Euro 2008 - June 20

Meet Mrs. Sebastian Schweinsteiger, aka Sarah Brander. Her presence is St. Jakob's stadium yesterday had quite an effect. Some may consider her to be the anti-Jessica Simpson. But who is the guy sneezing in her face?

As the Hotline mentioned in its last post as it predicted a German defeat, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, the German midfielder has not been playing well. He has frankly seemed uninspired. No more. He was everywhere yesterday as Germany deservedly beat Portugal. Sure there were tough breaks for Portugal, such as when Joao Moutinho, the Portugese captain, inexplicably could not deside if he was going to head or kick a beautiful cross into the goal, and so settled for sticking out his knee and the ball popped harmlessly over the goal. It was harder to miss that goal than make it. Even American Eddie Johnson would have scored that goal. Dreadful.

But Schweinsteiger was dominant, Ballack was active, and even Miroslav Klose got a goal, although not cleanly. Schweinsteiger had a free kick that he swerved into the box, Cristiano Ronaldo decided that he didn't feel like playing defense (he never really likes playing defense) and Klose had a free header on goal - no one within 3 meters (The Hotline is now metric friendly). Anyway, Klose was under no pressure and managed to miss heading the ball, but the ball bounced off of his shoulder into the net, for Germany's second goal.

The Hotline got this game horribly wrong. Germany played the USMNTH for the fool. Germany can apparently turn it on and off at will. The Hotline should have known better - always take efficiency over beauty. Take Tiger over Phil. Take Serena Williams over Anna Kournikova. Take Keith Olbermann over Ann Coulter. These mistakes will not be repeated.

On a side note, if Ann Coulter didn't spew hate all day long everyday, would the Hotline find her attractive?

Time for more game predictions. Due to this blogger's weekend trip to the cattle ranch, this will be the last blog for a few days. Luckily there is satellite tv, but not a good internet connection, so I'll cover the weekend's games today.

Croatia v. Turkey:

• The only thing that would make me happier would be if it were Hungary v. Turkey. Add talking animals, and that would be a recipe for disaster. In any event, we are stuck with Croatia v. Turkey. It's an interesting matchup only to the most ardent soccer lovers and sports gamblers.
• Croatia cruised through the first round defeating Germany, Austria and Poland. They have been one of the surprises of the tournament. No one expected them to come out of the German group in first place.
• Turkey are the comeback kids. They are the only team in the tournament to come back from deficits to win a game. Turkey has done it twice, most recently against the Czech Republic. They have shown an impressive ability to play better than their talent.
• Turkey is facing numerous injuries and the suspension of their first choice goalkeeper for his ill-advised push of Jan Koller. In fact, Turkey only have 15 field players available to play today.
• Croatia have all of their players available.
• There is something about Turkey that tells me that they will make this a close game. Croatia isn't the type of team that blows anyone out either.
• Since soccer betting is for the first 90 minutes only (extra time and pks not included), the Hotline prediction is a 1-1 tie. Take the tie and the under. I do expect that Croatia will pull this game out, but not before sweating a bit.

Russia v. Holland:

• This should be a fun game. Both Russia and Holland like to play fast, attacking soccer. Basically it's like watching the Suns play offense and the Lakers playing defense. It should be fun, and high scoring.
• I think both of these teams would beat either Turkey or Croatia - but that's not the way the brackets shook out. Too bad.
• Holland has been the team of the tournament so far - total football at its best. I hope that for the sake of the tournament, they don't make an early exit...and I don't think they will.
• Russia is basically Holland-Lite, similar to how I am Buffet-Lite. If there were a team that would give Holland a lot of trouble with their style of play, I think it would be Germany. It's like the Suns losing to the Golden State Warriors - not going to happen. But if you give them the Spurs - poof - implosion.
• Take Holland and the over.

Spain v. Italy:

• What a quarterfinal matchup. Two soccer mad countries. Both enjoy diving. Both have great soccer hair. Both have like to complain to referees.
• Italy: No Andrea Pirlo -their midfield maestro. No Gennaro Gattuso - their midfield enforcer.
• Spain: What will they do if their short passing gets clogged up by the Italian defense? Will they pour more players forward and over commit - allowing for the famous Italian counter-attack?
• Spain has played well in the tournament - although not dominantly. David Villa is on 4 goals already, and Spain has more midfield creativity than probably anyone in the tournament. I like Spain to take this game. I think the Italian defense is not nearly as strong as usual with the absence of Fabio Cannavaro, and the Italian offense will have too much trouble scoring without Pirlo.
• Spain 3, Italy 1. Take the over as well.