Soccer Madness!

Euro 2008 kicks off with Switzerland and Austria hosting- and co-hosts Switzerland facing the Czech Republic today. ESPN (which I don't have access to down here in Worthington) doesn't begin sporadic coverage until next week. So maybe, if I'm very lucky, I might be able to catch a game or two. I'm also hoping for another surprise- in 2004 Greece stunned the soccer world by taking the European title in Portugal (Portugal was widely expected to win) so I'm all for upsets. As always, England flirted with triumph and collapsed in a heap, not even making this year's tournament.

I tend to always cheer for good teams that don't break through in tournaments such as these. When England goes down (I'm fatalistic, as most England fans are) then I usually fall back on Spain or the Netherlands- or whomever beats Argentina in the World Cup. (Yes, I'm an England fan, so if we can't win the big prize in the World Cup, we can beat Argentina as suitable consolation.) Someday, I'd like to see the U.S. Men's team make a run too, if for no other reason that it'll send the rest of the world into total apoplexy. (Plus, it might actually give the MLS a real boost. MLS is sort of growing on me actually- it's building, but slowly and the quality of the play and players is getting up there. If they can avoid being drowned in foreign imports and work on the domestic players they might be able to build a good national team for the US.)