From the general sentiments I had been getting, the Euro 2008 qualification matches has come a little too early. One obvious reason - the World Cup. But the journey to Austria and Switzerland (the co-hosts) has begun.
I mentioned recently I realised why it is harder to qualify for Euro, rather than the World Cup. My father gave the explanation yesterday. Any almost-serious football fan like him (I am a slow convert, so don't count me in as yet) are aware of European football standards (okay, I may be the 'football clueless', but that never escaped me as a fact) as a whole. It developed earlier than any other continent in the world, even before South America's powerhouses Brazil and Argentina came into the scene. My father had pointed out that when World Cup comes along, the standard had kind of dropped (a little) somehow. Include Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas in as well, as we are talking about World Cup for the moment.
So since the World Cup ended about two months back (boo!), many of us wondered when will we see more football action again. The EPL came back to many's delight (together with the other major European football leagues) and almost of a sudden, international duties once more. But no fret. The Euro qualifying matches go by stages. We can slowly review how those stars we last saw at the World Cup (those from the European continent, that is) are performing, and how those new and existing national coaches are doing.
It is a transition period we are seeing after all. The overall theme is renewal, after the World Cup.
I was actually secretly hoping it may be a 2-0 to Germany when they meet Ireland in the Euro 2008 qualifier (don't even ask me why I thought about that prediction because it just came out of my head), but it's 1-0 to Germany eventually. A little alright under a new national coach who was once the assistant to Klinsmann during the World Cup. For all new coaches, this is their first competitive test as the friendly matches which might had come earlier on takes a back seat. Same goes for McClaren with England, assistant-turned-national coach.
Yesterday afternoon as we (as in my parents and I) were watching the repeat match of Germany-Ireland on SuperSports, my mother pointed out that (when the TV camera was facing a certain angle, I mean) Joachim Loew looked young. I went amused at once. I replied to her that he is about the same age as her (I mean, I saw a newspaper report on his profile before). Aha. For the record, I added the name in myself. Mother didn't know the name though.
Christmas almost came early (I just hummed 'Deck The Halls' naturally) when I learned Italy drew with Lithuiana 1-1. It's also Euro qualifying match too. France in their campaign beat Georgia to 3-0. As both Italy and France last met in the World Cup final and already been drawn to the same qualifying group for Euro 2008 before World Cup came along, it will be very interesting to see how things are going once more the moment they meet in both their second qualifying matches with each other. Ooo! And it will be later in the week.
I never believed I sat through the entire qualifying match between England and Andorra with my father yesterday in the wee hours of the morning. It's thanks to the time difference between Old Trafford, Manchester (where it's at) and here because the match was shown live on Star Sports here. I was tired at times actually, but I survived. 5-0 to England eventually. Just what they needed for morale-boosting. It ain't their fault that they are being drawn to such an opponent for their qualifying group. Dad had even said before it's a 'walk in the park' in terms of Andorra and Macedonia (the next one, and one of the three teams Andorra managed to win over before but drew with England four years back). But, given Andorra's population, no one can rather blame England having Lady Luck smiling upon them.
The road to Euro 2008 may be a long and winding one, but the campagin to be in Austria and Switzerland by then (like what I said to myself yesterday)...has begun, now!
