Steven Gerrard's Goal Against the USA

Steven Gerrard put in a Man of the Match performance tonight at Wembley, thrusting himself even more into the permanent captaincy discussion.

Above is his well-worked goal that made it 2-0, set up by his good friend and perhaps soon-to-be Liverpool teammate Gareth Barry. It is quality of the highest degree, and a microcosm of England's superiority throughout the entire game.

As a bonus, take a look at this goal also scored by Chedwyn Evans, who is currently on loan from Manchester City at Norwich City, where he scored 10 goals in 28 league games this season. Evans made his senior international début for Wales in their 1-0 victory tonight over Iceland after scoring 9 goals in 8 U-21 matches, and in my experience, there aren't too many 19-year olds who can score goals like this.

What a way to remember his first game with the big boys:

Andriy Shevchenko Commercial

No real rhyme or reason for posting this, but it's an old SportsCenter commercial featuring anchor Scott van Pelt and Andriy Shevchenko, when the latter was still playing for AC Milan.

Hey, I think it's pretty funny.

Euro 2008 Preview--Group C (Part 2)

After watching England thoroughly dominate the US in their 2-0 friendly victory at Wembley this afternoon, I'm back for the second half of this Group C preview.

Italy:

As the current world champion, Italy enters this tournament right at the top of the list of favorites. They are also the team everyone wants to beat; Italy will get everyone's best shot and they'll have to be able to take a few punches and overcome that.

To add the title of European champions, something they haven't been since 1968, to their résumé, they'll first have to advance from the toughest group in the competition. In qualifying, Italy won their group by three points over France, their newest rival. The two countries will obviously meet again in this tournament, and it's fitting that that game is the third and final match for both countries in the group stage. Italy would like nothing more than to continue their mastery over France by possibly eliminating them, and France would love an opportunity to do the same and in the process, gain some sweet revenge over the team that beat them in PK's in the 2006 World Cup final.

Roberto Donadoni made only one fairly surprising move in his 23-man roster. Many people didn't expect Sampdoria's (on loan from Real Madrid) Antonio Cassano to be included. Cassano is known throughout the world as a headcase unlike almost any other; he has been a troublemaker basically wherever he has gone and has a bad attitude, and if Donadoni didn't want to deal with the possible headache of Cassano's presence, no one would've blamed him.

However, there's never, ever been a question about Cassano's talent. He can score with both feet, has wonderful technique, has good composure and can finish pretty well, and he can beat defenders one-on-one without much trouble. Giovanni Trapattoni once labeled him as the "future of Italian football" and at only 25 years of age, the future could very well be right now. He lit it up in Serie A for Sampdoria this season, scoring 10 goals in 22 league matches en route to helping his team qualify for next season's UEFA Cup.

As I said, Cassano was really the only surprising inclusion on a team that is absolutely loaded once again. One of the two or three best at his position in the world, Gianluigi Buffon will obviously be in goal. His back line will be made up of the captain, Fabio Cannavaro, who will be in the center and may be on his last legs at the international level at the age of 34. Joining Cannavaro in the middle will be his fellow 34-year old, Marco Materazzi, with Fabio Grosso and Gianluca Zambrotta on the left and right, respectively. In the midfield, Gennaro Gattuso will play in the holding role, with Daniele de Rossi and Andrea Pirlo ahead of "the Bulldog". Luca Toni will occupy a center forward slot, possibly alongside Genoa's Marco Borriello, with Alessandro del Piero, who had a terrific season for Juventus, just behind them to finish off a 4-3-1-2 formation. The Italians count on their full-backs to provide width and service into the middle, so Grosso and Zambrotta will be keys to their success.

Romania:

Finishing off the "Group of Death", Romania surprised a lot of people by topping Holland and winning their qualifying group for this tournament. Outsiders will look at this team and not recognize many players aside from Fiorentina's Adrian Mutu and Inter Milan's Cristian Chivu, but they proved they are no pansy and will make things tough on the three more well-known nations in this group.

In all honesty, I'm one of those outsiders myself, but again, Romania showed over 12 qualifiers that they weren't a joke. They took four out of six points from Holland and have a very experienced manager in Victor Piţurcă, who also won the European Cup as a player with Steaua Bucharest. They've beaten fellow Euro 2008 competitors Russia and Turkey in friendlies in the past year, although they lost to Germany and Israel over that same stretch as well.

Concerning their squad, Bogdan Lobonţ will be in goal; with 62 caps, he has 61 more than the other two goalkeepers on the 23-man roster combined. Cristian Chivu is the nation's captain and will anchor the back line, with Răzvan Raţ on the left, Cosmin Contra on the right, and either Dorin Goian or Gabriel Tamaş joining Chivu in the center. In the midfield, I think you could see a large diamond, with Florentin Petre wide right, Mirel Rădoi in the holding role, Adrian Mutu right behind the strikers, and Răzvan Cociş on the left but drifiting into the middle. Up front, Marius Niculae will partner Ciprian Marica, Stuttgart's young 22-year old who was the club's record transfer signing.

Group C Final Prediction (teams in bold advance):

1. Italy -- 7 points
2. France -- 5 points
3. Romania -- 3 points
4. Holland -- 1 point

Tomorrow, I'll preview the fourth and final group of this tournament by taking a look at Sweden, Spain, defending champions Greece, and Russia.

Euro 2008 Final Rosters--Group C

France:

GK (3): Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Grégory Coupet (Lyon), Sébastien Frey (Fiorentina)

DEF (8): Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Jean-Alain Boumsong, Francois Clerc, and Sebastien Squillaci (Lyon), William Gallas (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona)

MID (7): Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Claude Makelele and Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Patrick Vieira* (Inter Milan), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Samir Nasri (Marseille)

FWD (5): Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou (Lyon), Bafetimbi Gomis (Saint-Etienne), Thierry Henry (Barcelona)

*Captain

Italy:

GK (3): Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Morgan De Sanctis (Sevilla)

DEF (7): Fabio Cannavaro* (Real Madrid), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Christian Panucci (AS Roma), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Lyon)

MID (7): Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, and Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta, and Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus)

FWD (6): Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria), Marco Borriello (Genoa)

*Captain

Romania:

GK (3): Bogdan Lobonţ (Dinamo Bucharest), Marius Popa (Politehnica Timişoara), Eduard Stăncioiu (CFR Cluj)

DEF (9): Cosmin Contra (Getafe), Răzvan Raţ (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gabriel Tamaş (Auxerre), Cosmin Moţi and Ştefan Radu (Dinamo Bucharest), Dorin Goian and Sorin Ghionea (Steaua Bucharest), Cristian Săpunaru (Rapid Bucharest), Cristian Chivu* (Inter Milan)

MID (7): Mirel Rădoi, Nicolae Dică, and Bănel Nicoliţă (Steaua Bucharest), Florentin Petre (CSKA Sofia), Paul Codrea (Siena), Răzvan Cociş (Lokomotiv Moscow), Adrian Cristea (Dinamo Bucharest)

FWD (4): Ciprian Marica (Stuttgart), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), Marius Niculae (Inverness CT), Daniel Niculae (Auxerre)

*Captain

Note: Holland's final roster was already named.

Euro 2008 Final Rosters--Group B

Austria:

GK (3): Alex Manninger (Siena), Jürgen Macho (AEK Athens), Ramazan Özcan (Salzburg)

DEF (8): Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Ronald Gërçaliu (Salzburg), Markus Katzer, Martin Hiden, and Jürgen Patocka (Rapid Wien), György Garics (Napoli), Sebastian Prödl (Sturm Graz)

MID (8): Joachim Standfest (Austria Wien), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), René Aufhauser and Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Ivica Vastić (LASK Linz), Andreas Ivanschitz* (Panathinaikos), Ümit Korkmaz (Rapid Wien), Jürgen Säumel (Sturm Graz)

FWD (4): Roland Linz (Sporting Braga), Roman Kienast (HamKam), Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen), Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Wien)

*Captain

Germany:

GK (3): Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hannover 96), René Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)

DEF (7): Marcell Jansen and Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC), Clemens Fritz and Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid)

MID (8): Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Michael Ballack* (Chelsea), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg), Thomas Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Real Betis)

FWD (5): Mario Gómez (Stuttgart), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Kevin Kurányi (Schalke 04)

*Captain

Poland:

GK (3): Artur Boruc (Celtic), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Łukasz Fabiański (Arsenal)

DEF (7): Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Paweł Golański (Steaua Bucharest), Jacek Bąk (Austria Wien), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Michał Żewłakow (Olympiacos), Adam Kokoszka (Wisła Kraków)

MID (9): Dariusz Dudka (Wisła Kraków), Jacek Krzynówek (VfL Wolfsburg), Łukasz Garguła (Bełchatów), Michał Pazdan (Górnik Zabrze), Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Wojciech Łobodziński (Wisła Kraków), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk), Rafał Murawski (Lech Poznań), Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)

FWD (4): Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander), Maciej Żurawski* (Larissa), Marek Saganowski (Southampton), Tomasz Zahorski (Górnik Zabrze)

*Captain

Note: Croatia's final roster was already named.

Euro 2008 Final Rosters--Group A

No time to waste, I have a summer class to get to so let's get right to this.

Czech Republic:

GK (3): Petr Čech (Chelsea), Jaromír Blažek (Nuremberg), Daniel Zítka (Anderlecht)

DEF (7): Zdeněk Grygera (Juventus), Radoslav Kováč (Spartak Moscow), Marek Jankulovski (AC Milan), Zdeněk Pospěch (FC Copenhagen), Michal Kadlec (Sparta Prague), Tomáš Ujfaluši* (Fiorentina), David Rozehnal (Lazio)

MID (8): Jan Polák (Anderlecht), Tomáš Galásek (Nuremberg), Libor Sionko (FC Copenhagen), David Jarolím (Hamburg), Marek Matějovský (Reading), Tomáš Sivok (Sparta Prague), Rudi Skácel (Southampton), Jaroslav Plašil (Osasuna)

FWD (5): Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt), Jan Koller (Nuremberg), Václav Svěrkoš (Baník Ostrava), Stanislav Vlček (Anderlecht), Milan Baroš (Portsmouth)

*Captain

Switzerland:

GK (3): Diego Benaglio (VfL Wolfsburg), Eldin Jakupović (Grasshopper), Pascal Zuberbühler (Neuchâtel Xamax)

DEF (8): Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre, Patrick Müller (Lyon), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lille), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ludovic Magnin (Stuttgart)

MID (8): Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Valon Behrami (Lazio), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshopper), Gelson Fernandes (Manchester City), Daniel Gygax (Metz), Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel), Gökhan İnler (Udinese), Hakan Yakın (Young Boys)

FWD (4): Eren Derdiyok and Marco Streller (FC Basel), Alexander Frei* (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Vonlanthen (Salzburg)

*Captain

Turkey:

GK (3): Rüştü Reçber (Beşiktaş), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor), Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe)

DEF (7): Uğur Boral (Fenerbahçe), Servet Çetin, Hakan Balta, Emre Güngör, Emre Aşık, and Sabri Sarıoğlu (Galatasaray), Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş)

MID (8): Emre Belözoğlu* (Newcastle), Mehmet Topal, Arda Turan, and Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray), Mehmet Aurélio and Colin Kazim-Richards (Fenerbahçe), Tümer Metin (Larissa), Hamit Altıntop (Bayern Munich)

FWD (5): Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal), Semih Şentürk (Fenerbahçe), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan), Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough), Mevlüt Erdinç (FC Sochaux)

*Captain

Note: Portugal's final roster was already named.

Euro 2008 Preview--Group C (Part 1)

As I said yesterday, today's plan goes like this: this preview (France and Holland), the final rosters for the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Turkey (Group A) all in one post, the final rosters for Austria, Germany, and Poland (Group B) in another post, the final rosters for France, Italy, and Romania (Group C) in another post, and then lastly, the second part of the Group C preview (Italy and Romania). Remember, Portugal, Croatia, Holland, Greece, Russia, Sweden, and Spain already announced their squads, so you can scroll down the homepage to find those.

Let's get started by taking a look at the match schedule for Group C (all times Eastern):

June 9:
Romania vs. France (Noon; Letzigrund Stadion, Zürich)
Holland vs. Italy (2:45; Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne)

June 13:
Italy vs. Romania (Noon; Letzigrund Stadion, Zürich)
Holland vs. France (2:45; Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne)

June 17:
Holland vs. Romania (2:45; Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne)
France vs. Italy (2:45; Letzigrund Stadion, Zürich)

France:

Defeated by Italy on PK's in the 2006 World Cup final, France will be hungrier than ever to get some payback for that disappointment by beating the Azzurri in the final game of the group stage.

Before they get to that match, though, France has a lot of work to do to put themselves in a position to advance to the quarterfinals and beyond, as both Holland and Romania will provide stiff competition this summer. Raymond Domenech's team finished three points behind Italy in qualifying for this tournament, although France took four of six points in the two games. There are certainly no easy games in this group, but France's best opportunity to win, at least on paper, seemingly comes in their first game against Romania.

Domenech's 23-man roster looks very similar to what we've seen in recent years, and it really wasn't a surprise when striker David Trézéguet wasn't included. While there is no denying his talent, Trézéguet and Domenech have often bumped heads (and egos) and with the emergence of Lyon's Karim Benzema, Trézéguet was viewed as unnecessary. Also not included was Louis Saha, who had an injury-plagued season at Manchester United.

In goal, Grégory Coupet will finally get a chance to prove himself on a big stage as Fabien Barthez stepped aside after the World Cup. Directly ahead of Coupet, William Gallas and Lilian Thuram headline a great back line, with either Éric Abidal or the hard-charging Patrice Evra at left back and Willy Sagnol on the right. The two stalwart defensive midfielders, Claude Makélélé and Patrick Vieira, will take up their longstanding roles and could be playing their last truly meaningful games for France. Franck Ribéry has become an automatic first choice for Domenech on the wing, and opposite him will be Chelsea's Florent Malouda. Up front, Thierry Henry should partner Karim Benzema, though Nicholas Anelka can never be counted out. My guess is we'll see a 4-2-2-2, with Vieira and Makélélé both sitting back to allow Ribéry and Malouda to really push forward.

Holland:

As the traditional big dogs in their qualifying group, Holland made life exceedingly difficult for themselves by finishing second behind Romania, only one point ahead of third-place Bulgaria. Robin van Persie led the Oranje in goal scoring with 4, but that was good enough for only a sixth-place tie. As a team, they only managed 15 goals in 12 games despite playing in a group that featured several lightweights in Albania, Luxembourg, Belarus, and Slovenia.

Suffice it to say that the Dutch underperformed in qualifying. Coach Marco van Basten, who will be joining Ajax in the same capacity after this tournament, has made it a point to usher in a new era for the national team, choosing younger players over their more experienced, more decorated counterparts. This fresh blood is unproven at this level, and although there are several holdovers in this squad, most of whom will feature, it's hardly a time to experiment with a young group of players, especially in what is by far the toughest group of the competition. With that said, van Basten has a much better relationship with the young players, and there is something to be said for that instead of possible hostility between the coach and guys like Clarence Seedorf and Marc von Bommel.

In goal, the captain, Edwin van der Sar, is at the top of his game right now after winning both the Premiership and Champions League at Manchester United. He'll need to come up large because his back line, the traditional weak link of the Dutch national team, is very uninspiring once again.

Only six defenders were included on the final roster, and as far as quality and ability goes, they are almost a wash. Wilfred Bouma had a great season at Aston Villa, playing a league-high 37 out of 38 league games, and he'll feature either at left back, where Tim de Cler plays, or in the center. John Heitinga also looks certain to start, and he can play in the center or on the right, which is Mario Melchiot's traditional position and he had a solid season at Wigan. André Ooijer has been a fixture in the middle, but Joris Mathijsen also is a natural center back. My guess? Melchiot on the right, Heitinga and Bouma in the center, and de Cler on the left, but the back line definitely is up in the air at this point.

In the midfield, van Basten has said recently that he's considering shifting to a 4-2-3-1 for this tournament instead of the 4-3-3 "total football" system typically employed by the Dutch. The breakdown of this squad by position would indicate a 4-3-3because there simply isn't enough quality in the defensive midfield slots to justify using two of them. If a 4-2-3-1 is used, expect to see Nigel de Jong and Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the holding roles, Rafael van der Vaart in the center, Wesley Snejider on one wing, and Robin van Persie on the other. If van Basten opts to go with the 4-3-3, which would be my pick, van der Vaart, Snejider, and van Bronckhorst would make up the midfield.

Up front, it again depends on the formation. Ruud van Nistelrooy is basically guaranteed the center forward position either way as he is still a few notches above Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. In the 4-2-3-1, van Nistelrooy would be by himself, but in the 4-3-3, Robin van Persie would play on one wing, with either Ryan Babel or more likely Arjen Robben on the other.

Holland's first two games are against France and Italy, so it's very likely that they'll need to beat Romania in the final group match to advance. In qualifying, only one goal was scored between both teams in their two games, with Romania taking four out of the six possible points.

Check back later on this afternoon for the second part of this Group C preview, which will feature Italy and Romania.