Euro 2008 - Part 5 (The Shocks!)

I can hardly believe my eyes..... Russia has handed my favourite Oranje the boot.

The night before Turkey served up another Turkish delight... and...the first night of Quarter Finals, mediocre Germany ditched Portugal.. tonight.... Spain v Italy... I shudder to think if Italy will serve up another shocker on Spain?

While Round 1 serves up few shockers, the quarter finals are all about the ability to rise to the occasion. I thought Netherlands had the opportunity as Russians have never done well in knockout stages in the past... World Cups and all... then again, neither have the Dutch, but I thought they had enough quality to see them through the Russians easily but was I wrong. So there goes my second favoured team, the first being Portugal. Now my only team left tonight... Italy. Italians on my assessment are an aging squad. I do not think for one moment, their oldies of Pirlo, Toni and gang can upset the flair and youth of Torres, Villa and the rest but recent matches have taught me to be wary tonight. I like Italy mainly because they have opted to play more attacking football like Germany. It would be an interesting final should this two teams meet. Then again, what more surprises can Euro 2008 give us? A surprise tonight?

Semifinals that pit Germany v Turkey and Russia v Italy would be all too obvious on who the favourites are... right? But remember, past Euros have always favoured the underdogs.....