Euro 2008 - June 26

Posting just a bit before today's gametime. It's a been a busy couple of days for Buffet-Lite, so excuse the lateness. Above you will find Andrei Arshavin of Russia after introducing himself to the Dutch in the quarterfinals.

Germany v. Turkey recap:

Turkey was amazing. I don't know how they did it, but they once again played better than anyone could have imagined. They took an early lead and once again had late game heroics when they tied it at 2 with just a few minutes to go. Lucky for the Germans, Phillip Lahm was did a Rich Denneny full field run from left fullback to score the game winner.

If you didn't see the replay of Sebastian Schweinsteiger's first half goal - you should. He took a low cross from Lucas Podolski and just flicked the ball with the outside of the foot, letting the power from Podolski's cross do all the work. The ball glided into the back of the net and there was nothing that the Turkish keeper could do to keep it out. Beautiful.

I'd like to be able to talk about the Miroslav Klose goal, but unfortunately I still haven't seen it since the ESPN feed went out in the middle of the second half. In fact, the ESPN crew declared the game was over based on the video feed from the fan zone which showed German fans celebrating. Miserable. Although I'm happy that all of the Euro games were aired in the U.S. this year, it would have been nice if ESPN actually sent people to watch the game in person, instead of relying on a video feed. At least then we could have had Andy Gray telling us about what was happening instead of relying on the fan zone reaction.

Russia v. Spain:

Otter and I are in complete agreement on this one - which always is comforting. Even though Russia was beaten by Spain badly in the first game of the group stage, Russia is going to win this semifinal. Russia is a young team without a whole lot of international experience. Every game they have played in this tournament they have improved. That has been helped in large part by the additiona of Andrei Arshavin, their midfield leader who just got done running the Nederlands defense ragged in the quarterfinal game. Arshavin is the hottest prospect coming out of this tournament and is looking to move from his Zenit St. Petersburg club to either Spain or England. If he keeps up his current form, he could move anywhere he wants.

Spain has been unconvincing despite making it to the semifinal. They beat an under-strength Italian team in penalty kicks, although they overall played better than Italy and deserved the win. Spain has scored a lot of goals in this tournament - David Villa has 4. Russia has been scoring more goals as the tournament goes on and Arshavin has decided to dominate.

Russia and Spain play similar open and offensive-minded styles of soccer. I think Russia will win this game, however, because they have been more dangerous in recent games. Throw out that group stage victory. It's meaningless now that Arshavin is playing because Russia is clearly a different team with him in the lineup.

I like this to be a relatively high scoring game (unlike Otter) with Russia winning 2-1 in 90 minutes. So the over is in order with a Russian victory. Russia is the serious underdog, so if all goes according to plan, this is a moneymaker.