Like a Drug I Cant Quit

Hello, its good to see everyone again.

With about three weeks of recuperation from Chelsea's devastating relinquishment of two major trophies to the European NY Yankees (read: Manchester United), John Terry's miss only haunts my dreams three times a week. I feel as though I am making great strides as the "Slip Heard 'Round the World" left me in a permanent catatonic state for about two weeks; but I will never fully recover.

I avoided all football coverage for about a week, no Fox Soccer Channel, no ESPN Soccernet, no Footytube (my new favorite highlights website) and certainly no Chelsea.com. So I missed the FA Cup final and then I realized that the season was over. No more live football matches until August. This brought an epiphany; I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and my team. There are plenty of Chelsea fans who have spent their entire lives hoping for European glory, endured through the misery of the 70s and 80s while I have been a "Johnny-come-lately" in the grand scheme of things. In the process of moping I missed out on some decent finals, namely the FA Cup Final and the Italian Cup Final. Now that I graduated from UMass and living at home is sucking the little youth I have left right out of me, the onset of Euro 2008 has fanned the dormant embers of the football flame that consumes my heart. And I dont think it could have come at a better time.

For those who arent familiar with UEFA Euro 2008, I will give you the low-down.

History:

Its a quadrennial tournament that alternates every two years with the World Cup and features 16 teams from the European continent. Outside of the World Cup, its probably the most important international competition. The first tournament was first held in France in 1960 with the USSR being the first team to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy. The Germans (West Germany and Germany) are the most successful team in the tournament having won it on three occasions with their last title coming at Wembley in 1996. The French are the only team who have won the World Cup (98) and Euro (2000) consecutively and the Greeks surprised everyone in Portugal at Euro 2004 and therefore enter 2008 as the defending champs.

Venues:

Euro 2008 is being co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland and the venues are divided accordingly. In the Austrian nation, the cities of Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt will provide action for groups B and D. While in Switzerland, Geneva, Bern, Basel, and Zurich will host groups A and C. The largest stadium is the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna. As such, it will host the final in front of 53,295 supporters. The smallest venue is the Letzigrund in Zurich with a capacity of 30,000.

Competition format:

There are four groups consisting of four teams. Each team plays the other three teams in their group once and the teams with the top two point totals in the group qualify for the quarterfinals. A team earns three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the event that two teams have an equal amount of points at the end of the three group games, the tiebreaker is then goal difference (goals scored-goals conceded= goal difference). The winner of group A plays the runner up from B, the Winner of B plays the runner up from A in the quarterfinals. The same matchups are used in groups C and D. Once in the quarterfinals, its a one-and-done knockout stage until only two teams are left for the June 29th final in Vienna.

The Teams:

Group A
Czech Republic
Portugal
Switzerland
Turkey

Group B
Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland

Group C
France
Italy
Netherlands
Romania

This has been labeled by media as the GROUP OF DEATH as France, Italy, and the Netherlands all rank in the top ten in FIFA's world rankings. Romania isnt there to just make up the numbers as they topped a qualifying group that included the Dutch and rank 12th in the world rankings. This should be the best group to watch by far.

Group D
Greece
Russia
Spain
Sweden

The Favorites:

Germany have been made the favorites by bookmakers and pundits alike. They have a relatively easy path to the finals as potentially Portugal in the knockout stage would be the sternest test. France and defending World Cup champions Italy have many backing them for Euro glory as well.

The Darkhorses:

Spain has arguably the most talented team on paper but they have an unhealthy history of underachievement. They show promise at every major tournament and Euro 2008 is no exception. The Dutch always provide an entertaining brand of football but will have to show a lot of verve to escape the Group of Death. Lastly, Croatia has a few people buzzing as they have the talent and tactical acumen to make a deep run.

"We're Just Happy to Be Here"

This is Austria's first qualification for the tournament and it's by virtue of being a co-host for the event; they rank 92nd in the world. Many Austrians are fearful for what they feel might be a public embarrassment of their team during this tournament for spectators worldwide to see. Poland is also making their first appearance at the Euros. Although they do have two World Cup appearances, this tournament will not flatter their lack of star power.

The Ref's take:
(Ref's Note: I have watched the first round of matches from groups A, B, and C already so my predictions are a little biased at this point)

With the English unceremoniously failing to qualify, I am forced to reveal that my second favorite non-American team is Holland. They provide an unabashed knack for shooting first and asking questions later. I think the Oranje and the French will negotiate their ways out of the tricky group of death. In group D, Spain will emerge with some confidence and Russia will surprise some people with a booking to the knockout round. On the other half of the bracket, Germany will cruise in Group B and Croatia will follow in their wake. My other upset special will see the Swiss ride the wave of home support and manage to join Portugal out of Group A.

The Ernst Happel Stadion will play host to Spain and Germany in the Finals and I am going out on a limb and saying that Fernando Torres and his twinkling toes will lead Spain to their first major trophy since winning Euro 1964.

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Since I have absolutely nothing better to do at the moment, I am going to be watching as many games as possible and writing match reports if anyone is interested. I know that every media outlet in the world is covering this tournament--even ESPN is offering live coverage of every match--but I am just going to write for the hell of it as it promises to be a fun tournament.