Euro 2008

A Special Sunday post for my adoring fans. Since nobody really wants me to write about soccer, I figure a Sunday soccer post won't hurt anyone. With the first two rounds of matches done in the Group Stage, we have a good idea of what Quarterfinal scenarios we are looking at. For those who aren't too well-acquainted with the situation, I'll offer up a brief overview. The competition consists of 16 European teams, divided into 4 groups of 4. In the group stage, every team plays each other once, round-robin style. Three points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw. The top two teams from each group move on to a knockout-style competition. One-match elimination for stages, leading to an eventual European Champion. Greece are the defenders of the Championship, and Germany have the most Championships with three.

Group A
Final Matches: Czech Republic vs Turkey; Portugal vs Switzerland
-Portugal has already won the group and will play the runner up from Group B
-The winner of Czech Republic and Turkey are tied going into the match, so their situation is very interesting. The tiebreaker system goes head to head first, than to goal difference, and finally goals scored. The two teams are drawn in every aspect coming into today's game, so a draw today would lead to....penalty kicks! Awesome, two years of hard work and emotion down the bucket in 3 minutes of trick shots. Who's psyched?
Prediction: Portugal and Czech Republic move on

Group B
Final Matches: Croatia vs Poland; Germany vs Austria
-Croatia is already through and Poland is already eliminated. Croatia will play the winner of the Czech vs Turkey battle.
-Germany, the favorite coming into the tournament, has been embroiled in serious turmoil since the tournament opened up. They should cruise to a 3 or 4 goal win over hosts Austria, but you never know.
Prediction: Croatia and Germany move on

Group C
Final Matches: France vs Italy; Netherlands vs Romania
-Netherlands have absolutely dominated this competition thus far. They are the new favorite after outscoring France and Italy a combined 7-1. They have earned the right to sit their starters in the final game (Tom Coughlin doesn't believe in it and neither do I).
-Romania is sitting on 2 points, France and Italy on 1 point each. If Netherlands sits their starters and Romania pulls out a win, the France vs Italy match will be rendered meaningless. Lucky for us, the games are played simultaneously.
-France vs Italy is the marquee rivalry in International football right now. This will be the fourth time the two sides play each other since the famous World Cup Final. Lots of beef in this one, several jobs on the line.
Prediction: Netherlands and Italy move on

Group D
Final Matches: Sweden vs Russia; Spain vs Greece
-Spain has already moved forward and are probably the second best team in the tournament right now. Offensively, they are devastating, but the loss of Carlos Puyol in an already questionable back 4 leaves a lot of questions to be answered.
-Greece, defending champions, are already eliminated.
-Winner of Sweden vs Russia moves forward. Most people will assume this match has already been decided, but don't forget the Russians knocked out the English in qualifiying. Honestly though, after seeing this picture...DUUUU GAMLAAAA DU FRRIAAAA (the opening to the Swedish National Anthem)
Prediction: Spain and Sweden move on

If my predictions were to ring true, than the quarterfinal bracket would look like this.

Portugal vs. Germany

Netherlands vs. Sweden

Czech Republic vs. Croatia

Italy vs. Spain

I'll be back with more on the Euro 2008 tournament once the group stage is completed.