Euro 2008: After League Round
Expectatoins and Realities
Knockout starts today and eight teams will try their best to kick their opponent out from the tournament. While taking the account of the first round, this edition of Euro shows that it has reached to up to the expectations. Media encouraged predictions of the successful teams much before the beginning of this tournament. It will be interesting if we take a stock of those expectations, predictions and the reality.
As usual like every Euro editions, the defending champions struggled and lost out in the first round. Greece lost to all three opponents in their group D and only managed to get one goal in the entire tournament. They lost to Sweden for 2 goals and give a life line to Russia by losing to them for a solitary goal and in the final match against Spain they found the net at least once against two goals. They couldn’t repeat the show of their tailor made attacking design which use to hit the opponents from well calculated free kicks and corner kicks.
If it was an expected Greek tragedy, the champions of 2000 edition –France exit was something more than a fantasy. They ended as the fourth team in the group C –which is also known as group of death. Manager Raymond Domenech failed to find a proper bridge between his ageing world cup heroes and emerging talents. They lost badly to Holland and also lost, but played well, to the world champions Italy and managed a single point through a goal less draw against Romania.
Managers have a big role in picking up the best team and taking the best out of them. In the last Euro, it was the manager the Greek team who successfully lead his mediocre team to success with well planned strategies and execution of best tactics. Otto Rehhagel, the German manager of Greek team knew the strength and limitations of his team and used the resources very well and won the championship. But he failed this time to reproduce the same show. Same to Domenech, who successfully took his ageing heroes to the final of World Cup in 2006 and eventually lost to Italy in shoot out, failed to get the best out of that team and lost out in the first round.
Portugal, the winner of Group A performed in expected manner and reached in the top of group. They defeated Czech Republic and Turkey in the first matches to ensure their position in the quarter finals and did an experiment with unused players of their squad against Switzerland in the final match and lost to the hosts. Interestingly, Portugal become the leaders of the group but Turkey become the heroes of the group through their performance in the last match against Czech Republic. Over confidence and may say arrogance made the exit way to Czech Republic who were leading with two goals against Turkey in the final match and lost to the never say die Turks, who made a come back with three goals. The hosts, Switzerland never made an impact in the league round and managed to win the final match against second fiddle team of Portugal.
As usual like every Euro editions, the defending champions struggled and lost out in the first round. Greece lost to all three opponents in their group D and only managed to get one goal in the entire tournament. They lost to Sweden for 2 goals and give a life line to Russia by losing to them for a solitary goal and in the final match against Spain they found the net at least once against two goals. They couldn’t repeat the show of their tailor made attacking design which use to hit the opponents from well calculated free kicks and corner kicks.
If it was an expected Greek tragedy, the champions of 2000 edition –France exit was something more than a fantasy. They ended as the fourth team in the group C –which is also known as group of death. Manager Raymond Domenech failed to find a proper bridge between his ageing world cup heroes and emerging talents. They lost badly to Holland and also lost, but played well, to the world champions Italy and managed a single point through a goal less draw against Romania.
Managers have a big role in picking up the best team and taking the best out of them. In the last Euro, it was the manager the Greek team who successfully lead his mediocre team to success with well planned strategies and execution of best tactics. Otto Rehhagel, the German manager of Greek team knew the strength and limitations of his team and used the resources very well and won the championship. But he failed this time to reproduce the same show. Same to Domenech, who successfully took his ageing heroes to the final of World Cup in 2006 and eventually lost to Italy in shoot out, failed to get the best out of that team and lost out in the first round.
Portugal, the winner of Group A performed in expected manner and reached in the top of group. They defeated Czech Republic and Turkey in the first matches to ensure their position in the quarter finals and did an experiment with unused players of their squad against Switzerland in the final match and lost to the hosts. Interestingly, Portugal become the leaders of the group but Turkey become the heroes of the group through their performance in the last match against Czech Republic. Over confidence and may say arrogance made the exit way to Czech Republic who were leading with two goals against Turkey in the final match and lost to the never say die Turks, who made a come back with three goals. The hosts, Switzerland never made an impact in the league round and managed to win the final match against second fiddle team of Portugal.
At present the real hero of Euro 2008 edition is Croatian team. Slaven Bilic’s team killed English aspirations in Euro by defeating them in both legs and many pundits counted it just as a streak of fortune. They lost their key striker Eudardo, the Brazilian turned Coration striker who plays for English club Arsenal and badly injured in English League, before the Euro started. Bilic, one among the heroes of 1998 world cup dark horses, maintained a hundred percent success in the league round of championship against Germany, Austria and Poland. They defeated all three in a convincing manner and they kept their best performance against Germany. Most pundits expected Germany in the top position and in the first match against Poland they fulfilled those expectations. But, in the second match, Germany was a pale picture of their self and lost their rhythm and confidence against rampant Croatia. By defeating the co-hosts Austria, Germany managed to finish as runners of this group. While main hosts Switzerland managed a win in their last match, the co-host Austria could only manage a draw against Poland in the whole episode. Poland gained one point from the draw against Austria and ended up as the last in the group.
As I mentioned in the last blog, many pundits predicted Italy and France will move up the next level from group C –which is also known as group of death. The group consisted World champions Italy and world cup runners France along with Netherlands and Romania. Against all odds, the Oranges’ defeated all three in convincing manner and topped in the group. In the first match, they literally killed the world champions Italy for 3-0 margin and in the next match the Dutch steam roller crushed France with 4-1 margin and in the last they defeated Romania with their second fiddle team. Like Croatia, Dutch also kept a hundred percent result to reach in next round. Till the last round, it was difficult to pick up who will reach into next round as runners of the group. In the third round, Italy faced France and managed a 2-0 victory against the Les Blues. Sad part of this group is the exit of Romania who managed two points and standing ahead of winners and runners of the world cup. They had a hard fought goalless draw against France and another 1-1 draw against Italy but in the third round they lost out to Netherlands for 2-0.
The group D included Spain, Russia, Greece and Sweden. Many pundits counted Spain as one of the strongest contender in this tournament. Louis Aragonis, the manger of Spain had the problem of abundance of talent in his team. To pick up the first eleven is the most difficult task to him and his team won all three matches and kept a hundred percent success in the group level. They literally killed Russia in the first match with a 4-1 margin in which Spanish striker David Villa made his first hat-trick in Euro. They continued their rampant run against Sweden with a score line of 2-1 and kicked out the defending Champion Greece for 2-1 margin. So far, by performance, Spain have the most prolific striker in David Villa and he has the best support in Fernando Torres, who is considered as one of the best striker in the world. Apart from the saga of Spain, the real story of the group level competition lies with the next two teams –Sweden and Russia. In the first group match, Sweden defeated Greece with a 2-0 margin and managed a 1-1 draw against Spain till the dying minutes of the match when Villa found their second goal. With three point from first match, they faced Russia in the last round who also have 3 points from their 1-0 victory over Greece. In some places, the talent of manager will work much more than the players in the team. Guss Hiddink, the Dutch manager of Russia, who have such a great credentials in his profession introduced a revolutionised Russia in the third round against Sweden. Introduction of Anderi Arshavin in the Russian team made the right impact for them and they muted Swedish attach and gained 2 goal lead over fulltime. Thus, Russia managed runner position to reach quarter finals.
Now, the quarter finals starts and the winners of group A will face the runners of Group B and their winners will face the runners of group A. Same will done with group C and D. Group A winner Portugal will face Group B runner Germany and Group B winner Croatia will challenge Group A runner Turkey. Group C winner Netherlands will play against group D runner Russia and Group D winner Spain meet Group C runner Italy.
Now the match is not just between teams and players, it has much more to do with the managerial skills of each team. So far, Louis Philippe Scolari, the Brazilian manager of Portugal team did well with his team who faces Germany today. Scolari managed Brazil team in 2002 world cup and won the cup and took Portugal into the final of 2004 Euro and Semi final of World cup 2006 against France. He has a well balanced team under his disposal and Portugal has the best talented footballer in the world in Christiano Ronaldo. While meeting Germany in the quarter final, Scolari has to pick his best strategies and tactics and motivate his players to the optimum level.
Germany, who lost their World cup manager Jurgen Klinsmann will face Portugal in the quarter final without support of present manager Joachim Low. He saw red card from the referee in his match against Austria and will be forced to watch the match from the stands. Germany has experienced and well talented players and key player for them will be Michel Ballack. Many pundits consider this match is a repeat show of European Champions League where Christiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United defeated Ballack’s Chelsea.
The match between Croatia and Turkey will be more interesting than the clash between Portugal and Germany. As per expectations, these two are dark horses and well managed by high talented and successful managers. Fatih Terim, who has a wonderful managerial career in club and national level, is known for aggressive and attacking football. Meanwhile, Bilic, the Croatian manager is much younger and ended his playing career recently but known as one of the most talented managers in the world. He played in the 1998 world cup team which reached in the semi final and also played in English League clubs. Many big clubs are closely watching his performance in Euro. Both Terim and Bilic have a well balanced young team with them. So, the match between Croatia and Turkey will be exiting.
Third match is a complete Dutch match. Both teams Netherlands and Russia were managed by Dutch managers. Van Basten was the key figure in the successful run of Holland in 1988 Euro and considered as one of the most lethal strikers in the world. He took the reign of the Dutch team in 2004 and managed them in an unsuccessful spell in the world cup 2006. Guss Hiddink, the Dutch coach of Russian team is known as the most successful soccer managers in the world. He was the manager of Netherlands in 1996 Euro in which his team lost out against France in the quarter finals. He took the same team to the semi finals of World Cup in 1998 and managed unknown Asian team South Korea to the Semi Finals of next world cup in 2002. He took over the control of Australian team and manages them to the quarterfinal round of 2006 world cup where they lost out to eventual Champion Italy. After the world cup, he moved to Moscow to manage Russian team and took them to the finals of the Euro and successfully managed them to the quarter finals. Van Basten faces the problem of abundance and Hiddink faces scarcity of talent. It will be a match between talent versus managerial skills and we can expect a wonderful match.
The last quarter final is between group D winners Spain and World champions Italy. This will be one of the most interesting matches where the young blood faces the experience. Italy got a life line in the group level from France and manager Roberto Donadoni is trying his best to motivate the aged team to perform in its optimum level. Louis Aragonis, the Spanish manager have a very good squad under his disposal and difficult task for him is to pick up the best combination against the experienced opponent. This will be a very tactical match rather than a free flowing football. Italians are known for their defensive approach and Spain is better in their counter attacks. The speed and striking power of Spanish forwards –David Villa and Fernando Torres- will create havoc in the Italian defence and am sure Italian goalkeeper Gian Lugi Buffon will have a much big role in coming match.
As I mentioned in the last blog, many pundits predicted Italy and France will move up the next level from group C –which is also known as group of death. The group consisted World champions Italy and world cup runners France along with Netherlands and Romania. Against all odds, the Oranges’ defeated all three in convincing manner and topped in the group. In the first match, they literally killed the world champions Italy for 3-0 margin and in the next match the Dutch steam roller crushed France with 4-1 margin and in the last they defeated Romania with their second fiddle team. Like Croatia, Dutch also kept a hundred percent result to reach in next round. Till the last round, it was difficult to pick up who will reach into next round as runners of the group. In the third round, Italy faced France and managed a 2-0 victory against the Les Blues. Sad part of this group is the exit of Romania who managed two points and standing ahead of winners and runners of the world cup. They had a hard fought goalless draw against France and another 1-1 draw against Italy but in the third round they lost out to Netherlands for 2-0.
The group D included Spain, Russia, Greece and Sweden. Many pundits counted Spain as one of the strongest contender in this tournament. Louis Aragonis, the manger of Spain had the problem of abundance of talent in his team. To pick up the first eleven is the most difficult task to him and his team won all three matches and kept a hundred percent success in the group level. They literally killed Russia in the first match with a 4-1 margin in which Spanish striker David Villa made his first hat-trick in Euro. They continued their rampant run against Sweden with a score line of 2-1 and kicked out the defending Champion Greece for 2-1 margin. So far, by performance, Spain have the most prolific striker in David Villa and he has the best support in Fernando Torres, who is considered as one of the best striker in the world. Apart from the saga of Spain, the real story of the group level competition lies with the next two teams –Sweden and Russia. In the first group match, Sweden defeated Greece with a 2-0 margin and managed a 1-1 draw against Spain till the dying minutes of the match when Villa found their second goal. With three point from first match, they faced Russia in the last round who also have 3 points from their 1-0 victory over Greece. In some places, the talent of manager will work much more than the players in the team. Guss Hiddink, the Dutch manager of Russia, who have such a great credentials in his profession introduced a revolutionised Russia in the third round against Sweden. Introduction of Anderi Arshavin in the Russian team made the right impact for them and they muted Swedish attach and gained 2 goal lead over fulltime. Thus, Russia managed runner position to reach quarter finals.
Now, the quarter finals starts and the winners of group A will face the runners of Group B and their winners will face the runners of group A. Same will done with group C and D. Group A winner Portugal will face Group B runner Germany and Group B winner Croatia will challenge Group A runner Turkey. Group C winner Netherlands will play against group D runner Russia and Group D winner Spain meet Group C runner Italy.
Now the match is not just between teams and players, it has much more to do with the managerial skills of each team. So far, Louis Philippe Scolari, the Brazilian manager of Portugal team did well with his team who faces Germany today. Scolari managed Brazil team in 2002 world cup and won the cup and took Portugal into the final of 2004 Euro and Semi final of World cup 2006 against France. He has a well balanced team under his disposal and Portugal has the best talented footballer in the world in Christiano Ronaldo. While meeting Germany in the quarter final, Scolari has to pick his best strategies and tactics and motivate his players to the optimum level.
Germany, who lost their World cup manager Jurgen Klinsmann will face Portugal in the quarter final without support of present manager Joachim Low. He saw red card from the referee in his match against Austria and will be forced to watch the match from the stands. Germany has experienced and well talented players and key player for them will be Michel Ballack. Many pundits consider this match is a repeat show of European Champions League where Christiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United defeated Ballack’s Chelsea.
The match between Croatia and Turkey will be more interesting than the clash between Portugal and Germany. As per expectations, these two are dark horses and well managed by high talented and successful managers. Fatih Terim, who has a wonderful managerial career in club and national level, is known for aggressive and attacking football. Meanwhile, Bilic, the Croatian manager is much younger and ended his playing career recently but known as one of the most talented managers in the world. He played in the 1998 world cup team which reached in the semi final and also played in English League clubs. Many big clubs are closely watching his performance in Euro. Both Terim and Bilic have a well balanced young team with them. So, the match between Croatia and Turkey will be exiting.
Third match is a complete Dutch match. Both teams Netherlands and Russia were managed by Dutch managers. Van Basten was the key figure in the successful run of Holland in 1988 Euro and considered as one of the most lethal strikers in the world. He took the reign of the Dutch team in 2004 and managed them in an unsuccessful spell in the world cup 2006. Guss Hiddink, the Dutch coach of Russian team is known as the most successful soccer managers in the world. He was the manager of Netherlands in 1996 Euro in which his team lost out against France in the quarter finals. He took the same team to the semi finals of World Cup in 1998 and managed unknown Asian team South Korea to the Semi Finals of next world cup in 2002. He took over the control of Australian team and manages them to the quarterfinal round of 2006 world cup where they lost out to eventual Champion Italy. After the world cup, he moved to Moscow to manage Russian team and took them to the finals of the Euro and successfully managed them to the quarter finals. Van Basten faces the problem of abundance and Hiddink faces scarcity of talent. It will be a match between talent versus managerial skills and we can expect a wonderful match.
The last quarter final is between group D winners Spain and World champions Italy. This will be one of the most interesting matches where the young blood faces the experience. Italy got a life line in the group level from France and manager Roberto Donadoni is trying his best to motivate the aged team to perform in its optimum level. Louis Aragonis, the Spanish manager have a very good squad under his disposal and difficult task for him is to pick up the best combination against the experienced opponent. This will be a very tactical match rather than a free flowing football. Italians are known for their defensive approach and Spain is better in their counter attacks. The speed and striking power of Spanish forwards –David Villa and Fernando Torres- will create havoc in the Italian defence and am sure Italian goalkeeper Gian Lugi Buffon will have a much big role in coming match.
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