The Good, The Bad, The WTF: Euro 2008 Edition

Written by Darkvader on June 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro 2008: Day 9

Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic
What a way to kick off the final round of group games. Turkey were on the verge of elimination, down 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, but they put together an amazing comeback to beat the Czechs, including two goal in the last three minutes.

It was a nervy opening to the game, with a couple Turkish players booked in the first 10 minutes. There were a few chances for both sides, but the Czechs had the better of the first half. And they took the lead after about half an hour through Jan Koller — picked instead of Milan Baros for this match — who opened the scoring with a characteristic header from Zdenek Grygera’s cross.

Turkey started the second half more strongly — an acrobatic scissor kick by Nihat Kahveci that went wide of the target, a good save by Petr Cech to snatch the ball off Nihat’s forehead — but the Czechs extended their lead. Jaroslav Plasil slid in to connect with Libor Sionko’s ball in from the right wing, with Turkey indignant because they had been attempting to substitute an injured player.

But Turkey were given a boost in the 75th minute, as Arda Turan made it 2-1 with a shot from the top of the box that just snuck past Petr Cech at the near post. They really went for it after that and were rewarded with just three minutes left, as Cech fumbled a routine cross (yes, it was raining, but you expect better from somebody who’s supposed to be one of the best keepers in the world) and Nihat Kahveci pounced. It looked like the game was heading to penalties to decide who would qualify for the quarter-finals, but instead Nihat scored again, through on goal — I’m not sure if he was offside or if the Czech defence just switched off — to curl his shot over Cech into the far corner. (Poor Petr. He deserves better, really.)

And then, as if that wasn’t enough craziness: Volkan Demirel, the Turkish keeper, got himself sent off. Yes, really. On the verge of stoppage time, knowing there’ll be a penalty shootout if your opponents equalize, and he decides that shoving Jan Koller is a good idea. The really excellent part is that Turkey had already used all their subs, so Tuncay ended up in goal, just to add the perfect touch of comedy to a brilliantly insane game.

Switzerland 2-0 Portugal
A thoroughly meaningless match, with Portugal already having clinched top spot in the group and Switzerland the wooden spoon. And it was as uneventful as you’d expect. I actually missed 20 minutes of the first half because my recording cut out, but I don’t think I missed that much at all.

Mostly it was a lot of pointless prancing around in midfield by Portugal’s B-team — including one of those Ronaldo-esque wrapping-one-leg-behind-the-other crosses by his doppelganger Ricardo Quaresma. Portugal also had a couple of decent penalty shouts, but they were both waved off by the referee, and nobody seemed too bothered — I think the Portuguese players were more worried about not getting their pretty white kits all dirty. The exception to this was Paulo Ferreira, one of only three regulars to retain his place, who had to be hauled off before halftime to stop him being sent off, after a nasty tackle on Valon Behrami. Actually, there were quite a few yellow cards for what should have been a relatively peaceful game.

Switzerland did start to push forward more in the second half, once they’d figured out that (a) Portugal was too busy faffing around to actually score goals and (b) Ricardo was having a shaky game in goal. They were rewarded for their effort when Hakan Yakin scored in the 70th minute, a good finish through the keeper’s legs after a long ball forward that was flicked on by Eren Derdiyok. Yakin added a second goal 80 minutes later with a penalty after Tranquillo Barnetta was fouled by Fernando Meira. The Swiss fans were delirious, as their team was able to finish the tournament with a tiny smidgen of dignity.

As for Portugal, it’s possible that they’ll be unsettled by the loss — not to mention all the foofaraw about Phil Scolari moving to Chelsea — and lose momentum, but I think they have enough natural arrogance to carry them through regardless.

Next up: Portugal will play whoever finishes second in Group B in the first quarter-final on Thursday, while Turkey face Croatia on Friday

Bad hair of the day award: Miguel Veloso, who looks remarkably like a rooster

Written by Jen on June 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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Highlights of Switzerland Vs Portugal 2-0 in euro 2008 - video

18th match of Euro 2008, Group A
15th June, 2008
Yet another stunning match in Euro 2008 after the hosts Switzerland which were already out from the tournament won the favorites Portugal though it has not effect in the tournament. Swiss team playing for their pride finished with 3 points saving some pride after having no win in two matches.Hakan Yakin was once again a hero for Swiss as he scored

Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro 2008 Liveblog: Switzerland v. Portugal

My last liveblog of Euro 2008 for a little bit, and I leave you with Switzerland v. Portugal. Bring in the models!

Portuguese model Diana Chaves: Dated Ronaldo (but who hasn’t?)

Written by Darkvader on June 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro 2008: Day 5

Portugal 3-1 Czech Republic
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. have made easy work of the group stages so far. They got off to a good start in this game as well, with an early goal. Ronaldo was played into the box via a one-two with Nuno Gomes; Petr Cech did well to just barely tip the ball away from him, but it fell to Deco and he scrambled it across the goal line. Libor Sionko equalized for the Czech Republic less than 10 minutes later, getting up well to power in a header from a corner.

The Czechs certainly looked more lively than they did against Switzerland in their opening game, but they weren’t effective enough up front. Apparently we got the Premiership Milan Baros (i.e., lots of headless chicken running) rather than the Euro 2004 version that actually knows how to put the ball in the net. I suppose it didn’t help that he was pretty isolated up front. Anyway, in the absence of goals, much of the middle section of the game involved niggly fouls, people randomly falling over and whining at the ref, and Portuguese players preening in their skintight white kits. I have to admit, they kind of looked nice with Ronniecakes’ shiny green boots.

Speaking of preening: Ronaldo, after 63 minutes, scoring the winning goal for Portugal. They were awarded yet another free kick, and this one was sent wide to Deco, who set up Ronaldo at the top of the box, and he slotted it through a crowd of defenders and past the keeper. And then followed that up a little while later by squabbling with Simao over who’d get to take a free kick. Silly boy, doesn’t he know that it’s always Ronaldo’s turn to shank it into the wall? The Czechs had a few more chances to pull themselves back into the game, but couldn’t take advantage. Instead Portugal added a third goal in stoppage time, after a quick free kick that set Ronaldo free behind the defence. He drew Petr Cech out and then squared it to Ricardo Quaresma for an easy finish. It wasn’t all about Ronaldo in this game — Deco, for one, played very well too — but it is hard to look past the gel-monkey right now.

Turkey 2-1 Switzerland
This could have been a very dull match (I didn’t watch the whole thing, actually), but it was enlivened by the torrential rain that turned the pitch into a gigantic slip-and-slide. Switzerland opened the scoring after half an hour with a long ball to Eren Derdiyok, who rounded the keeper and then squared it to Hakan Yakin — only for the ball to stop in a puddle along the way before he could poke it over the line.

They weren’t able to hold on to their lead, though. Substitute Senturk Semih equalized for Turkey partway through the second half, attacking a cross from the left and getting up ahead of the defender for the header. Switzerland still had hopes of hanging on for a draw, but they were sucker-punched by a Turkish counter-attack in stoppage time, as Turan Arda’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected past Diego Benaglio in goal. It was a devastating result for the Swiss, who have had absolutely no luck in this tournament. Unfortunately, they lacked the firepower up front to take advantage of Turkey’s periodic defensive lapses — Yakin, for example, missed a great chance just after the first goal. I am a bit disappointed by the lack of post-game fighting, but I guess they were all just too waterlogged.

Anyway, Switzerland have been eliminated, while Portugal have guaranteed their spot in the quarter-finals as group winners. The Czech Republic and Turkey face each other in their final group game to decide which of them will move on. They both have identical records so far, which means that the winner goes through; if there’s a tie, it will be decided by penalty kicks, according to UEFA:

Should two teams or more from the same group finish with an equal number of points, they will be ranked based on the following criteria:

- Number of points earned in matches between the teams in question;
- Goal difference in matches between the teams in question;
- Goals scored in matches between the teams in question;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- * In cases where exactly two teams are equal in all previously listed criteria and play one another to a draw in their final group match, kicks from the penalty mark will be conducted in lieu of the remaining criteria;
- UEFA coefficient;
- Fair play conduct of the teams in the group stage;
- Drawing of lots.

Next up in Group A: Turkey v. Czech Republic and Portugal v. Switzerland, both kicking off at 2:30 pm on Sunday

Bad hair of the day award: The Czech’s Tomas Ujfalusi, for a combination of long, lank hair and a sketchy goatee that makes him look like he belongs in a biker bar

Written by Jen on June 12th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro Trash Day 5: “90th minute substitution”

Written by Darkvader on June 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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Highlights of Turkey VS Switzerland 2-1 on euro 2008

Turkey defeated the host Switzerland on the match played Wednesday on euro 2008 by 2-1. This is Turkey first win in two matches and Switzerland holds both defeat which seems they haven’t qualify further.

Semih senturk and Arda Turan scored for Turkey for their win whereas Hakan Yakin scored for host. Swiss took the lead in the 32 nd min with the goal from Yakan and first half ended with Swiss 1

Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro 2008 Liveblog: Switzerland v. Turkey

Swiss models: Sultry

Turkish models: Likely to be thrown in prison.

Once again, join me after the jump for line-ups and shenanigans.

The starting roster for the Switzerland:

GK - Benaglio
DEF - Magnin (C), Senderos, Muller, Lichtsteiner
MID - Barnetta, Fernandes, Inler, Behrami
ST - Hakan Yakin, Derdiyok

The starting roster for the Turks:

GK - Volkan Demirel
DEF - Altintip, Asik, Cetin, Baita
MID - Gokdeniz-Karadeniz, Metin, Aurelio, Turan
ST - Kahveci (C), Tuncay Sanli

Repeat warning: In order to watch the game in HD and live-blog at the same time, I am running things on my laptop, using my wireless network. So, any outages in updates are due to my running upstairs to power-cycle my router. You've been warned.

Second live-blog of the day, second masturbation comment related to my wireless network. I'm frightened.

00:00 - As Goat has noted, ESPN is all over the argy-bargy from the last time these two teams met. To be fair, the chance of another fight is the most captivating part of this match.

Apparently, the Swiss have Gary Gygax on the bench. I do not think that he will be very useful - he's not very mobile.

00:01 - And we're off!

00:15 - Senderos commits a foul. Kill me now.

01:00 - Turkey with the first corner of the game, but it leads to nothing.

02:37 - Giants WR Plaxico Burress says that he will not practice until his contract is finalized. Wait, what?

03:35 - Long ball to Magnin, and the Swiss captain is offside by approximately 230 yards.

05:01 - The first Turkish shot on goal is an easy save for Benaglio. The Turks have had the greater possession so far.

Call me fey, but I'm actually digging the Turks' baby blue shorts/socks.

08:47 - Deep ball by Turan into the box, but Benaglio gets up for the catch.

10:11 - Yet another long ball over the top by the Swiss, but Yakin is unable to catch up. HE'S THROWING THE MATCH!

12:10 - A good shot of how hard it's raining in Basel for this match. The poor turf conditions favor the Turks, as the Swiss are too orderly to enjoy it.

14:40 - Free kick for the Swiss, and Yakin delivers a dangerous ball which falls all the way to Demirel.

Written by Darkvader on June 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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WAtch LIVE streaming EURO 2008 Switzerland VS Turkey for FREE

EURO 2008
Match # 10 Group A
Switzerland VS Turkey
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Venue : Basel - St. Jakob-Park
Time : 20:45 Local

Switzerland and Turkey will both try to win the match as they have chance to qualify further in the Euro 2008 quarters. Both the teams have lost their openers in the EURO. If they can win this and upcoming match they definitely have great chance of winning it. Switzerland

Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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Euro 2008: Day 1

Czech Republic 1-0 Switzerland
So, not a bad game to kick off the tournament. The Swiss may not be one of the favoured teams, but they gave a good account of themselves overall, despite the loss. The Czechs took a while to get going, and although they had more quality than their opponents, I’d say they were lucky to come away with a win, and they needed a few good saves from Petr Cech to keep them in the game.

Switzerland, meanwhile, had a terrible bit of luck when captain Alexander Frei went down with a knee injury just before halftime. He had to leave the game, and — as you could probably guess from his devastated reaction — his tournament is over as well. That’s a huge blow, because you have to wonder who’s going to score their goals now, with only two proper strikers left in the squad. And that proved to be the problem in the second half, as despite a strong performance from the Swiss, it was the Czechs who eventually took the lead after 70 minutes. The ball was headed back in past the Swiss defence and Vaclav Sverkos, who’d come on earlier for Jan Koller — ran on to it to score.

More bad luck for Switzerland: they probably should have had a penalty for a handball by Tomas Ujfalusi late in the second half, but instead the referee played on, and first Tranquillo Barnetta had his shot brilliantly saved by Cech, and then Johan Vonlanthen whacked the rebound off the crossbar. Anyway, the result doesn’t bode well for their chances of progressing from the group. The Czech Republic, meanwhile, will have to step up their game a bit — i.e., come up with something other than lumping the ball up to Koller — if they want to get past Turkey and/or Portugal.

Portugal 2-0 Turkey
Apparently this is what you do if you’re suffering from a lack of strikers: get your goals from your central defenders. Pepe opened the scoring against Turkey in the 60th minute after a rampaging run up the middle of the pitch, playing a one-two with Nuno Gomes to get into the box and finishing well under pressure from the Turkish defender. And it was fitting that he was the one to score, after seeing an earlier header ruled out for a (correct but very close) offside call. Substitute Raul Meireles added a second goal for Portugal in stoppage time after a well-worked move, fed by Joao Moutinho on the edge of the box.

It was a pretty open, entertaining game to watch, with both teams more interested in attacking — or, in Turkey’s case, pressing forward and then throwing themselves to the ground instead of shooting — than defending. As for you-know-who, Turkey seemed to be double- and triple-teaming him, but he still showed a few flashes of brilliance, and was involved in the buildup to both goal. His most notable contribution was probably a dangerous free kick in the first half that was just barely tipped onto the post by Volkan. That, and possibly pouting when he realized that Simao’s jersey was even more skin-tight than his own.

Anyway, a much better start to the tournament for Portugal than last time around, when they lost to eventual champions Greece in the opening game. Turkey will feel that they have a decent shot at surviving the group, but they have to learn to take their chances — they had only one shot on target — rather than just falling over.

Next up in Group A: Turkey v. Switzerland and Portugal v. Czech Republic, both on Wednesday

Bad hair of the day award: Valon Behrami of Switzerland, who seems to have been a bit too enthusiastic with the Lady Clairol highlighting kit.

Written by Jen on June 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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