I am very afraid the belief the trophy is coming home since 1996 will be Germany's undoing and we will see an England-like situation again like it was ahead of the World Cup in Germany with the English media two years ago. As an England supporter as well, I had always said this time and again.
Football thought of the day: It's not that I have no faith on the German national team. But all the talk that they will surely win it in Vienna (the venue of the final) just makes me go 'Argh!'. I don't know who said this but, in a tournament, there are no favourites. There are many a times I want to call for a 'divorce' from the Mannschaft and forget that I once supported them in the first place and defect to another national team. Yes, I had said it. I did had the thoughts before. It's just so tiring. Yours truly had enough ahead of the World Cup two years ago with the English media about the England national team and their chances of lifting the trophy. I don't want to go through something like this again when Euro 2008 kicks off.
My worst fears were founded early this morning. I had lifted parts of the entry (from late May) which I finally say what I had always wanted to say. It's like saying - 'Goodbye. Pretend we never used to know each other. And please don't remember you used to love me and I used to love you.'. Purposely a little dramatic on the last sentence (what you get when your imagination is running wild).
Anyhow it's like, why was I so stupid? Why did I never read the background story first? Why do I fall for it? The more I think about it today, I just want to break down in tears. For once when it comes to football, I really hated myself. I mean, supporting England has always been my first love (and you know what they say about first love). Germany only came in much later into my life. I can say 'Auf wiedersehen' anytime I want to. But something is holding me back and I don't even know what it is.
How come I didn't know about 'The Miracle of Cordoba' beforehand? How come I was not aware the Anschluss even extended to football as well? All the more I used to study History and I know of the Anschluss as well! Being an England supporter myself (as well), it's almost a 'crime' to also support its arch-rivals. It was the Germans whom invented this word - Schadenfreude. Just imagine everyone who has hated their football for whatever reason, will be using that.
You might as well say I had suddenly found myself going for the Austrian national team, after a disputed penalty gave them an unlikely lifeline. Some said it should not be called for (but, UEFA has backed English referee Howard Webb's decisions to give the co-hosts a penalty against Poland in Vienna). For once, it's like as if my life depended on the match. I clapped loudly when the equaliser happened, almost forgetting I actually support her bigger neighbour Germany. But suddenly hitting me on especially what happened 30 years ago between the two nations in Cordoba, Argentina in the 1978 World Cup. I know I only came into this world nine years later since that match but thinking about the significance of the encounter 30 years on in Vienna this Monday (Central European Time), Euro 2008's Group B has just become more interesting. I had endured heartaches before in schooldays and I can take it again.
When Croatia drew first blood (it was during the first-half) in the match at Klagenfurt (they were technically the home team and so there were more Croatia than Germany fans), I had saw it coming. It's like asking me to watch a repeat of Croatia's 3-2 win over England at the Wembley all over again. Which I didn't but then, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic reckons it's better than when his boys beat England at the Wembley, given by then they had come into the match with qualification sealed and for England, it's do-or-die. Forget Lyon (where Germany and Croatia met in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals and the latter won with a certain Slaven Bilic part of the squad), forget Wembley, Klagenfurt will be remembered for the first real shock win of the tournament (coming from the fact that it's the smallest host city even and anyhow, the final scoreline from the stadium - Croatia 2-1 Germany). It makes Holland's 3-0 win over world champions Italy look so ordinary.
I will let AFP say it all - Classy Croats stun Germany. Classy indeed. I really don't know what to say of Germany's performance (the only consolation was that the near misses) and if this is anything to go by about Bastian Schweinsteiger, the sent off was a long time coming. I remembered I was like when watching the replay - 'What was he thinking?'. It's already the dying seconds of the match and Croatia on the verge of a famous win. After the final whistle, coach Slaven Bilic is saying that they will not get complacent over the win while his counterpart (which I will have more what happened on the day after) Joachim Loew reacted by saying nothing went right in their way. Croatia's eventual winning goal-scorer Ivica Olic (and he plays his club football in the Bundesliga with Hamburg even...facing a number of his Bundesliga colleagues as well) is warning that they are firing now.
Suddenly Germany's shocking loss and Austria's 1-1 draw with Poland has made the June 16 match in Vienna all the more exciting for the two neighbours who has a history of football rivalry (it's like the England-Scotland football rivalry and all the more significant lately with Scotland's performance on the FIFA rankings, catching up its more famous neighbour). The Austrian media are calling for a second Cordoba in Vienna. Maybe the penalty which led to the equaliser was deemed controversial but, Ivica Vastic saved the day (who is even Austria's Footballer of the Year...the commentator was saying when I watched the match) and he has become the most oldest footballer to have scored in a tournament (38 years of age). It's even more ironic he was actually originally born in Croatia and he indirectly sent his compatriots to the quarter-finals (Croatia with six points) with a match to go. After the final whistle, coach Josef Hickersberger heaved a sigh of relief with the team (don't ask the coach though even though he was once part of the famous 1978 World Cup squad which beat then-West Germany 3-2) planning a big shock over their bigger neighbours Germany. Poland coach Leo Beenhakker felt the injury-time penalty was unjustified.
No wonder all along Croatia coach Slaven Bilic had been telling us that we will see why in this tournament that Luka Modric is worth every penny of his move to Tottenham Hotspur since manager Juande Ramos managed to bring the 22-year-old playmaker over (officially after Euro 2008) when a number of Premier League clubs are also tracking him. After the match, Bilic declared that Modric is the best player in Europe (and Spurs have picked up a rare diamond who is better than Cristiano Ronaldo). And Poland Prime Minister Donaldo Tusk let in on the fact that speaking as a fan (not in his political capacity), he wanted to kill referee Howard Webb over the penalty that cost Poland dear (given it gave Austria an unexpected lifeline in the tournament).
Not since Sir Alex Ferguson, will I be able to imagine another coach with probably a similar treatment to his players if they lost a match. I know my club Manchester United, the gaffer (Ferguson) has built a reputation in the past of having the infamous 'hairdryer' treatment on the squad. Look at this ("All the players didn't meet expectations with very few exceptions, I won't analyse each player individually, but I will take each player aside and give them a piece of my mind."). The one in the brackets almost got me sat up on what Germany coach Joachim Loew was saying in the press conference the day after. But that was not the only thing he said. On the Group B rivals targeting captain Michael Ballack, and about thwarting Austria's chance for a potential greatness 30 years on. My heart is being torn into two even all the more after reading that and Austria is not my team even.
Jogi was like 18 when Austria's 'Miracle of Cordoba' came about. Good grief, like around my brother's age now. With Austria having every potential chance to make history once again all the more on home soil, even former Germany football legend Franz Beckbenbauer is saying that the national team now has to fear of Austria. The winds have changed!
Euro 2008 news. If the reports I get is anything to go by, all in all, it was safe in the city of Klagenfurt when Croatia and Germany play there. Good news that Switzerland coach Jakob Kuhn's wife has come out of coma. And for those who want try their luck at predicting who is going to win in the tournamnet, it doesn't matter if you are a newbie to betting...or as according to the Geneva health department. Given they have found out that football experts and those who were not interested in the sport displayed the same likelihood of correctly predicting the final results. Wah, that means for me...
Euro 2008 thought of the day: The road to the England job first came about for Fabio Capello after he helped ended Real Madrid's title drought in four seasons but yet he was being given the boot for supposedly the style of play. Then like six months later or something, the England job beckons. He publicly declared on TV (where he was commentating the Italy-Faroe Islands match which in a way was meaningless as Italy had qualifed for Euro 2008) he wants the job if he's being offered on the eventual night England didn't qualify for Euro 2008 at the hands of Croatia at the Wembley. Ever since he became the England manager for real, that was when I realised - Nothing surprises me anymore. Even in football. I am aware what happened in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. I am already mentally prepared for whatever happens when Austria and Germany meet in Vienna. And just imagine Germany's loss and its effects on especially its football rivals in England and Holland. Schadenfreude!
Swiss dream turns to nightmare (The morning after Switzerland's devastating exit from UEFA EURO 2008 on home soil, shock and disbelief have given way to a sobering realisation that the dream of becoming continental champions has crumbled to dust just five days after the opening match. A second group-stage defeat in Wednesday evening's rain-soaked meeting with Turkey in Basel leaves the Swiss with no chance of making the quarter-finals, regardless of what happen when they face Portugal in their last outing.)
Bruckner's last symphony (Appropriately for a man who shares a surname with one Austrian classical composer, Czech Republic coach Karel Bruckner is a devotee of another Austrian composer in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. However the 68-year-old Czech could be about to compose his last starting XI for the UEFA EURO 2008 Group A clash with Turkey on Sunday. Defeat would mean the Czechs going home and Bruckner stepping down, which he is going to do whenever their interest in the tournament ends, thus bringing down the curtain on his seven-year reign.)
Tony Blair joins Vlog on the Pitch (The former British prime minister, speaking at the launch of the Beyond Sport initiative, looks a bit nervous about his chances of winning the office sweepstake and reckons Euro 2008 is just about impossible to predict.)
Party over at Euro 2008 (To lose one tournament co-host seems unfortunate, but to lose two? Well, it seems it probably wouldn’t matter at all.)
Van der Sar happy to be the daddy of the Dutch (Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has never been one to protest by refusing to play as several of his compatriots have done down the years, preferring instead to resorting to quiet diplomacy to smooth things over with the man in charge of the 'Oranje'.)
Vastic revels in 'most important goal' (After scoring the added-time penalty that revived Austria's prospects of making it through to the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals, striker Ivica Vastic admitted that his late equaliser was the most important goal of his long and distinguished international career.)
