[youtubeNetherlands 4 France 1]
Thus far, the Netherlands has performed extremely well in Euro Cup 2008 winning both their games against soccer powers Italy and France in convincing fashion by a combined score of 7-1 (3-0 over Italy and 4-1 over France) in Group C play.

Here’s a cool highlight video of the country’s couple of big wins:

Netherlands Euro Cup 2008

Defending champion Greece was eliminated from contention by Russia 1-0 yesterday.

[youtubenolink]
Cristiano Ronaldo is an all world soccer player who starred for the European League Champion Manchester United. He’s one of the best finishers in the game and a very exciting star.

In case the video above doesn’t work, here’s a direct link to a cool top 10 list of some of Ronaldo’s best goals over the past year. I think you’ll agree it’s pretty darn impressive. I’ve gone on record before as stating that soccer and hockey are similar. Just from watching some of these clips, the similarities are striking. Just think in terms of a great hockey star finishing off a one-timer or breakaway on a deke except the work’s done with two legs instead of a pair of skates, a stick and a puck.

Goals in both sports are like an art gallery. You can paint a perfect picture of how some of the goals by the game’s best are scored. I definitely enjoyed this reel and particularly was mesmerized by the free kick. How did he ever get it through that maze and against the grain top shelf? Amazing.

To those who claim that soccer is boring, maybe it’s time for a wakeup call! Sure. It’s lowscoring with a stress on running and defense. Oh. And the goalkeeping is pretty darn good too. But if you sat down and watched some of the world’s best soccer players, you might just come away with a different opinion.

The ballhandling skills that stars Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry exhibit are out of this world. It takes a lot of practice and flexibility. I’ve come around on soccer lately because I realize just how challenging the game is.

Think about this. What other sport asks players to go for as long as they can unless they’re substituted for? This isn’t basketball where subs are more common to rest players. And it’s not hockey where there are line changes which mean that some of the game’s best play roughly a quarter out of 60 minutes of regulation. Baseball’s a different game where players are usually required to play nine innings unless you’re a pitcher or pinch hit for. And football, it all depends on whether you play offense or defense cause nobody’s out there for both unless you’re in high school.

The only other sport I can think of which is as difficult and asks individuals to put out max effort without any help whatsoever is tennis. Tennis has always been scoffed at but tell me who is going to hit the balls and do all that running if the participants don’t? Certainly not the linesmen or the spectators who pay a premium price to watch an underrated sport. One which I played and always enjoyed. It requires a lot of extensive training. Something which can also be said for soccer. I tip my cap to any player who goes all 90 minutes plus extra time. Now that’s true dedication.

As a curious observer who watched and enjoyed the U21 championship won by Italy 1-0 over Chile with the only goal scored by Oswaldo on just an amazing sliding redirect in the 70th minute before Italy withstood a couple of goalposts, I really have noticed just how competitive the game of soccer is. Every inch is fought for. Players must be extremely creative and make quick decisions with the ball. It’s all about reading and reacting.

So, I guess the moral of the story is I finally got curious enough to watch games closely on the Fox Soccer Channel. To follow the sport, it requires more patience. Now, when one considers how long fans will sit at baseball games, that is proof of a double standard in our country. What’s the reasoning? Runs are scored a lot easier than goals. Maybe that’s why soccer and hockey get such a raw deal here. Fans in the USA aren’t very patient and like scoring.

So, will one cool video of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Henry change the perception of most? Probably not. But it will bring attention to just how much work is required for an action packed game. One which I wish to play. Yeah. Really. Imagine that. Since I just got back into the gym, that remains a long shot. I’m going to do everything I can though to get in shape. That much you can count on.

6:14 ET: This was a great championship match for sure. It would’ve been nice if someone had won in extra time but it wasn’t to be. These games often hinge on kicks. So it wasn’t too surprising. Congrats to Manchester United on taking the trophy! 

6:11 ET: The trophy presentation was nice. First, runner-up Chelsea received their medals. Manchester all lined up and applauded patting several players on the back for a well played match. Then the champions had their moment in the sun (well not really since it was almost 2 AM in Moscow in pouring rain). Giggs got to hold the trophy. A great moment for a veteran who broke the United record for most ever appearances. 

6:06 ET: Giggs didn’t misfire putting a low accurate shot into the right portion of the goal to give Manchester the 6-5 lead putting the pressure squarely on Chelsea’s Nicholas Anelka. He went for the right corner but a lunging van der Sar read it getting his right hand on it to swat it away for the dramatic win. He was then mobbed by teammates as they celebrated the huge victory in style. Definitely felt for Terry because he could’ve been the hero. Instead, the Chelsea captain will be remembered unfortunately for missing the potential winner. Such is the dramatic game of soccer.

6:03 ET: The heroes were veteran Ryan Giggs and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. However, if not for Chelsea captain John Terry missing a chance to win it, United wouldn’t have prevailed. Manchester’s Christiano Ronaldo was looking like the goat when he was stopped by Petr Cech, who didn’t go for his hesitation fake. To be honest, Cech was tremendous in this match making some unbelievable stops in the first half to keep his team in it. He really played well. It came down to Terry, who had made that unreal defensive play to deny Giggs of a potential winner in extra time. But as he went for the right corner, he slipped missing wide to keep Manchester’s bid fo a third Euro championship alive.  

5:57 ET: Manchester United are European Champions again! For the third time in their history, they have won the Champions League. It’s the first time since 1999. They defeated Chelsea 6-5 in kicks to claim the trophy. 5:22 ET: Here comes the penalty kicks to decide the champion. 

5:20 ET: It’s going to kicks! The second extra time was very physical as both teams got in each others’ faces. Chelsea’s Didier Drogba was given a red card for slapping Nemanja Vidic. So Manchester had an 11-on-10 advantage but couldn’t cash in. There were a lot of players going down on the field in rainy conditions stopping play.

5:02 ET: And now, the second 15 extra minutes. If nobody scores, then it’s on to kicks in this All-English final. 

4:59 ET: They played the first 15 minutes without anyone scoring. There were close calls on both sides with Chelsea hitting another post and then Manchester United looking like they setup the potential winner for veteran Ryan Giggs who had an open net but a brilliant defensive play by Chelsea’s John Terry prevented a certain goal by blocking it with his head.

4:40 ET: Here comes extra time. 

4:39 ET: Chelsea had the better of the play dictating for large portions of the second half. They had quite a few corner kicks and also hit a right goalpost from over 30 feet out. Manchester picked it up at the end. 

4:38 ET: The championship match is still tied 1-1 headed to extra time. They’ll play 15 minutes apiece to see if they can decide it. If it’s still knotted, then it goes to penalty kicks.  

3:48 ET: The second half will begin shortly from Moscow. 

3:47 ET: The first half is over with the score tied 1-1. Manchester’s Christiano Ronaldo scored on a perfect header in the 27th minute to put them ahead. But Chelsea’s Frank Lampard took advantage of a blown assignment getting to a loose ball and swiping it past Edwin van der Sar to tie the match in the final minute of the first half.

Who ever would’ve believed that with Rivalry Week taking place amidst the sweaty return of Dick Vitale broadcasting Duke-North Carolina, I’d be locked into this USA vs Mexico game in Houston on American soil?

I can’t quite believe it myself but having watched most of an exciting first half which featured three goals (yes that’s correct people), I must say that it was a lot of fun. The U.S. National Team leads Mexico 2-1 at halftime thanks to the young foot of some 18 year-old phenom.

Since I can’t even remember the name or find a freaking boxscore or a USA roster, I’ll just have to supply it later. Or maybe find a soccer expert who might know who I’m talking about cause it was an awesome goal where the kid redirected a centering pass to put our country ahead.

So how bad is the coverage of soccer in this country? Check out this brief piece by Yahoo’s Martin Rogers on Mexico young star Giovanni dos Santos.It’s just awful. There’s no substance and little quotes. What would excite an American about a piece basically about the other country where they celebrate the same sport like it’s the Primary where you know whoever gets elected will make the same old promises and get next to zilch done due to how far apart the two parties are? If you disagree, fine. But that’s about as cut and dry as it gets when it comes to Politics. To think I took a course on that once.

10:32 ET: At least Spanish sports channels get it. Their coverage is that much better. Speaking of which, this broadcaster on Telemundo or whatever channel I’m watching this on just went nuts yelling and screaming:

“GOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!”

Yes, it only took Mexico less than 120 seconds to tie this thing at the start of the second half. Tim Howard was going nuts yelling at his awful D which allowed the Mexican player to get inside position off a corner for an easy tap-in.

10:36 ET: Now Howard collided with a Mexican and then gave him an elbow. I like this guy! He’s intense. Don’t take their cheap play Tim!

10:39 ET: Man, Mexico is owning this half. They had another goal wiped out due to an offside. I still don’t know why Clint Dempsey’s third goal got waved off. Was it offside? It didn’t seem to be. Was it a foul for using his hands to ward off the defender? Maybe. It took away a great individual effort.

10:45 ET: They’re over 17 minutes into this second half and it’s still knotted at two apiece.

Freddy Adu is also playing for a Team USA roster with an average age slightly better than 24. My god is this Telemundo announcer a nut. He goes berserk over the simplest stuff pronunciating words to draw you in. It’s insaaanne.

This sure beats all the Johan Santana-sessed Los Mets fans who already have their World Series tickets printed over a stupid press conference.

10:49 ET: The US needs to do a better job in their end. They’re giving up way too many quality chances. Fyi…Landon Donovan was a beast in the first half. I think he setup both of their goals. The first was a brilliant play by the forward in which he kept a ball alive by kicking it up for a perfect centering pass for an eventual header off the far post and in.

They’ve now played over 76 minutes out of the 90. Considering some of the chippy play where there have been several collisions, cheap fouls and a couple of yellows, it’s made it even more entertaining for soccer fans. I’m not going to say I’m one of those yet but if there’s a game which draws my interest, I’ll check it out. This one has.

10:53 ET: The refs call a bs foul on I think Donovan because the Mexico player went down trying to obviously emulate Mario Lemieux in his heyday. They got a free kick and thankfully missed wide right much to the Telemundo nutty announcer’s incredible dismay. He reallly goes insane.

The first U.S goal was scored by Onyehu or something like that. I can’t remember the exact spelling. Sorry.

27:26 played in the second half.

Mexico 2  USA 2

10:57 ET: USA had a corner and this announcer even got excited about that. Nothing materialized off it as Mexico’s D was solid playing it away. Now another yellow card on an American player. This Houston crowd is getting antsy. They dislike the call and boo instead of whistle and scream stuff we can’t understand like other countries do.

31:15 into the second half

That btw is another difference between the Spanish broadcast channel and the lameass ESPN American feed. The American feed shows the total time played which would be at 87:00 now. Spanish stations break it in half going from 1 to 45.

Howard’s been pretty busy in this game and made a bunch of sprawling saves. He even collided with one of his own defenders injuring them.

11:02 ET: A USA kick is thwarted. Listening to this broadcast makes me crave a couple of more brews. A Guinness or Dos Equis would be pretty good right now and make it even more enjoyable. I love imported beer. It’s perfect for the occasion.

36:20 played

Still tied at two

11:06 ET: There are a couple of banged up players including one Mexican who looks like he might be subbed for. There have been quite a few substitutions in this critical half. The injury was sustained off a weird play in which he fell down while an American player landed awkwardly on his left hand which he’s still holding in some pain.

There’s only 4:30 left in regulation. Figure 2-3 minutes for injury time as there have been several stoppages.

I think the 18 year-old American’s name is Maurice Edu. He subbed in before. So he is out there getting valuable experience.

Mexico has the ball inside USA territory and is pressuring. A centering pass for a cutter sails too far giving the Americans the ball back. Now they’re on the attack. Donovan almost performs some magic but can’t quite keep a ball in at the right corner in the Mexican end.

Here comes Mexico. The Mexican fans want a foul and get it with another yellow. The player was denied by Corrales who got out his hand. This is going to be tough for the U.S. to defend with over a minute left.

11:13 ET: 90 minutes have been played as another Mexico sub enters. Yet another foul on Team USA who are in extra time now. Figure there to be about 90 seconds remaining.

Can someone break the tie? Mexico plays one in front but Howard hustles out to deny the chance covering the ball up. Under a minute to go.

This has been a pretty competitive game. Pretty physical. There wasn’t much D played in the first half but this half has been better played IMHO.

11:17 ET: A yellow is handed out to a Mexican player now. The U.S. needs to do something quick here. Donovan has it on the left side. He has been good in this one but his centering pass goes off a Mexican player’s head and that’s it.

Final score:

Mexico 2  USA 2

A very good soccer game indeed. I definitely enjoyed it. They’re interviewing some Mexican player now on the field where the Texans play. Pavel Pardo. This kind of reminds me of when I once interviewed MLS All-Stars at Keane College including star Preki who I needed a translator for. I still got the tape. I also interviewed Alexi Lalas and Tony Meola to name a couple. That was really a fun time.

I’d have to say Donovan was the best USA forward and Howard owned in net making a lot of great stops and playing feisty.

Well, that does it for this liveblog. Hope whoever checked it out liked it.