by Ethan Johnson
July 3, 2006

2 out of 4 ain't bad, if you're a batter. Sadly, this is soccer (football, futbol), and we're in for an all-EU semifinal. I'm still wearing my pro-Brazil shirt that I got on clearance, but now I'm just sticking out like even more of a poser than when I bought it. Here are my uninformed guesses at who will advance to which part of the bracket over the next 2 days:

Germany vs Italy: Once again, this is a big-time home game for Germany, and to me, it is their Cup to lose. I'm going with Germany for that reason alone. Italy played much better than I was willing to give them credit for in the last round, but the home team gets the edge in my world. This means that Italy would play in the third place game on Saturday, July 8. One thing: Italy beat Ukraine outright, as opposed to Germany going to penalty kicks. I might be in for a plate of crow, we'll see.

Portugal vs France: Neither Portugal nor England knocked my socks off the other day. Cristiano Ronaldo always looks like a whiner (just sayin'), and neither side really put anything together for 120 minutes which led to penalty kicks. Portugal did get screwed out of a goal, however, so I wanted them to progress to this round. But as I said recently, France has an injustice of their own to avenge: racist taunts by the Spanish team. For this reason, I am picking France to go to the Final and am sending Portugal to face Italy in the third-place game. As much as I respect Portugal's winning streak, I'm thinking it ends here. Otherwise I am in for a crow two-fer. Yum!

Here's to an exciting semi-final! And as always, hopefully one that is riot-free. <EM>