For Those Who Are Not Yet Fans

For those of you who are not yet fans of soccer, and in honor of the Swedish National team as they embark upon what I hope will be a fantastic Euro Cup 2008 performance, here are a few videos of Swedish players. We will begin with two humorous goals and then will look at the more beautiful and awe-inspiring goals.
In this clip vs. Iceland it looks like a defender has a hand-ball in the box (if caught it would be a free kick), but the official neither sees nor calls the foul, but all of the players assume that a foul has been called so play stops, that is until Allbäck realizes what is going on and takes advantage of the situation:

In this next shot, Mellberg has a throw-in which he uses intentionally to give to the opposing team by throwing it to the goal-keeper. This is by far one of the strangest goals I have ever seen:

Now we shall look at a few goals that are simply beautiful. How can one not love soccer and attribute to it the fact that this must be the most technically skilled sport in the world. . . to do what these players do without the use of their hands. . . amazing!
Here is an amazing header by Henrik Larsson (who has come out of retirement to play for Sweden in Euro 2008):

And here is some amazing footwork and technical skill by Zlatan Ibrahimovich:

And for those who are looking for something a little more physical, try this video from one of Sweden's practice sessions:

And there is so much more to see, so tune into the beautiful game and cheer on Sweden! They have a tough match against Spain on Saturday and then another versus Russia on Wednesday. Undoubtedly, Spain will advance from the group and the Russia v. Sweden match will certainly determine which of those two countries will advance out of the group along with Spain. Jag Elsker Sverige!

Euro Cup 2008

The European Cup 2008 has begun and all groups have finished their first games. Sweden is the team for me and I am excited as they left the pitch with a 2-0 victory over the defending champions, Greece. Zlatan Ibrahimovich put the ball in the back of the net to give Sweden a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute. It was followed a short time later by a score from Hansson ("He's so hot right now". . . O, that would be Hansel. . . I've got Zoolander running through my head). The Swedes are looking in good shape, considering all of the injuries they have had leading up to the tournament. Their next big game will be against Russia, which will likely determine which of those two countries joins Spain to advance from group D play (I'm predicting Sweden and Spain will advance from the group, but one never knows).
The breakdown of the group play so far is as follows:

Group A:
Portugal defeats Turkey, 2-0.
Czech Republic defeats Switzerland, 1-0.

Group B:
Germany defeats Poland, 2-0.
Croatia defeats Austria, 1-0.

Group C:
Netherlands defeats Italy, 3-0 (this is a bit of a surprise. . . not so much that the Netherlands won, but that they man-handled the Italians who are the defending World Cup Champions).
Romania draws with France, 0-0.

Group D:
Spain defeats Russia, 4-1.
Sweden defeats Greece, 2-0.

You've gotta love European Soccer!!! I love this time of the year!