Euro Cup, every year, comes with lots of surprises. Lots of unexpected has to be expected. And Euro 2008 is again proving this. Almost all the front-runners are now out of the tournament. And it is only the start of knock-out. Only one quarter-final to go, only one of the Titans may stay in the tournament. The big names like Christiano Ronaldo, Nuno Gomes, Van Nistelrooy, Var parsie, Rubben, Thiery Henry, Per Chech, are back to their respective homes and to watch the remaining games on TV. Instead their comes Yuri Zhirkov, Pavlyuchenko, Schweinsteiger.. and some rather unknown and fresh names...
When the tournament starts, Germany was among the top guns. But as it progresses, Ballack's men were lagging potential to make it to the top. They even lost to Croatia, and somehow entered into quarters after a nail-biting match against Austria. They were in-front of Portugal, one of the probable champions, in the quarters. When even fans and supporters were thinking of a defeat, the German players glew. In an excellent game of football, they defaeated Portugal (3-2). Birth of a new star in the German side, Schweinsteiger.
After defeating Germany in the group league, Croatia came into light. But Turkey hold them in the quarters. In a long match, the crots loses in penalty shoot-out. The scores were leveled(1-1) after the scheduled time. But Turkey won with better performance in the penalty with a scoreline of 3-1.
In the third quarter, it was the only consistent performers, the Dutch, against a far more weak (by pen and paper) Russia. There were great names in the Dutch team, who individually can change the colour of a game. For Russia, there was only their coach, Guus Hiddink. Two Dutch coaches, Hiddink for Russia and Basten for the Netherlands, fought tactically. And the senior pro won the battle. Surprising the world, the best team of Euro 2008 in the group stages, the Netherlands, succumbed to the unputdownable Russians. Scoreline against the Netherlands, 3-1.
Euro this year starts with lack of great names like Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and Owen as England couldn't qualify. And now it shows end of Ronaldo, Nistelrooy, Henry, Chech. Now it is the game of unknown faces. May be there is a Ballack, but who knows, Germany may not enter into the Finals!! Euro is tournament of uncertainities, unexpected expectations and surprises.
