Germany vs Austria: How To Waste 90 Minutes of Your Life (If you did not see France vs Romania)

As usual I start with a little insight into how my day was and what I did. Makes me more involved in what I am writing. I go out of work early, after a difficult day. Anyways thats my worry for tomorrow. After venting my frustration on the treadmill and the machines, cooked my dinner and it was waiting to be devoured. Now where's the remote? Ahh there it is!

Right, just in time for the national anthems but, still no Schweinsteiger in the staring line up. Why? That gave me a hint, that the Germans were out for a draw, nothing much, as they wanted to preserve their energy and tactics for the Portuguese. If they were to get a win, they wouldn't mind it. We kick off with the hosts in possession and five minutes into the game, Gomes bottles a sitter. Question time again: Why did Klose cross, instead of shooting? He had a good angle and gained a fraction of a second. Four more minutes later, Fritz sends one from the right, after beating Pogatetz. Now another question: Where are Klose and Gomes? There was no one to poach it. Half way into the first half, Ballack passes to Podolski and the shot is parried by the goal keeper. Half an hour into the game, Gomes wins another corner. Four minutes later, another corner, Klose miscues.

Towards the last ten or so minutes of the first half, Austria looked more lively, more creative and looked more likely to score and even one a corner. The first piece of drama, both managers sent off by the officials. End of the first half and a dull performance by the Germans, for which mediocrity would be a compliment.

At this point, a little philosophy, after four successive tournaments: Never trust the pre tournament favourites.

2002 World Cup - Argentina
Euro 2004 - France, Holland
2006 World Cup - England
Euro 2008 - Germany?

Well in fact, I should correct myself and say, never trust the pre-tournament to win.

Four minutes into the second half and Ballack roars to life. A screamer from the German captain, the Micheal Ballack of Bayern Munich! Looks like another Captain's day out! Yesterday it was sensational Nihat, today its rejuvnated Ballack! What next? Now it looks like someone has injected a tank of red bull into the game. Suddenly we see action at both ends, Germany trying to double their advantage, Austrians, to neutralise it! Game on!

Well at least that is what we thought. There were no more mentionable chances and by the time Oliver Neuville missed his, we were well into stoppage time and Germany had managed to limp through to face Portugal. Since I did not have the misfortune of watching France and Romania's ninety minute friendly, for me this is the dullest game Ive seen in the tournament so far.

However thinking from Joachim Lowe's perspective, the mission was simple. To qualify for the quarter-finals. They did it. Mission accomplished. Thats what matters, end of ninety minutes.

Scripted BY Hitchcock, Played To Perfection!

By far this is the most intriguing and edge-of-the-seat game of the European Championships until now. This game had the possibility of history eing created, because if the game were drawn, we'd head to a shootout to decide the winner. The first twist or rather thrill in the plot came when Jan Koller stamped his authority on the game with a superd header, just after half an hour. The game did not have much until Plasil made a steaming run and popped a peach to double the Czech's advantage, around the hour mark.

This is when the Turks came to life. Suddenly we could see movement on the right flank, with Colin Kazim-Richards making those incisive runs with Tuncay, Aurelio and Altintop and the transformation was a treat to the eye. Here comes the first twist in the tale. Turkey pulled one back with Arda Turan and Cech can do nothing about it. The timing of this was what got me stunned. Only moments before this goal did we hear the Turkish fans go silent, losing all hopes.

Well there's more to it. What should have been a routine punch was messed up by Cezh as he tried to catch a slippery ball from Altintop's cross and Nihat pounced on that little mistake to draw Turkey level, three minutes before time. The situation was similar to the way we started. Turkey and Czech Republic were level on goals scored, conceded and goal difference and also level on points. This meant that if the game ended this way we would see a shootout to decide the winner. Suited me just fine as I'd just prepared another cuppa tea.

The fourth official indicates a minimum of four minutes added time. Twist in the plot again. Turkey break loose, Tuncay to Nihat and he surls the ball past Czech and into the back of the net! Turkey 3, Czech Republic 2! The drama is not over yet. The Czechs come to life again and the Turks somehow get the ball away after a mix up between Volcan and Servet. And then, Volcan gets sent off, for pushing Koller to the ground. Replays confirmed the decision and we will have Rustu Recber in the QF clash with Croatia, looks like it. Now Tuncay dons the gloves as Turkey have used up all their substitutions. However there are no more chills, thrills or spills in this game and Turkey romp home to a memorable win. As far as thrill and excitement go, this ranks 1 for me in the Championships so far.

I'd like to go back earlier in the game to recollect Koller and Polak's misses and I cant help thinking how significant they proved to be! As of now, I am off to catch a good night's sleep after a fantastic match that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud any day, as I have a long week ahead.

Ciao!

Poles and Germans - What a Weekend !

Just over twenty four hours after Lewis Hamilton snatched a spectacular pole from Robert Kubica, the Pole took full advantage of Hamilton's shunt into Raikkonen by not only gathering the first win of his so far impressive career, but also going ahead in the drivers' championship.

The circuit has not been Ferrari's favourite in recent times going by their impressive record. In the last ten seasons, 1999-2008, they've managed pole only thrice, in 1999, 2000 and 2001 and have won only four times, in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. So statistically the odds were heavily stacked up against them to qualify or to win. Also none of these qualifying or race results has been with the new regulations. This Saturday was no different from the recent past for the prancing horses. They could only manage third and sixth after we witnessed Robert Kubica taking pole from Hamilton who stole it again in the dying moments of qualifying. Another variable in the equation this time was the track, which has started to break and give way especially at the hairpin. Drivers were given firm instructions to watch it at the apex of the hairpin. On race day Bernie Ecclestone's response was on the lines of it's the same for all drivers like rain or fog. No driver has any advantage. Fair enough, it was time for red lights to go out again.

Hamilton got off to a fantastic start with Kubica hot on his trail, but the biggest beneficiary of the start was Nico Rosberg, who surged ahead at the expense of Alonso. As the race began to unfold, Adrian Sutil, the most unfortunate driver of the season so far had to bring his car to a standstill after what looked like brake discs overheating, (later revealed as loss of gears). Safety car came in and tossed Hamilton's advantage out of the window. Pitlane was closed and uncertainty prevailed everywhere. How much fuel does each one have? When will they pit? Now? Next lap? Three laps from now? There were questions cropping up all over the place. Once the safety car exitted, the pitlane became a hub of activtity as the top three, Hamilton, Kubica and Raikkonen came in. Now what happened here changed the whole course of the race. Kubica and Raikkonen got out of their respective bay and accelerated towards the pitlane exit, coming to a stop waiting for the red light to go green. But Hamilton bolted out of his bay seconds later and ploughed straight into Raikkonen's back, taking himself and the World Champion out of the race. Rightly to his name "Iceman" Raikkonen calmly pointed the redlights(now green) to Hamilton.

For the first time in more than three seasons we now find Rubens Barrichello in the lead! He should have however taken a comfortable fourth but for his spin on lap 59. Adding to his worries however was fantastic Felipe, who did a double overtaking on him and Kovalainen to take fifth. Further ahead, another veteran, David Coulthard took his maiden podium in I cant remember how many seasons. A good result for him, on his one stop strategy. Now before I proceed further about this race, I'd like to post a few lines from my season preview posted before the season even began. Here goes...

BMW Sauber is one team that has been consistent all along in recent years. They’ve been oscillating between fourth and sixth till they came second in 2007, courtesy of Mclaren being stripped off all their points. In Dr. Mario Thiessen, they have a veteran engineer, who has the technical and managerial mindset to guide them to the top. I like the resilience and consistency they’ve shown season after season and that too without any glitz or glamour. You don’t notice them coming till they’ve arrived. My personal favourite to take the fight to Ferrari and Mclaren this season.

It was a year ago, when Robert Kubica had his horrific accident, that almost threatened his career. Who would have thought that a year on, he would redeem himself in such a memorable fashion. A strong qualifying put him on the front row of the grid. When asked about a maiden win, he coolly played down his chances. But with a little red intervention, he was able to score his first career victory, take the lead in the drivers' championship and also lead a BMW Sauber 1-2. Dr Mario Thiessen earlier had mentioned that his aim for this season was to score their maiden win. But to score a 1-2 and have his leader at the top of drivers title and team only three points adrift of top spot in the constructors' title was something he could have never imagined. Wishing Dr. Thiessen and the entire BMW Sauber team a hearty congratulations(anyone hearing) and all the best!

If on one of my favourite sports, a Pole driving for a German-Swiss team had made it a memorable day for them, in another of my favourite sport, a Polish born young man scored 2 goals for Germany against his country of birth in a tournament cohosted by Switzerland. Now that's what I call coincidence.

Lukas Podolski, assisted by fello Polish born Miroslav Klose gave Germany an early lead, in a match dominated by them as Joachim Low's team had a great outing. He followed it with a second after Klose's mis-hit shot and climbed into the leaderboard for goals scored in Euro 2008. The worrying concern for me was Germany's defence. Except Philip Lahm and later Thomas Hitzlsperger, the defence lacked substance. More about it and the Italy Netherlands game, when I am in the mood to write. Time to get some sleep now, long day at office tomorro. Ciao!