In Group A, Greece surprisingly beat Russia. I mean, what the fuck?! Greece is one of the worst teams I have ever seen play, and yet they get it done. "Parking the bus" doesn't even capture their style of play; I've said much about that in my first match-day reviews, so it's not news that I'm not a fan. Thankfully Germany should take care of them swiftly in the second quarterfinal. The Czechs win over Poland is not at all shocking; if anything, I'm surprised it wasn't a larger one. The Czech Republic may not be a great team, but Poland has no business being here at all, and if they weren't co-hosts they simply wouldn't be. So this one's a no-brainer.
In Group B, the so-called Group of Death (which was instead pretty mellow after all), Holland's miraculous rebirth didn't happen... but only just. Halfway through the first half, with Germany topping Denmark and the Netherlands up 1-0 on Portugal, it seemed close. But then winds changed, and within 20 minutes we went through THREE different qualification scenarios as both the Danes and the Portuguese equalized. Then two goals by Bronaldo (not even shittin' ya) and a momentous Teutonic offense returned the group's two top spots to their legitimate owners: Germany and Portugal, in that order.
Next week, as German politics may bail Greece back into Eurozone, German football will kick Greece out of Euro 2012 and back to where they belong: outside of international competitions. Czech Republic-Portugal is a much more interesting quarterfinal and I'm not sure what to expect. At least on paper, Portugal is the better team and will prevail... but they have struggled more than they should have in group A, while the Czechs have shown impressive resilience in coming back from that shocking Russian goal-fest and win the next two matches. We shall see.
Tomorrow and Tuesday we finish the group stages. Of course, my heart hopes that Italy makes it through, but realistically it will be Spain and Croatia in group C. I'm also pretty sure that France and England will both make it out of group D alive, which will set up the following amazing quarterfinals on the board's left side: Spain-France and Croatia-England. I. Cannot. Wait!
It's been going on for four days but I haven't posted a single goddamn thing. It's not that it flew under my radar; if anything, I've watched more of the early rounds this year than on most other years .But again, blog updates have taken the backseat in the last few days, and calculating the Euro 2012 group stage qualification scenarios took up most of what little time I did dedicate to The Summer of 2012.
With that said, it's been an interesting U.S. Open. Just as I write, Furyk and McDowell spar in the final few holes as Simpson waits in the clubhouse with a precious one-shot lead. I honestly don't really care who wins at this point. All my favorites did poorly: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson. Tiger was in it well until the third round (only two shots behind), but lost himself in the first five holes of the last round with three bogeys and one double bogey. Literally unwatchable.
Much more watchable was Beau Hossler, a 17-year-old amateur who shared the lead for a few minutes in the second round and tied for third at the end of the third round. He too worsened noticeably in the fourth, probably due to pressure, and ended up rounding in 76. Still, I've rarely seen such a young kid play with such confidence. Even making the cut is impressive for an amateur, but being in the top 10 until the very last few holes it nothing short of amazing. Go boy!
Just as I finish revising this paragraph, both Furyk and McDowell failed to secure a birdie at the 18th, and thus Webb Simpson wins the 2012 U.S. Open. His wife is unbelievably hot, so hail to the king baby!
Oklahoma City took a well-played game 1 at home. Miami never really looked alive, and even though they almost came back from 17 points down, the Thunder were not phased. OKC's superiority was expressed at several levels, from rebounding to better shooting percentages and (most of all) to better shot quality.
In game 2, though, Miami turned the tables and completely dominated OKC from start to finish, save for a brief stint in the third quarter when the Thunder came back from 20 down and even briefly took the lead. But James and Wade (both over 30 points for the night) led the Heat back again and to a 4-point win. I think the Heat had much more difficulty winning this game than they should have, given the way it had started. On the other hand, a win is a win, especially if away in the NBA Finals.
Miami now has three games at home and may win the series... but I'd be careful to rule the Thunder out just yet, and I think this is one of the series where the home court advantage will count the least. I think we're going back out West in six days. With which score, I'm not sure; probably 3-2 Heat, and it will be awesome to see OKC face two straight elimination games at home. Either way, it will be fun as usual.
Hopefully I can update more regularly in the near future! So much is coming up....... including the Tour de France, which is my second most-hyped event after the Euro. Yes, even more than the Olympics. So sue me.
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