Fab Fab and Superb Senna to Take Spain To Glory?

Predicting results at Euro 2008 is about as useful as a chocolate teapot (I had the Dutch to beat Portugal in the final and look where that got me) but the Spanish midfield duo of Cesc Fabregas and Marcos Senna may be enough for people to take a punt on Spain finally winning a major trophy. Fabregas, who does this week in week out for Arsenal, came on as a sub in yesterday's game against Italy and proceeded to orchestrate just about every attacking move the Spanish made against the resilient Italians. He, of course, also scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out. There must surely be a place for him in the starting line-up against Russia. Senna, a Brazilian by birth, was like an attack dog. He never let anybody through, ran tirelessly all match and also set up many attacking moves. He was a beast and very, very impressive. He may be the man to shadow Russia's playmaker, Andrei Arshavin, another sensational player who some say has been the player of the tournament. Is it any coincidence that Russia looked pretty average without him in the opening two games, including a 4-1 spanking by Spain, and then proceeded to play beautiful soccer in a masterclass of defense and attack against Sweden and, especially, against the Dutch? Arshavin is right now on Chelsea's radar if gossip is to be believed.
It's really almost impossible to pick a winner of this unpredictable tournament and we haven't even discussed the other semi-final between Germany and Turkey. As an Englishman, I cannot pick the Germans for all the soccer suffering they have bestowed upon us. And Turkey have played with enormous heart in this tournament. They seem to be running out of players through injury and suspension and will struggle against the German machine but my heart goes with them. Spain will just pip Russia to the final and go on to win it. But, wait, I said it was useless to predict.

Euro 2008 Hots Up as Big Boys Advance

It's taken me a while to write anything about Euro 2008 (please note nice flags). Maybe that is because England obviously are not there and it was just too painful. Anyway, the tournament is now heating up, having already turned in some scintillating games. Tomorrow, we reach the quarter finals with the exciting prospect of the pretty boys of Portugal playing their jogo bonito against the German machine. Italy, very lucky to survive their group, will play Spain while Croatia plays Turkey who, almost unbelievably, beat the Czechs in their last group game to qualify. The Czechs were 2-0 up with 15 minutes left to play and still leading with just three minutes left. Somehow, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, much to the consternation of the Czech nationals down at SoBo in Denver. Grown men were crying, I kid you not. The other quarter final has still to be decided with the classy Dutch due to meet either Russia or Sweden depending on today's results. My prediction for what it's worth. Holland will beat Portugal in the final June 29.

England to Get to Semis? Illogical Captain

We finally get a high caliber coach and then we set him illogical targets. No, not Fernando Clavijo, but Fabio Capello. The powers that be at the English FA, who so ridiculously insisted on having Steve "I'll stand under my umbrella and drink mineral water" McClaren as national team coach, have now heaped the pressure on the Italian to make sure that England reach the semi-finals of either the World Cup in 2010 or the European Championships in 2012. What is the point of such targets? It's almost like predicting scores in games, absolutely pointless, because it takes no account of luck, form of players, how well the oppostion is playing and any other number of indefinable factors. I understand the need to get a solid future plan together for the sake of English football but I think we should spare the silly targets. Yes, it would be nice to get to the semi-finals of a major tournament, something we haven't done for a while now (Euro 96, Italia 90) but so much will be out of our hands. We can play our best, play some proper football that the England players are well capable of and then we will see. Personally, I think Argentina will beat the Ivory Coast in the World Cup Final in South Africa with Didier Drogba scoring two in a 3-2 defeat of the Super Elephants. See how stupid it is to predict things? Here's the link to the BBC story on silly target setting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7386163.stm