Braving hurricane style flash storms, I headed up to Hell’s Kitchen for the Euro 2008 final at Lansdowne Road. Starting up at 2:30 we all had a full Irish breakfast (I usually pass on the congealed pigs blood aka black pudding but the rest is great hangover food) and after a few pints we switched to a beertower of stella when the first kick was tapped.
This year it was an exciting tournament. I watched many of the group stages with the French the surprise losers and Croatia and Turkey the surprise winners through the quarterfinals. The Spanish swept through their group and after a shoot out with Italy in the quarterfinals, they didn’t have any trouble taking out Russia again. Germany on the other hand were tournament favorites, even through they lost to Croatia and just taking out Portugal in the quarterfinals. Even though Turkey had several players hurt or on suspension, Germany struggled to close them out until the end.
The final was set. Germany, the tourny favorites vs. Spain, the team of superstars, but could they come together as a team. Not being part of Europe, I selected Portugal and Spain early on. The English aren’t fans of the Germans, to say the
With several Spaniards draped in their country’s flag and pogoing through the bar, there was a great energy for the match and as Torres scored the first goal, the bar erupted with cheers and stiff fists in the air. The match was tense as the Germans picked up their play, as they usually do in the second half and it was a great final match as +3 minutes after official time, the horn was blown and Spain won their 2nd ever Euro 2008.
So much for Enrique Iglesias’ “Can You Hear Me” as a motivating song for the Euro 2008:
The World Cup Group draft has been drawn and the next round of tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup games go on sale Dec. 12th. There are a few surprises and for the USA, as we were drafted into a very tough Group. Every Cup there is one group of the toughest teams, labeled “The Group of Death”. The soccer public is already labeling Group C with Argentina as this years toughest group, however, with the The USA drawn into Group E; up against two of the top European nations in Italy and the Czech Republic as well as one of the legitimate African nations to qualify in Ghana, this is out Group of Death.