Euro 2008

Match day three saw a lot of drama.Switzerland bit outgoing coach Kobi Kuhn goodbye with a 2 nil defeat of Portugal.Portugal had already qualified for the knock-out stages and had finished group leaders,they therefore fielded a team of mainly reserved players.The other match of the day featuring Turkey and the Czech Republic provided all the drama as Turkey got three goals in the final quarter of the game to defeat the Czech Republic by 3 goals to two.Down 2 goals to 0 at the break, the Turks responded with goals from Arda Turan,75' and man of the match Nihat Kahveci87',89' to knock the Czech Republic out of the competition.Croatia showed their strength in depth by defeating Poland by 1 goal to nil.The Croatian team was mainly made up of substitute players.Germany's Michael Ballack thundering free kick shot in the 49 minute of play gave his side a 1 goal victory over ousted co-host Austria.The Germans are through to the quarterfinals and will play against Portugal in match that people expected to see in the semi-finals.Croatia will play Turkey in the other match of this bracket.So between,Germany,Portugal,Croatia and Turkey, we will get one of the teams that will be playing in the finals of the competition come June 29.France and Italy play today,so does Holland and Romania.There is much talk about whether the better strategy for the Dutch would be to allow Romania beat them,thus eliminating the French and the Italians.The Dutch fielded a team of second stringers but still pulled a 2 goal to 0 victory over Romania.The Dutch thus match Croatia with a perfect record after three matches and showed their strength in depth.Italy got a goal in the first half from the penalty spot,converted by Andrea Pirlo in the 25 minute and another goal by man of the match Daniele De Rossi in the 62 minute to complete a 2 to nil defeat of the French.Italy thus sneaks into the quarterfinal where they will meet Spain on Sunday.The Dutch will have to wait for the outcome of today's match between Sweden and Russia to know their quarterfinal opponent.The French and Romania thus fail to qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition.The quarterfinals pairing is now complete after Russia surprised Sweden with a 2 goals to zero defeat last night.Spain kept their group stage record perfect with a 2 to 1 victory over Greece.The second part of the Euro 2008 bracket now features Holland,Spain,Italy and Russia.Holland with play Russia on Saturday the 21 of June while Spain and Italy will continue their Iberian rivalry in a clash on Sunday the 22.Looking at the competition after the group stages at lot of the early favorites like Germany,Portugal,Spain and Italy are still around.So are some outsiders like Russia,Turkey and to a lesser extend Holland and Croatia.The French are home early due in part because they were drawn in the group of death that included the Dutch,Italians and Romania.They are some real tough match ups in these quarterfinals, including today's Portugal versus Germany and Sunday's Italy versus Spain.