This weekend - as all the other weekends in a season - was supposed to be all about football, but as it turned out some other things became more important. First of all and most importantly there was the collapse of 1.FC Köln defender and captain Ümit Özat in the middle of the first half against Karlsruher SC. While getting back into his own half Özat broke down without any opponent standing next to him or anything happening before this what might have caused him to fall down. Medical personnel was quick to arrive at the scene and found an unconcious player who was about to chocke because he swallowed his tongue, at least that's what the reports were saying. But not only was he unconcious, he also stopped breathing which lead verybody to fear for the worst. The pictures of Cologne goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon and coach Christoph Daum who both had tears in their eyes, the silence of a crowd of nearly 30.000 spectators and the very warm and honest applause when the announcer told them that Özat was safe were aweinspiring. Everybody was talking about what had happened to Sevilla's Antonio Puerta last year or Marc-Vivien Foé in 2003 and how they were thinking of those pictures. The referee asked the Cologne players if they wanted to continue the game which they did and after the final whistle everybody kept saying that this was a win for Ümit. He's back in Cologne with his family and has been ordered to rest for at least three days. No reason has been found yet for what might have caused his collapse as all medical checks showed no anomalities.

The other big thing came through the media with German weekly Der SPIEGEL (article in German) announcing an interview with Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill on their homepage in which Hill says he has proof for match fixing in two German league matches and the Best 16 round game at the 2006 World Cup between Brazil and Ghana. Apparently a Malaysian business man is involved into an attempt of match fixing which earned him millions of Euros. If this turns out to be true then the football world is in for it's next huge scandal after what had happened in Germany with referee Robert Hoyzer and the match fixing in the Serie A in Italy.

With all of this the Bundesliga action was slightly pushed to the background, still there were some interesting results. Take Hamburg, for example. After the loss of Rafael van der Vaart to Real Madrid and some enigmatic performances over the first two games everybody was quick to dismiss them. But now they have spend almost 30 mio Euros last week adding two Brazilians and German international left winger Marcel Jansen, who came from Bayern München, to their team and things look brighter for them now. Bielefeld was their first victim. Hoffenheim is back to the ground after what must have been the most entertaining game of the day at Leverkusen. Schalke made amends for their horrible performance in the Champions League qualifier against Atletico Madrid. And Bayern grabbed their first win against a helpless team from Berlin.

Speaking of first wins, Fortuna Köln snatched theirs against VfB Hüls today as well. In a game which should be placed on the UN list for things which count as torture they first scored a lucky header after a freekick (Kevin Kruth was the lucky guy) and then lost their top striker Marco Stasiulewski after a brutal foul in front of the opponents 18-yard box. The sight of him limping over the field for the last 10 minutes was shocking. If he has to pause for the next few days the club is in big, big trouble as there really is no one on the team who can replace him right now.

A decent final, not the best game of the tournament by any means but certainly enjoyable. Spain were dominant if not in the end clear victors and should really have wrapped it up far earlier, the problem being that despite some of the brilliant positions that the midfield runners were playing themselves into, none of them, particularly Andres Iniesta, had the striker's instinct to run straighter into the path of the pass and really capitalise, which was obviously the great advantage created by the Torres-Villa partnership.

That was, however, the only problem with Spain tonight and it would be unfair to dwell. Germany, on the other hand, were awful and were lucky to get nil and dirty kit. Defensive ineptitude combined with attacking incertitude to terminal effect. Before the tournament I would have argued that Miroslav Klose was every bit as world class a player as Michael Ballack - now, definitely not. He was exposed as a flat-track bully here, while his much-hyped former partner "Super" Mario Gomez has seen his reputation flattened by a truly horrific competition.

I'm not sure the German side needs an awful lot of changes, though. Joachim Low certainly needs to revive confidence but the potential is certainly there - witness their excellent World Cup two years ago. Podolski needs to return to a more central position, that's for sure, as he's been the only German striker to even look like scoring, and Bastian Schweinsteiger showed flashes of brilliance, and together with Ballack they should be the fulcrum of the team.

Spain are worthy champions. The best team has won and now that the duck is broken it's quite plausible that they could push on to be the dominant force in world football - but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Luis Aragones, objectionable racist prat that he may be, has certainly proved me wrong in terms of his enduring ability, and will be missed as he leaves at the end of his contract, possibly to Fenerbahce - now that will be interesting.

This isn't quite the end of my Euro 2008 coverage, as I'll be doing an awards post or two in the next few days, before broadening my horizons a bit into the wider sporting world. It's been fun.

But let me tell you, outside of the US countries and people are roaring with excitement and angst. Speaking from an Italian point of view, my family has been living, eating and breathing the Euro Cup.  Every minute of every day, I hear the most recent news of the ongoings behind the curtains of America's indifference involving the Euro Cup.

Well, some of you may know or some of you don't, but it is my deepest regret that I must inform you that Italy was kicked out of the race towards the Euro Cup today by Spain, due to PENALTY KICKS (they are the WORSE!).

I cannot explain to you how depressed and hurt my family is feeling tonight.  After watching Spain kick their final penalty kick, the room went silent.  It was as if someone died.  But what silenced them the most was the image of Spain running and jumping in celebration, while Italy held their heads in their hands.

The game ended in an 0-0 count, leaving the penalty kicks to determine the game.  After Spain and Italy had their chances at the goal post, Spain left the scoreboard at 4-2 in penalty kicks.

According to my father, he felt that "Italy was not playing their best today."

We all know that Italy won the World Cup 2006 (pulling in four stars baby :D) and the anticipation of another win was on every Italian's mind.  Once you've had the taste of victory, nothing else satisfies.

So to see Italy walk off as the losing team was too much to handle.  Once the game was determined and Spain was celebrating, my family turned off the TV, a sight too sore for eyes.  With their heavy hearts, and their minds unable to grasp this loss, they found comfort in a cup of Espresso.  This loss still hangs around their necks, like an albatross. Italy and their fans will always be reminded of their loss to Spain in the Euro Cup 2008. 

With our heads hung low, we all to have to remember that we cannot win them all.  Yet, with Italy being World Cup Champions...you want them to win it all.  But unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.  Italy still has the World Cup to hold onto, so we have bragging rights baby.  Euro Cup is a whole different story.  

The image of Fabio Cannavaro holding the World Cup is still fresh in my mind, and never in a time had I been prouder to call myself Italian.  Its silly yes, that a victory in sports reminds you of how much you love your team, and in this case your people, your heritage.  

So no matter what, we have four winning crowns and NO ONE can strip us of our stars.

FORZA ITALIA.

-giuseppina.

If you want more information on the Euro Cup 2008, follow this site:

http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/

To be fair, they had a disastrous start. Franck Ribery was the one player they absolutely couldn't afford to lose, but he succumbed to what looks like a really nasty ankle and knee injury (there's no word yet on how long he'll be out, but I'm guessing a good couple of months at least) after only seven minutes. The second disaster was entirely their fault, however - Eric Abidal (who despite noises from the BBC has proved himself in the past to be a competent centre-back as well as left-back) made a rash, doomed-to-failure challenge on Luca Toni in the penalty box for the clearest straight red I've seen in a while. It was at that point that Raymond Domenech proved there was no way back - he brought on Jean-Alain Boumsong to solve all their problems.

We should have seen this coming. France rested on their laurels far too much after a flattering trip to the World Cup final and relied on fast-fading old hands like Thuram, Makelele and Henry. The former two have now announced their international retirements (again), in the first of what must be a series of radical overhauls of the team. Benzema, Ribery and Nasri must become the focus, and Henry, Vieira, Govou, Sagnol, Coupet et al must be jettisoned.

In the game I didn't see so much of (I caught a few minutes after it became clear that France-Italy wasn't going anywhere), Holland's second string (and what a second string it is, by the way) cruised to a 2-0 win over Romania, slicing through the defence that had caused so many problems to the French and Italians to further boost their hopes of going all the way. Their goals were far too easy, showing up the Romanians a tad, but Mutu et al will remain threats in World Cup qualifying.

So Italy set themselves up a mouth-watering quarter-final with Spain in what is probably the best result for the quality of the tournament. From what we've seen so far, though, you'd bet on Spain.

Now, of course, the first goal looked like a clear offside, but apparently the law is on van Nistelrooy's side - Keith Hackett, chairman of the Premier League referees, says that because Christian Panucci was bundled off the pitch by his own goalie he counted as active, so the goal was right to stand. Never have I been so pleased to see Ruud van Offside (as I always knew him) do what he does best - a combination of unexpected relief for the Dutch and some level of karma for Italy's injury-time penalty against Australia in the World Cup quarters for Fabio Grosso's Olympic dive. Now that justice is done I feel I might be able to enjoy Italy smash the French in their final group game - which they surely will, given yesterday's evidence.

On that note, I don't think I have ever seen two more contrasting games in so close a space of time ever. Romania 0 - 0 France was quite simply horrendous, with Raymond Domenech earning himself a sacking in my book. It's been a while coming, but playing two holding midfielders for ninety minutes against that Romania side, actually reducing the amount of strikers he had on the pitch with fifteen minutes to go, and just generally failing to inspire any sort of desire at all in the French to win the game - all of which are criminal offences where managers are concerned. Even now, having had time to sleep on it, I still feel the pain that my brain was suffering through that festival of inanity. Not only have France made it nigh-on impossible for them to qualify, facing next a Dutch team who got the biggest confidence boost imaginable, and then an Italy side who will almost certainly need a win against them. It'll take more than Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry to make this side good enough to get through, I suspect.

But let's focus on the good, and Holland have certainly had the best possible day. They probably only need a draw against France to all but ensure qualification, with a win guaranteeing coming top bar any Romanian miracles. Wesley Sneijder's goal, their second, has set the bar very high for Goal of the Tournament, and if we get a few more goals (and games) like last night's, this tournament will have been more than worthwhile.

David Pleat Watch

A surprisingly subdued night for Pleat's inaccuracies last night, though of course there was an exception - Mauro Camoranesi seems to have been named purely for the purposes of confusing the poor sod. Oh, and Dutch defender Joris "Mat Assen". Will somebody teach this man to speak?

A cracker of a performance from the Holland team tonight in their match against Italy.   I was being forced to do some actual work during the match, but even I could recognize the level of play was a welcome change from the uninspired dirge that was the France-Romania match earlier today.  

Over on BBC, I'm guessing the dour men in black (the punditry team) were contractually obligated to compare France to an even more disappointing version of England- though um, I'm sure everyone at home was thinking, "At least they made it that far. "

So we're through group C now- have your picks for the winner changed?  I'm still supporting Spain throughout the tournament, but like everyone else- I figured World Cup winner and runner up, Italy and France, would at least make a strong showing.    

Next Up: Spain v. Russia and Sweden v. Greece.  I'm betting on a nice win for the 2004 Euro champs, and a scrappy and speedy match between Spain and Russia. 

Grounds Clippings:

-I'm not going to write about the drama surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo, how much money he'll make, how furious his current employers must be, and the tactics used to woo him, because I don't care.  I really don't.  However, you might- so here's the latest on that kerfuffle.

-Tommy Smyth on ESPN's soccer coverage makes me come out in a rash.  He panders to only the ignorant consumers of the game, is openly biased, and is possibly worse than any of the guys on Sportscenter when it comes to pessimistic, half assed attempts to encourage Americans to  like about the game.  He has an accent, and understands the offside rule, so he's set with this gig for life- and I guess he doesn't feel like he needs to try anymore.  I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

-For those of you who like a little aural coverage of the tournament and a chance to experience some of the international flavour of the tourney- The Guardian is in the midst of their Football Daily podcasts for Euro2008.  It's brilliant, and there's even a bit of video (was anyone else shocked about Barry Glendenning?) thrown in for good measure. 

-On a very similar note: I hate BBC's 606 show, but I think Danny Baker can be hilarious.  Thus, I encourage everyone to listen to the Euro2008 606's.  The Beeb may have brought back Steve McClaren, but they made a good call with this decision.

-I keep telling people to go and check out The Offside for their Euro2008 coverage.  It's varied, it's funny, and it's frequently updated.  Why aren't you listening to me? Go!

-Notice the updates slowing down on this site?  I'm just one pretty lady, working to move this blog over to TheGroundsman.net, where I can have polls, and downloads, and all kinds of bells and whistles.  Also, it is warm and sunny out, and having a kickaround at the park with my neighbors is slightly more appealing than designing a new website right now.  Don't worry, those feelings will fade soon.  Keep an eye on TheGroundsman.net! I'll let you know when to officially update the bookmarks.

[Photo courtesy Hispaniola]

Austria 0 - 1 Croatia. OK, so it's a win for Croatia - we all expected that much - but looking at the two sides on paper it really should have been a more convincing scoreline, never mind performance. I was thoroughly disappointed with Slaven Bilic's team yesterday, particularly as they're my tip for losing finalists, and on this form there's no way they'll get past Germany in the semi-final. For the first twenty minutes of the game, they were brilliant, carving through Austria at will, with Modric running the show. And then, for some inexplicable reason, they stopped caring. Austria huffed and puffed and nearly snatched themselves an equaliser - more embarrassingly for Croatia, they deserved one. Bilic emphasised the positives to the press afterwards but he must be frustrated that his side didn't finish the co-hosts off before half-time. Must try harder.

Germany 2 - 0 Poland was a better game, as I suspected it might be regardless of the outcome of the previous encounter. A repeat of a great game at the 2006 World Cup, Poland matched the Germans for long periods of the game, though the difference was in the final third. With Podolski on the left, Germany essentially had three forwards, though Klose was out of sorts and Gomez wasn't quite the immediate sensation I'd been looking forward to. Poland, on the other hand, struggled to create chances for Smolarek, with the captain Zurawski remaining mostly anonymous. The slightly fortuitous second goal killed them off, but if Zurawski gets his act together they could give Croatia a run for their money in terms of qualification, which I didn't think I'd be saying 24 hours ago.

Tonight the Group of Death Relative Predictability kicks off, with France playing Romania in what should be three easy points, and Italy taking on Holland, which again should be a win for the former. I hope Holland prove me wrong, but I stand by my prediction of a comfortable third. See you tomorrow.

I knew this would happen.  I said it, you thought about it, and now it has happened.  England manager Fabio Capello is handing the captain's armband back to David Beckham for Sunday's match against Trinidad and Tobago.  Now before everyone comes over all outraged about this being a terrible sign or a step back in the wrong direction, we need to take a look at Wednesday's match against the USA:

I was at that match, and while I did enjoy my time there and the majority of England supporters were incredibly friendly and polite,  the live competition itself was only slightly more interesting than watching on television because of the pathetic abuse shouted at the few hundred USA fans from some younger England supporters.  Seriously, a chant like "your mother is your sister" or "when have you won a world cup?" can and was easily deflected with,

"You think we really hate ya, but you couldn't beat Croatia- huzzaaaah, England."

or "Come on Macedonia!" 

Even a simple, "Whatcha doin' on your summer off?" was enough to make some of the England fans near us go quiet, look upset and then just call the whole lot "gay".  I was however very proud of the USA fans for refusing to take part in the Mexican wave, because a) it's stupid b) if the ball is in play, your eyes should be on the field c)neither team had much to cheer about as they both played like shit.

Which brings me back to the original topic: why is Beckham captain again?  The answer: Why the hell not?  It has become painfully obvious that the England team still need his crosses, as they really are the exact same team from 2 years ago.  Yes, Beckham was never particularly mobile, but as his teammates still lack the ability to pass to one another whilst running with the ball at the same time,  that's not really an issue.  Also, the team was the "Golden Generation" with Beckham and the management of Sven Goran-Eriksson, so why not make Goldenballs lead out the team again?  They've already gone back to the old English 4-4-2, and Peter Crouch is getting playing time- the only difference between now and World Cup 2006 is that everyone agrees that Owen Hargreaves is a really good player.

The Bottom Line: Capello is probably just doing this to show that Beckham will be a part of his upcoming World Cup campaign.  Also- he's demonstrating that he's willing to do just about anything to make the other players work a bit harder during meaningless friendlies.

Read more from The Guardian here.

While I wait for someone other than me to write an article, here's a link to where it all began, before we were even Mothers.

Curled Wup was a football blog about the World Cup of 2006, written by some people who like football, some people who barely know football exists and some people who hate the game.

Some of it's actually not weathered too badly with the passing of time.

Enough of such things. Really, do take the time to watch this "fan video" of Germany v Argentina from 2006. It's far and away the best piece of work of its kind I've seen. Let's face it: they're normally crap. But this is magnificent - a warm, witty visual essay about the life that still goes on through an often overcommercialised tournament.

Cheer yourself up - here it is:

 

I'm not going to lie- I last regularly watched the MLS in 2006, before and after the World Cup in Germany, when myself and many other American soccer fans were thirsting for more sport to watch.   ESPN/ABC were giddy with successful ratings from the international competition and began showing many of the domestic matches on the main channels.  Unfortunately, it became obvious to many fans of sport in general that there were light years of difference between the respective levels of play.  At the time I was simply an Arsenal supporter who would feverishly watch any and all Premier League action, sprinkled with a bit of Serie A coverage, and followed as much world football news as I could online.  I had no place in my mind and heart for the MLS with their creepily corporate team names, and bad camera work during the matches.  I felt sympathy for these professional athletes playing on gridiron fields with the yard markings still clearly visible, some who were college educated lads on less than $30,000 a year, but I just couldn't put up with the sloppy play (all attack, no defense whatsoever) and the ill informed or non-existant punditry provided by the television sports networks.

Something has changed.

Not only are there more "name players" in Major League Soccer, but it feels as if from top to bottom, there's more energy surrounding the league, and expectations are higher.  I don't know if it's The Becks Effect or not, but for the past couple of seasons, when I've told people I am a soccer fan they don't look surprised or amused anymore- they usually nod excitedly and ask who's my team and where I'm going to watch the match.  Not only is soccer in the U.S. (or at least where I live) seemingly more accepted- casual sport fans seem more educated about the sport.

As for the level of play within the league, I'm told it's gotten significantly stronger.  I saw much evidence of that whilst watching the championship game last season (despite my shameful MLS prejudice, I make it a habit of watching the final matches). 

I'm admitting all of this to the ether because I have promised myself and my MLS-supporting friends that I will watch faithfully this season, since it may not be entirely fair for me to feel warmth for League One teams in England while ignoring players in my own country.  Atlanta does not have an MLS team, (though when the women's league was in it's heyday, we had a quite good squad) so I have been struggling to find a team to support (especially since I can't travel to the matches and many of them aren't on television), but I will attach myself to some squad- and like the Gunners of Arse, they will have a devoted and overly optimistic fan in myself. 

Any suggestions for an excellent squad for me to watch closely and consider granting my devotion would be rather helpful!  For now- remember Saturday is the big double header to open the season on Fox Soccer Channel!

[Photo: ebatty]

Rating: 1.5 stars 

An optimist sees Jamie Trecker's first novel, Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks as more value for money because it is essentially four different books in one.  The casual reader may find this characteristic confusing at best and frustrating at worst, so this review serves to separate the jumbled and intertwining themes while pointing the reader toward the entertaining and informative sections of this novel.   

The first section deals with the part of the title concerning the author's experiences with the "fans and freaks".  Trecker paints the organization, landscape, and local resident reactions of each World Cup with a broad brush, but the descriptions are usually generated for comedic value and written with a good spirited tone.  As the author transitions from reflecting upon a surprise encounter with the crew of a skin flick in their German apartment complex to spending time observing a group of Australians joking with a bemused German policewoman, his anecdotes provide a few chuckles and an idea of the wide range of fans and entrepreneurs who gather for one of the world's greatest sporting events.   

Interspersed with this light hearted commentary is the second section of the book: an over-long and heavy handed history lesson concerning the major countries in Europe.  Trecker makes very liberal and very unnecessary use of postscript throughout the book, even going so far as to include an entire page of nothing but postscript.  Even more baffling, the author mixes his own opinions with historical references, and rarely cites sources for factual information, but takes time to cite sources relating to other opinions.  The book would be half its length without the historical explanations, and twice as readable. 

If the reader can manage to make it this far, they will be pleased to see the author includes information about the subject he knows best: American soccer.  Jamie Trecker is one of the few American sports journalists who deal almost exclusively with soccer, and he is well placed to provide accounts of the birth of soccer in the United States, the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos, the current state of Major League Soccer, and the hype leading up to Team USA's appearance at the 2006 World Cup.  The section concerning American soccer should be a book by itself, as it's by and large the best written and most informative portion of Trecker's manuscript.  

The book seems to lose steam toward the end, so the commentary concerning the World Cup matches is brief.  In this final section, the games are glossed over or omitted altogether because the author found them to be pointless (by his own admission).   

Overall the book is not a comfortable read because of an apparent lack of editing.  The commentary on American soccer is very good, but woefully out of place.   Hopefully, Trecker will find time to write a novel on the subject in the future.