euro 2008: the turtle (epilogue)

During the Euro 2008 it was extremely difficult to find the turtle of Lobau, who I have declared my personal mascot for the championship.

I guessed she was enjoying the football matches as much as we all did, but it seems I have been wrong. Today I met her again and had a little chat with her.

At first she didn't want to talk, what with this blazing heat, and one can't hardly move at all - that was how she was ranting on, in very slow speech with simple subject-verb-object-sentences, and that she even isn't and never was a football fan (that is, soccer for you if you're American), that football is rather dull in her opinion.

She only was - when we met first - in a roguish mood with this egg-laying business and all, and so decided on the spur of the moment to fool me into thinking that she were (a fan, that is).

And finally she asked me to please leave her alone, as life were already hard enough here on the hot lands, with the next little swamp a couple of thousands of turtle-spans away. Of course I promised her this, if she only answered a final question: what did she think about the final of Euro 2008. This was her answer:

Xxx xx xxx. Xxx xx xxx! Xxx.

What more is there to say? Live well, little turtle, and don't give up on egg-laying!

eurocopa 2008: ¡yo soy español!

Diego Alonso, un aficionado español de Andalucía, ha explicado a mi compañero y mi después la primera medio tiempo del final que los Alemanes siempre ganarían y como tiene miedo que eso tambien se pasería esta noche. Eso ha dicho cuando los Españoles ya han marcado un goal.

Después ha empezado orar - con mucho gravedad.

Mientras los aficionados Alemanes solo han hablado del victoria - aunque no han marcado nunca.

Todo eso ha ocurrido esta noche en Viena, en la zona de los aficionados, a la Plaza de los Héroes.

Es solo por eso que Español ha ganado la Eurocopa 2008.

The Spanish fans, even though Spain was ahead, didn't and couldn't believe yet that they would win, while the Germans until a few minutes before the end of the game were convinced that they surely would still win as if it were a rule written in stone that Germany shall win when (and not if) they reach the final. Only in the last minutes before the final whistle the Spaniards became more sure of the victory, and Germans slowly were becoming desperate.

And this, to cut the long story short, is why Spain did win.

euro 2008: the final

Today in Vienna Germans and Spaniards are celebrating the final day of the European Football Championship 2008. And some Austrians too. As the Spanish fan groups will be only a minority (after all they have to travel the longer distance) we Austrians will certainly support them rather than the Germans - after all the fight should be fair, and the better team should win.

Well, the best team we know already - with due respect, but this clearly is the Spanish one. Who will win however only will be decided on the lawn, here in Vienna, tonight.

euro 2008: spain vs russia

My heart was with Russia today, but it wasn't to be. Spain had Russia under firm control, especially in the second half while in the first half (which was influenced by a thunderstorm and heavy rain) Russia had slight advantages. They could even have won higher - even if this would have been hugely unfair to an ambitioned Russian team which, sadly, is still to unexperienced to achieve more. Russia has a great team with a great future, I suppose - not in this tournament though.

The turtle wishes from her hiding place in Lobau all the best to La Selección - with Spain the stronger team went through to the final. And as Spain overall has performed very well so far - while Germany hasn't - I would expect them to win the title too. But let's keep in mind what Gary Lineker once said: „Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.“

euro 2008: turkey vs germany

Thunder and lightning in Basel where Germany played against Turkey for a place in the final; thunder and lighning in Vienna too.

The Turks have won some matches with luck where they weren't the better team at all. Today they have lost a match, and very unlucky at that, where they were clearly the better team. It was a dramatic game, not high quality - but the Turks gave their best, which is more than the Germans were able to do (except for the result).

So Germany is in the finals. For the whole Euro 2008 there was one single match where they played proper football - the one against Portugal in the quarters. It does not feel right for the Germans to be awarded with the finals for such a performance - it doesn't feel right at all; but that's football for you.

The only consolation is that if Germany will play like they did so far (except for the one against Portugal) we know already who will win the championship - either Russia or Spain. But again, everything's possible in football; the team playing medium level football overall, on average, still might win the trophy.

football free zone

The turtle told me that she needs a break: its just too much to ask to watch football each and every day.

Well, she is no fan of mallows either; so I only can hope that you are.

euro 2008: quarter finals

This picture was taken in (one of the two) the shortest night(s) of this year, the night from 21st to 22nd of june. For me it was one of my 'longest' nights indeed, unfortunately in a location where there was no pulbic viewing possible - the Netherlands played Russia that day.

The day before, that is on friday, Turkey won in a dramatic match against Croatia in the final penalty shoot-out: and again Turkey scored in the last minute as they did in the group phase - this time the equalizer in overtime which secured them the penalty shoot-out. The match wasn't too good however (the best of this day was the place where I watched it, in the Hanappi stadium - the home-stadium of SK Rapid Vienna and to fans as holy as Old Trafford to - well, on a different scale, I admit ...); overall the Croats had more of the game which of course isn't much of a consolation for them. So the first semi final will be Germany against Turkey.

Unfortunately I couldn't watch yesterday's match between the Netherlands and Russia; it seemed to have been a really great one - anyway at least the turtle was very impressed - which went to overtime where finally the Russians prevailed. Although it may sound strange to change sides so quickly (and I concede that it really is strange) I now declare that I am on the side of Russia from now on. They have a great though young team, their greatest fault is that they are inexperienced which was the reason why I thought they'd have no chance against Holland. Well, they prooved me wrong.

The Russians will now play in the semis the winner of the fourth quarter final match: today's game of Spain against Italy. And as usual Italy tried to catenaccio its way through to the semis (hoping for a lucky goal), with Spain doing slightly more for the game: but not even Spain was anywhere near the fast, offensive one-touch short-pass game which especially the Dutch and the Russians played. So tacticts dominated (even if on a high level), and almost inevitably a rather boring match was the result, and a goalless draw after 120 minutes. Spain had a great chance to score in the last minute and prevent the penalty shoot-out, but they didn't make it count and subsequently I thought they'd lose the penalty shoot-out ... BUT: they didn't! Spain won, and finally we have a championship where Italy's catenaccio finally does not succeed.

So Spain versus Russia it is in the second semi final, and the Spanish team will have much more room against Russia than they did against Italy: the outcome of this match is completely open; while the other one, Germany versus Turkey, looks like it will be going one-way for Germany - but one never knows, the Turks seem to be specialists for last-minute goals.

euro 2008: portugal - germany

Half-time in the first quarter final, and Germany leads Portugal by two goals to one. The Germans play stronger than they did the whole tournament, nevertheless Portugal certainly has the powers to score the equalizer and still win. Here's the Portuguese colours, red on green with some blue merged in, which is all the support I can give right now (well, the turtle also gives her support):

I'll report back after the match, I suppose.

[Three quarters of an hour later:]

Now I'm really done with this year's Euro. The Germans shot a third, irregular goal (it was scored after an offense foul) which the referee let count, and even though the Portugals too scored once in the second half they're out of Euro, they lost two goals to three against Germany. The Portuguese did show much character in the second half; their elimination from the tournament is a great loss.

[Fiften hours later, after having slept over it - and after the emotions of yesterday have been swept away -, I'd like to add that it is only fair to admit that the Germans had Portugal well under control even though it was close in the end, and there could as well have been overtime necessary to decide who wins, or even a penalty shoot-out. The Germans have - for the first time in Euro 2008 - played well, certainly this was their best game so far; nevertheless I still feel sorry that such a great team as the Portuguese now is out of the championship.]

euro 2008: final day group D

Today my heart beat for Russia but my brain told me that Sweden will go through. So a small consolation for me today - as Russia won easily and only made one major fault, they should have shot much more goals than a mere two. So it will be Russia against the Netherlands which should be the highlight of the quarter finals - a shame that one team will lose, and in this case inevitably this should be Russia as the turtle still is on the Dutch's side.

The second match, Spain against Greece, was of no consequence to the group's results; Spain won (with almost none of their stars playing), but the real surprise was that they didn't win by much, and that Greece even scored a goal: so no points for the title holder, but at least one goal shot.

This tree here now has nothing to do whatsoever with football, I just wondered what it's called - didn't find anything anywhere. I don't know this species from my old home country, the Mühlviertel: it doesn't grow there at all while you find it everywhere in the immediate surroundings of Vienna.

I've now done some research on this tree: it is black locust (German Robinie - Robinia pseudoacacia) and it is not an indigenous tree; it came to Europe from America as a park tree and already is growing wild. They are very robust trees, growing on poor soil which becomes better soil by their growth as they have rhizobia in their roots which convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen usable for plants. Therefore black locusts were able to and quickly began to spread on poor soil where many rare plants are growing - as for example many of the European orchids. Black locusts also grow in Lobau national park, and are a danger for the poor soil growth there - they leave the soil changed forever as they enrich it with nitrogen. Now at last I understand one thing the national park rangers do where black locusts grow: they cut of a ring of bark from their stem which is the most effective way of fighting their rapid growth; just cutting the tree wouldn't help much as the roots would grow again in this case - with 'ringing' however they don't. Now that I know what these 'rings' are all about I'll show them some time soon here on this blog.

euro 2008: final day group C

Our mascot the turtle wasn't with us yesterday as the Austrian team lost against only slightly stronger Germans who didn't play good at all, but she was with the Azurri today.

Well, to tell the truth the Italians were a little bit lucky to get an early penalty kick, after that it was only going downhill for the French. And as the Dutch won comfortably (if not too easily, with their B-team) against Romania, Italia is now through and will play now against Spain in the quarter finals where for me the Spanish team is favourite while the Dutch will play either Sweden or Russia.

Overall I have to admit that I am still a little bit down by yesterday's result where really we had a chance to win against Germany. But the turtle keeps telling me that our team is still very young and might just benefit from a more negative than positive experience like this Euro was for them.

Tomorrow now follows the last day of the group stage, then the quarter finals begin. I still stick to my tip of the Dutch winning the title, in case you were wondering.

euro 2008: final day group B

Poland has lost and is out.

Austria too has lost, and is out.

Germany will play - and lose - against Portugal in the quarter finals.

euro 2008: final day group A

The Viennese coat of arms is quite similar to the Swiss flag:

And the Swiss today won against Portugal, admittedly with all their stars not playing as for Portugal the result of this match was of no consequence, they already had won their group. [This by the way is a smoker's carriage of the tramway when smoking still was allowed there.]

But the really hot game today was the Czech Republic against Turkey where the winner would march through with the loser being out, and in case of a draw there would have been a penalty shoot-out (the new UEFA rule I already mentioned here on the blog). The Czechs played better in the first half and already had a clear lead by two goals; they defended and let the Turks come, which they did. In the end the Turks won. Both teams were very nervous and made plenty of mistakes; there also were a lot of fouls, some rude ones too. It was a battle really, thrilling but not too nice to watch. In the end the Czechs themselves are to blame for their own loss, they almost were through and lost their nerves in the last minutes of the match.

So Turkey is through (their fans are driving through the streets of Vienna right now, sounding their horns) and will play against Croatia in the quarter finals - in Vienna, by the way, where there do live a great many migrants with roots both in Turkey and 'Ex-Yougoslavia' (many of them being Croats). This match probably will be considered a 'high-risk' one, and I certainly will not be near any public viewing area this day; I would be very astonished if there wouldn't be any skirmishes between Croatian and Turkish fans. For me Croatia is clear favourite in this match - but you never know what may happen.

euro 2008: the defending champion is out

Spain and Sweden met today - with Sweden trying above all not to lose while Spain really put in some effort to win. It was a close call and in the end a draw would have been fair to both teams, but then Spain scored the winning goal shortly before the final whistle. You had to feel sorry for the Swedes even though Spain clearly was stronger.

Todays highlight should have been a negative one - Greece against Russia, after the scandalous play the Greek, defending European champions, showed against the Swedes in their first game. Surprisingly though Greece at least tried to win - and even almost managed to score (and once even did, which the referee decided was offside, which it wasn't really, not quite, as the replay showed), due to a faulty Russian defense who let them have a few very good chances.

But nevertheless with the Russian team the better team won: they played the better and more modern football - aggressive, quick, and offensive. The Russian team just seems to be young to make more of the qualities they undoubtedly have; and they will have an extremely hard job at hand in their last play against the Swedes which they must win if they want to reach the quarter finals.

The Greek, of course, are out. With no points scored, and no goals shot; their last chance of doing so, to save their honour, will be their last game in this Euro against Spain. But at least they have tried to show what they can do (which admittedly wasn't very much), and for this effort the turtle awards this flower of Bryonia dioica*) (Zweihäusige Zaunrübe, a poisonous cucumber weed):

*) The leaf above the flower is of Clematis vitalba, our local liana, and not of Bryonia dioica, just in case you have some knowledge of Central European fauna and might object to my description. In addition to that I have to add that I am only 99% sure this really is Bryonia dioica; it might be Bryonia alba, but I think not - I'll just have to wait for the plant to fruit as B. dioica has red fruits while the ones of B. alba are black.

Now that the first two rounds of Euro 2008 are completed, lets summarise the results so far:

• Group A: Portugal is through to the quarters and has to be considered an outside favourite for the title; the Czechs and Turks still fight for second place, both not looking like they might reach the semis or even the final; and the Swiss are out even though playing at the same level as Czechs and Turks
• Group B: Croatia is through without looking convincing, Germany still has to fight its way through which (pray) may prevent the Austrians, and the Poles have an outside chance still of marching through to the quarters; neither of these teams looked like it could march through to the final, the Austrians really were the only ones playing above the level whitch was expected of them: but our boys seem to be too green yet to achieve something
• Group C: the Dutch team was by far the best team of Euro 2008, of all four groups, and they won their group easily - if they do not reach the finals no one else could be blamed for it than they themselves; the other three teams played approximately at the same level, with Italy probably having a slight advantage over France and Romania, but neither of them was convincing so far, and which one of them will march through to the quarters only will be decided in the last round
• Group D: Spain is through without too much trouble, and even though they certainly have to be considered a favourite for the title they weren't nearly as convincing as the Dutch, but they may improve against stronger opponents as they weren't under too much strain in this group; defending champion Greece of course now is out; and of Sweden and Russia the former have the advantage of a very experienced team which, however, is rather slow - so against the young Russians they might still have an advantage even though the latter are faster, more passionate, and more aggressive

At this stage - before the last round of the group stage - I would bet on a final between the Netherlands and Portugal. Certainly this would be the final of the two teams who showed the most attractive football so far. And certainly the Dutch would win, if the best team were to win at all.

But history shows that it is not always the best team that wins. Imagine, in 2004 Greece won, with the exact same strategy as this time: man-to-man marking, and hope for a lucky goal. Thank God that history is not repeated in 2008.

euro 2008: oranjes for champions

Have I already said that I wish for the Dutch to win the European Championship? Just in case I haven't I'll just say it once more.

Again they won easily, this time against a French team that played so very much better than in their first game against the Romanians. But they did show some weaknesses too: they tried to hold on to the lead after they scored their first goal, which is a game the Italians and Germans can play to perfection - but the Dutch can't, it's not their game. Fortunately they found out soon enough that the only game of football they could play successfully was attacking football, and again - as against the Italians - they scored heavily. They're through to the quarters now, of course.

In the second game of this group Italy and Romania drew with one goal each, and the Italians - even though playing rather good (but still way below what they could play) - looked rather helpless against Romanians who finally realised that they just will have to put in some effort if they want to reach the quarter finals. I really can't see this Italian team reaching the final; they might not even reach the quarters, same as could happen with Germany.

The situation in this group is now, as Italy will have to play France, and Romania the Netherlands, that Romania seems to have an advantage as they've already achieved two draws (with only one for the other two teams), and they will have to play the Dutch in their last game for whom the outcome will make no difference at all (the Dutch of course already have won the group); nevertheless I just can't imagine that the Dutch might draw or loose against Romania 'just for fun'. Rather I would expect that Italy and France will decide head-on who is to go through to the quarter finals: but there must not be a draw as both of them drew against Romania - in that case Romania would go through except if they would loose with a very high goal difference against the Dutch (which, however, would be entirely possible). So nothing decided here yet, except for the glorious Dutch.

Oh, I almost forgot: the turtle did watch the Oranjes win against France in the public viewing area of Lobau, Kreuzgrund - on one of my favourite 'Hot Lands' (Heisslände); if you care to look closely, she's hidden in the grass just in front of the bush left hand side in the background.

euro 2008: we're still there

The turtle awards this specimen of Anacamptis pyramidalis to the Austrian football team:

For being the better team by far against Poland today, and for fighting on till they finally scored the equalizer. So a draw only, and this in a game where we should have won easily, where we had great chances of scoring two or three goals at least in the first half only.

Well, it has to be said that we didn't play against the Polish team alone but also against the referee; nevertheless this should have been an easy victory for us, and even though I write this I am proud of our team which seems to be still to young and naive to win games like this one. But they have at least saved our honour, scored a goal and won a point.

We now have to win against the Germans in the last game of our group, else we're out - while the Croats are through and the Poles will have to win (with as many goals difference as possible) their last game against Croatia and hope for us to win over Germany with only one goal difference. This is so because, surprisingly, the Croats won against the Germans today: Croatia was better throughout and Germany didn't look like they could march through to the finals this time - not nearly. When looking back now, as we did have at least one good half against the Croats, the Germans aren't out of reach for our boys, we might still win and go through to the quaters.

euro 2008: crop circles

The turtle informed me that, obviously, extraterrestrials are watching Euro 2008; they left some crop circles just east of Vienna's city limits. Well yes, they're not exactly circles, I guess they were heavily drunk when doing this:

I just want to warn the extraterrestrials (the seven of you still remaining, according to my little poll) that the farmers to whom belong this fields will be hugely annoyed and they might just call the police, so watch out, and could you please just enjoy the games with not making crop circles afterwards, yes?

As for the second round of group B the Czechs played definitely much better against Portugal (but lost) than they did against the Swiss (which game however they won). So really life is unfair. Portugal easily is through to the quarterfinals and will win the group: that much is sure already.

Switzerland against Turkey on the other hand was a close call, both teams didn't play world class football (both aren't quite in that league), and the weather too was against them (it did rain heavily and especially in the first half the ball hardly would roll on the lawn), but they both did play well, and the Swiss lost unlucky. (If you haven't seen it live you really should google for the goal of the Swiss scored against the current.) Now they're out, and in the las round Czechs and Turks will play in a head-on duel which one of them will march through the quarters.

If there will be a draw in this game then, and that much also is sure already, Turkey and the Czech Republic will decide who will go through to the quarters in a final penalty shoot-out due to a recent change of rules for tournaments: if two teams have scored the same points, have drawn in the direct duel, have the same goal difference and scored the same number of goals, then (in the last rounds of group-stages in tournaments) the decision won't be on the toss of a coin, as was the case previously, but a penalty shoot-out. Which, if it were to happen, would be a first in the history in group stage matches of football tournaments.

euro 2008: how to try and give up football

Today's highlight was Sweden against Greece: the Greek once again, like four years ago when they did win the European Championship, tried to destroy the opponent's game and score a lucky goal. If you ever try to give up football completely then go for DVDs of Greece's national team and watch them till you puke; you'll be 'cured' of football afterwards surely. (Except of course if you are Greek. And for all Greek readers of my blog, if I have any at all: Greece is a great nation, and a lovely country. Why in the world did they employ a trainer that teaches them to play football like that when they could play much better, and why keep him even after you've already had your great moment of victory four years ago?)

Today however the Swedes managed to score: twice even; serves them right really. This flower of a thistle the turtle dedicates to the Greeks and, especially, their German trainer Otto Rehhagel who is responsible for their outdated tactical play:

The second game was Spain against Russia, which the Spanish team won easily - not because the Russians did play bad but because they played a little bit naive. The Russians still might qualify for the quarter finals, and I still think that they might just surprise us all. Favourites however they are not; from this group only the Spanish team is really strong, Russians and Swedes played okay. Of the fourth team no more words here.

euro 2008: oranjes

Oranjes for champions, says the turtle.

Yesterday we had a very bad day indeed, in our first match of Euro 2008, played bad in the first but good in the second half against the Croats - and lost. No luck for the hosts of Euro it seems. In the other match of our group Germany controlled the field (and won) against the Poles but wasn't convincing really; not quite what you would expect of a favourite of the tournament.

Of today's games I expected much more, but France against Romania was disappointing; the match (a goalless draw) isn't barely worth mentioning. Not so the evening game where the Dutch played just great and demoralized Italians who just couldn't force their game (which of course is catenaccio) on the Dutch.

The Oranjes played like champions; but they'll have to keep their game at this level which so many times in great tournaments was their main problem. The Italians still looked like they might catenaccio their way through to the semifinal or even the final, and they also can score even though they didn't show proof of that against the Dutch. The Portughuese played for our pleasure mainly but might become problems against stronger opponents, and the Germans just might be the team who will fight their way onwards. Of Croatia, France and Romania I don't expect too much after their first games. Tomorrow Spain and Russia might show some initiative, both of them are outside favourites, but that remains to be seen.

But for now, and for today, I do declare: Oranjes for champions!

euro 2008: life is unfair

And so is football, says the turtle.

Yesterday the Swiss played against the Czechs, and even though they didn't play brilliant they showed what you could have expected from then, even after they've lost with Frei one of their best players (injured after a foul, and he won't recover until weeks after the final of Euro 2008). And even without Frei they played better than the Czechs who really had a very bad day. Nevertheless, the Swiss lost. So did the Turks who did play quite okay, but their opponents were just better even though it took the Portuguese quite some time to shoot the first goal: always the same with the 'European Brazilians', they play wonderful football but seem to forget where the ball should end up, which of course is between the two goal posts.

Today's Muscari comosum (Schopfige Traubenhyazinthe) don't even shows the Swiss colours of red and white, but I'll dedicate it to the Swiss national football team anyway. I wish that the Swiss will recover from the bad day you had yesterday, and I only hope that nothing similar will happen to our team tonight, against the Croats.

euro 2008: the turtle for mascot!

The official mascot of Euro 2008 are two ugly figures in white and red. For inofficial mascot of Euro 2008 I declare herewith the European pond turtle (Europäische Sumpfschildkröte - Emys orbicularis):

According to the official national park site there's only a single one turtle species living in Central Europe so there almost can't be any doubt if 'my' turtle mentioned already in yesterday's post really was an European pond turtle. Occasionally people who want to get rid of their pet turtle bring them to Lobau national park (which is strictly forbidden and endangers the European pond turtle), but I am rather sure that this one isn't a pet turtle.

It stubbornly refused to come out of its shell after I've picked it up and set down a good distance away from the road; and as a thunderstorm was on the horizon I really couldn't wait longer. The European pond turtle is in danger of becoming extinct especially because there remain only a very few places where they could lay their eggs - for them it is not enough to preserve the swamplands; equally if not more important is the preservation of egg-laying places.

As I have now read on this site I should not have picked up the turtle because it was most likely a female on its way finding a place for laying her eggs - and when they do so then beforehand they fill their bladder with water which they need for digging, but if you pick them up they let go of the water, which is why you shouldn't do that. I can only hope that this turtle was on her way back and already had laid her eggs; as I didn't notice her letting lose considerable amounts of water when picking her up there's a good chance that this indeed was the case.