The Road to the Euro 2008 Championship Match
27. June 2008 by sid.
Well… It’s here… The match that everyone who’s been following this wonderful tournament has been waiting for… the 
match for all the marbles… the match that separates the winners, from those soon forgot in the years to come… Germany versus Spain for the 2008 European Championship.
The two teams involved in this championship final took two very different paths to reach here. Germany (a member of group B) played its first game to a 2-0 victory against the Poles. Its second game was the one that was supposed to determine what the German’s were made of. They were favorite (along with Croatia) to advance through their group. The other group’s favorite however came up victorious with a 2-1 victory over the Germans. The third game would be decisive for the Germans. They were facing the tournament co-hosts, Austria. The Germans would have to play, in Austria, in front of an away crowd, and would have to win. The game itself featured the worst officiating of the tournament…{cont}
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Euro 08 weekend wrap up…
16. June 2008 by sid.
Going into the final day of games for Group A, Portugal had already wrapped up the group… Their fixture against 
Switzerland was purely superficial. Whatever the outcome, the star studded Portuguese squad was moving on. Having already out-dueled both the Czech Republic and Turkey to an aggregate score of 5-1 (2-0 v Turkey, and 3-1 v the Czechs) Cristiano Ronaldo and company had already clinched the top spot in group A, and could coast onwards regardless of their final match outcome versus the host nation the Swiss… The game itself saw Portugal shutout by the tournament co-hosts, in a match that did nothing but wash out the salt in the wounds of an already eliminated Swiss side. Finally, something for the home crowd to cheer about, albeit too little too late…
The match with arguably the most exciting footballers in the world was not the focus of soccer fans today… The eyes of the soccer world (and those who don’t subscribe to ESPN classic) were not fixed upon the Portuguese, but rather, were glued 
upon the pitch of the Stade de Genève for the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic. Both teams were currently tied in the table, not just in overall points (each with a win earning 3 points), but also in goal differential (each with 2 goals for, and 3 goals against… for all you math braniacs, that’s a -1 goal differential). Under FIFA tie break rules, if two teams battling for a spot in the tournament round are tied in points, the better goal differential (if you need that explain… maybe you should check out the basketball section… that might be more up your alley) clinches the advancing position in the group as the first tie breaker. If goal differential is the same, whichever team has the most goals scored advances… However, if both are tied in points, tied in goal differential and tied in goals scored, the head to head match up decides who advances… What if both teams are playing each other in the final game of the group, and after 90 minutes, both teams are drawn? Well… then FIFA’s brand new rule, debuting this tournament, will see the fate of the two teams decided in a penalty shootout… Can you say drama?
So the stage was set… Winner advances… Loser watches the remaining tournament from a bar stool at their local pub. And if, by the unlikely chance after 90 minutes, the game wasn’t resolved, we’d put the nerves of both teams to the test in a shootout to decide who advances, and who curses FIFA’s sporadic rule changes for the next 4 years…
The game started off as everyone expected… the talented Czech Republic were all over the Turks… Their passing was crisp, their runs were precise, and the Turks looked like they were just barely scraping by with a 0-0 tie… Then in the 34th minute, a beautiful cross by Zdenek Grygera found the 6′8, 218lbs Czech forward Koller’s head, and despite a worthy attempt by Demirel (turkey’s netminder) banked off the keeper’s fingertips, off the crossbar, and into the net… The Czech’s were up 1-0, and now 56 minutes away from advancing.
The second half started the same way the first half ended, dominated by the Czech’s. Late in the 58th minute of the match, an injury forced one of the Turk’s center defensemen to sit on the sideline… Rather than make a substitution, the Turkish coach (Fatih Terim) opted to have the player attended to by the medical staff on the sideline, and play with 10 men until he was patched up… then in the 62nch minute, controversy… Terim was trying to get the referee’s attention to get his defenseman back in the game (since an injured player who leaves the pitch needs the referee’s permission to re-enter the match), but wasn’t able to get the ref’s attention. The Czechs were able to counter attack, and with another cross, the Czech Republics Jaroslav Plasil was able to slide into a ball, bouncing it over the extended hand of the Turk keeper, who for a second time had a hand on the ball, but couldn’t stop it from passing over the goal line. The Czechs were now up 2-0, and 28 minutes away from advancing through the group stage of the European Championship.
This is where everything changed… The Turks, led by their forward Tuncay Sanli (who basically led every surge they posted from this point on) took complete control of the game… Finding and abusing a weakness in the left side of the 
Czechs defense, they played ball after ball in front of Petr Cech (the Czech keeper, who is arguably one of the best in the world). Surge after surge ended up within feet of Cech who had to fight through bodies to knock most of them away, until the 75th minute, when a through ball split two Czech defensemen to Turkey’s midfielder Hamit Altintop (seriously, I couldn’t make these names up if I wanted to), who passed across the 18 on the ground right to the on-rushing Arda Turan who one timed a blistering shot along the ground beating the out-stretched Cech on the near side of the net for Turkey’s first goal. 2-1.
Turkey’s onslaught didn’t end there, after more and more shots, all knocked away by Cech, Turkey started getting desperate… Balls were being put into the box from anywhere. They didn’t seem to care how the ball went in, they just wanted it in the net… The rain picked up… the pitch was getting slippery, and they knew the old adage, a ball on net is better than a ball not on net… you never know what’s going to happen… In a rain ridden game, any ball can slip into the most opportune position… just make sure you capitalize, because you might not get another shot… Or maybe you’ll get three…
After a missed header a foot away from the goal (which would have tied the game at 2), the Turks looked defeated… they were hurling everything at the Czech net, quality be damned, it was now about quantity… Yet, you still never know… in the 87th minute, a cross that was put way too close to Petr Cech (remember, the Chelsea keeper just lost both the Engish Premier League, and the UEFA Champions League final to Manchester United, but is still considered by many to be one of the top 3 keepers in the world), who played it just like he would any other terrible cross. Except this time, the rain wasn’t on his side. The ball slipped out of his hands, and landed directly onto the feet of the Turkish captain Nihat Kahveci, who coolly, slid it into the back of the net…
Cech looked stunned… his normally steady hands just gave the Turks the game tying goal, and it looked like he would have to face a penalty shootout (every keeper’s nightmare). 2-2.
By the time the Turks were done celebrating, the time had made it’s way to the 88th minute, and The Czechs kicked off at center field, only to immediately have the ball take away by the Turks, who kept the pressure on… Just as they had done during the final quarter of the 90 minute game, they methodically brought the ball down the pitch, until once again, Hamit Altintop slid a through ball right to the feet of the captain, Nihat Kahveci who set, and released a shot that curved up over the head of outstretched Cech, then dropped down, off the crossbar and straight down across the goal line into the back of the net… The captain had just scored his second goal of the match, in as many minutes, his first tying the game, and this one putting Turkey ahead… 3-2 Turkey, and again the Turks celebrated…
The game wasn’t over yet though. The Czechs had 4 minutes of stoppage time to level the field, and force a penalty 
shootout… Drama central wasn’t TNT today… Rushing down the field, the Czechs put little pressure on the Turkish netminder, until a cross in the 91st minute went a little too far, and a few bodies collided… That’s when he 6′8 Czech forward Koller decided to take a little walk towards the Turkish netminder, speaking a few things that were clearly on his mind about the keeper. Volkan Demirel decided to take things into his own hands, and shoved the 6′8 218 lbs Koller to the ground (well, he tapped him, and Koller, who by the way should try out for Czech’s diving team in the upcoming Olympics, helped the rest by flopping to the ground as though he had just been shot). Red card to the keeper.
Normally, this would result in the coach subbing one of his regular players for the backup keeper… but since a team is only allowed 3 substitutes a game, and the Turks had by now used up all 3 of their subs, one of the players on the field had to take up keeping duties for the remainder of the game… Who else but the Turkish surge leader himself (and in my opinion game MVP) Tuncay Sanil was fit for the job? Well, actually, it could have been anyone… All the Czechs had to really do was put a shot on net, anything… The slippery conditions had already gotten the best of one of the world’s top goalies, what were they going to do to a midfielder who had to put on soggy gloves he hadn’t tried on since probably high school? However, it was not to be… The Czechs failed to capitalize, and didn’t record another shot on goal, and after 6 total minutes of stoppage time the referee blew the final whistle, putting an end to the best game of this tournament thus far… Whew… and we’re not even done with the group stage yet…
