Euro 2008 busts and transfer rumors
Now that Euro 2008 is over, “Goalmouth Scramble” jumps feet first into the murky transfer rumors of summer while following up on the championships with a breakdown of the Top 10 busts at Euro 2008.
Personally we at SoccerProse have our own picks for who did and did not show up in Austria and Switzerland. Here’s our picks. Let us know what you think of these and what Curtis and Trader Dick picked.
1. France-One French player was too hard to choose. The entire squad stunk, nuff’ said.
2. Mario Gomez-Terrorized the Bundesliga, but looked lost in front of the goal at the Euro’s.
3. Greece-Another full squad inclusion, but really the defending champs were probably the worst team of the championships.
4. Luca Toni-The giant Italian looked off his game and failed to replicate his domestic form.
5. Petr Cech-Like the ball, Chelsea’s netminder lost his grip in the argument to be considered one of the world’s best with his late-game collapse against Turkey.
6. Miroslav Klose-Scored two goals, but was largely invisible up top for the Germans.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo-A bit harsh maybe, but when you score 42 goals domestically and are considered the world’s best player you need to be the best player on the field each game for your country, which he wasn’t (that honor goes to Deco). Also, need more than tying for the team lead with one goal.
8. UEFA-Setting the brackets up to possibly pit rematches of group stage games before the final is boring and ridiculous.
9. Old players-The championships were not kind to players north of 30 as youth ruled supreme. Unless you’re a goalie, the demands of a tournament schedule does not aide older players. Michael Ballack and Marcos Senna proved the exception.
10. France-Really, they were that bad.