Euro 2008......finally it started!

Once the Champions League Final was over and done with there was a big void in my world of Football. Of course all the transfer speculations start, but also a slow 3 weeks till Euro2008 will kick off. Those weeks are full of bullshit about possible line-ups, players included or left out of squads and of course the last-minute heart-breaks of injured players. As much as I love to speculate and talk about football, those 3 weeks were starting to slowly take away my enthousiasm. Let the games begin already, I can't wait any longer! Me and my dad made countless of line-ups for the Dutch side and we were sick of it. Another thing I had to make was a fantasy team, which caused me headaches for days. Who to pick? Those bloody Germans are in an easy group, so take one or two of em for sure. Portugal is going to reach the semi's at least and Cristiano Ronaldo is on fire this year. Probably they will square off in the semi's. On the other side of the schedule is just not that easy. Group C is ridiculous: the finalists of World Cup 2006, Italy and France, Romania and of course my own Holland. Who will advance? Everything can happen. I still give France and Italy the best chances and hope for the best. Then there's Spain. Great players as always, but so far they never produce. I still get my hopes up for them. I love the way they can play and with Fernando Torres they have a superstar. Despite him being that, I believe his partner up front David Villa will score more goals. How they manage their midfield is still a big question mark. It's possible to put in Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva and even Marcos Senna. So which four should be picked? This could be one of their big problems. I still see them win their group, but beating one of the teams from group C could be proven too hard. The second team to progress is a coin flip. Nothing seems to amaze me anymore since Greece won Euro2004. I really wonder what tricks Guus Hiddink will pull for Russia and of course Sweden has the quality to advance. They do seem to lack form though.

Two days ago things finally got started and it's easy to fill my schedule now. Every day from 6pm till 11pm: Football!


My predictions (hopes, well ok, then I would put Holland in the final. I just don't see us get far)
Semi-finals: Portugal vs Germany and Spain vs Italy
Final: Portugal vs Spain
Winner: Spain
Topscorer: David Villa

Champions League football........or should I say FA Cup football

The Champions League is not very interesting anymore. There are too many teams from the big leagues which makes it quite boring. This year there will most likely be three teams from England in the semi-finals. To me that's a damn shame, I might as well watch the FA Cup. I want to see a good variation of teams and preferably just the league's champions. They didn't name it that for nothing. Of course the quality of the games is better with all the top teams from Europe performing in this cup, but there's little room for upsets from the smaller countries. I was glad to see Monaco and Porto reach the final a couple years ago just to see different teams do well. Besides the fact there are too many teams in the Champions League from one country, it's not really special earning qualification in Spain, England and Italy anymore. I might just be frustrated that the teams I wanted to win did not, but I really hope in the next couple of years there will be some changes in this European Cup.