Wazza Gets Hitched, Gerrard Doesn't Attend

Wayne Rooney is officially off the singles market after marrying long-time sweetheart Coleen McLoughlin in a 17th-century villa on the Italian Riviera last Friday, news that is sure to break the hearts of the various prostitutes whom Rooney used while the couple was still dating.

His good friend and England teammate, Steven Gerrard, was not present at the wedding as he and his wife (who, by the way, is considerably more attractive than McLoughlin) were celebrating their one-year anniversary in Miami over the weekend. Rooney and McLoughlin attended Gerrard's high-profile wedding last year, so talk of a falling out between the two Scouse stars is already circulating the rumor mill.

Oh yeah, who cares?!?!

2008-2009 Premiership Fixture List

With Euro 2008 in full swing and as lively and dramatic as ever (see Turkey's win over the Czech Republic yesterday), I've barely given the Premiership a second thought since the start of this month. I'm definitely looking forward to next season, which starts in exactly 61 days, but it just isn't at the top of my priority list right now.

Anyway, the fixture list for next year was released today, and there are some mouth-watering games early in the season to hook the viewers back in. The first clash between "Big Four" teams comes on September 13, when Liverpool hosts hated rival and defending league champion Manchester United.

I can't post the full schedule here because of copyright laws, but I will pick out what I believe is the best game of each matchday up through the Christmas period. Tomorrow, I'll do the same for the rest of the season.

The address below can be copied and pasted into your browser and will give you the complete fixture list, although times and TV coverage are still to be determined.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=546813&cc=5901

Saturday, August 16, 2008 -- Aston Villa vs. Manchester City

Saturday, August 23 -- Portsmouth vs. Manchester United

Saturday, August 30 -- Chelsea vs. Tottenham

Saturday, September 13 -- Liverpool vs. Manchester United

Saturday, September 20 -- Chelsea vs. Manchester United

Saturday, September 27 -- Everton vs. Liverpool

Saturday, October 4 -- Chelsea vs. Aston Villa

Saturday, October 18 -- Bolton vs. Blackburn

Saturday, October 25 -- Chelsea vs. Liverpool

Tuesday, October 28 -- Arsenal vs. Tottenham

Wednesday, October 29 -- Liverpool vs. Portsmouth

Saturday, November 1 -- Bolton vs. Manchester City

Saturday, November 8 -- Arsenal vs. Manchester United

Saturday, November 15 -- Fulham vs. Tottenham

Saturday, November 22 -- Aston Villa vs. Manchester United

Saturday, November 29 -- Chelsea vs. Arsenal

Saturday, December 6 -- Everton vs. Aston Villa

Saturday, December 13 -- Chelsea vs. West Ham

Saturday, December 20 -- Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Friday, December 26 -- Aston Villa vs. Arsenal

Sunday, December 28 -- Fulham vs. Chelsea

Carling Cup First Round Draw

With all of the deserved hype surrounding Euro 2008, the 2008-2009 Carling Cup first round draw, which was conducted yesterday, has more than flown under the radar.

All 72 Football League clubs will be in action during the week beginning on August 11. The first round, therefore, is made up of 36 ties and is divided into North and South regions. Both regions are divided equally with a pot of seeded and unseeded teams based on the clubs' final positions in their respective league tables last season.

Remember, unlike the FA Cup, these are winner-take-all games that have to be settled that day. Extra time and penalty kicks are used if necessary.

North Region (home teams are listed first):

Preston North End vs. Chesterfield
Chester City vs. Leeds United
Leicester City vs. Stockport County
Sheffield United vs. Port Vale
Grimsby Town vs. Tranmere Rovers
Crewe Alexandra vs. Barnsley
Hartlepool United vs. Scunthorpe United
Derby County vs. Lincoln City
Notts County vs. Doncaster Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Rotherham United
Shrewsbury Town vs. Carlisle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Accrington Stanley
Bury vs. Burnley
Rochdale vs. Oldham Athletic
Nottingham Forest vs. Morecambe
Huddersfield Town vs. Bradford City
Macclesfield Town vs. Blackpool
Walsall vs. Darlington

South Region:

Coventry City vs. Aldershot Town
Milton Keynes Dons vs. Norwich City
Wycombe Wanderers vs. Birmingham City
Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Barnet
Gillingham vs. Colchester United
Southend United vs. Cheltenham Town
Swansea City vs. Brentford
Luton Town vs. Plymouth Argyle
Exeter City vs. Southampton
Watford vs. Bristol Rovers
Bournemouth vs. Cardiff City
Bristol City vs. Peterborough United
Charlton Athletic vs. Yeovil Town
Millwall vs. Northampton Town
Swindon Town vs. Queens Park Rangers
Crystal Palace vs. Hereford United
Dagenham & Redbridge vs. Reading
Ipswich Town vs. Leyton Orient

Aldershot Town are the reigning winners of the Conference League Cup, aka the Setanta Shield, and the Blue Square Premier division. The Shots will be making their first appearance in the Carling Cup as they've never been a part of the Football League in their brief history (founded in 1992). I'll be interested in seeing how they do against Coventry City, a team that was nearly relegated from the Championship last year but have a decent manager in Chris Coleman.

Busy Day Today

No soccer-related posts today as I have family in town for my brother's high school graduation tonight.

I've had to spend a little "quality time" with the relatives this afternoon and will be doing the same this weekend, as well as go out to dinner and celebrate with my brother and whatnot. Expect the volume of posts to be down until Monday, when I'll be back and better (hopefully) than ever.

The Euros are really heating up -- I hope you've been able to catch as many games as possible. The second matchday typically kicks tournaments off in style as teams have one game under their belts and know exactly what they need to do to advance. It's been no exception this week.

I'll check back in tomorrow morning.

Luiz Felipe Scolari Will Be Chelsea's New Manager

Before I get to Scolari's appointment as Chelsea manager, I just want to announce that there will no Euro 2008 daily recaps for today's and tomorrow's action. I'm taking a five-week summer school class right now and had to record both games today and will do the same tomorrow because of my class schedule this week. By the time I watch all four games, the recaps will be outdated, and I don't want to waste my own time writing them or your time reading them when you can go to tons of other websites to find just about the same thing.

Now, onto today's big news.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the current Portugal manager and World Cup winner as manager of Brazil in 2002, will take over the reins at Chelsea beginning July 1, two days after his contract with the Portuguese FA expires. Scolari has never managed a European club, much less one with a high profile like Chelsea, and speaks very little (if any) English, but Chelsea's Portuguese influence and the big bucks of owner Roman Abramovich were enough to convince Scolari to come to Stamford Bridge.

At 59 years of age, he's at a stage in his career where many big-name managers prefer to move from club to international soccer, which is less demanding and taxing on a daily basis. It is almost like their swan song into retirement. Scolari, though, now wants to do the opposite, and I think he wants to prove to himself and others that he can win major trophies at the club level before calling it quits.

This seems like a curious appointment from the standpoint of Abramovich and the other higher-ups at Chelsea. Jose Mourinho was often criticized for not playing attractive soccer despite the fact that he won early and often in his tenure at Chelsea, and his replacement, Avram Grant, also played a dull, cautious system that valued substance over style. Chelsea's fans and Abramovich, in particular, are well-known and on the record for wanting their team to score lots of goals and play beautifully while still winning.

Luiz Felipe Scolari is not a manager who employs an attacking, high-flying system. Granted, he is not the king of 1-0 victories like Mourinho, but he's still up there in the royal court. Like Al Davis, who is credited with this motto, Scolari is a "Just win, baby!" type of guy. He doesn't care how his teams win, and he'll use some of the most defensive, restrictive tactics to do so if the situation calls for it.

It's also unclear as to how Scolari will handle the massive press intrusion that comes with managing a club as big as Chelsea. Remember, Scolari basically turned down a chance to become England's head coach when he was offered the job in 2006 because he didn't want to deal with the media circus which surrounds that position. I'm not sure how much easier and how much more forgiving he'll find the press in London is; a name as big as his at a club as big as Chelsea with a team full of players with massive egos could have disaster written all over it.

Above all, Scolari is a winner. That should be enough to appease Chelsea's supporters and Abramovich, but if he doesn't win with style, he could find himself wanting to get out of town quickly. Scolari doesn't need the aggravation and pressure that could be heaped his way. It's his way or the highway, so we'll see how this plays out.

Euro 2008 Recap--Day 4

An alarming trend is developing after one round of games at Euro 2008 -- eight matches have been played so far, and only one of them has featured goals from both teams. Once a team takes the lead, they're basically a sure bet to hold on and win, and that doesn't make for compelling TV.

It was the David Villa show in Innsbruck this afternoon, as the Valencia striker bagged a hat trick in Spain's 4-1 victory over Russia. Villa ran the Russian back line ragged all game long, making them, center back Denis Kolodin in particular, look simply dreadful.

Spanish coach Luis Aragonés opted to start the game with two strikers instead of a lone man up front as was the case in his team's friendlies leading up to this tournament, and so Villa came into the lineup alongside Fernando Torres. The pairing worked to perfection in the 20th minute, when Torres picked Kolodin's pocket at the corner of the 18-yard box, then slipped a square ball right into the path of Villa, who put it into the empty net.

The turning point of the game came almost immediately after Villa's first goal. Russia had numbers forward and Dmitri Sychev sent a low cross skittering through the area. A Russian player had the first crack at it but didn't move, and when the Spanish defenders failed to deal with the slow-moving ball, Konstantin Zyrianov picked it up. His one touch, right-footed effort smacked off the left post and was cleared away, leaving Russia inches short of an equalizer.

That failure to finish came back to bit Russia when Villa struck again right before halftime. A short Russian corner kick and poor cross right after it led to a counter-attack for Spain, and they made no mistake. Andrés Iniesta threaded a gorgeous ball through to Villa, who was even with the last Russian defender and may even have been offside literally by the length of his foot. Villa calmly slotted it through the legs of Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who had a very respectable game in defeat.

At that point, the game was effectively over. Spain bossed the second half after going up-and-down with Russia for the first 45 minutes. The Spanish midfield, especially Marcos Senna, controlled the tempo of the game and knocked the ball around all over the field, forcing the Russians to run themselves ragged by chasing. Guus Hiddink's team eventually ran out of gas, and Villa completed his hat trick a quarter of an hour from time after another nice through ball sprung him one-on-one with Russian center back Roman Shirokov. Villa skinned Shirokov with a nice cutback move onto his right foot, then left Akinfeev guessing as he went to his left and Villa's shot went to the former's right.

A couple of garbage-time goals ended the game. Roman Pavlyuchenko picked up a consolation goal for Russia with a powerful header off a flick-on from a corner kick in the 86th minute. With Russia down 3-1, they had a chance to make things very interesting going into stoppage time when a poorly executed Spanish offside trap left Iker Casillas staring down the barrel of a wide open Russian player in the box. Casillas was able to smother the poor shot, which had been driven right into the arms of the Spanish captain. Cesc Fàbregas had entered the game in the 54th minute and was pretty quiet for the majority of the time he spent on the field, but his diving header off a rebound from a short-range volleyed effort by Xavi (set up nicely by Villa) accounted for the final margin in the 91st minute.

Russia clearly missed the creativity and inspiration of their best player, Andrei Arshavin, who was sitting out the first game of his two match suspension for a red card picked up in Russia's last Euro qualifier against Andorra. Russia just wasn't able to string any consistent possession together and even when they did manage to get something going, that last, cutting-edge ball required to really spring an attack just wasn't there.

Spain exerted their dominance in midfield but showed that they have weaknesses in the center of their defense. Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena are both susceptible to the bone-head, moronic play every now and then, and that showed today. They both needlessly gave away possession at times with poor passes and failed to clear dangerous loose balls in their defensive third. Pavlyuchenko didn't have any support up front but still caused problems on his own. Teams that field two capable center forwards can give Spain trouble as Puyol and Marchena are there for the taking.

Reigning European champions Greece came out with five defenders (5-4-1) in their game against Sweden tonight, the first team in the tournament to do so. It's no secret that Greece made their mark in 2004 by stifling the life out of their opposition, something they set out to do today as well. They have little desire to go forward and are content with passing the ball around the back, content to kill off the game if they can't find a path of little resistance to goal or a chance to launch a counter-attack.

There are two problems with this philosophy and we saw them both in tonight's match, won 2-0 by Sweden. A team like Greece can only survive for so long by playing in a shell and inviting pressure onto their defense. Greece was able to survive for 67 minutes before a moment of brilliance from Zlatan Ibrahimović opened the scoring. The Juventus striker played a nice little one-two with his front line partner, the ageless Henrik Larsson, and finished off the move by taking Larsson's return pass first time and sending an absolute rocket shot from just outside the corner of the penalty area into the back of the net. Greece's goalkeeper, Antonios Nikopolidis, did well just to get a slight touch on it with a glove but he had no chance to save Zlatan's screaming right-footed drive. Sweden had been knocking on the door all game long with several good opportunities, and it was just a matter of time before they were able to ram it down and get a breakthrough.

The other problem with the way the Greeks play is that once they concede one goal, the floodgates usually open. Sweden's Petter Hansson, who started alongside Olof Mellberg in the center back position, scored the scrappiest goal you'll ever see five minutes later to make it 2-0, which was effectively game over with the anemic Greek attack. Nikopolidis came out very well to cut the angle down on Freddie Ljungberg, who was in alone 12 yards from goal. Ljungberg's shot was saved, the rebound was popped high into the air by an off-balance Johan Elmander, who came into the game just a minute earlier for Ibrahimović. The ball eventually came down to Hansson in the 6-yard box. His header was blocked by one of two surrounding Greek defenders, came down to the ground, and was bundled home by Hansson despite those defenders' best effort.

Sweden understood that the key to beating Greece was patience, and they exhibited that in this game. They refused to fall into their opponent's trap by getting caught out and allowing a counter-attack, and they knew that they needed to unlock the back line and get a moment of magic to finish it off. The same Greek defenders that had previously gone 425 minutes without conceding a goal in the European Championships are now four years older than they were when that streak started, something that coach Lars Lagerbäck obviously tried to stress to his team. He had his team make Greece's older group of players chase the ball and work to earn their point. In doing so, they grew tired as the game went on and let their guard down.

I was very impressed with the way Sweden played tonight. They'll need to repeat that performance (and probably even better it) in their next game as it'll be against Spain, who looked dominant earlier over Russia. A point there for Sweden and they'll be sitting pretty heading into the third and final group match against Russia. However, a loss to Spain and the Russia-Sweden match becomes winner-takes-all as Russia will beat Greece and go into their third game with three points, equal with Sweden if they don't get anything in four days' time. Remember, the first tie-breaker in this tournament is head-to-head results, not goal differential.

Group D Standings (after one game):
1. Spain (3 points, +3 goal differential)
2. Sweden (3 pts, +2)
3. Greece (0 pts, -2)
4. Russia (0 pts, -3)

Group A -- Portugal, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Turkey (in that order in the standings) is back in action tomorrow, with the top two teams and the bottom two playing against each other. A win for either Portugal or the Czechs would likely see that nation through to the quarterfinals, and the loser of Switzerland-Turkey is as good as eliminated. I'd expect to see Switzerland, backed by their boisterous home crowd, win and stay alive to fight another day, and Portugal to also get a victory over the very uninspiring Czech Republic.

Euro 2008 Recap--Day 3

It's fair to say that the third day of Euro 2008 didn't necessarily provide us with entertaining soccer for the duration of both games (certainly not in the first one), but the results of those games were perhaps the most unexpected of the tournament so far. The favorites had won each of the previous four games in the competition, a trend that didn't continue today.

You could've slept through the Romania-France game, which ended 0-0, and not missed anything. France had two decent chances all game, both to Karim Benzema from outside the 18-yard box, and the Lyon striker missed well wide on one and sent a weak dribbler to Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Lobonţ on the other. Those poor efforts capped a very mediocre (at best) game for Benzema, and his strike partner, Nicholas Anelka, was invisible for large chunks of the match before being taken off in the 72nd minute, six minutes before Benzema was also replaced. France clearly missed Thierry Henry up front, a player with plenty of pace and creativity to stretch the stout Romanian defense, but also someone who would undoubtedly bury one of the half-chances mucked up by Benzema.

Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery looked lively at times, but those times were few and far between. Too often they looked content to play the ball back into the middle instead of running at the Romanian full-backs one-on-one and trying to get to the endline.

Malouda and Ribery's play was a microcosm of France's performance -- too conservative, too afraid to send numbers forward, and too willing to play not to lose instead of playing to win. If the object of the game was to see how many short, square passes a team could complete, France certainly would've won, but that isn't the case.

To be fair, Romania weren't exactly world-beaters on the attacking end either, but they did at least make a concerted effort to test the aging French defenders. The problem with that from Romania's point of view is that they don't have enough team speed to dribble by anyone, and the French back line are as solid as it comes in terms of their spacing and positioning to help one another out when necessary. They are also good at winning balls in the air, and that took away from the effectiveness of Romania's set pieces, their strength.

After about the 70th minute, Romania began to sit 9 and 10 men behind the ball in an effort to get out of there with a draw. The game ground to a standstill at that point, with Romania throwing up a wall 35 yards from their goal while letting France have all the possession they wanted outside of that range. When France lost control of the ball, Romania was happy to blast it back up the field and let a lone striker chase it down. They didn't record a single shot on goal (although they had three shots blocked), but France only put one shot on target so Romania accomplished what they set out to do -- take a positive result into their second game.

In the second match of the day, won 3-0 by Holland, Italy just didn't show up. Period. Italy didn't show up. Holland completely outclassed their opponent and deserved their victory beyond any shadow of a doubt.

It was the Oranje's first win over Italy in 30 years, and it marked an emphatic end to the Italian dominance over the low-lying nation. Ruud van Nistelrooy's cool one touch finish from close range put the Dutch ahead in the 26th minute (no, Andy Gray, he was not offside), and his teammate at Real Madrid, Wesley Snejider, finished off a brilliant counter-attack five minutes later with a high, side-footed tap-in past Gianluigi Buffon. Italy was fortunate to make it to halftime only down 2-0.

In the second half, Holland continued to put on the pressure and that allowed Italy to stay in the game. The Italians were able to generate a few chances when they caught Holland out on an attack, as they weren't content with their two-goal lead. Holland put the game away for good a little more than ten minutes before full time just after Andrea Pirlo's freekick was saved by Edwin van der Sar. The ensuing counter-attack led to a 3-on-3 for Holland. Dirk Kuyt, who also had a very good game, wound up with the ball in a dangerous position on the right side of the box. His perfectly weighted cross was slammed home by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, one of the last people you'd expect to score with his head.

Italy's age showed against the faster, more dynamic Dutch side, which Roberto Donadoni may have underestimated a little bit. He didn't make any adjustments at halftime, either tactically or personnel-wise. He continued to use three central midfielders against a team that employed five midfielders and was geared around wing play. Italy had no answer for Kuyt and Snejider, and the previously little-known Orlando Engelaar had an excellent game from his holding role. Holland's back line, which had been criticized by many coming into this tournament (myself included) and labeled as the team's weakness, stifled Luca Toni all game long and Alessandro del Piero when he came in.

Holland is now in a great position atop the group, and conversely Italy is at the bottom and looking up. The Italians do have one positive to take out of today's action -- France drew with Romania, leaving Italy with just a point to make up to advance.

Group C Standings (after one game):
1. Holland (3 points, +3 goal differential)
2. Romania (1 pt, 0)
3. France (1 pt, 0)
4. Italy (0 pts, -3)

Group D finally opens up play tomorrow, with Spain taking on Russia in the early game, followed by defending champion Greece against Sweden. Look for Spain to try and make a statement to the other three teams that they are the side to beat in this group, and that those other teams will be fighting it out for second place at best.

Euro 2008 Recap--Day 2

Was it just me, or did you all also get a sense of déjà vu when watching today's action from Group B? I felt like I was witnessing yesterday's games all over again.

Consider:

• Both yesterday’s first game and today’s first game ended 1-0, and yesterday’s second game and today’s second game both ended 2-0.

• Co-host Switzerland played first yesterday and controlled the balance of play against their opponent, the Czech Republic, but couldn’t manage to equalize despite their best efforts. Co-host Austria played first today and the same conditions applied; they dominated Croatia for large periods of the game and had their chances to score, but just couldn’t put anything on the board. In both cases, the favorites were outplayed but still won.

• Portugal and Germany, trendy picks to go far in this tournament, struggled to put their lesser opposition away in the second games of the day. They both won 2-0, but neither looked particularly convincing in doing so. Portugal didn’t offer much going forward at times, and Germany gave up plenty of possession and several chances (mostly from long range).

Austria came out to play this afternoon against Croatia, starting the game in an aggressive 3-5-2 formation with the outside center backs going forward whenever the opportunity presented itself.

They certainly looked lively and energetic, but René Aufhauser went a bit too far in the 4th minute when he took down the stocky Ivica Olić inside the box. It was clearly a penalty kick, and the ironic thing is that Olić wasn't really in a position to cause much trouble and Aufhauser had no reason to get tangled up in that challenge. New Tottenham signing Luka Modrić slotted home the penalty -- the fastest converted in the history of the European Championships -- and at that point, the only question looked to be how many goals would Croatia score in the game.

Croatia continued to control the game for the next 15 minutes or so but generated very little in their attacking third. Mladen Petrić had Croatia's best chance for the rest of the game midway through the first half when he was wide open on the left side about 15 yards from goal and settled down a cross with his body, but completely wasted it when he blasted the bouncing ball high and well wide.

Austria's players, to their credit, didn't hang their heads or back down whatsoever. After Petrić's miss, it was pretty much all Austria all the time. Martin Harnik was dangerous on the right side up front all game and laid some nice horizontal passes for onrushing Austrian midfielders, but they couldn't get much on goal.

Josef Hickersberger's three second-half substitutions all had an impact on the game for Austria, and the co-hosts continued to try and ram down the Croatian door. The tournament's oldest player, 38-year old Ivica Vastic, was dangerous alongside the creative Andreas Ivanschitz in the center of midfield. Croatia had little answer for the Austrian onslaught except to sit 9 and 10 men behind the ball and send it long down field whenever they could.

Croatia did do a decent job of keeping Austria's attack largely to the outside and made it tough to penetrate into a good position in the center of the field. Most of the Austrian shots were from the perimeter and were handled well by Croatia's goalkeeper, Stipe Pletikosa. His back line won nearly every critical ball served into the area, but numerous failed clearances gave Austria the ball right back on the outside.

Right at the death, Austria came within inches of leveling the game at 1 when Roman Kienast's redirection of a low out-swinging free kick from Ivanschitz went narrowly wide. Croatia stole the victory, but they won't complain. If Austria continues to play like they did today, they'll earn a point somewhere in their last two games. Croatia will need to put it into another gear; they play Germany next and will come away with nothing if they turn in the same kind of performance. Austria outshot Croatia 16-10, including 6-1 in terms of shots on target, and Croatia's only effort on goal was the early spot kick.

Germany will head into that game also with three points after getting by Poland 2-0 today. The oft-criticized and Polish-born Lukas Podolski netted both goals for his team and took home Man of the Match honors.

Podolski struggled to find his place and perform at Bayern Munich this season, but a player who scores better than a goal every two games at the international level and was the Best Young Player at the 2006 World Cup will always earn a call-up. He certainly justified his place in the starting XI today. Mario Gomez, who many believed should start up top instead of Podolski, did just that, but he was no better than average today. I'd expect to see Podolski start up front alongside his teammate at Bayern, Miroslav Klose, who was also born in Poland, instead of wide left in the game against Croatia. Bastian Schweinsteiger should slide back into that position, which is where he usually plays, and it was a shock to not see him on the field from the outset.

Podolski and Klose combined for Germany's first tally, as the former tapped the latter's square ball into a wide open net after 20 minutes as the two came in alone on the Polish goalkeeper, Celtic's Artur Boruc. Where that goal was all about finesse, Podolski's second was all power -- a screaming volley from 12 yards past Boruc and into the top netting in the 72nd minute to put the game away.

Germany was in control all game long and there's no doubt about that, but they didn't administer the knockout blow until that 72nd minute goal. Before then, Poland was still in the match and had their chances. Leo Beenhakker's team was able to consistently pick up the ball in midfield and work their way forward; they had 52% of possession. They just didn't have that cutting edge when they did have numbers forward and, like Austria, wound up with mostly long range efforts that didn't trouble Jens Lehmann. Brazilian-born Roger Guerreiro came off the bench for Poland, was an immediate sparkplug and played very well, but even his pace and ability wasn't enough to create a goal or score himself to put his team back on equal footing.

Group B Standings (after one game):
1. Germany (3 points, +2 goal differential)
2. Croatia (3 pts, +1)
3. Austria (0 pts, -1)
4. Poland (0 pts, -2)

Play in Group C, the "Group of Death", begins tomorrow, with Romania-France to be followed by the tastiest match of the tournament thus far, Holland-Italy. It's a must-win game for France; they can't afford to not take three points against the weakest team in the group and possibly fall behind right out of the gate.

Switzerland Was Robbed!

I'd like someone to explain to me how this wasn't a handball. A penalty kick absolutely should've been awarded for this, and the fact that one wasn't is a disgrace.

The non-call cost Switzerland at least one point and with the momentum gained from converting a penalty, I don't doubt that Switzerland could've won this game in the 10 minutes that remained. Every point is valuable in a group stage that only lasts three matches.

If Switzerland end up missing out on progression to the quarterfinals by one point, look no further than this as the reason why. They definitely have a legitimate gripe here.

Euro 2008 Recap--Day 1

The 13th edition of the European Championships started out in decent fashion today, as both games had their exciting moments and neither ended in draws. The picks of many to advance from Group A, Portugal and the Czech Republic, both came away with victories, setting up a showdown in Geneva between the two in four days' time. That game will likely determine the group winner, but before we get there, let's take a look back at the opening day of Euro 2008.

In the first game, co-host Switzerland had the crowd in Basel firmly behind them against their opponent, Karel Brückner's Czech Republic. While his team seemed content to sit back and defend in their 4-5-1 for most of the first half, the Swiss came out as the aggressors and created several chances sprung by their wide men, Tranquillo Barnetta and Valon Behrami. On the rare occasions that the Czech Republic did push forward, Switzerland was able to build dangerous counter-attacks, and Alexander Frei forced Petr Čech to make two good saves, one from long range and the other coming from in tight as Frei bore down on the Czech goalkeeper from an angle.

Frei was forced to come off with a knee injury right before halftime, one that left the team's captain and all-time leading goal scorer in tears. At the time, it didn't seem like a huge blow because the Czech Republc had done absolutely nothing in the first half to convince anyone that they'd be able to score, and it seemed inevitable that Switzerland was going to eventually break through. Jan Koller was nothing more than a statue up front on his own; he can't run anymore and it didn't help that his teammates were not playing to his strengths -- getting him the ball with his back to goal so he could play it off to a midfielder making a forward run.

It was more of the same in the second half. Switzerland was controlling the game and playing it at their tempo, forcing the Czechs to chase the moving ball all over the field.

The creative Hakan Yakin came on for Frei at halftime and immediately made his presence known by drawing a foul right at the edge of the area and using his terrific passing ability later on. Yakin should've been on from the outside in place of Marco Streller, who also looked frozen up top, and the Swiss were made to pay for not being able to push one by Cech when Václav Svěrkoš, who had replaced the ineffective Koller in the 56th minute, outfoxed a Switzerland back line that was in the process of pushing up to catch the Czechs offside and managed to sneak in behind them. A lobbed header over the top by right back Zdeněk Grygera put Svěrkoš in alone, and the Banik Ostrava striker made his first international goal count in the 71st minute. He clearly mishit the ball; he wanted to strike it on the bounce with his laces but kind of shanked it off his ankle, but they all count the same.

After that goal, Switzerland threw everything they had and the kitchen sink at the Czechs, who dropped 10 men behind the ball and relied on a hoof-and-chase style to clear the ball out of their defensive third. Switzerland had a stone cold penalty turned down by Italian referee Roberto Rosetti after Tomáš Ujfaluši clearly handled the ball in the box. Barnetta then picked up the loose ball, forced Cech to dive to his left to push away a smashing, low left-footed shot, and Johan Vonlanthen put the bouncing rebound off the crossbar. Seconds before full time, another questionable use of the upper arm in the area by a Czech player went unnoticed by Rosetti, and the match ended 1-0 despite the fact that Switzerland deserved a better fate.

Today's second game wasn't nearly as dramatic; Portugal dominated Turkey for large stretches and were unlucky to only win 2-0 as Nuno Gomes hit the crossbar and a post and Cristiano Ronaldo's beautiful curving free kick in the first half was parried off the post by Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.

Real Madrid's Pepe had had his header off a corner kick disallowed due to a correctly called offside in the 17th minute, but he more than made up for it with the beautiful one-two between himself and Nuno Gomes that resulted in Pepe walking in alone on goal. The center back coolly finished the play like he was an experienced striker. It had taken just over an hour for Portugal to finally break through, and the goal seemed to break Turkey's spirit a little bit. Minutes later, the aforementioned Nuno Gomes, who wore the captain's armband in this game, nodded Cristiano Ronaldo's good cross off the crossbar.

Turkey huffed and puffed but never did enough to equalize, and Raul Meireles' first international goal sealed the deal in the 93rd minute. It was created by Ronaldo (who else), who slid a right-footed through ball from the left wing to João Moutinho, who was streaking into the box right down the middle. Moutinho's remarkable turn with the ball onto his right foot left him with only one option as Turkey's goalkeeper was bearing down on him, and Moutinho laid a soft pass onto Meireles. Meireles had the net at his mercy and Portugal finished the game in style after outshooting their opponent 16-6 over the course of the game.

I came away most impressed with Switzerland and Portugal, the former of whom I still think will make it out of Group A. The Czech Republic showed me nothing at all except the fact that they obviously miss Tomas Rosicky as their creator in the midfield, and Turkey are good technically but just don't offer much going forward. Switzerland and Turkey play each other in four days, and the loser of that game will be eliminated from contention -- perhaps not mathematically, but for all intents and purposes, the loser is done. Even a draw doesn't help much for either team, so that should be a fun game to watch. I expect Portugal to wipe the floor with the Czech Republic, perhaps 2-0 or 3-1 if the Czechs really get their scoring boots on.

Group A Standings (after one game):
1. Portugal (3 points, +2 goal differential)
2. Czech Republic (3 pts, +1)
3. Switzerland (0 pts, -1)
4. Turkey (0 pts, -2)

The four teams in Group B open up their respective accounts tomorrow, with co-hosts Austria meeting Croatia in the early game and Germany looking to “blitz” through their Polish neighbors once again in the second match of the day.

Today's highlights:

http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/W87TN981TDJJFHTS -- Svěrkoš' winner
http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/776CQ7SXK83K202S -- The handball that wasn't and the chances that followed
http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/NM76BVXMRY5V8BL8 -- Pepe's beatifully worked goal
http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/7GF1B11WPHSKZVBR -- Icing on the cake for Portugal

TV Schedule for Euro 2008 Group Stage

The long wait for Euro 2008 is just about over as we're roughly 17 hours away from kickoff in the tournament opener between Switzerland, the co-host, and the Czech Republic.

The group stage will end on June 18, with two games played every day until that date. Starting Sunday, June 15, both games will kick off at 2:45 PM here on the East Coast so as to prevent the possibility of any sort of outside shenanigans that could unsportingly influence the outcome of the final group standings.

ABC and ESPN have the exclusive television rights in this country, and each of the tournament's 31 games will be broadcasted on the "family of networks" -- ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, and ABC. They've brought an expert group of commentators to work these matches, with the familiar pairing of Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth on the call for the first game of the day, and Adrian Healey and Sky Sports' Andy Gray for the second, until June 15 when both games begin at the same time as I mentioned earlier.

With these things in mind, here's the complete TV schedule for the group stage of Euro 2008 (all times Eastern):

Saturday, June 7:
Switzerland vs. Czech Republic (ESPN Classic, Noon)
Portugal vs. Turkey (ESPN Classic, 2:45)

Sunday, June 8:
Austria vs. Croatia (ESPN2, Noon)
Germany vs. Poland (ESPN2, 2:45)

Monday, June 9:
Romania vs. France (ESPN2, Noon)
Holland vs. Italy (ESPN2, 2:45)

Tuesday, June 10:
Spain vs. Russia (ESPN2, Noon)
Greece vs. Sweden (ESPN2, 2:45)

Wednesday, June 11:
Czech Republic vs. Portugal (ESPN2, Noon)
Switzerland vs. Turkey (ESPN2, 2:45)

Thursday, June 12:
Croatia vs. Germany (ESPN2, Noon)
Austria vs. Poland (ESPN2, 2:45)

Friday, June 13:
Italy vs. Romania (ESPN2, Noon)
Holland vs. France (ESPN2, 2:45)

Saturday, June 14:
Sweden vs. Spain (ESPN2, Noon)
Greece vs. Russia (ESPN2, 2:45)

Sunday, June 15:
Turkey vs. Czech Republic (ESPN Classic, 2:45)
Switzerland vs. Portugal (ESPN2, 2:45)

Monday, June 16:
Poland vs. Croatia (ESPN Classic, 2:45)
Austria vs. Germany (ESPN, 2:45)

Tuesday, June 17:
France vs. Italy (ESPN, 2:45)
Holland vs. Romania (ESPN Classic, 2:45)

Wednesday, June 18:
Russia vs. Sweden (ESPN2, 2:45)
Greece vs. Spain (ESPN, 2:45)

I'll post the TV schedule for the knockout rounds immediately following the Greece-Spain game on the 18th.

Remember, starting Sunday, you can find daily recaps of the previous day's action and brief looks ahead to the two games that day here at English Soccer Talk.

Euro 2008 Final Prediction

I've been building up to the start of Euro 2008 for two weeks now, providing you with a one-stop-shop of sorts with final rosters for each of the 16 nations involved, previews of each nation and group, and my predictions for the quarterfinals and beyond.

Every tournament has a winner, obviously, and we're at that stage in my pre-competition coverage. It has all come down to Portugal and Italy for the right to be the European champion for the next four years.

Final (June 29, 2:45 PM; Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna):

Portugal (Winner of SF #1) vs. Italy (Winner of SF #2)

This game pits the team with the best player in the world against one of, if not the most, the most organized, disciplined nations in the world.

Portugal and Italy, respectively, play differing styles of soccer; Portugal is dynamic on the wings and is very good on the counter-attack, and Italy prefers to dominate possession and dictate the pace of the game.

Taking the leadership and intangible factors out of the equation, the absence of Fabio Cannavaro wouldn't hurt Italy against Portugal. As I've discussed earlier, Portugal doesn't have terribly much talent in the center forward position and tend to play a lone man up front anyway. Two solid center backs (Materazzi and Barzagli) should be able to shut down Nuno Gomes, or possibly either Hélder Postiga or Hugo Almeida, without a lot of trouble.

Italy's full-backs, Gianluca Zambrotta and most likely Christian Panucci, will have trouble with the pace and creativity of Cristiano Ronaldo and Simão, the two wingers in Portugal's 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation. At 35 years of age, I don't think Panucci can stick with either of those two, and the attack-minded Zambrotta is susceptible to being caught out of position on a trademark Portuguese counter-attack.

There is no question that Ronaldo and Simão would have to play well in this game and really be the catalysts from their wide positions, because the middle of the field would be an absolute bloodbath. The combination of Gattuso, Pirlo, and De Rossi for Italy and Deco, Veloso, and Petit for Portugal in or around the center circle has tough tackling, late challenges, and epic battles for 50-50 balls written all over it. It would not be for the faint of heart, but is absolutely worth watching and could very well be where this game is won and lost. The advantage has to go to Italy in this matchup; their trio is more experienced and has a more complete array of skills to use on the field, but Deco is probably the best individual player out of the six and can single-handedly swing a game in his country's favor if he's on his game.

Luca Toni has played for 10 clubs in his career and just turned 31, but he is a fantastic striker with a goal-to-game ratio of just over 1:2 both domestically and internationally. At 6'4", he has a significant size advantage over Ricardo Carvalho, who is a shut down center back and would likely have the assignment of sticking to Toni like glue. Carvalho is no slouch in the air and while the fact that Italy doesn't rely much on wing play and crosses into the area helps the Chelsea defender, he's still going to have to find a way to deal with the bigger, more powerful Toni. He has a unique skill set compared to the strikers Carvalho sees on a weekly basis in the Premier League, so that matchup will definitely be something to keep your eyes on.

Italy has the better goalkeeper in Gianluigi Buffon, although he battled a bit of a back problem with Juventus in Serie A this season which could effect his ability to dive and move side-to-side. Ricardo is a fine goalie in his own right and has great reflexes, but has struggled in the past with claiming balls out of the air. One mistake on a corner kick or a free kick, one mis-timed leap to punch the ball to safety, and big, tall Luca Toni will put it in the back of the net.

It all comes down to tempo. If Portugal is able to play their counter-attack brand of game and exploit their advantage on the wings, they'll have a chance to pull off the upset. Italy needs to slow the game down to suit their style and possess the ball in their midfield while looking for holes and weaknesses in the Portuguese back line. You'll see a high number of fouls and cards in this game as both nations have multiple players who won't hesitate to chop their opponents down if necessary, and emotions obviously will be running high in a final.

Prediction: Italy-2, Portugal-1

Interview with Kartik Krishnaiyer

As I mentioned several weeks ago, there is an ongoing commitment from me to make English Soccer Talk better and to make the site grow. I've been working on lining up interviews with several pundits both in this country and in the UK, and a rough plan for a podcast that would debut later on this summer is still on the backburner.

You'll see the first of these interviews a little later in this post. This is the first part of a conversation with my good friend Kartik Krishnaiyer, who you all will remember from his college basketball podcast which I appeared on several times last winter.

Kartik is the co-host of The American Soccer Show along with Dave Denholm, and you can listen to their show weekly on CSRN. Kartik also maintains a blog for CSRN, American Soccer Spot (http://csrnusa.com/ussoccerspot). He is an expert on all things concerning the US National Team, both at the senior and youth levels, and MLS.

On this site, the main focus is obviously English soccer, but as an American, I have a vested interest in the national team and covered the U-20 World Cup in Canada last summer, in which the US played very impressively, winning their group (beating Brazil 2-1 in the process) and reached the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Austria in extra time.

The senior team has been in the news recently and is two games through a three-match series of friendlies against impressive opposition -- England, Spain, and Argentina. They haven't come away on the right end of the stick thus far and haven't played particularly well in the process, with a 2-0 loss in England at Wembley and a 1-0 loss in Santander, Spain, but are gaining a little bit of credibility around the world by going out and playing some of the world's top nations.

With these results in mind, I asked Kartik specifically about the US National Team and what he sees in the squad and the way it's currently configured. He went to Wembley for the US-England game, so there was no better expert to turn to for first-hand insight and analysis. I also asked him briefly for his pick to win Euro 2008, which starts in less than two days. Here's the first part of our conversation:

After watching the recent friendlies in England and Spain, what were your impressions of the US team in those games and the direction in which they're headed?

"The quality of the US National Team has regressed substantially since the early part of this decade. That's hard to believe when you consider the player pool is deeper than ever, our domestic league, MLS is better than ever and that the game is more popular than ever here in the U.S. But since 2006 we've seen the international retirements of Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, Eddie Pope and John O'Brien. All four of those players were far superior than the players that replaced them and this has not only affected the quality of the US squad but the style the US has traditionally played. This is something that speaks loudly about player development in the US: we are not at the stage we thought we were in that we are not able to simply replace aging and retired players very easily. That is evidenced by the continued prominent role old veterans Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Lewis and Pablo Mastroeni continue to play in the US setup."

Speaking of that game at Wembley, I know you were there in person to watch. What were your impressions of the new stadium and how was your overall experience in London? As an American, were you frowned upon by the native English fans?

"Wembley is an awesome facility. It's large but still has outstanding sight lines. The facility is easily accessible via the tube and bus. I used the bus to reach the stadium, and returned back to my hotel via the Bakerloo line of the overground and then the tube. As an American it was a difficult night. The English fans were in many cases rude but others were curious about the US team and MLS. Some English fans were actually very interested in specific players in MLS like Rohan Ricketts and Terry Cooke."

Bob Bradley -- He's taken a lot of heat for his team's uninspiring performances over these last couple of weeks. Is he the right man to be leading this team into the World Cup (hopefully) in 2010, or should USSF perhaps look towards a foreign manager?

"I was firmly in Bradley's corner until recently: I felt he did a good job in 2007 of deepening the player pool and giving looks to some players who had been overlooked by Bruce Arena. However in 2008, despite some good results (wins over Sweden and Poland) Bradley has fallen into a pattern of picking the same players albeit in different positions and has reduced Landon Donovan, our best player to a wide midfield position where he sees less of the ball than ever before. Donovan is the key player for the US and passing him over for captain and then reducing his role in the attack was a bad idea. Even worse, Bradley has a clear bias much like Arena did towards players he has coached at the club level."

Heading into the start of World Cup qualifiers this summer, what do you think the starting XI and formation should be for the US? Because Bradley can't seem to settle on one specific way to play or group of players to play with.

"I think the US should play a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1. But Bradley prefers a 4-4-2, which is odd considering the US is one of the few countries that really has never used a 4-4-2 with our national team. We've played a 5-3-2, 3-6-1, 3-5-2, and 4-5-1 respectively in our last four World Cups. The US has traditionally used wide flank play with the likes of Cobi Jones, Eddie Lewis, Frankie Hejduk and others to stimulate our attack, which is why a 4-4-2 never worked for us. The current 4-4-2 utilizing two holding midfielders is a disaster.

Here is my ideal US starting XI (4-5-1):

GK: Howard
RB: Cherdundolo (Hejduk)
CB: Onyewu
CB: Orozco (Bocanegra)
LB: Pearce
DMF: Edu (Mastroeni)
RMF: Dempsey
LMF: Lewis (Beasley)
AMF: Donovan
AMF: Adu
ST: Cooper (Altidore)

For qualifying I think it is critical to take advantage of Eddie Lewis' veteran savvy and his ability to get down the flank despite being 34. I like the idea of starting Michael Orozco who was a key member of San Luis run to the Mexican Clausura playoff semifinals and the US Olympic qualifying team because he is now used to playing in front of tough latin styled crowds . I also like the idea of playing Kenny Cooper a tall target forward up top. The players in parentheses are acceptable replacement starters for the player named."

What do you think the differences were between our U-20 team's success in the U-20 World Cup in Canada last summer and the way our U-21's bowed out woefully in the Toulon Tournament in France just a couple weeks ago?

"The squad. Thanks to MLS' insistence on playing right through international breaks as well as the Mexican League playoffs, a weakened squad was sent to Toulon. That having been said the US has a long history of doing well in U-20 and U-17 World Cups only to see the very same players fade at the U-23 and full international levels. One bright spot from Toulon was the play of Sammy Ochoa whose club in Mexico, Tecos missed the playoffs. Expect to see more Mexican-American players like Ochoa and Orozco who are eligible to play for either nation and who play their club football in Mexico involved in the US player pool going forward."

Who is your pick to win the Euros, and why?

"Germany. They have the most balanced and experienced squad. I like Frings and Schweinsteiger in the midfield as well as Mario Gomez one of the emerging stars of German football in the attack."

So there you go. I'll post the second part of our chat sometime early next week. Kartik makes a lot of good points about the US and the relationship between MLS and USSF, which is in charge of the national teams. From other conversations I've had with him in the past, he and I aren't quite on the same page regarding the senior team, especially on the abilities and performances of Oguchi Onyewu, but we're definitely in the same chapter, if you will, and hope for good things to come from them in the future.

The Downfall of Chelsea, Nazi Style (Again)

I originally posted this video two days ago, but when I came back and tried to watch it again yesterday for a good laugh, it had been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim. It was back up on YouTube tonight, and I felt like it was my duty to bring it back here and put it up for your viewing pleasure. You can thank me whenever you'd like.

It is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. There are several others similar to it, two of which I posted yesterday, obviously with different themes but made by the same person.

Caution: If you have a problem with bad language and borderline racism, this may not be the video for you. If you are one of those people, come on, it's a joke. Deal with it.

Euro 2008 Semifinals Predictions

The countdown to Euro 2008 is now on in earnest as we're less than three days away from kickoff in the opener, Switzerland-Czech Republic. Along with my final prediction on Friday, I'll post the complete TV schedule for the group stage for everyone's convenience. I can't wait for this thing to get started.

Onto my predictions for the semifinals.

Semifinal #1 (June 25, 2:45 PM; St. Jakob-Park, Basel):

Portugal (Winner of QF #1) vs. Germany (Winner of QF #2)

I'll be honest -- this semifinal probably would not be the most exciting game to watch.

Portugal is the more dynamic of the two nations as far as comparing the individual players, but their coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, isn't known for playing a high-octane, up-and-down system. They also employ only one natural striker at a time and when you look at the options (Helder Postiga, Nuno Gomes, Hugo Almeida), none really have the capability of even coming close to setting the world alight. The lack of talent in that role will be a problem for Portugal against Germany, whose center backs can be exploited in their matchup against strikers who are quick and can beat you one-on-one for pace. Portugal doesn't have anyone up front who can do that, so I'd expect Cristiano Ronaldo to occupy a position right behind whoever the starting striker is and just constantly run at and terrorize the tall, slow pair of Christoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker.

Germany has a terrific center forward in Miroslav Klose, but it's unclear who will be playing alongside him. The team is loaded in the midfield and will rely on Michael Ballack for inspiration and goal-scoring, to a lesser extent. It is a team that doesn't have the firepower to outscore Portugal, so they'll need to shut down the midfield and Ballack will play in a more subdued role to help Torsten Frings.

While Portugal has a clear advantage over Germany in the center back position, Germany possesses better, more dangerous full-backs in Philipp Lahm and either Marcell Jansen or Arne Friedrich. They'll need to go forward and provide good aerial service for Klose and Ballack, both of whom are terrific headers of the ball. However, they'll also need to their pick their spots when doing so because Portugal can counter-attack with the best of them and are incredibly speedy on the wings with Ronaldo and Simão.

I just can't see where the goals are going to come from for Germany aside from either Klose or Ballack. As alluded to earlier, the center of the Portuguese back line and their defensive midfield play is very solid. If those players do their jobs, which they should, Ballack and Klose will both be negated. Portugal has the best player in the world on their side in Cristiano Ronaldo, and he's capable of scoring in a vast multitude of ways. Also, Jens Lehmann is always capable of giving up a bad goal, so that combination looks promising for Portugal.

Prediction: Portugal-1, Germany-0

Semifinal #2 (June 26, 2:45 PM; Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna):

Italy (Winner of QF #3) vs. France (Winner of QF #4)

These two nations would be well and truly sick of each other if this matchup was to occur. France and Italy played in the World Cup final in 2006, won by Italy in PK's. They were in the same qualifying group for this tournament and played twice there, with France taking four of the six possible points. They're in Group C, the "Group of Death", together this summer and will play each other on June 17, just 9 days before this game would occur.

Just like the case would be in a France-Spain quarterfinal, there isn't much to separate between France and Italy. The major difference in the first matchup is the age gap; Spain is a much younger team at the core positions than France. In this matchup, both teams are relatively equal in that regard and their players have a lot of experience at the highest level, both internationally and domestically.

If there was one key factor to look at, it's the disparity in quality between the two goalkeepers. Italy's Gianluigi Buffon is amongst the top two or three at his position in the world, whereas France's Grégory Coupet was the long-serving backup to Fabien Barthez. To be fair, Coupet is not a slouch between the sticks by any means; in fact, he's very good and has played in a number of big games in the Champions League at Lyon. I'm just unsure as to how he'll perform in the second-largest tournament in the world after never having done it before.

Everywhere else on the field seems to be a wash. Both teams are solid up front, with Thierry Henry and either Nicholas Anelka or Karim Benzema for France and Luca Toni and either Marco Borriello or Antonio Di Natale for Italy. France prefers to use out-and-out wingers in Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery, both great internationally, and use two holding midfield players at the same time (Makélélé and Vieira/Toulalan), whereas Italy will completely clog the center of the field with Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, and Daniele De Rossi, who is an absolutely fantastic player. France does have a better back line, especially with the devastating injury to Italy's Fabio Cannavaro, but they're also a little older and perhaps a bit more error-prone.

Prediction: Despite the fact that both teams have an abundance of attacking talent, goals will be at a premium in this game as it'll be played with a tight-to-the-vest, cautious style. It'll be an absolute bloodbath in the center of the park, and France's superior wing play will be the deciding factor. If Malouda and Ribery show up, France will win, if not, they'll go home. Italy-1, France-0

Goodbye, Mark Hughes..Hello, Mark Hughes

Manchester City announced the arrival of Mark Hughes to the Eastlands today, where he signed a three-year contract to manage the team he hated playing against when he was at crosstown rivals United.

Hughes took Blackburn as far as he could during his four-year tenure at the club, finishing in the top half of the table in each of his last three seasons at Ewood Park. A year after making it through the Intertoto Cup into the first round of the UEFA Cup, where they were surprisingly knocked out by Greek side AE Larisa, Blackburn missed out on an Intertoto Cup place by three points this time around.

The former Welsh national team coach had a very small budget at Blackburn, a team with a small stadium in the shadow of bigger clubs like Manchester United and even Bolton to a lesser extent. The town of Blackburn itself isn't a particularly affluent area, and Ewood Park was rarely sold out on game days.

All told, Hughes was at the helm for 188 matches at Blackburn and compiled a solid 82-47-59 record. He was never going to be able to take the club further than he did -- competing for a UEFA Cup spot -- because he didn't have enough money available to go out and get the quality of players necessary to make a run at the "Big Four".

For Hughes' managerial career to progress, he made the right move to join Manchester City, a club with a much bigger stadium and an owner who has shown he'll splash the cash. With just that in mind, though, there will also be more expectations to succeed and Hughes has never had to manage in the limelight with any real pressure. Shinawatra drove a more established, successful coach in Sven-Goran Eriksson out of town after just one season, so you know he'll have no qualms about getting rid of Hughes if the team has a particularly poor season in '08-'09.

That wealthy owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, is also very hands-on with the sporting side of the club and has shown that he likes to have a say in what's going on with the team. Sure, he's not directly picking the side that will come out of the tunnel, but he still has a lot of influence on what's happening downstairs. I'm not sure that Hughes, given what I've seen in his demeanor and personality, will want to deal with that kind of interference from someone who knows very little about the game.

The Premiership coaching carousel is now underway as there's obviously a vacancy at Blackburn. Hughes took his assistant, Mark Bowen, with him to Manchester so he's not an option, and the rumor mill so far includes some of the usual suspects: Sam Allardyce, Steve McLaren (who is very close to tying up a deal with Dutch club FC Twente), former Blackburn player Mike Newell, and Slaven Bilić (who won't be leaving the Croatian national team for Blackburn). I would think, however, that club chairman John Williams would make an effort to bring in someone who is coaching in the Premier League right now. That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be someone who's currently a manager, but someone who is very familiar with what's going on in England's top flight.

Soccer, Nazi Style--Take Two

The hilarious Nazi-inspired video featured in my last post is no longer available due to a copyright claim, but's that OK. At English Soccer Talk, we don't take rejection very well, and I'm going to post two other funny scenes in response.

The first video you'll see portrays Hitler and his advisors as Tottenham fans, who are upset that their team lost to Arsenal again and seemingly can never beat their North London rivals.

In the second video, which uses a completely different movie clip, is based on the final day of the 2006-2007 Premiership season, on which Sheffield United got relegated despite finishing tied on points with Wigan. The result that really killed Neil Warnock's team that afternoon, though, was West Ham's 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

So here you go, enjoy. Hopefully these videos don't get removed also..

Euro 2008 Quarterfinals Predictions (Part 2)

OK, I'm back.

Quarterfinal #3 (June 21, 2:45 PM; St. Jakob-Park, Basel):

Italy (Group C winner) vs. Russia (Group D runner-up):

This would be a sneakier game for Italy then many people would think, especially if they just looked at the two names and knew that Italy is the current world champion.

The loss of captain Fabio Cannavaro, who is the rock in the Italian back line, is going to come back and bite Italy against a team like Russia that has nothing to lose, everything to gain, and will go for it all. Italy will be able to get by in the group stage (they’re in Group C, the “Group of Death”) because their opposition has high expectations and will play cautiously so as to make sure they don’t get beat. In his place, Andrea Barzagli will likely start alongside Marco Materazzi, from whom you never know what you’ll get, and that leaves the center of the Italian defense fairly vulnerable to quality attackers, which Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko both are.

In the midfield and up front, Italy is still strong. They are by no means quick, however, which plays into the hands of an experienced Russian team that does have some speed on the flanks. With that said, Luca Toni would be the best player on the field, bar none, and would cause a lot of problems for the Russian defense, as would Andrea Pirlo’s pinpoint passing.

The key matchup of this game would be between Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko from Russia and Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi from Italy. Controlling the center of the field is going to be a must for both nations because Russia has the advantage on the wings and Italy can’t let Russia also have the middle. If Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko were able to get their way, and I already mentioned how the center of the Italian back line is susceptible to quality, the Russians could pull off the upset.

Italy would need to fire shots from everywhere at Russia’s goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev. As I said in my preview of Russia, he is a very talented youngster and is the present and future in goal for his country, but he’s only going to be 23 years old at the start of the tournament and this is really his first time in the spotlight. You never know how he’ll react under pressure, and Italy has the experience and know-how to exploit this potential chink in the Russian armor.

The coaching battle between Russia’s Guus Hiddink and Italy’s Roberto Donadoni can’t be understated. It’s simple, really — Hiddink has done it before at the international level and Donadoni hasn’t. Hiddink has shown his flexibility and willingness to make tactical and structural changes on the fly, and Donadoni is the prototypical Italian coach who, although he changed formations successfully from game to game in the qualifiers, hasn’t shown the versatility to change much during the course of one match. He is cautious first and second, adventurous third. Donadoni has more talent at his disposal, but he’ll need to find a way to outmanuever his opposite number on the chess board.

Prediction: Italy-2, Russia-1 (after extra time)

Quarterfinal #4 (June 22, 2:45 PM; Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna):

Spain (Group D winner) vs. France (Group C runner-up):

In terms of pure talent and quality, these two teams are probably the best in the tournament. As we’ve seen all season in the Premiership when “Big Four” teams go at it, however, top-notch, world-class players competing against each other rarely makes for a compelling match.

Having made it out of Group C, France would have played two games just like this one against Spain and their other game, against Romania, wouldn’t have been a cakewalk either. They’d be battle-tested, whereas Spain can overmatch everyone in their group.

Looking at it from the other side of that coin, though, France would have played three draining, grueling games and don’t exactly have a roster full of spring chickens anymore; I’m not sure how much guys like Lilian Thuram, Claude Makélélé, Patrick Vieira (who will miss the first group game due to injury and will be racing the clock to be fit for the second match and beyond), and even Thierry Henry would have left in the tank going into the knockout rounds. Five of France’s players play for Manchester United and Chelsea, who are just coming off the longest seasons in European club soccer, and all five will see significant playing time in this tournament. Three others play for Barcelona, who went to the Champions League semifinals before bowing out.

Spain, on the other hand, should clinch a place in the last eight after their second group game (and if not, they’ll trounce Greece in the final fixture), and that would enable their stars to get that extra bit of rest. As it is, they’re already a much-younger team at the core positions than France, and should be able to dictate the tempo at which they want this game to be played.

Simplified, it comes down to this: France is older and has more experience, Spain has the weight of past disappointments on their shoulders but are a younger, and presumably hungrier, team. It’s tough to pick any one matchup that would decide this match; as I said, both teams are full of quality and their weaknesses cancel each other out. Spain is more dangerous up front with Fernando Torres and David Silva, but France has a much more solid back line. Spain has creative central midfielders in Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas who are great passers, but France has a defensive midfielder who is so good that he has a position named after him (Makélélé), and one who has won just about everything there is to win in soccer, both at the international and club levels (Vieira). France has more explosiveness on their wings, but Spain’s formation gives their opposition the wings and makes them beat you down the middle.

Prediction: It’s a game that has extra time or extra time and PK’s written all over it. France-1, Spain-1 (France wins 4-3 in PK’s)

I know that all of this is just guesswork, of course, as the first kick of the ball hasn’t even been made yet, but that’s what the beauty of this game is. It provides us a chance to imagine and dream, and hey, we’ve got to find a way to make this week of anticipation go faster.

With that in mind, I’ll have my semifinal predictions/previews on Wednesday.

Goodbye, Sven-Göran Eriksson

It's official, Sven-Göran Eriksson left Manchester City today by "mutual consent" after having spent just one season at the Eastlands.

Let's be clear here. Technically, the term "mutual consent" can correctly be applied here because I'm sure Sven wanted out, but the antagonist and instigator of this whole situation was the club's owner, a human-rights abuser who isn't even welcome back in his native Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. Sven was being pushed around by a guy who knows absolutely nothing about the game but tried to interfere anyway, and with the credentials and success that Sven has piled up, there was no reason for him to put up with that.

Shinawatra had grown increasingly unhappy with City's dip in form in the second half of the season, and Sven's job was in jeopardy even when multiple games were still left to be played. City lost 8-1 to Middlesbrough on the final day of the season and although that may have been what sealed Sven's fate in Shinawatra's mind, I'm of the mindset that the players tanked that game on purpose in a show of protest towards their owner and in support of the manager. In every interview I've seen and read, Manchester City's players were nothing less than thrilled that Sven was their manager and they had his back until the very end.

Eriksson turned around what had been a dismal team that just couldn't score goals under Stuart Pearce, now the England U-21 manager, and had them in a position to qualify for Europe nearly all season. Sure, City didn't end up in the top five, the only automatic qualification places in the Premiership this year, but their exemplary fair play record wound up propelling them into the '08-'09 UEFA Cup anyway. City beat hated rivals Manchester United twice this season, a feat they hadn't accomplished in decades.

Eriksson had very little time to put a team together after becoming manager last summmer, but was able to use his foreign connections to mold a very competitive, exciting squad. He more than surpassed expectations for his first year with a team whose core group of players hadn't played with each other before.

All told, Sven did a a great job at City this year and without him at the helm, I think you're going to see a significant exodus of players this summer. The captain and club player of the year for the past four seasons, blood-and-guts center back Richard Dunne, is on his way to Tottenham and should complete his move sometime this week. At just 19 years of age, Micah Richards is a terrific player and is already City's vice-captain, but the sky is the limit for him and his potential is unlimited. He'll be the starting right back for England in the 2010 World Cup and could start for any Premiership club at center back right now, and he'll presumably be off this summer. Elano could very well leave, Martin Petrov may leave, Stephen Ireland may leave; all of these departures are connected to Sven's departure.

In short, Shinawatra cut off the legs and future growth of his team by getting rid of a guy who brought instant credibility and recognition to a squad that had little of either as perennial inferior neighbors to United. They hadn't done well at all in recent seasons and when they finally did do so (9th place this year), the architect behind it all was unappreciated by the owner. City will suffer next season without Sven; I don't care how much money (most of it was illegally obtained anyway) Shinawatra has, you can't simply buy what Sven brought to the table.

It looks like Sven will land on his feet instantly and take the Mexican national team job, which would immediately thrust them to the top of CONCACAF and add more flavor and splash to a US-Mexico rivalry that has been dominated by the States for a little while now. I wish Sven all the luck in the future and hope he does well with Mexico, so long as it's not at the expense of the US qualifying for the next World Cup.

Sadly and perhaps most importantly, I think this means the end of Sven on "I'm on Setanta Sports" as well.."WELL", goodbye, Sven.

Euro 2008 Quarterfinals Predictions (Part 1)

Last week was devoted to previewing each of the four groups in Euro 2008 and with the start of the tournament less than a week away, it's time for me to take those previews and make predictions for the knockout rounds.

Today, I'll cover the four quarterfinal matchups I believe will take place, on Wednesday, I'll do the same for the semifinals, and I'll take you into the weekend (and the first four games of the competition) by previewing my pick for the final on Friday and posting the TV schedule for the group stage.

Quarterfinal #1 (June 19, 2:45 PM; St. Jakob-Park, Basel):

Portugal (Group A winner) vs. Croatia (Group B runner-up):

This would be the most compelling game to watch in the quarterfinal round. It pits two extremely capable coaches against each other in Luiz Felipe Scolari and Slaven Bilić, though the advantage would obviously go to Scolari as he's won a World Cup and is the more experienced of the two. Both managers are tactically sound and disciplined. Both of their teams are organized and play a system rather than play as a group of free-lancing individuals.

Because of these things, a tight game is the only thing that could be expected. Portugal has more talent on the field with Cristiano Ronaldo, the best player in the world, and Deco, a midfield general when his mind is right, both thinking about going forward and breaking down defenses. Croatia doesn't have a group of slouches in their midfield though either; Luka Modrić and Niko Kranjčar are terrific in their own right and would cause problems for the slow Portuguese back line.

Without their leading goal scorer from qualification, Eduardo da Silva, I just don't think Croatia has that cutting edge up front that they'd need to beat Portugal, whereas although Portugal features only one center forward on the field at a time, each of their midfield players, their wingers in particular, are capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.

Portugal also has an easier group to come out of and would be less fatigued than a Croatian side who will have to battle a co-host in Austria and two physical, hard-working teams in Germany and Poland.

I like Portugal's goalkeeping situation better; Ricardo has great reflexes from close range and is fantastic at saving PK's, which could be the difference in a game as close as this. Stipe Pletikosa is the Croatian goalie and he's fine, but he hasn't played in enough big games or even done well enough in the meaningful games that he has played in to convince me that he can come up with that one big save or claim a high ball into the area when it's truly necessary.

Prediction: Portugal-2, Croatia-1

Quarterfinal #2 (June 20, 2:45 PM; Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna):

Germany (Group B winner) vs. Switzerland (Group A runner-up):

If you're a fan of the Swiss, it's a win-lose situation in that if they advance from Group A, great, but if they don't win it, they're going to have face Germany and not have the home-field advantage that they enjoyed in the group stage. The fact that this game would be played in Vienna probably even favors Germany, to be honest, and Switzerland would need all the help they can get if this matchup were to come to fruition.

Switzerland is overmatched at every position except left wing, where Tranquillo Barnetta should easily get the better of whomever Germany plays on their right flank. Both nations defend very well and do so in a compact, tight manner that will concede the short passes and make the opponent beat you with a great individual play, either by breaking a defender down on the ground by dribbling or by slipping a through ball to an attacker making his run at precisely the right time. Germany has players that are capable of doing both; Michael Ballack and Tim Borowski are great passers and although they're not the fastest team in the world, Germany has guys like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm who are capable of beating a defender one-on-one.

For Switzerland to have any hope in this game, their defense, led by Arsenal's Philippe Senderos, has to be the rock it was in the 2006 World Cup and Alexander Frei will need to play incredibly well up front. This is the type of match where whoever scores the first goal will almost assuredly win, so obviously drawing first blood is essential.

Germany's weakness is at center back, but Switzerland isn't the pacey, quick-footed team that will be able to exploit it. Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder are the twin towers back there and can win anything in the air, but can be beaten by speed, either on the ball by a dribbler or off the ball by a cutting midfielder or striker. Switzerland will need to put pressure on those two players and see if they'll crack. If not, it could be a very frustrating afternoon for the Swiss.

Prediction: Germany-2, Switzerland-0

Part two of these quarterfinal predictions will be posted later on this evening, as I've got homework to attend to at the moment. Work before pleasure, right everyone?