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.