Future: Tomorrow Italy plays Spain to decide who will play Russia. Now this will be the game of the quarters. I liked watching Germany and Portugal but I will enjoy watching Spain and Italy do battle. Maybe it is because two of my favorite teams-Barcelona and AC Milan-are Spanish and Italian teams, respectively.

Two Quick Hits: 

1. Barcelona and AC Milan are both vying for the services’ of the Arsenal striker, Adebayor.  An AC Milan scout believes his team has a 50% chance of acquiring the striker.
2. Former Sunderland keeper Tim Carter has been found dead in a park with a rope tied around his neck.  Authorities do not believe that there is any foul play involved and his death is unfortunately classified as a suicide.

Game Summary: I am most pleased with the end result.  As I said this would be a good game.  No team had a clear advantage over the other which makes it an exciting game.  The penalties are always the best and that’s when I was on my feet. 

Russia and Netherlands Tomorrow: The power of Holland will be seen tomorrow as they face a talented but young goalkeeper in Igor Akinfeev.  I have probably “worn-out” my like for him by now but I have high hopes.

Other News:

• Barcelona: I recently reported that Barca made an opening transfer offer on Juventus’ striker David Trezequet.  They were told to “back off” and “he is not for sale.”  I guess they will have to look else where for a forward as he and Valencia’s David Villa have been placed on the untouchables list.  Barca had been interested in Villa before the Valencia statement. 
• Liverpool has offered 20 million pounds for the services of David Silva who plays for Valencia.

Germany beat Portugal today.  While the Portugese side did very well in taking the champions title for their group, Germany snapped up their hopes for 08.  The game got very exciting in the last minutes as Portugal scored a goal to make the final score 3-2.

Future Fixtures:

Tomorrow- Croatia vs. Turkey: I like this game.  The heroics of Turkey in their win against Petr Cech and the Czech Republic proved to the world that they are here to play.  However, they did trail in that game which is a weakness.  At the same time, Croatia did win all of their group games defeating Germany in the process.  Once again, I like this game. 

Saturday- Holland vs. Russia: In short, miracles may happen, but Holland hasn’t shown very many weaknesses.  I like the competition and level of play Igor Akinfeev will be up against but I don’t like his chances.  The power of the Oranje will prove to be too much for Russia on this day.

Sunday- Spain vs. Italy: This will be another good game.  Power vs. Power.  Class vs. Class. What better game than this that pits two top class keepers against one another(Casillas v. Buffon).  The defensive corps each possess.  The midfield so chalked full of talent.  And the strikers to finish.  This is truly the game that I will watch.

 Transfer Rumors:

• Barcelona put out an opening bid on David Trezeguet.

 Italy: defeated France 2-0 today as they will be moving on as the runners up from Group C.  They will be facing Spain in the knockout round-Quarter Final.  This will be a good match.

Holland: ended the hopes of Romania as they are the true spoilers of Group C, first with a tie against France, then with the same result against Italy.  I have a new found respect for the whole lineup aside from the afore posted Chivu and Mutu.  Holland will face either Sweden or Russia who go head to head tomorrow to round off the Group D.

 What’s ahead: Tomorrow Spain will take on Greece who are set to finish in last place of Group D if they do not pull off a win tomorrow against first place Spain.  Spain will finish in first tomorrow even if they lose.  They have defeated both Russia and Sweden making it impossible for them to lose the top spot by points. 

Russia or Sweden: Based on previous games, Sweden has the advantage over Russia.  Sweden only lost 2-1 as Russia lost 4-1.  However, the amount of goals scored does not really give any team the edge.  Russian Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev is a guy that I really like, however he and his squad are still relatively young.  They will be together for many Euros and World Cups to come.  I will watch this game to just see a good match and I leave no prediction for tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Big Game! 

 Italy versus France will be one of the biggest games for this group stage.  Romania will try and halt the Holland stampede that took down both France and Italy.  If Romania wins, they will pass as the runners-up with Holland shocking the entire European Cup faithful.

Netherlands vs. Italy(3-0)

This is a complete shocker to me.  Not that I don’t respect the Netherlands’ side, as they have a lot of talent, I just thought that Italy would win.  This changes things and may even make my predictions look stupid.  However, we are only one game in, nothing to worry.  Maybe losing their team captain has made things uneasy.

Romania vs. France(0-0) 

I really didn’t see this coming.  Romania did not win however, this should be taken as a loss for France and their supporters.  This should not have happened.  When everyone says that this group is the “group of death” they did not mean that Romania would be a killer.  As a matter of fact, they were written off–completely.

 My predictions for the death group:

• Italy versus France will be a nice game to watch as both teams will be putting everything they have into it.  They need to to make a rebound however only one will.
• Romania will be playing the Netherlands on their next game…they will lose.  Then they will move on to an already mad Italian team…they will lose.
• Netherlands: My prediction was wrong and they will pass.  They will win against Romania which will put them with 6 points.  Now that this has occurred, I’m thinking that they will take Group C Champion honors.

Coming Up:

1. Greece versus Sweden
   
2. Spain versus Russia

Quick Hits

• Man U has reported Real and does not like them pursuing Ronaldo.
• Man City has offered Ronaldinho 200,000 pounds a week…roughly $400,000.  That’s a lot of 0′s.