Shhhh. (goal.)

So far the UEFA Euro2008 hasn't offered any big surprises. With half
of the teams having completed two of the three matches correspondent
to the group stage, 23 goals have been scored, for an average of 2.3
goals per match. Three of those goals were scored by Spain's David
Villa, who broke the hat-trick silence that had plagued the
competition since the Netherlands' Kluivert achieved the feat in the quarter finals of Euro2000. Four of those goals have been scored in overtime, half of them in games involving the Turkish squad. While one of the late goals sealed the Turkish side's loss against Portugal, the second one gave them a life line in the competition. On Wednesday, everything pointed to a draw between the co-hosts, Switzerland, and Turks, a situation that would have left both teams in a precarious position. But a last minute effort by Arda Turan changed things. The Turkish squad gets a chance to qualify to the next round in a match in which they will see (or play) eye to eye with the Czech for their group's second ticket to quarter finals. What we saw in Basel confirms that goals don?t need to be accompanied by a thunderous "GOAL!!!" from the crowd; sometimes just putting the home team?s fans to rest is
equally satisfying.

Find your "match"

If you are involved with someone who is not a soccer fan then chances are you already have an excuse for the amount of time you'll be spending in front of the TV starting this weekend.
Uefa's "World Cup Preview Tournament," aka Euro2008, will kick-off today when the Swiss face the Czech. After that match we'll have a chance to check out last edition's runners-up, Portugal, when they play Turkey to complete group A's inaugural day. Action continues tomorrow with group B matches and you can figure out which group plays after that.
On this side of the Atlantic, Mexico and the U.S. will try to make it up to their fans after disappointing mid-week performances. The U.S. will face FIFA No.1 ranked Argentina, while Mexico will take on another South American team, Peru. The stars and stripes hope to not forget their legs in the locker room during half time, as they did against Spain. The Aztecas are counting on nothing but the good luck that the pitch at Qualcomm Stadium has given them in 16 of 18 games they've played there.
Other Concacaf matches include the Haitians' visit to Honduras for a friendly that will serve as a final tune-up before their World Cup qualifiers next week. The Catracho's had a good start last Wednesday when they lengthened their unbeaten streak to 8 matches by beating Puerto Rico 4-0. Les Bicolores have yet to play their first match against Netherland Antilles.
And if you're a real junkie you won't really care about Concacaf's ongoing futsal tournament in the brand new Domo Polideportivo in Guatemala, but you will still watch the video recaps .
Whatever your excuse for the obscene level of neglect to your relationship, remember plan B: update your profile on eHarmony and find a truly compatible soul with whom you'll have kids like this.

Clockwork Orange

Back in the 80's, before European Union laws blurred borders between nations, clubs in the continent could only have three foreign players on the field in a given moment. AC Milan's success during the end of that decade had a lot to do with the fact that they filled those slots with one of the best known trios in football history: Marco Van Vasten, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard. The Dutch trio led Milan to consecutive titles of the Champions League, then known as the European Cup, in 1988 and 1989.

The Dutch national team also benefited from the magic that emanated from the trio's boots. West Germany hosted the Euro 1988 which saw the Clockwork Orange dominate the tournament with precision in the passes and beauty in the goals. The championship final, a rematch between the USSR and the Dutch who had met in the first stage, was the perfect scenario for one of the best executed goals in history. Marco Van Basten was the author of that goal and the star of the tournament.

Twenty years later, the trio is still making history, or at least attempting to, but this time from the bench. Ruud Gullit is now the head coach of Beckham's club, the L.A. Galaxy, while Rijkaard was, until recently, the coach of Spanish club FC Barcelona, with whom he had quite an impressive run. Van Basten is again leading his national team, this time as a coach. While the fate of Barcelona and Galaxy has pretty much been established for this season, the Oranje are still bidding for a much needed title, that of European champions. If succesful, Van Basten will again make history by becoming the first person to ever win that title both as player and as coach(1). With a tough first stage in their path, the question is: will the generation of players he inspired deliver for the soccer legend?
NOTE: (1)A reader asked if the German player/coach Verti Vogts had also won the championship both as player and coach. Click on the comment link to read more.

Furia Roja

This week the kick-off for the Euro2008 will take place in Basel, when local team and co-host nation Switzerland (Nagin's wet dream: a chocolate COUNTRY) face the Czech Republic in group A. In group B, Austria, the other host, will play against Croatia on match day 2. As always, there's a group which has been given the title of the "death group", this time composed of Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Romania. The world champions are hoping to emulate the French side's performance in 2000, when they won the European tournament two years after being crowned World Champions. The scenario's set for the feat.
Although death group matches are usually the most anticipated, I personally look forward to seeing Spain play in group D, just because I usually root for the underdog. Even though Spain hosts one of the most competitive leagues in the world, its national team cannot boast great accomplishments in either European nations cup or World Cup competitions. No matter how much analysis has gone into evaluating the streak of poor performances, the conclusions reached in a given cycle never seem to hold true for the next. Perhaps the only consistant fact is that contrary to the Iberian's dreams otherwise, he team's nickname, "Red Fury," seems to refer only to the collective sentiment of the fans who have witnessed failure after failure.

As American as apple pie and... lawsuits

Sancocho or Pupusas?

With Concacaf's stage 2 of the World Cup Qualifying round looming, upsets are unlikely. Half of the teams will have their dreams of visiting South Africa shattered, while some others will be using next month's games as warm-ups for the third and more competitive stage. The U.S. and Mexico expect easy wins over Barbados and Belize, respectively. The Belizeños aren't even pretending to care about home court advantage. They will "host" Mexico in Houston, perhaps hoping the Aztec fans will leave some cash in the small country's federation coffers.
The only series with some excitement seems to be the one between Panama and El Salvador. History between the two teams favors the Guanacos who have won twice as many games. Lately, though, things have improved for the Panamanians. It has been almost four years since the Salvadorans won a match against the Canaleros, a side which outscored them 5:0 in the past four matches.
We will have to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City. In the mean time soccer fans will enjoy the more competitive and slightly more alluring Euro2008.

Drama in Luzhniki Stadium

One of the most anticipated matches of the year is a whistle away. On Wednesday, the UEFA Champions League will see its last 90 minutes of play for the season '07-'08 and, as usual, expectations run high. But this year the much awaited battle has added value as two things will happen for the first time in the history of the competition:

1) Chelsea will make its first appearance at this stage of the tournament

2) Both finalists are English teams, the other being Manchester United
It is not the first time two teams from the same country make it to the final. In 2003 AC Milan and Juventus battled on the pitch for 120 minutes before the feared coin toss that are the penalty kicks went in favor of the Milano squad. Four years earlier Real Madrid held the cup after beating Valencia 3-0.

This time around the fans that will witness the match at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium have extra reasons to expect a great display of soccer. Just eight days ago Man U and Chelsea were neck-in-neck in pursuit of the English Primier League title. Luck favored the Red Devils, leaving the Blues thirsty for revenge. There will be extra motivation for the London stars Drogba and Lampard who will try to show Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo that they too are worthy of a European title.

Forza Inter!

Inter reached the goal and won the Scudetto after a dramatic end of the season. The glory is for Zlatan "Ibracadabra" who came back from an injury to score two second-half goals and keep Roma with their cigars in the same place where the fireworks are, stored deep in some dark room in the Olimpico de Roma.
Suazo didn't play and if he gets the boot I'll make some calls and arrange for the New York Red Bulls to get a real striker. Altidore, the only Red Bull called to the US national team, hasn't really impressed. We need the real football team in the NY area to get the attention the Giants had the luck to run into earlier this year.
Next Wednesday: the final of the UEFA Champions League, the best league in terms of branding after the World Cup, ah, and pretty good football, too.

Glory

The wait is over. In less than it takes to watch a bad movie, of which there are always too many out there, the season finale of Italia´s Serie A will commence. If you are a fan of soccer, (aka football, fútbol, futebol, calcio, etc.) you know that there is no actual "championship final" but a champion will be decided on the 38th and last day of the season.
Inter have been the leader the pack all season, but its lead over Roma has been shortened from somewhere around eight points to one point due to the neri-azzurri's poor performances in the past few weeks. It truly doesn't matter how well Roma plays, even if the score 20 goals they are still dependent on Inter's ability to deliver what until recently had been the norm: a victory.
This game is of particular importance to Hondurans. Yes, Hondurans, people from that Central American country most people have never heard of. Yes, the one near Costa Rica. The reason for this is that it's the closest any Honduran has come to soccer glory in the world arena in the past 26 years. David Suazo, the striker that came this season from Cagliari after a dispute between Inter Milan and their rivals AC Milan, is due to play some 15 minutes if coach Mancini's script hasn't changed.
Hondurans dream not that Inter gets the Scudetto but that Suazo turns out to be a key part of this if not the hero. You see, this particular match is one in which glory can be attained by simply doing what Suazo has been paid to do, score goals. More accurately, score a goal if the right circumstamces are present. Materazzi, the guy who admmitedly insulted Zinedine Zindane's sister to get the French star's head boiling and a red card with it two summers ago, had the chance for glory last week. The funny thing is that Materazzi is a defender that hasn't really been a star in the team. He was absent for a good part of the season due to injury, and hardly ever has a role in Inter's attack machine. But last week he had the chance for glory at his feet, and he blew it. Couldn't score a penalty kick that would have given Inter the title of champions. So the glory is up for grabs. All Suazo needs to do is push the ball into the net. It doesn't matter how that happens, if he does it the rumors of his return to Cagliari will disappear. His under-par eight goals in the seaon will look more that Julio Cruz's and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goals put together, and Super Mario Balotelli will have to wait until he can drive a car to be the star of the team.
One goal. Anyone can be a hero, even that guy who barely ever plays, who comes from that country that no one's ever heard of.