Yay, I got the score 3-1 right! Oops, i chose the wrong winner. Of course, it had to be the other way round.

 Bravo Russia! What an amazing win over the favorites prior to this game. They ran all over the Dutch! 1st half was quite boring to be honest; it looked like both teams didn't want to concede and were happy with the 0-0. Both teams had a few chances to score mostly coming from long range with Van Der Vaart maybe having the best chance towards the end. Second half was miles better than the first. The highly rated Pavlyuchenko scored from close range after a terrific build up play by the Russians. Russia were very solid in the back as they limited the danger from Van Nistelrooy and Van Persie forcing Sneijder to settle shooting from long range. Russia looked the more likely side to score from their quick counter attacks, but they couldn't hold their nerves up front missing so many chances. Holland were attacking in big numbers and finally it paid off for them with only 5 minutes remaining when Van Nistelrooy's header found the net. You would think this would diminish the Russians' confidence but they only got better in extra-time. Pavlyuchenko and Arshavin were missing chance after chance; the closest they came to netting the 2nd was hitting the crossbar. They finally got their reward when super sub Torbinsky was on the end of Arshavin's cross from the left to put Holland back in front. The Dutch players looked extremely tired especially their defence which yesterday showed their weakness that many football experts talked about before the tournament. Arshavin capped off his brilliant performance with a deserved goal. I'm sure all big teams are after him now. I wonder how much he is worth after this game. I have to applaud the magician Hiddink. You can see what big impact he made on Russia since he started coaching them.

 With Russia's win 3 second places teams from the group stage are through the semi-finals. Will Italy make it 4? This also brings up the question: Was it smart of Portugal, Croatia, Holland and Spain to rest their key players in the 3rd group match? It doesn't seem so.

 Italy 1 - 2 Spain (After Extra-time) - Terarara (drum roll), I present to you all the useless part of my blog, my prediction! Battle of perhaps the 2 best goalkeepers in the world: Buffon and Casillas. I'm going with Spain with Torres and Villa scoring for Spain, and Luca Toni for Italy.

 Enjoy watching the most anticipated match of the tournament :)

 Important: To anyone who's going to bet on these games, don't look at my predictions or just bet on the team I predicted to lose. Ok now let me comment about the 1st two quarterfinals beginning with Germany vs Portugal.

 I was wrong, you should really never write off the Germans. They deservedly beat Portugal 3-2. Horrible defending by the Portuguese especially on set pieces and crosses. Germans are one of the best if not the best in aerial plays. The 3rd goal scored by Ballack was a foul for a push on Ferreira, but still Ricardo was just lost coming out for that ball. It's known that the Germans and Italians usually get better as the tournament goes on, and so far this is true. So it wasn't to be a perfect season for Cristiano Ronaldo after the domestic league and champions league wins, but I wouldn't blame him for Portugal's exit as most of the team didn't rise up to the quarterfinal game. Now we'll just have to wait and see where Ronaldo ends up playing next year? Will he stay at Man United or leave to Real Madrid? As for Scolari, his reign as Portugal's manager is over. It will be interesting to see how he can cope at a Premier League club level due to the fact that he will be coaching over 50 matches a season which is way more than the International level.

 Onto last night's unbelievable match. The comeback kings struck again! Turkey are in the semi's! For 117 minutes it seemed that the team who scores 1st will win 1-0, and it looked more likely to be the Croatians. Croatia created loads of chances in front of the goal. A shot that hit the crossbar, some poor finishing, and a couple of great saves by Rustu kept the score at 0-0. In extra time both teams looked destined to go to penalty kicks, until a mistake by Rustu lead to a header by Klasnic that found the back of the net. So Croatia had to hold for 3 minutes and they'll be in the semifinals. Everyone thought it's over because Turkey never really threatened the Croatian goal for the entire match. Even the most optimistic Turkish fan didn't expect what happened next. Semih Senturk equalized with literally the final touch of the game. Then I bet most of you knew this is Turkey's day as momentum switched to their side. Modric, the star of the game, was 1st to miss his penalty wide. Rakitic's effot went also wide while Turkey converted 3 out of 3. Rustu turned into a hero when he saved Petric's penalty kick to knock out the Croatians who were in disbelief.

 Germany vs Turkey in the 1st semifinal on Wednesday. Terim will have to adjust his lineup again as he has several players suspended for accumulating 2 yellow cards. On the other hand Germany will go into this game as favorites. Will we see another comeback? We'll have to wait and see.

 We still have two more quarterfinals to be played starting with Holland vs Russia tonight:

 Holland 3 - 1 Russia - Can Russia slow down the super Dutch? I don't think so. Holland will continue their excellent form breaking down the Russian defence into pieces just as Spain did earlier. Van Nistelrooy to score two goals, one for Van Persie, and Pavlyuchenko scoring for the Russians.

 Will I be wrong again? Only time will tell.

 One quick note: Congratulations to my Turkish barber (hairstylist) Mohammed on Turkey's win. He was extremely happy and he couldn't sleep all night :-D

 Russia in, Sweden out! Superb display by the Russians. Solid defending that turned into excellent counter-attacks. They neutralized Ibrahimovic who was out of sorts, he never found his game. They made him play far from the penalty box and wide on the flanks. Sweden were absolutely lost, playing those useless long balls which never really threatened the Russians. Bravo to Hiddink on his masterclass tactics. It will be a blast to see if he can stop the flying Dutchmen. I loved how Russia were so organized, it was just a pleasure to watch them. Sweden were lucky to only lose 2-0 as Russia were missed a plenty of chances especially in the last 30 minutes. Now the English fans can feel better because it was Croatia and Russia who knocked them out in the qualifiers, and both these teams are through to the quarters. For the Swedes, it's time to change all those 31+ aged players. I was surprised Kim Kallstrom didn't get much playing time in the tournament, and I also felt sorry for Marcus Allback, he was the top scorer for Sweden in the qualifiers and how many minutes did he play in Euro 2008? Only 15!

 Greece went from being the European champions to zero! Yes, 0 points this time around. How different can a team get in 4 years? Even a Spanish side with mostly bench players beat them comfortably 2-1. Spain were having fun, they should have won by a bigger margin. They now join Croatia and Holland as the only teams to get 9 points out 9. Italy are next in line, let the trash talk between their fans begin ;)

 The group stage is over, so you think you have 1 day to rest with no football, right? Nope, we have the 1st quarter-final match today:

 Portugal 2 - 1 Germany (in extra-time) - Two teams with a contrast in styles. They say you can never write off the Germans, but I will this time. I see this going to extra-time. Deco and Ronaldo to score for Portugal, and Klose for Germany.

 Bring on the quarter-finals :)

 Firstly I would like to thank all the readers and the people who commented. I really appreciate it :)

 Unfortunately I was quite busy yesterday so I had no time to write my daily blog. So about the games 2 days ago, well done to Germany on qualifying along with Croatia to the next stage. Ballack's unstoppable free-kick did the job. I have to praise the Austrian fans, they seem so peaceful and acknowledged that the Germans were superior to them. On the other hand, Croatia proved their supremacy in this group. 9 points out of 9 for them, not so bad. Can they keep on going on? Only time will tell. So it's Portugal vs Germany and Croatia vs Turkey, very interesting.

 Now on to yesterday. Well well well, the Italians do it again. Just when they needed a win, they got it. Fine display by them, although France made their life easier. First Domenech starts with another questionable lineup, then Ribery gets injured early in the game, and adding to injury Abidal gets sent off in the 1st half. Disastrous for the French, but still I have to give the Italians credit. Spain vs Italy in the quarters? Can't wait for that. Every French fan I have talked to is still talking about Zidane and how he is missed. Well his era is over, and so could be Thuram's, Vieira's, and Makelele's. Time for a fresh start, new coach and new players. Au revoir le France.

Holland continued their perfect start. 3 wins in 3 matches, 9 goals scored and only 1 conceded. To make it more impressive, they've done in it in the so-called "Group of Death". They beat the Romanians 2-0 with their 2nd-string team! The Romanians should be proud of themeselves, they almost pulled off a big surprise. Unfortunately for them, their worst performance came in the most important game.

 So what about today?

 Greece 1 - 3 Spain - Spain will rest their best players, but still I expect them to win comfortably with Guiza, Fabregas, and Sergio Garcia scoring for Spain, and Samaras for the Greeks.

 Russia 1 - 2 Sweden - The match most of you will be watching. I'm predicting a 1-1 draw (Pavlyuchechenko, Larsson) until the last 10 minutes when the Russians are push forward in numbers to score because they must win but Sweden grab the winner through the injured Elmander.

 Out of topic: Congratulations to my 17-time NBA Champions Boston Celtics on a crushing win over the LA Lakers :)

 What an unbelievable comeback win by Turkey! I honestly thought the match was over at 2-0, and I bet you were thought the same. In fact the Czechs were looking the more likelier side to score then. You gotta love the hunger and determination of the Turks. That's what football is about. You play your heart out, and you will probably get rewarded. Now the Turks should also thank Peter Cech to let the back in the game, he was simply awful, very uncharacteristic of him.

 I'm happy for the Swiss, good win over an understrengthed Portugal. I always hate to see the hosts get no points out of the tournament. 

 So onto today's games. I hope to do better today with my predictions:

 Austria 0 - 2 Germany -  I dont see a surprise here, Klose and Ballack scoring the goals for the Germans to take them through to the next round.

 Croatia 1 - 1 Poland - A must win for the Poles. For them to qualify they have to win and hope Germany doesn't. Croatia have already qualified. Too much pressure on the poles, I'll go for the safe draw. Croatia to take the lead through Budan, and Smolarek equalizing for Poland. 

 Out of topic - Congratulations to Paraguay on a fantastic win over Brazil :-D

 I watched some of Greece - Russia last night because i was also watching our national team play. A very important and deserved win for Russia. Good adjustment in the Russian defence, much better that the previous game. What a battle they will have against Sweden on Wednesday. As for the defending champions, their reign is over. They used to not concede any goals in Euro 2004, now they can't even score a goal as they are the only team left out of the 16 with no goals scored.

 So I got both winners right yesterday, wrong scores. As for my predictions today:

 Switzerland 0 - 2 Portugal - I would love Switzerland to get a point as they haven't been so bad in their 2 previous games, but I dont see it. I expect Portugal to win even if they rest their key players. Almeida and Nani to score.

 Czech Republic 2 - 1 Turkey - The match of the night, winner to the next round. Funny how we could see a penalty shootout in the group stage. I'm predicting a later winner by the Czechs. Koller and Baros for the Czechs, and Nihat for Turkey.

 Another match with a late goal in Euro 2008 and this time it proved to be a winner by David Villa. Congratulations to Spain on a good hard fought win.

 Spain started the game better as Sweden were happy to sit back and they were punished when David Silva found Fernando Torres who gave Spain the lead with a close range shot. Sweden woke up at last and the trio of Elmander, Ibrahimovic, and Larsson all came close. Puyol got injured which caused a problem to the Spanish side as they came into the tournament with a big question mark about their defence. A few minutes later, Ibrahimovic scored the equalizer after he held off the challenge of Sergio Ramos and his shot went past Casillas, who could have done better, into the net. Should Spain have had a penalty towards the end of the half when Elmander bumped into Silva? I've seen worse claims given as a penalty before, and if it was up to me I would give one here too.

 Big turning point before the start of the 2nd half was the substitution of Ibrahimovic for Rosenberg. It really affected how Sweden approached the second half. Zlatan just puts fear into any defence in the world, and without him Sweden had no spark. It was all Spain in a slow paced 2nd half. Isaksson made a couple of great saves off Silva and Villa to deny Spain a second goal. Spain didn't look very dangerous after that, and Sweden looked to be happy with a draw and their defence went to sleep in the 92nd minute. A long ball found Villa who took it past Hansson and produced a clinical finish to score the game winner.

 My man of the match: David Villa (just for scoring the winner)

 Both teams underperformed. I expected a better match. Interesting how the 3 Barcelona players (Puyol, Iniesta, and Xavi) were all substituted. Today's match proved how big of an effect does Ibrahimovic have on Sweden's team. Without him, they're just a normal side. 

 My predictions were totally wrong yesterday, I hope to do better today:

 Sweden 1 - 3 Spain - I like the Swedish team, who really doesn't, but the age factor may come into play today (Mellberg - 31, Hannson - 31, Svensson - 31, Ljungberg - 31, Daniel Andersson - 31, Larsson - 36) They're facing the likes of Villa, Torres, Iniesta and Silva. So I've got Torres, Villa, and Iniesta scoring for Spain, and Zlatan getting a consolation goal for Sweden.

 Greece 1 - 2 Russia - A do or die match for both teams. It will be interesting to see how the Greeks approach this game, will they be more adventurous? I like the Russians' chance with Pavlyuchenko and Sychev getting on the scoresheet and Charisteas doing so for the Greeks.

 Let's hope we see some good football and no bad officiating :)

 Well done to the Dutch! What a way to demolish to the French, that was amazing! Now they have beaten both the World Champions and the Runners-Up in a fascinating fashion, not even the most optimistic Dutch fan would have expected that.

 When I saw the French starting lineup, I knew it wouldn't be pretty. Why not start with 2 strikers? Where was Benzema? Anyway, the Dutch drew the first blood through Kuyt's header. Malouda was too busy man handling Kuyt rather than looking to where the ball is. It was too easy for Kuyt. Holland sat back a bit after the goal as Govou had a good chance only to be denied by big Van Der Sar. As the half went on the pace got slower. Govou and Ribery both had shy efforts at goal that didn't trouble the Dutch goalie. 

 So the 2nd half is starting, everyone expecting the French side to make at least one change during the halftime. That wasn't the case, instead it was the Dutch who made an offensive change, brining in Robben for Engelaar. France had a bright start to the half. They had a penalty claim when it looked like Henry's shot hit Ooijer's hand, that's a tough one to call. Henry came close to equalize as it seemed like the French will score soon, but the Dutch had other ideas. A counter attack started by Van Nistelrooy's 360 spin to Robben's great run on the left flank crossing to the open Robin Van Persie who volleys it home to double the lead. That was a classic goal, unbelievable teamwork. French got one back through Henry and we thought we will see a comeback, but the French hope was crushed after 60 seconds when Robben hammered in a goal from an acute angle that should have been dealt with by the defender and Coupet. Just looking at Van Basten's face after each goal shows that even he never expected this. His team wasn't done as Sneijder's scored an absolute screamer into the top corner! Best goal of the tournament so far? Well at least on par with Ibrahimovic's goal. What a way to finish off the night.

My man of the match: Wesley Sneijder

 So Holland are assured a place in the quarterfinals and top spot in the group of death. It's inevitable that they will rest some their key players against Romania, but I don't expect them to just give the game away and let Romania win. What about France? Who will be in the starting 11 against Italy? One thing is certain and that's if Romania beats Holland, both Italy and France will be going home. I can't wait to see what happens next!

 Well that was one hell of a game! Two big controversial calls, both went against Italy. The 1st was a disallowed goal by Toni who was clearly onside. Then there was the penalty awarded to Romania. Terrible call in my opinion, 95% of the referees won't give that as a penalty. Still it was a great match to watch, end to end action.

 Italy were superior in the 1st half, they had more possession but couldn't convert their chances due to lazy finishing from their players and primarily the fantastic display by Romania's goalie Lobont. On the other side, Romania had a couple of chances themselves. Mutu's one on one with Buffon and Chivu's freekick that deflected of Panucci onto the post. Toni's header at the end of the 1st half should have counted, a very bad call by the linesman. 

 2nd half had the same pace, Italy started well but still couldn't break the deadlock. Surprisingly Romania went in front after a disastrous back pass attempt from Zambrotta to Buffon, Mutu pounced on the chance and scored the 1st goal. Romanians enjoyed the lead for only 1 minute after Panucci's equalizer. The goal came from a corner and it was no surprise since Italy had most of their chances from crosses and corners which fell most to Luca Toni. Lobont continued to pull off miraculous saves, best one coming from Cassano's header. Then the referee awarded a penalty to Romania after Panucci was judged to have brought down Niculae. Mutu stepped up to the spot but his shot was saved by ex-teammate Buffon. That was a huge blow for the Romanians.

 My man of the match: Bogdan Lobont

 Romania have got 2 points after 2 draws and Italy have 1 point. I'm sure the Italians will be hoping for a draw between France and Holland or a win by France, because a win for Holland means they are assured the 1st place in the group and therefore they might rest some key players for their match against Romania.

Big talking point will be of course about the referees, but what about Donadoni? Did he do his part today? It would be interesting to see what the Italian media have to say about this.