany tomorrow -- I'm half German, and my ancestors would probably rise up to beat me about the head with a beer stein if I didn't -- but I'm sure that Spain will do their best to test my loyalties with their pretty pretty football.

The prevailing opinion seems to be that Spain should win, but I really don't know what to predict. This German team seem to be more than the sum of their parts; Spain, in the past, have been less, but this time they may finally be living up to their talent. Spain have certainly been the best team overall, but let's not forget that You Can Never Count Out The Germans.

Goalkeepers
Iker Casillas versus Jens Lehmann: It's no contest, really. Saint Iker burnished his halo even more in the quarter-final penalty shootout against Italy, whereas Lehmann looked pretty shaky against Turkey and was arguably at fault for both their goals. I'd expect lots of shots from the Spanish team.

Defence
Spain's back four is supposedly their weakness, but they've only given up three goals all tournament. Carles Puyol has been excellent and Sergio Ramos seems to have remembered that he's a defender, not a striker, while Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevilla have done their jobs well. But they could be vulnerable to set-pieces and crosses, which have led to a lot of Germany's goals. Germany, on the other hand, have been rather porous at the back, with only Philipp Lahm really standing out -- and that not always for the right reasons. Spain should be looking to run at their fullbacks, as Turkey did so effectively.

Midfield
Two contrasting styles in midfield: Spain's short, fluid tiki-taka passing, versus German's more direct, robust style. Spain has a similarly mobile midfield to the other teams that have caused Germany trouble (like Croatia), with players interchanging positions and attacking from all angles. Germany will have to be disciplined to contain them. The Germans will also try to use their physical advantage, as they did against Portugal, to win the ball and then break quickly. Spain prefer to hold onto possession and pass the ball around in their opponents' half, but their slow buildup means that they're not necessarily going to commit people forward too hastily. It should be a very interesting battle.

Strikers
Top scorer David Villa will almost certainly miss the final with an injury, which means Fernando Torres will play up front on his own. Torres hasn't had the greatest tournament, unfortunately. I think he's played well, but the goals just aren't coming, possibly because he's been adjusting to the Spanish style after a year in the Premier League. But he's still the kind of player who can change a game in a moment. Miroslav Klose isn't a world-class striker the way Torres is, but he's got a good track record of scoring in big games for his country.

Predicted lineups
Germany: Lehmann; Friedrich, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm; Schweinsteiger, Frings, Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Podolski; Klose

Spain: Casillas; Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevilla; Iniesta, Fabregas, Senna, Xavi, Silva; Torres

Euro 2008 Semi-final: Spain 3-0 Russia

2008-06-27T16:04:00.001-04:00

These two teams met in their opening match of the tournament, with Spain convincing 4-1 winners. Since then, Russia had surprised everybody by not just recovering but improving enough to demolish the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, while Spain had been winning withut exactly bowling people over.

And yet this game finished with an almost identical three-goal victory for Spain. Russia apparently peaked in the previous round, while Spain have taken the confidence from their penalty win over Italy and are cruising into the final. (Not only have they vanquished their nemesis Italy, but now they've overcome the bad luck that was supposedly attached to their yellow away kits. Although those are still fugly. Whatever happened to the white away kits? I liked those. Especially in the rain. Um.)

The possession stats may show that it was pretty even, but they don't tell even close to the whole story, because it seemed like Spain spend two-thirds of the game in the Russian half. Maybe the more important statistic is shots on goal -- 11 for Spain versus just one for Russia. Iker Casillas had so little to do, he could've spent the game bedazzling the uneven hem of his self-tailored jersey and making fun of Sergio Ramos hair. Both of which are worthwhile ways to spend your time, really.

Spain were on top from the start, although Russia had a few good spells too. But Andrei Arshavin, who had supposedly become the player of the tournament over the past couple games, was a non-factor here, and because of that, Roman Pavlyuchenko was starved of service. It also helped Spain that, defensively, Sergio Ramos was having a much better game than their first match-up, winning the battle with Yuri Zhirkov on that wing.

Despite their dominance, Spain weren't able to break down the Russians at first. And they suffered a blow when David Villa pulled a muscle in his calf and had to be substituted after just half an hour. Cesc Fabregas came on for Villa, to play in the whole behind Fernando Torres, somewhat surprisingly as it meant a change of formation. But ironically, replacing a midfielder with a striker enabled Spain to find holes in the Russian defence and open up the play.

They were rewarded for their excellent play early in the second half, as Xavi opened the scoring in the 50th minute after Andres Iniesta played him into the box. Iniesta and Xavi haven't had the greatest of tournaments, in my opinion -- not awful, but not always scintillating -- but they were both pivotal in this game, not just in the buildup play but creating goals too.

Russia made a couple of substitutions almost immediately, bringing on first Diniyar Bilyaletdinov for Igor Semshov and then Dmitry Sychev for Ivan Saenko, as Guus Hiddink attempted to get his team back into the game. But it didn't help them much, as Spain continued to attack. Fernando Torres, in particular, had a couple of good chances but failed to score. I don't know if it was because of the wet pitch or what, but all game he seemed to keep slightly miscontrolling the ball as he turned to shoot.

Still, I was a bit surprised to see Torres taken off for Daniel Guiza in the 69th minute -- along with Xabi Alonso in place of Xavi -- because Guiza hasn't impressed me so far. And I say that despite the fact that he scored his second goal of the tournament just a few minutes later. Fabregas dinked the ball over the defence to him, and he took it down well on his chest before putting it past Igor Akinfeev with ease.

That second goal gave Spain a bit of a cushion, and they were able to just play keep-ball and sit a bit deeper. Still, they added to their lead further in the 82nd minute, after yet another lovely passing move, Iniesta out to Fabregas on the left, who slotted it into the centre for a nice finish David Silva. That was nice to see, because Silva deserved a goal for his good play all tournament, while Cesc has certainly done enough to guarantee himself a starting spot in the final -- unless, of course, Luis Aragones has another spell of insanity.

Russia's heads were already down after Spain's second goal and they were really out of it after the third, just waiting for the final whistle. I think they were worn down from 90 minutes of chasing Spain around trying to get the ball back. Still, they deserve credit for getting themselves this far, and with style -- while Spain, for once, have lived up to their pre-tournament hype. But they do have one game left in which to choke.

Euro 2008 Semi-final: Germany 3-2 Turkey

2008-06-26T09:59:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is, but this tournament keeps throwing up dramatic results. Once again Turkey were involved in a game featuring a stunning late victory -- although this time they were on the wrong end of the scoreline. It's just too bad we couldn't see the whole thing, thanks to the broadcasting problems from Vienna.

Turkey were massive underdogs coming into this game, seeing as they had so many players either injured or suspended -- or both -- whereas Germany were able to field the same lineup that had disposed of Portugal so emphatically. But, maybe because their backs were against the wall, Turkey produced an excellent performance, with Germany struggling to match them. Both teams were playing five men across midfield, but Germany were giving up possession too easily, while Turkey were spreading the play well and threatening on both wings.

And the first goal came from one their two wingers, Colin "Kazim Kazim" Kazim-Richards smashing a shot off the crossbar in the 23rd minute, for Ugur Boral to put the rebound in through Jens Lehmann's legs. Turkey were dominating the play, but they couldn't hold their lead for very long. Germany equalized three minutes later with virtually their first chance of the game, Lukas Podolski breaking down the left and crossing to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who flicked the ball across the keeper and into the net.

That was probably Germany's best move of the game, too; despite losing their one-goal advantage, Turkey were still the better team as the match went on. ...As far as I could tell, that is, because the feed went out for long stretches of the second half, apparently because of lightning hitting the broadcast centre in Austria.

Turkey must have been hoping that lightning would strike again for them, but instead it was Germany who took the lead in the 78th minute. Miroslav Klose scored with a header into an empty net after Rustu Recber (sporting a fetching double ponytail in a valiant attempt to win the Bad Hair Award two games running) came out to punch Philipp Lahm's cross and got nowhere near the ball.

But Turkey have been the comeback kings throughout the tournament, and they tied this game up again in the 85th minute. Sabri Sarioglu beat Lahm -- having a rare bad game defensively -- on the left and squared the ball to the near post, where Semih Senturk was able to beat his marker and flick it in past Lehmann. I think Lehmann was partially at fault on Turkey's first goal, and I really don't know what he was doing here -- crouched down, basically waiting for the ball to come to him, as if there wasn't a striker charging at his net.

Lahm redeemed himself, though, with what was ultimately the winning goal just four minutes later. He picked up the ball near midfield, exchanged passes with Thomas Hitzlsperger and burst into the box -- helped by the fact that his marker, Kazim, had gone down injured at the beginning of the move -- where he finished sweetly with a great strike that sent the keeper the wrong way. Turkey still had three minutes of stoppage time to attempt another improbably comeback, but this time Germany were able to hold on to their lead and run the clock down.

It was an excellent performance by Turkey -- in terms of both the quality of their play and the grit they showed -- but Germany have an equally effective never-say-die attitude, and they'll be the team in the finals. They'll have to do better than this, though, if they want to win it all. Maybe Michael Ballack needs to crack some heads together in the dressing room.

Euro 2008: Quarter-final 4

2008-06-24T12:23:00.000-04:00

Spain 0-0 Italy (Spain win 4-2 on penalties)
This was the only one of the quarter-finals where the team that had won their group didn't get knocked out -- but in its own way, the result was just as much of a surprise as the other games, because it was classic choke-monkeys Spain. Beating world champions Italy. On penalties. Shocking, really.

It's just too bad that it wasn't a better game. Spain at least were trying, but I think Italy were playing for penalties from about the 60th minute on -- if not before. And it didn't help the flow of the game that the referee was calling absolutely everything -- right up until they got into the box, when he would just decide that the Spanish player had dived.

But still, Spain kept coming forward, looking for a way through the Italians. I think at one point in the first half they were up to more than 70% of possession, with Xavi patiently pulling the strings in midfield. The problem was that as soon as they got to the edge of the 18-yard box, they'd be closed down by three or four defenders, making it almost impossible to get a clean shot off.

I do think that Italy's defence played well -- unlike some of their earlier games in the tournament -- but this match mostly just reminded me why people dislike them. They were so focussed on smothering Spain's attack that they couldn't be bothered to mount an attack of their own. In other circumstances they probably would've relied on a free kick from Andrea Pirlo to nick a 1-0 win, but with Pirlo suspended, they had to look elsewhere for goals.

And unfortuately for them, Luca Toni, should've been their main goalscoring threat, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The best moment was when he attempted an overhead kick and only connected with the ball enough to divert it out of the path of Fabio Grosso, who would've had a clear header on goal. Combined with Mario Gomez's awful performances for Germany, I have to wonder just what they do to strikers in the Bundesliga. And I'm a bit surprised that Roberto Donadoni didn't drop Toni and replace him with, say, Marco Boriello -- but on the other hand, Donadoni hasn't seemed to have a clue who he should be picking in his team.

I was almost pleasantly surprised, though, to see the substitutions that Luis Aragones made for Spain, bringing Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla on for Xavi and Andres Iniesta partway through the second half, in an attempt to change things up and make them play more direct football. I'm still disappointed that Xabi Alonso didn't get to play instead of one of their tiny interchangeable midfielders. But I can understand why they wouldn't want to drop Marcos Senna, because he had a very good game and even almost scored when Gianluigi Buffon fumbled his shot.

Spain continued to press throughout the second half and extra time, but they still couldn't find a goal. (They did get a whole bunch of corners, but that doesn't do much good when the other team are all about a foot taller than you.) And so we had a second quarter-final match being decided by a penalty shootout.

I can completely understand why Italy would feel that penalties were their best shot at winning, with the track record they've got -- plus supposedly the best goalkeeper in the world. But it backfired on them here. Iker Casillas -- who'd made a great reflex save on Mauro Camoranesi's shot late in the second half to keep his team in the game -- was absofuckinglutely awesome in the shootout, saving penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale before Cesc Fabregas stepped up to score the decisive spot-kick.

As an aside, I think Iker is now cutting off not only the bottoms of his jerseys but also the sleeves. I am amused by the idea of him hacking at his uniform with a pair of scissors in the locker room before a game. I swear next week he's going to be out there in a crop top. (I'm not saying I would entirely disapprove. Um.)

Anyway, Spain have (hopefully) vanquished some of their demons, and now they face a rematch with Russia in the semi-finals. I know they beat them 4-1 in the opening match, but I can't help being worried because (1) although Spain forestalled the choking this time, that doesn't mean it won't happen down the road and (2) Russia have all of a sudden become good. They'll probably give Spain more space to play than Italy did, but on the other hand Russia could pick apart the Spanish defence like they did the Netherlands. Sergio Ramos will probably slip in a puddle of hair gel and gift them a goal.

Bad hair of the day award: Not Ramos but Luca Toni. Purely for the pornstache. I don't know, maybe he thought it would help him score, but no. Not in any sense of the word.

Euro 2008: Quarter-final 3

2008-06-23T19:49:00.001-04:00

Russia 3-1 Netherlands (aet)
Another semi-final, another surprise result. The Netherlands, who had been the team of the tournament up until now, are out, and Russia have been upgraded from dark horses to genuine contenders. Guus Hiddink has further enhanced his reputation as someone who can produce the improbable, but a lot of the credit also has to go to Andrei Arshavin, who was once again pulling the strings for Russia and befuddling their opponents.

It wasn't all about Arshavin, though; the whole team has improved remarkably since the defeat against Spain in their opening game, picking up steam with a their comprehensive victory over Sweden. And they came out to win this one from the outset, forcing the Netherlands back by simply outplaying them. The Dutch team were supposed to be the favourites, but there was none of the caution from Russia that you might have expected. Although the Netherlands did manage to work themselves into the game more as the first half went on, they were still second best heading into half-time.

Marco van Basten attempted to invigorate his team by bringing on Robin van Persie for Dirk Kuyt, and the substitution did have an impact, as he created a couple of good chances. But it was Russia who scored in the 55th minute, as Sergei Semak's cross was volleyed into the net by Roman Pavlyuchenko, giving Edwin van der Sar no time to react.

That meant that the Netherlands had to really go all out in the search for a goal, but I think they don't react well to being allowed lots of possession rather than counter-attacking. They were mostly reduced to long-range shots as the Russian defence held firm, while it was Russia pulling them apart on the counter. Finally, in the 86th minute, Ruud van Nistelrooy found the equalizer, heading the ball in from Wesley Sneijder's free kick to send the game into extra-time.

That extra-time could have gone much differently had it not been for an unusual refereeing decision: Denis Kolodin was initially shown a second yellow card for a foul on Sneijder, but the referee then consulted with the linesman and decided that the ball had gone out of play first -- it hadn't -- and took the card back. Probably the wrong decision; but on the other hand, with the way Russia were playing, they might well have won even with only 10 men.

They were certainly the better team throughout extra time as it was. The Netherlands needed to build on the momentum of that late equalizer, but Russia just kept attacking, and the longer it went on, the more they were likely to win. And in the 112th minute, Dmitriy Torbinskiy popped up with the winning goal, a cross from -- who else? -- Arshavin that went over van der Sar and was tipped in at the far post. Arshavin killed the game off with a third goal a few minutes later, running onto a throw-in, getting behind the defenders and sending the ball through van der Sar's legs. (I feel a bit bad for Van der Sar; he'd kept his team in the game up till then and his defenders were pretty much useless.)

Anyway, it's nice to see an underdog team winning games like this -- rather than, you know, pulling a Greece -- but at the same time I'm a bit disappointed that the Netherlands are out. Partly because I'm wondering who will take up the mantle of wearing the tightest shirts at the tournament, now that both they and Portugal have been eliminated.

Bad hair of the day award: Another prize for man-of-the-match Andrei Arshavin. 27 years old and he still looks like his mother cuts his hair with a bowl and a pair of kitchen shears.

Euro 2008: Quarter-final 2

2008-06-21T13:37:00.001-04:00

Turkey 1-1 Croatia (3-1 on penalties)
Well, that was one hell of a game. It was relatively uneventful for almost two hours, before a stunning conclusion that saw two goals in the last two minutes of stoppage time, before Turkey beat Croatia on penalties. The fact that it was scoreless through regular time was surprising enough, if you'd seen these two teams play earlier, but Turkey were set up to stifle the Croatian playmakers through midfield, and they did their job pretty effectively.

Croatia's best chance of the game came in the 18th minute, as Luka Modric crossed the ball for Ivica Olic, who hit the crossbar from about two yards out -- followed by Niko Kranjcar heading the rebound wide with the goalmouth open. Croatia were undoubtedly missing Eduardo; although Olic ran himself into the ground, he doesn't have the same killer instinct in front of goal. He had another couple of chances in the second half, but the only time he put the ball in the net, he was flagged offside.

Turkey, on the other hand, had very few shots on goal, although they worked themselves into the game more as time went on -- and they certainly picked the right time to peak in extra time. They needed a great save from Rustu Recber to get them that far, though, with a flying stop in the 84th minute on a shot from Dario Srna that was curling into the top corner.

The game was balanced on a knife-edge through extra time, and looked to be going to penalties, before Croatia struck with about a minute left. The ball was crossed from the left and was heading out of play, but Rustu inexplicably decided to chase it down; he was beaten to the ball by Modric, who clipped it back across onto substitute Ivan Klasnic's head for a simple goal. Let's hope that fibreglass kidney shield is sturdy, because I think the entire Croatian team plus their coaching staff all piled on top of Klasnic in their delirium.

They got just a teensy bit ahead of themselves, though, and Turkey didn't give up, taking heart from their late comebacks against both Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Slaven Bilic was ranting at the officials because he wanted to make a substitution, but he should've been shouting at his own team instead, because rather than just holding onto possession and running down the clock, Croatia tried to play the ball over the Turkish defence and were called offside. Rustu sent the free kick into the box, where it fell to Semih Senturk to score the equalizer.

Once it went to penalties, you had to give Turkey the psychological edge, and that was only strengthened when Modric stepped up to take the first spot-kick and sent it wide. (It's a bit harsh on him, because he'd been their best player by far; but we'll give him credit for not bursting into tears like John Terry, at least.) Ivan Rakitic also missed for Croatia, making it 3-1 to Turkey after Rustu saved Mladen Petric's shot -- and redeemed himself somewhat for letting them score in the first place.

So Turkey are, against all the odds, into the semi-finals. They'll have to produce something even more miraculous to get past Germany, considering that they have a slew of injuries and suspensions which will severely limit their options. But after this, you can't entirely count them out.

Bad hair of the day award: Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber. It's not so much a hairstyle as it's just sort of there -- an amazing combination of frizzy and lank. Add that to the sketchy goatee, and he's not somebody that you'd want to meet in a dark alley.

Euro 2008: Quarter-final 1

2008-06-20T14:19:00.000-04:00

Germany 3-2 Portugal
So, the quarter-finals are off to an excellent start, both from my own perspective (DEUTSCHLAND!) and for those of us who just want to watch good football. The only downside was that we didn't get to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry. (Nor did he take his shirt off, as far as I can tell. Perhaps he's been replaced by an imposter.)

Germany were supposedly the underdogs coming into this match, and perhaps because of that, Joachim Low decided to switch to a 4-5-1 formation to match Portugal's, with Mario Gomez mercifully dropped to the bench and Simon Rolfes replacing the injured Torsten Frings in midfield. Low was banished to the director's box for this match after being sent off against Austria, but he'd done an excellent job of getting his team prepared both tactically and in terms of the effort they put in.

The first 15 minutes or so of the game were pretty open; although Portugal had a couple of early chances, their shots usually went straight at Jens Lehmann, and Germany were doing a good job of closing them down quickly and using their physical advantage to win possession and counter-attack. That's just what they did in the 22nd minute, with a fantastic opening goal: Lukas Podolski played a couple of one-twos with Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose as he surged down the left wing, and then crossed the ball for Bastian Schweinsteiger, bursting into the box from the opposite flank, to slide the ball in past the keeper at the near post.

Germany added a second goal just a few minutes later, after a run forward by Christoph Metzelder, of all people, who was tripped by Petit about 30 yards out. Schweinsteiger curled the free kick into the box, and Klose shook off his marker for a free header, his first goal of the tournament (maybe he's been liberated by not having Gomez beside him any more?). Portugal looked a bit shell-shocked after that; initially they were still trying to walk the ball into the net, but soon enough they started to press Germany more. And they were rewarded in the 40th minute, as Cristiano Ronaldo's shot was blocked by Jens Lehmann but the rebound fell to Nuno Gomes for an easy finish.

At 2-1, Portugal were right back in it, and the game started to get a bit chippy -- I think my favourite bit was Arne Friedrich fouling Ronaldo and then "accidentally" stepping on his foot for good measure. (Our commentator, incidentally, seemed to think his name was "Arnie," as if he was off governing California in his spare time or something.) Both teams had their share of chances as the second half went on -- Hitzlsperger with a shot over the bar, Deco scoring but being flagged offside, a header over the bar from Pepe -- and it could have gone either way.

But Ballack restored Germany's two-goal lead in the 61st minute, with a header from a free kick that was almost identical to Klose's goal in the first half. I've seen quite a few people commenting that he pushed Paulo Ferreira in the back in the process, but it wasn't much of a push; if you ask me, the bigger problem for Portugal was that Ricardo came haring out of his net for the ball and never got close to it. Plus, you know, how bad is Portugal's marking on set pieces? It surprised me a bit, actually, because I would've thought they were one of the better defences left in the tournament. But you can't leave players like Ballack and Klose open like that. It was all very reminiscent of the 2002 World Cup, when I swear that every single Germany goal was a header from one or the other of them.

With half an hour to go, Portugal were throwing everything forward, with Germany defending deeper and deeper in their own half. On the bench, Phil Scolari looked as if he was in agony every time his team fluffed a chance. He sent on first Nani and then Helder Postiga in the search for another goal, and the two substitutes combined in the 87th mnute, as Nani, with three Germany defenders around him, still found space to clip the ball in to Postiga, who split the two centre-backs and headed it home. That gave them a bit of hope, but in the end they just ran out of time, and it was Germany who are through to the semi-finals, while Portugal have come up short yet again.

A few other things:

What is with the happy celebratory Euro-pop music every time somebody scores a goal? It keeps getting stuck in my head, which is annoying, although at least it displaces "Maniac" from those awful Kia commercials that we get here OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
Hans-Dieter Flick, Germany's assistant manager, seems to have copied Jogi Low's trademark tailored shirt + trousers combination. Or maybe it's a uniform of some kind.
Did anybody else catch Ballack cuddling first Carvalho and then Ferreira in the tunnel before the game? I wonder if he used some kind of voodoo on them that made them forget how to defend set-pieces.
Something else I'm curious about: Now that Austria and Switzerland are out, are their fans cheering for Germany? Because if Canada were hosting a tournament and in a similar situation, we certainly wouldn't be supporting the USA.

Bad hair of the day award: I was all set to give it to Cristiano Ronaldo for his stupid quasi-mullet. (He has clearly had it cut recently, and yet he still has those little bits of hair on the nape of his neck. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?) But then I saw Torsten Frings in a backwards baseball cap over his flowing locks. I don't really know what he's going for here, but to me he looks like somebody who should be featured in the German version of Crap Email from a Dude. Anyway, sorry, Ronniecakes. Better luck next time. Maybe you can console yourself by going home and rolling around in your piles of money.

Euro 2008: Day 12

2008-06-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

Spain 2-1 Greece
Ok, I realize that this was an essentially meaningless game, with Greece already eliminated and Spain having won the group. But I still thought it was great, for one simple reason: Xabi Alonso wearing the captain's armband for Spain. That is awesome. (Yes, I am easily pleased. Shut up.)

Anyway, Spain made a whopping 10 changes to the lineup from their last game, which could have been dangerous -- remember the last World Cup, when Luis Aragones sent out the reserves to scrape a win against Saudi Arabia, draining all their momentum before meeting France in the round of 16. And it's possible that something similar could happed when Spain go up against Italy this time, but I think they should be encouraged by the fact that they came back to win the game after going behind. Also, I am clinging blindly to optimism.

You could kind of see, though, why none of these guys (aside from Andres Iniesta) are in the starting lineup regularly. Xabi was the only one who really made a strong case for his inclusion; he bossed the game from a position deep in midfield, and nearly scored three or four times, including a shot from his own half that was just barely wide and had the Greek keeper slamming into the post as he scrambled to backtrack.

Although they weren't as incisive as in their first two games -- they really missed David Villa and/or Fernando Torres up front -- Spain still dominated for most of the game, and Greece only took the lead against the run of play. It was a stereotypical Greek goal -- a header from Angelos Charisteas -- and some stereotypical Spanish defending, as they basically stood there and watched him. Oops.

Ruben de la Red equalized for Spain in the second half, from a knock-down by Dani Guiza, and Guiza scored himself with a header in the 87th minute to make it three wins in a row for Spain. And then he did some sort of stupid archer celebration -- apparently he is the La Liga equivalent of Robbie Keane. Now that's something to aspire to.

A final note: I have no idea why anybody would think that Gareth Barry is worth more money than Xabi Alonso. That makes less than zero sense to me. It's just a shame that more people would have watched this game so they could see for themselves.

Russia 2-0 Sweden
Has the real Russia finally shown up? After a pitiful loss to Spain and a so-so win against Greece, Russia claimed the last quarter-final spot with an impressive performance that partially explains why they're here instead of England. They got a huge boost from the return of Andrei Arshavin, who had been suspended for the first two games; he orchestrated most of Russia's best moves and just seemed to make the whole team look better around him. Plus, of course, you can't discount the Guus Hiddink factor. He has a great track record of getting his teams through to the knock-out rounds of international tournaments, and he's done it again in what was a must-win game for Russia (Sweden could have settled for a draw).

Russia were in control right from the beginning of the game, and they took the lead after less than half an hour, as Aleksandr Anyukov set up Roman Pavlyuchenko to sweep the ball in at the far post. Sweden had a couple chances to equalize, but Arshavin made it 2-0 for Russia in the 50th minute, finishing off a great counter-attack from Yuri Zhirkov's pass from the left wing (Zhirkov, incidentally, has looked pretty good in all three games so far). The Swedish defence, which had previously been so solid, fell apart under the whirlwind Russian attack.

Sweden briefly and half-heartedly attempted a comeback, but it was already too late. They never really looked like scoring one goal, let alone two. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was hobbling around despite painkilling injections in his dodgy knee at half-time -- his best moment was probably the attempt at a back-heeled flick over his head in the first minute of the game. And Henrik Larsson was showing the effects of being approximately 136 years old and already having played almost the full 90 minutes in their first two games. I lost track of the number of times the commentators referred to how "experienced" the Swedish team was -- which, as far as I can tell, just means "old."

(I am pleased to point out that I picked Russia to go through from this group along with Spain. Go me.)

So, all of the quarter-final slots are now filled, and it looks very promishing for the remainder of the tournament, because all eight of the remaining teams are more focussed on attacking than defending -- even Italy's traditional catennaccio has kind of gone out the window, considering that they're playing four fullbacks across the back line. I'm not even going to try to predict what will happen. But if I were to wish for anything, it would be for (1) Spain not to collapse for a change and (2) Cristiano Ronaldo to cry like a leetle baby. I live in hope.

Next up: Russia are rewarded by facing the Netherlands on Saturday, while Spain play Italy on Sunday.

Bad hair of the day award: Spain's Sergio Garcia, who was sporting a silly razor-thin beard and a ponytail that was roughly as big as he is.

Euro 2008: Day 11

2008-06-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

Italy 2-0 France
Au revoir, mes enfants. You got the feeling it wasn't going to be France's day when Franck Ribery had to go off injured after just 8 minutes, having messed up his ankle in by getting tangled up with Gianluca Zambrotta. Ribery has been one of the few bright spots for France in this tournament, although I do think that Samir Nasri, who came on as his replacement, deserved more playing time as well.

And the poor kid was hauled off again 15 minutes later, after Eric Abidal was sent off for bringing down Luca Toni in the box. I've seen a few people arguing that Toni dived, and I think he may have gone down deliberately, judging from the way he trailed his leg back, but I also think that Abidal fouled him, because he was grappling with Toni from behind. So it was the right call by the referee. Andrea Pirlo buried the penalty for Italy, Jean-Alain Boumsong came on to replace Abidal for France (oh dear), and the game was virtually decided.

You really have to question Raymond Domenech's decision not to call up Philippe Mexes for France. Well, you have to question Domenech's decision-making for a lot of things, but especially that. Lilian Thuram and Willy Sagnol apparently asked to be dropped for this match based on their performance in previous games, which mean that Abidal had to be shifted to centre-back, where he looked distinctly out of place -- but when your only other option is Boumsong, what else can you do?

France have looked shaky defensively all along, and it was the same in this game -- which is particularly galling considering that they're playing with two defensive midfielders to shield the back line. Italy could have been up by two or three goals by halftime, if it hadn't been for some abysmal finishing by Luca Toni. What the hell have they done to him in Germany? It's bizarre.

The other big problem for France is that they've failed to rejuvenate the team after making it to the World Cup final in 2006. There are a lot of players for whom this was one tournament too far, but Domenech apparently doesn't have enough faith in the youngsters to bring them in yet. Italy have a lot of the same issues -- a weak defence and a manager who doesn't seem to know what his best team is -- but this was a classic Italian performance in that they did enough to win regardless.

It helps that they've got the best goalkeeper in the tournament by a mile. Gianluigi Buffon saved their ass against Romania and made one especially good save again here in the 73rd minute, tipping Karim Benzema's shot just wide. But it was already 2-0 to Italy by that point, after Daniel de Rossi's free kick was deflected into the net by Thierry Henry on the end of the wall, sending Gregory Coupet diving the wrong way. I feel a bit bad for Titi for that, but not that much, considering he spent most of the game flailing in disappointment at his teammates. Way to be captainly there.

After that save by Buffon, the game sort of petered out, with France subsiding into existential crisis and the Italians trying to ensure that nobody else would get booked -- Pirlo and (surprise, surprise) Gennaro Gattuso picked up second yellow cards and will be on the bench for the quarter-final. They do have a variety of options in midfield, but I think their main concern will be getting Toni's mojo working again so he can properly threaten the Spanish defence. Oh, and, you know, figuring out how the hell they're going to cope with Villa + Torres. Should be a hell of a game.

Netherlands 2-0 Romania
The Netherlands second string cruised into the quarter-finals with a win over a Romanian team that may be limited and yet had previously managed to foil both the World Cup finalists. I think this makes the Dutch B-team slightly better than the Croatian B-team, for those of you who care about such things. Then again, when your B-team has players like Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, that's kind of a misnomer.

The Netherlands dominated from the outset, but I don't think they were trying particularly hard. At least, it took them a while to find a way to cut through the Romanian defence, wasting several chances in the first half. They didn't take the lead until the 54th minute, from a right-wing cross that was flicked on by Orlando Engelaar for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to finish.

As for Romania, they just didn't look like they really wanted to win the game. Even after they went behind -- and knowing that Italy were leading against France -- they were still too defensively focussed, with not enough players pushing up to support Adrian Mutu in attack. (Poor Mutu, incidentally, must still be kicking himself for that penalty piss against Italy.) And their fate was sealed with a second goal for the Netherlands late on, Robin van Persie controlling a great diagonal ball from Demy de Zeeuw and slicing his shot past Bogdan Lobont at the near post.

This performance doesn't really tell us anything new about the Netherlands squad -- we already knew that they had an obscene number of gifted attacking players. But what I find interesting is that their supposedly shaky defence hasn't really put a foot wrong so far. I'm very curious to see what would happen if they come up against, say, Portugal, further along the line.

Next up: The Netherlands play the Group D runners-up (Russia or Sweden) on Saturday, and on Sunday, Italy will see if Spain choke yet again at the quarter-final stage

Bad hair of the day award: Fabio Grosso, for his white-boy fro. Fabio, Andrea Pirlo would like to teach you a few things about the proper use of conditioner.

Euro 2008: Day 10

2008-06-17T13:52:00.000-04:00

Germany 1-0 Austria
It wasn't exactly an inspiring victory, but Germany have booked their place in the quarter-finals with this win. They've made hard work of what should have been an easy group, but now it's time for them to really get their act together for the knock-out stages. They did at least look much more solid defensively here, although that's kind of hard to judge against a team as goal-shy as Austria. Joachim Low juggled the back four a bit, bringing in Arne Friedrich at right-back and moving Philipp Lahm to the left in place of Marcell Jansen (supposedly injured, but I wouldn't be so sure).

The German midfield still looks a bit out of sorts, though, and their strikers are also having problems. Particularly Mario Gomez, who wasted three good chances in the first 10 minutes -- including an absolute sitter that he ballooned over the bar from about a yard out. Unbelievable. I'm not really sure how he keeps getting picked, because he's been equally useless in all three games so far. I think they might want to move Lukas Podolski up front with Miroslav Klose for the next game, and bring in Bastian Schweinsteiger on the left of midfield. At least Podolski has proved that he knows how to find the net.

Oh, right, I'm supposed to be talking about this game. Not a whole lot to say about the first half, really. Austria tried hard, but they just don't know what to do once they get into the penalty box. The closest they came was an extremely weak penalty shout, when Erwin Hoffer backed into Christoph Metzelder. But generally the Germans looked in control without creating much themselves either.

The main incident of the first half wasn't even on the pitch but on the sidelines, when both managers were rather bizarrely banished to the stands just before halftime for a bit of nothing. I don't know if they got into it with the fourth official, or each other, or what, but it seemed like an overly harsh reaction from the ref -- Phil Scolari would be very disappointed; nobody even took a swing at anybody. Actually, if anyone was going to be sent off, it should have been Rene Aufhauser earlier in the half, for pushing Podolski in the face. But he was luckier than Schweinsteiger was against Croatia, because the referee didn't see it and didn't even book him.

The key moment of the game was right at the beginning of the second half, when Germany were awarded a free kick just outside the box for Andreas Ivanschitz's foul on Lahm. Michael Ballack stepped up to take it and smashed the ball past the wall and into the net. Best free kick of the tournament. He's been admitted that he's been underperforming so far, but he redeemed himself with that goal. The rest of his team seemed to take confidence from the goal, although they weren't able to extend their lead over Austria. They'll have to do better than that against Portugal.

Croatia 1-0 Poland
I swear I watched this, but none of it really registered with me. It wasn't an entirely meaningless game, since Poland still had a chance to go through depending on what happened in the other match, but Michael Ballack's goal for Germany put an end to that.

The game got off to a fairly even start, but Croatia became more dominant as the first half went on. That continued after half-tim, with Ivan Klasnic scoring the only goal in the 52nd minute, from Daniel Pranjic's cutback. (Klasnic, incidentally, has made an amazing comeback after not one but two kidney transplants -- he apparently wears a fibreglass shield to protect himself on the pitch.)

That goal basically killed off any remaining hope for Poland, and Croatia were happy to just pass the ball around and wait for the clock to tick down the remaining half an hour. Anyway, Slaven Bilic should be happy with his team, as he made a slew of changes to the lineup but still won pretty easily, making Croatia the first team into the quarter-finals with a perfect 3-0 record.

Next up: Germany play Portugal on Thursday, in a replay of their bronze medal match from the last World Cup, while group winners Croatia face Turkey on Friday

Bad hair of the day award: Vedran Runje, Croatia's backup keeper, who made his first -- and probably only -- appearance at the tournament with a half-ponytail and lime-green scrunchie. (Sadly I cannot find a good picture of said scrunchie.)