Sporting Madness

Photo: Dutch players celebrate a goal against France. (Photo from Unprofessional Foul ). Highlights and lowlights from Day Seven of the European Championships... Match XIII: Italy 1, Romania 1 Not a particularly inspiring performance from the Italians. I thought they'd bounce back harder after getting thumped by the Netherlands, but they didn't look fired up at all, even after the massive lineup changes manager Roberto Donadoni brought in at the start of the match. Full credit to Romania again: they played excellent defence, and could have taken all three points if Gianluigi Buffon hadn't made a brilliant save off of Adrian Mutu's penalty. Still, the tie was probably a fair result, as Italian striker Luca Toni had a goal called back due to an offside. Romania is now in prime position to qualify from the Group of Death, a result few (including myself) envisioned at the start. If they win their final match against the Netherlands (who will probably be resting their stars)...

Photo: Croatia's Ivica Olic (right) celebrates with teammate Luka Modric after scoring his team's second goal against Germany Thursday. (Photo from The Daily Mail ). Breaking down Day Six of the European Championships... Match XI: Croatia 2, Germany 1 A reasonably shocking defeat for the Germans, given their marvelous form against Poland and Croatia's struggles against Austria. Still, Croatia is a strong side, and one many thought could cause an upset or two coming in. Fortunately for the Germans, the draw between Austria and Poland means they're still in prime position to advance: they only require a draw against the Austrians to advance. Unfortunately for them, Croatia's already clinched Group B (the first tie-breaker is head-to-head results), so it looks like they're slotted in to face Portugal in the quarter-finals. That will certainly be an interesting match. Related : - " Germany does some soul-searching " ( The Associated Press , via The Globe ...

Photo: Dutch striker Robin van Persie comes on for Ruud Van Nistlerooy (photo from The Malta Times ). Breaking down Day 3 of the Euro 2008 championships... Match V: France 0, Romania 0 I was expecting much better from this one. Instead of going for a win, both teams played not to lose and generated remarkably little in the way of offense. That's perhaps understandable from the Romanian side, as they were the underdogs, but it was disappointing to see from the French. There were some strong individual performances from the likes of Franck Ribery, Claude Makelele, Lilian Thuram and Karin Benzema, but on the whole, it wasn't a good day for the Tricolour (yes, there are more teams with that nickname than just Queen's). Consider these quotes from Makelele on the Euro website: "Claude Makelele conceded that France 'should have taken the three points' as he took the Carlsberg Man of the Match award following Monday's 0-0 draw with Romania in Zurich. The 35-year-ol...

Photo: Lukas Podolski, who scored twice for Germany against Poland (Photo from soccerati.net ) Breaking down Day 2 of the Euro 2008 Championships... Match III: Croatia 1, Austria 0 I didn't get the chance to watch this one live, as I was watching the Jays finally snap their losing skid . Still, I caught up with the details afterwards, and according to reputable authorities such as the Globe 's John Doyle , the Austrians surprisingly gave the Croats all they could handle. In the end, the only difference between the sides was a fourth-minute penalty kick. Croatia did well for the first half, but the Austrians rallied and were the dominant side for much of the rest of the contest. Really, the only reason this finished 1-0 was Croatian keeper Stipe Pletikosa, who was recognized for his superb play with the award of Man of the Match. As Doyle points out, this not only shows that the Austrians (ranked 92nd in the world going in, beneath Iceland, Qatar, Mozambique and Armenia and a wh...

Photo: The Euro 2008 Trophy (Photo by Petros Giannakouris, Associated Press , via Daylife.com ) Well, one of the greatest tournaments for any (European) football fan is set to kick off tomorrow, as 16 teams from all over take to the pitches in Austria and Switzerland for the 2008 European Championships (popularly known as Euro 2008). Over at Out of Left Field, Duane makes the argument that this tournament’s superior to the World Cup. I don’t agree for a couple reasons: first, any tournament that doesn’t include the likes of Brazil and Argentina is a step down in my books, and second, it’s much more fun to see sides from all over the world competing than merely those from around Europe. He also suggests that the weaker teams in European tournaments are usually better than those in the World Cup. As he writes: "The World Cup is sexier. It’s a World Cup, after all. And, it must be said that the samba beat of a Brazil doesn’t hurt either. But, the hardcore soccer fan understands that ...