It's A European Thing...

Wayne Rooney tell his soon-to-be ex-teammate what he can do with his apology

Sorry this is later than normal. My unbelievably patient wife allowed me to sit on my butt and watch all 4 quarterfinal games, but as soon as the France/Brazil game was over, she asked me to help her with some yardwork. And when I say "asked," I really mean "insisted." Trust me, you young single guys will understand someday. Married guys don't need an explanation. :)

Wow, what an incredible 2 days of soccer. 4 semifinalists, 4 Euros. Nice to know I was 3 for 4 in predictions, and even the one I got wrong I at least correctly predicted would go to penalty kicks. In Vegas, that's what we call a "push." With the exception of the Italy/Ukraine game, the other 3 literally came down to one or 2 plays by each team. If you made the plays, you moved on. If not, well...

Let's review each game.

Germany/Argentina - Not the best of the 4 games, but definitely 2nd. It wasn't a classic, but it was still riveting up until the very end. Even after Argentina scored, I knew that the Germans would somehow find a way to equalize, particularly after Jose Peckerman subbed out all of his offense in an attempt to sit on a 1-goal lead for 35 minutes. He didn't have the personnel to pull off such a move, and he paid for it. Argentina had nobody on the field who could threaten to score, which allowed the German defenders to push up more into the attack and create chances. The thing about Germany is that they never seemed to panic. Unlike other teams who have gone down a goal and fallen apart, Klinsmann's team stayed calm, kept working, and kept fighting. It'll be tough to pry him away and be the next U.S. coach, but if I'm U.S. Soccer, I give him a blank check after the Cup, and tell him to write any figure he wants on it. You knew when it went to penalties, Lehmann was going to come up big. Also, really have to admire backup Oliver Kahn coming over to him right before the shootout and giving him some encouraging words. Just another example of the German team buying into Klinsmann's philosophy. This team believes it can win the whole thing, which I don't think they did just 3 weeks ago.

Italy/Ukraine - Not a whole lot to say about this one, except that it interesting to see Italy come out and force the issue early, get the early goal, and then wait to exploit other Ukrainian mistakes to put the game away. We finally had a Luca Toni sighting, as he put to rest most of the criticism against him in this tournament by notching 2 goals to put the game away. I thought Ukraine might be able to make a game of it because of Shevchenko, but the Italian defense, even without Nesta, clamped down tight on him, and nobody else on the team could step up and really threaten an Italian defense that has only given up an own goal so far in this tournament. Congrats, still, go out to Shevchenko and company for making it to the final 8 in their first appearance in the tournament. They simply ran into what is easily the best Italian squad since the one that won it all in 1982.

England/Portugal - A 0-0 game that was just enthralling. Again, not the best played match, but so much drama combined with the ebb and flow of a game where 2 teams were so evenly matched. First, I don't think Rooney's red card was deserved. Talking w/ my colleague Craig Stouffer from the DC Examiner, neither of us saw the intent to injure the player. Maybe he was going to get a yellow, but his senseless push of Man U. teammate Ronaldo gave the referee no alternative. It should be interesting to see how the notoriously brutal English press is to Rooney. Will they blame the ref, or will they lambaste him the way they did when Beckham was ejected back in '98 against Argentina? If you remember, Becks got booed mercilessly for the next 6 months whenever United played a road game in the EPL. As for Ronaldo, who arguably baited Rooney's ejection, and then buried the winning penalty, those transfer to Real Madrid rumors might get more legit. I see him getting quite a rude reception not only on the road, but at home as well as long as he's with United. As for the game itself, once again, Beckham, Gerrard, and Lampard failed to make any mark on the game, other than the latter 2 missing their penalties. Defensively, they only gave up 2 goals during the tournament, but when you only score 6 in 5 games, eventually your luck will run out. Portugal still frustrates me the way they flap to the ground in "pain" every time they lose the ball and the other team tries to counter. Kudos to Peter Crouch for not falling for it on at least 2 occasions, as he tried to force the issue and inject some life into the English attack. Too bad Owen Hargreaves and sub Aaron Lennon were the only ones who even threatened to score today. So England goes home early once again, and my pre-tournament pick is out. Can't say I was surprised, as they haven't played with any fire since they started. Portugal moves on and did it w/out Deco, who will return to help Figo and company deal w/ France on Wednesday.

France/Brazil - I'm still buzzing about this game. This was the best of the 4, and I'm willing to go out on a limb and call it a classic. Zinedine Zidane really should reconsider retiring, preferably so he can come over to MLS for a season or 2. Can you imagine what he could teach our players about creativity? Lord knows we have none. Anyway, I was on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. Didn't really have a team I was rooting for in this one, but just enjoyed the back and forth open style of play. Henry finally scores a big goal in a big game for France, and Barthez proved he still has enough left in his tank as he made several stellar saves against the Brazilian onslaught in the final 15 minutes. Although Brazil still probably had better individual players, that didn't translate to a smooth, free-flowing team. They were too disjointed throughout the games, and if any of you remember, I repeatedly said they were going to get beat before getting to the Final. They ran into the team that knew how to beat them, and just like in '98, they did. All the criticism of Ronaldo can be put to rest, as he had a solid tournament except for the 1st game. However, the World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, will have 4 years to dwell on a dismal performance. Like Beckham, the promise didn't live up to the hype.

So there you have it; Germany/Italy on Tuesday and Portugal/France on Wednesday. Should be a classic final four, with the first game being more of a slow, methodical low-scoring game, and the 2nd being an explosive, attractive game that should be wide open.

I'll take tomorrow off, but be back on Monday w/ my preview and predictions for the semis, plus my Top 10 coaching blunders from the tournament. As always, thanks for reading and for the comments.