Never say die - NEVER

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in - a special Ola goes out to Hazel Mae.

Well there you have it, for people who say soccer/football is boring - Portugal 3-2 Denmark.  Yesterday's game was the beautiful game - from joy, to fear, to agony, to jubilation all in the space of two hours.  Things looked great early on with a 2-0 lead inside of 40 mins - a goal by that bulbous headed bugger Bendtner before the end of the half made things a little dicey. 

Things looked even more bleak in the second half when Cristiano Ronaldo missed two breakaways...yes TWO.  For us Portugal fans, it was an omen, that sinking feeling that the Danes would find their way back, even though they didn't deserve to be in the game.  Then Bendtner - AGAIN.  This guy is terrible for club and country, except when he plays Portugal, then he turns into superman.

We were staring an early exit straight in the eye...until.



That bit of brilliance from a substitute - and the world is a happy place again.  A win against the damn dirty Dutch on Sunday and we can book our place in the quarters...a tie and we need some help.  Too many scenarios to go into today - and really, most Portugal fans just wanna savour that win.  FORCA PORTUGAL!!!!!!

On to today's games

Italy 2-2 Croatia
This game is where you throw analysis out the window - sounds crazy, but it is true.  If you know anything about the Italians (and you probably don't, since most of you likely hate soccer) - they are the biggest weasels in international play.  On the surface, one would think, Italy really needs to go for the win - not so roundeye.  The Italians will look at this game as survival - they are only too willing to let other teams do the dirty work for them - in this case, our Iberian cousins the Spaniards.  Italy will play for a tie in this game, knowing that a win over the Irish, coupled with the a very likely Spanish win over Croatia in the group's final games gets them through.  The Italians have pulled this before - they'll do it again.  The tie pays 2.20/1 - take it and say Thank you!


Spain 3-1 Ireland
This will be Ireland's last meaningful game at the Euro - Spain go into the game focus, after missing a number of golden opportunities to beat Italy last Sunday.  The Irish go into this game just happy to have finally qualified - they would never admit it, but these guys don't deserve to be at a European Championship - they come to defend and hope not to lose.  Spain has too much firepower for Ireland - the game is won in the first half, the Spaniards coast in the second before giving up a late consolation goal.  Play Spain minus -1, it'll cost you a bit more, ok, a lot more, but it is worth the play.  or just play the over.

Well gang, that's it for today...what a great day to be alive!

Hazel, here's hoping things are groovy in your world.

I'm Out.