13 out 16 spots sealed

Most of the favorites have reached the last 16. The teams ensured their qualification are Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Lyon, Manchester United, FC Porto, Real Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, and Villarreal. Three spots are still vacant. Chelsea is one of the big names yet to ensure qualification.

In Group A, Chelsea played a 1-1 draw with spirited Bordeaux. Lampard was sent off. Roma is now leading the group with a facile 3-1 win over CFR Cluj-Napoca. Chelsea fustrating season continues as they were held 0-0 by Newcastle in the premier league last Saturday. AS Roma, Chelsea and Bordeaux all have chance to qualify for the next round.

In Group B, Anorthosis Famagusta continues to surprise us. They are only themselves to blame after drawing 2-2 with Werder Bremen. Anorthosis Famagusta were leading 2-0 at one point of time. In another match Panathinaikos defeated Inter Milan 1-0 to keep their hope alive. Anorthosis Famagusta also has a chance to make to the next round.

In Group C, Shakhtar Donetsk blanked Basle 5-0 and Barcelona crushed Sporting Lisbon 5-2. Shakhtar Donetsk will surely qualify to the UEFA cup.

In Group D, Gerrard gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Marseille and helped them to qualify for the next round. Atletico Madrid also qualified after 2-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven.

In Group E, AaB Aalborg defeated Celtic 2-1 to join Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA cup. The two qualifiers Manchester United and Villarreal played a 0-0 draw.

In Group F, Klose scored twice to give Bayern Munich a 3-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest. Toni scored the other. Lyin defeated Fiorentina 2-1 to qualify for the next round along with Bayern Munich.

In Group G, Arsenal put behind their dismal show in the premier league where they lost 0-3 to Manchester City, to defeat Dynamo Kiev 1-0. FC Porto defeated Fenerbahce 2-1. Both arsenal and FC Porto qualified for the next round.

In Group H, Raul led Real Madrid to 1-0 win over BATE Borisov whereas Juventus played a 0-0 draw with Zenit St Petersburg. Real Madrid joined Juventus for the next round.

EURO 2008 Team of the Tournament

UEFA has announced the EURO 2008 Team of the Tournament on 30th June '08. It was dominated by Spanish players. There are as many as 9 players from Spain. But I felt two players should have made the team. One is Bastian Schweinsteiger from Germany and another is Arjen Robben from Netherlands. I felt that this two would have added more speed in the attack. Both of them scored magnificent goals in the tournament. Robben has scored an unbelievable against France. Roman Pavlyuchenko from Russia is a good striker but his conversion ratio is poor. Pepe is going to be a star, just watch him in the coming days.

I liked the choice of the best player. Xavi played exceptionally well in this tournament. I have mentioned that in my earlier blog.

UEFA EURO 2008 Team of the Tournament

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).

Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Turkey), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).

Spain: Jinx Broken

At last Spain broke the ‘jinx’. They deserved to win this tournament. Their midfield was superb. Their passes were deadly. I was happy that my prediction matched. It is very difficult to match the prediction in football. This will really encourage me to write more in my blog.

I liked Xavi in the final. He really played well. The goal which Torres scored was magnificent. A very intelligent and well taken goal. These bunch of Spanish players are excellent. If guided properly, I think they can a force to reckon with in 2010 World Cup. They stopped Germans just with their skill.

The final match though was not the best match of the tournament. The Germans actually ran out of idea. In my preview I had said ‘Spain has to stop Schweinsteiger and Podolski if they want to stop Germans.’ And that what Spain did. Their two players, Schweinsteiger and Podolski were well marked. The supply line to Klose was stopped and Germans found wanting in the front.

Spain won the match with the help of their midfield. They have one of the strongest midfield in the World currently. They could have scored 2-3 more goals. Congratulations to their coach Aragonés for binding the team well. He put the team in very positive mind.

This Euro championship has brought back the attacking play which is very soothing to see. I will surely write more on these next time….

Congratulation Spain for winning second time…

Euro Final 2008

As promised I am writing on my favorite sport football or soccer. It was a long dream of mine. I wanted to develop a Web site which will give analysis, results, discussion only on football. So I planned to dedicate this blog of mine to football. I will try to cover the World football scenario. To start with let’s talk about Euro 2008.

Germany will play Spain in the final. Germany is the most successful team in Euro history. This is their 6th final out of 13 European championships. They have won the championship three times, 1972 (Belgium), 1980 (Italy), and 1996 (England). They were runners in 1976 (Yugoslavia) and 1992 (Sweden). They lost in the semifinal in 1988 (Germany). We have to salute them for their fighting qualities. So many matches they have won just by their will power. Germany is going to meet Spain, better known as chokers. This is the third final for Spain. Spain has won the championship in 1964 (Spain). Interestingly that was their only success in a major football championship. They finishes runner up in 1984 (France). Spain never lost a semifinal match.

Germany started the tournament with a fluent 2-0 win over Poland. But they lost to Croatia by 1-2 in the very next match. They qualified to quarterfinal by defeating Austria 1-0. In the quarterfinal they played superbly to defeat Portugal 3-2. They showed their steel nerve against Turkey in the semifinal. They won 3-2. The players to watch for Germany are Bastian Schweinsteiger (7), Michael Ballack (13), Lukas Podolski (20), Miroslav Klose (11), Philipp Lahm (16), and Jens Lehmann (1). Their best player in this tournament is Lukas Podolski (20). Spain has to stop Schweinsteiger and Podolski if they want to stop Germans.

Spain had won all three matches in the group league. They defeated Russia 4-1, Sweden 2-1 and Greece 2-1. They were very disappointed against Italy which they won in try breaker. They were again at their very best in the semifinal against Russia. Their midfield is playing superbly. If spanish midfield plays well in the final then Germany may end up runners up. Germany led by Ballack has to counter Xavi, Senna, Fàbregas, Iniesta, and Torres. Puyol is marshalling the defense really well. This is best of Puyol I am watching in Spanish color. The players to watch for Spain are Iker Casillas (1), Sergio Ramos (15), Carles Puyol (5), Fernando Torres (9), Andrés Iniesta (6), Xavi Hernández (8), Marcos Senna (19), and Cesc Fàbregas (10).

I am sure if Spain plays their real game then they will not miss Villa much. German defense is the weak point in this tournament. I also like the way Casillas is playing in this tournament. He is very cool customer under the bar. Spain till now has scored 11 goals and conceded 3 whereas German has scored 10 goals and conceded 6.

For me Spain should win the final. I will come back with an update after the Euro final.

Watch my blog for more football statistics and data……..