On To the Quarter Finals

Yesterday the Euro 2004 group of 16 wrapped up with Germany (Du meine Güte!) being ousted by 9 Czech substitutes, 2 regulars and an inflated sense of self. That makes three major soccer nations–Spain, Germany and Italy–sent home. Of course, when you’ve got 16 of the best football nations in the world, some good teams are going to be out early. Today’s match promises to be a good one, with the hosting Portugal up against the Wayne Rooney and the rest of those yobs from England. Here’s an amusing article from the Guardian on what to expect.

On the local front, Canada has begun its (gulp) own journey in World Cup qualifying. After two resounding victories over that soccer empire, Belize, Canada has been matched with Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica in the next stage. If they finish as one of the top two teams in that group, they go on to the final CONCACAF group of six, three of which go on to the World Cup. I think the fourth place team plays a playoff with a team from the Middle East. Should we manage to get through to that final group of six, the USA and Mexico will take the first two spots and we have to scrap for the third.

Canada plays Guatemala in Vancouver on August 18th. My brother and I will be there.