Countdown to Euro 2012 - An Introduction

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Have we all recovered from Chelsea thrillingly parking the bus for 300 straight minutes en route to becoming the European club champions? Luckily for everyone but Chelsea fans (who might never stop celebrating this improbable championship run) we have another huge soccer event coming up in just 17 days. The event I'm talking about is of course Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, UEFA's premier international competition where 16 nations (this number will rise to 24 starting with Euro 2016 in France simply so UEFA can make more money) compete to become Europe's best footballing nation. With the competition just 17 days away I thought it'd be a good idea to do a countdown to Euro 2012 with a new blog post each day leading up to the tournament. 

Each blog post will be a team preview of each of the participating countries starting with the team I think has the least likely shot at winning followed by teams with better chances until June 7 (one day before the tournament starts) where I will write about the team I believe will win it all (spoiler alert: it will be Spain unless there's an injury). Why do this? For one it will give me an opportunity to write something about I like each day until the tournament starts but more importantly because my country's (Serbia) team didn't make the competition, this will give me an opportunity to learn about each country's squad and which ones will be fun to watch and which certainly won't (I'm looking at you Greece). Not having your country qualify does have benefits as you can watch the games from the outside simply cheering for your favourite player or for a good competitive game as opposed to being completely emotionally connected to your nation's performance. With that being said though, I would still immediately trade the passive outsider feel of watching the tournament for the slim chance at having Serbia win the trophy even with the sure emotional scarring that comes with being invested in any sport. Let's just move on before I start to get sad about how we couldn't beat Estonia even once in our qualifying group.

Hopefully these posts will be fun and entertaining reads as we learn more about the teams that will participate in this year's European Championship. 

I'll leave you with the official song for Euro 2012, Endless Summer by Macy Gray Oceana.

Until tomorrow when the countdown begins with team #16!

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2012 Champions League Final Preview

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It was never supposed to end like this. On December 16, 2011 when UEFA held the draw for the knock-out stage of the 2011-2012 Champions League, every soccer fan worldwide immediately came to the same realization. We were going to get an El Clasico in the final. On May 19th we were going to get Messi vs Ronaldo, Guardiola vs Mourinho, Catalonia vs Spain. The greatest club competition in soccer was going to finish with the greatest rivalry in the sport between the (allegedly) two best club teams. It was going to be perfect. And yet it wasn’t. First, on April 17th Mario Gomez’ goal in the 90th minute gave Bayern Munich an unexpected victory over Real Madrid and then one day later Chelsea managed to upset Barcelona in the other semi-final with a Drogba goal that came very much against the run of play. However even after the first leg of both semis the public and the media wrote them off, calling them minor speed bumps on the inevitable collision course between Real and Barca. And with both second legs being played in Spain, it was hard to argue. 

Champions League Third Qualifying Round Preview

Tweet With soccer's premier tournament about to get interesting, it is only appropriate for this blog to begin its soccer coverage with the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions league.

The third qualifying round features 30 teams and 15 match-ups.  Of these, 5 match-ups are designated the 'league route' (for teams that did not win their domestic crown, but whose leagues are deemed strong enough by UEFA to warrant an opportunity to play in the Champions League) and the remaining 10 the 'champions route' (for teams that won their domestic league).  The 15 teams that come away from this round have one more bout of qualifying before the grand competition.


League Route Match-ups (team on left plays the first leg at home)

Standard Liege Vs. FC Zurich  (1)

Standard Liege is here by means of being the runner-up in the Belgian league.  The last time they qualified was in 2009, where they were on the unfortunate end of some poor refereeing decisions against Arsenal in a 3-2 loss in the group stage; which ultimately doomed them.  Their opponent is FC Zurich who finished second in the Swiss super-league.  Last year they were in one of the toughest groups in the competition with Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Marseille.

What the odds makers say: Standard the favorite at 1.83 (meaning if you put $100 on Standard, you would win $183, where as the odds on Zurich are a staggering 3.75! $100 to win $375)
My prediction: FC Zurich.  I think that they have more quality than they showed last year, and will look to prove it this time around.

Twente Vs. Vaslui (2)

Twente qualified for the competition for the first time last year, and will look to do so again this year.  Although last time around they gained an automatic berth by winning the Dutch Eredivisie, this time their path is a bit tougher, having finished second.  Their opponent is Vaslui from Romania (Full disclosure: I had no idea who they were until I looked them up)  Apparently they finished third in the Romanian league, so I doubt any one will fancy their chances against a strong Twente team.

What the odds makers say: Twente the favorite at 1.32
My prediction: Twente easily dispatches this Romanian team and moves on.

Benfica Vs. Trabzonspor (3)

An intriguing match-up between the second best team in Portugal and the second best team from Turkey (if you cannot guess where they are from by looking at their names I don't know what to tell you).  In my opinion this is the closest match-up in terms of how good both teams are compared to one another.  The winners here are the neutral fans who should be in for some good games between these teams.

What the odds makers say: Benfica 1.38
My prediction: A penalty shoot-out after two matches sees Benfica advance, but it could really go either way.

Dynamo Kyiv Vs. Rubin Kazan (4)

The second best team from the Ukraine (Kyiv) against the second best team from Russia (Kazan).  Given the dislike the two countries have of each other this should at least be a feisty affair.  Rubin Kazan has been very successful in terms of qualifying for the Champions League recently, having done so two years running.  Kyiv was last in the competition in 2009 so both squads have what it takes.

What the odds makers say: Kyiv favored at 1.70
My prediction: Rubin Kazan, with the second match being a thriller.