The big names in the world of football like Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Croatia and France were not able to make it to the semifinal. The biggest surprise package was Turkey in this Eruo 2008. The match was filled with drama. No teams could produce a single goal in the regular time and the match was elongated to 30 minutes of more play. In the dying minutes of the second half of the added time, Croatia scored a goal which seemed to be an assurance for them for a sit in the semi-final. Turkey came back strong with an equalizer in the added time of the extra time. Then was the time for the keepers to come into play. The Croatian strikers could not score from the spot and Turkish keeper Rustu saved the crucial forth Croatian spot kick and thus booked a place in the semifinal. They will play one of the powerhouses Germany.
The other semi finalists are Spain which is now the strongest contender for lifting the cup and another surprise Russia. Mind you, Guss Hiddink is behind Russia who led Netherlands to the semifinal in the world cup in 2000 and in the next world cup he led Korea to the semi final. He is a very strong influence in the world of football. We can’t ignore Russia in this tournament as well however they will be facing Spain which has already thrashed them 4-1 in the preliminary round.
The first semifinal features Germany against Turkey tonight as the Euphoria is almost coming to conclusion. I now strongly back Spain as they have been rated as the team which is unable to make an impression in big tournaments inspite of being such a huge footballing nation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment