Who could bet against them?  Anybody who watched Germany's last match.

I am no fan of George Bush's attitude that we are right and the rest of the world is crazy.  However, when it comes to soccer, he may be on to something.  This is, without a doubt, the most boring game ever invented.  

"I've never seen anything quite like today's Croatia–Turkey quarterfinal game..."

Presumably, you didn't watch any of Turkey's first round games, then...

I mean, winning this way is basically routine for them...

Amazing fact: the Turks have been in the lead for two minutes in the entire tournament. Yet they are in the semifinal.

Stunning wasn't it?

I got in from the second half and couldn't take my eyes of it. I was up for Croatia (had a tenner on them from the start) and always want Turkey to lose. Their fans are rabid dogs and they shouldn't be let into the union etc etc. But I have to tell you that I was up for them by the end.

What won it for them? The manager. If you look at the game, the Turkish manager pulled his crew together and kept them focused. Bilic on the other hand walked around not talking to his players with a look of dejection on him.

It's in those extra time periods and before the peno's that the manager earns his salt and Bilic blew it.

Fair play to the Turks, I hope they win it. They're the best that Islam has to offer and it got me thinking that maybe The Ottoman empire should have some role.

Anyway, the Germans will destroy them. Ballack will score a hat-trick.

What about Putin-Mobutu's crew? Worth another tenner?

Felons - I truly feel sorry for you. Truly.

Felons, you would be surprised how Europeans tend to view American sports. American football is often derisively called "helmetball" and thought to be wussy (they don't understand why the pads are required; if you think that sounds insane, try watching rugby). Ignorance goes both ways.

Yea that helmet ball is rugby for girls.

Ignorant Populist and gabbage,  in this case all I can say is that ignorance is bliss.

As someone who played football in the US and rugby abroad, I loathe the pads/helmets argument. Rugby is a tough game, no doubt, but lateral passing changes the nature of the momentum in the game. In American football if players did not wear pads, people would die. It's as simple as that. There is nothing in rugby like a safety who runs a 4.5 colliding full speed with a wide receiver running a 4.3. I love rugby, but these are different games. Can't we appreciate both?

What amazes me about these discussions is the dumb way that thay always become zero-sum games. It is silly and provincial to think that both American football and rugby (and Gaelic football, and Aussie rules football . . .) cannot be great games.

The anti-soccer stuff (of which I, shamefully, used to partake as a younger guy) is just as silly. But you cannot force someone to appreciate your sports if they are unwilling. The same goes for baseball or cricket or hurling or any other sport that seems alien to another population.

My guess is that Turkey's run ends against Germany -- Germany is too disciplined to allow last second breakdowns, and Portugal is a much stronger and more talented side than Turkey and Germany dominated that match for the most of it. I'm no soccer expert, but I tend to understand the narrative of Cinderella runs in any sport. My guess is that the carriage turns into a pumpkin on, I believe, Wednesday. But I hope I'm wrong.

dcat

Not to mention Irish hurling, in which three-foot-long flat-ended wooden clubs are wielded at high speed in clusters of up to seven or eight players and only a couple of players trouble with minimal (non-mandatory) protection for the head.  It's like lacrosse for the suicidal (although some blocking and tackling maneuvers common in lacrosse are banned in hurling).

Re the pads/helmet argument, my understanding is that American football ends up producing statistically higher numbers of devastating injuries and deaths than rugby does at least in part because players with pads/helmets can/feel they can (even if only subconsciously) inflict greater hits on other players without concomitant risk of self-injury.  So, to reduce it to the facile, are you a real man if you wear pads or if you play a sport with a higher likelihood of paralysis/death?  

Meant to say "if you play a sport without pads or ..."

Amen Irony, Amen.

If you ever do get a chance, you should try and catch a live game. It's a really sublime mix of sheer lunacy, skill, aggression and speed. Really, a sight to behold. There's a lot of violence in it, Tipp and Cork players nearly hospitalised each other, which takes away from the game itself. But that's what happens when you give our Noble Savages sticks.

DCat - great post. Respect homie (how's my American?) on your experie...creed. Didn't know you rolled like that, Dog, word up.

I only wind people up and dumb it down to the zero sum. These games are universal, of course. (Apart from basketball and wrestlingpanto, which also gets binned.)

Irony -- hurling is wild. Lots of fun to watch, especially live.

gfeit -- maybe?

dcat  

Go on Putin-Mobuto ye good thing!

Russia deserve it. They've played some great stuff. Hiddink has to be the greatest international manager out there. I'd love to see him at Utd.

Who would have thought it? Corporate Islam and an "africanized state" in the semi's, not to mention a tidy profit. Fair play to em. Russia is as much a part of Europe as France is. And if Thatcher can "engage" Apartheid, then we can engage Russia. They're not perfect, far from it, but a century of totalitarianism leaves its mark. I'd like to see Europe ensure Russia gets under the anti-ballistic unbrella. That would solve a lot of immediate energy concerns.

You were saying Josh?

People forget that tbe Russian side is first - expertly managed, and second- UEFA cup winners. They played the Dutch off the park.

Fantastic. Back in the black. Go on Putin-Mobutu!

It's all about Hiddank and a good footballing team. Every Russian player, from the back up, looked confident and comfortable on the ball. That's good coaching.

Fair play to em. Putin called him a "lucky manager". I'd love to see Red Square tonight. They earned it.

Great stuff.

It's Spain or Germany's to lose now. Regardlesss, if either win it, it's been the tournament of the underdog - Corporate Islam and the beautiflul, the profitable, African's in the semi's.

Get in there ye good thing. I'm holding Russia for the semi's. Bullish on the Bear during Bear times. Well make some Euro's out of this yet.

How can any sport compare?

Great tournament.

Derek, you will note that I said "ignorance goes both ways." I was not endorsing the idea that helmetball is sissy, just pointing out that Europeans dismiss American sports as haughtily as Americans dismiss soccer.

Ignorant Populist -- Or IggyPop --

Your post hadn't gone up when i responded to the others, so no diss intended. I certainly understand shorthand for the madding crowd. Lord knows I've gotten in enough trouble around here for the same thing.

dcat

I'm in St Petersburg right now and I've never seen anything like it.  Absolutely crazy celebrating in the streets.  These people love this sport.

The oligarchs sleep soundly tonight.

As a former "n*gger of Europe" , I wish the new African's the best, but wouldn't mind the Spanish easing their pain.  I mean, if any footballing super-power needs it, it's our Spanish friends.

Still, an Islamic cup has it's attraction.

I think we are all agreed that we could do without a German victory. I mean if they won't even defend the West against the Asian hor...Taliban, then...well.  

Football's an old moving average - post war Germany has tended to express itself on the pitch.

God, I hope it's not the Germans.

In France they have a proverb that goes something like, "soccer is a game played between two teams of 11 players who are not allowed to used their hands, over two, 45 minute halves, where the winner is Germany."

There's something grimly resigned about it...and I'm starting to accept its inevitability this time around.

It's actually a quote from former English striker Gary Lineker: "Football is a game where twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end the Germans win." A few years ago I would've argued that German dominance of the game was over, but with one of the least talented teams in their history they've made one World Cup final, one World Cup semi, and a Euro semi (at least) in six years.

Really? Lineker claims that one? I could've sworn I heard it bandied about in France 15 years ago, but mebbe it's one of these multiple-source bon mots.

Anyway, the Germans know how to win playing unlovely football. And the competition this time around is underwhelming to say the least. Spain is sure to honor tradition by choking. Italy's geriatric. And, as that guy in Thelma and Louise might have told Hiddink's Russians and the Turks, respectively: "brains'll only get you so far, and luck always runs out."

I, for one, welcome our new teutonic overlords...