Euro 2008 Roundup

We start, as always, with France. On the eve of their rematch with Italy, both Henry and Thuram saying the goal is not revenge, but points. Of course, but don't think there isn't a bit of revanche in there as well. I imagine -- and hope -- someone has made a call to Zidane for counsel. Too bad they're not playing in Marseille -- now THAT would be interesting.

Italian captain Cannavaro insists his country's poor performance (beaten by Croatia, a draw against friggin' Lithuania!) in the qualifying rounds is due to bad luck. Uh-huh.

Meanwhile, Materazzi has revealed the supposed details of his infamous exchange with Zidane, saying that he did indeed insult his sister, although at the time he didn't know Zizou even had a sister. That may be true, and honestly, I'm inclined to believe that part. But I very much doubt that a) such an innocuous comment would elicit that kind of response and b) that FIFA would have fined / suspended him for that. There's no way what he said wasn't racist and incindiary in some way shape or form -- even the lip-readers say so. But no one will really know, I suppose, besides the two involved. Sigh.

In other news, UEFA have warned that any racist abuse of England players by Macedonia supporters will not be tolerated in tomorrow night's Euro 2008 qualifier (UEFA has the power to throw any country or club out of their competitions, which include the European Championships and Champions League, if players are subjected to racism). The Macedonian Football Association were punished after England's last match in the country three years ago, when the likes of Emile Heskey were taunted because of their race. Dude, nothing makes me angrier, soccer-wise, than racism on the pitch (see also, Luis Aragones). Bastards.

On the same topic, kind-of, why is everyone treating the Macedonia-England game as some sort of big challenge? Seriously? I mean they beat Greece for god's sake -- hasn't McClaren over the trial period yet?

Slovakia meets the Czech Republic tomorrow as well. Am hearing good things about Slovakia, but I can't imagine the Czechs won't win this one. In old news, Holland barely eked past Luxembourg, 1-0, in a performance even their coach denounced. Hmmm. Hopefully they'll rebound -- how can you not like the Dutch?

Finally, how is it that clearly-non-European countries like Kazakhstan and Israel can play in European championships? Don't get it.

That's it for now -- stay tuned for my emotional post, one way or the other, tomorrow afternoon.