Awards of the Day: June 14th

Player of the Day: Another tough day, as no one really stood out. Tempted to say Zlatan, because one could make the argument that had he been on the pitch in the second half, the game might have looked much different. Markus Rosenberg is good, but he ain’t no Zlatan. But in the end, it’s got to go to the leader for Player of the Tournament so far, David Villa. Peter Hansson looked pretty bad as Villa cut in, but that was a helluva touch and a helluva finish that late with the game on the line. He’s a striker, 5 seconds is all he needs.

Team of the Day: Was there one? Sweden played admirably despite losing, and especially after going down a Zlatan. Spain won, but hardly played up to their potential. Russia was good, but it took some piss poor decision making from Nikopolidis to net them 3 points and Greece…well…they put the cap on the worst opening two games from a defending champion ever.

Questionable Euro-related Content of the Day: Pic to the left, of that lovely pole dancer. Here’s why Yahoo decided to throw it into its official “soccer gallery”:

A women performs a pole dance in a nightclub of the Austrian city of Klagenfurt June 14, 2008. Days of torrential rain, fewer fans than expected, and short-stay visitors bringing supplies from home, have left stall-holders around special fanzones in some Euro 2008 host cities fearing huge losses.

Translation:

“That’s a great ass.”

Unnecessary Quote of the Day: “Too many midfield cooks spoil the Spanish broth.” – Derek Rae. I can just smell the cheese dripping off this one. Gag me.

Karma of the Day: We saw it with Poland and Austria after the Roger Guerrieroski offside goal, today’s act of karma was the Spanish goal for David Villa. After that pretty ridiculous noncall on the Johan Elmander steamrolling of David Silva in the box, Spain got their just due. Hey, if UEFA and its hired guns aren’t going to get it right, the universe is going to take over.

Flubbed Name of the Day: “Raymond Dominique” by San Francisco Giants beat reporter football pundit Pedro Gomez on ESPN. Do you think they allow him to cover Polish games?

Most Frustrated Player of the Day: Yuri Zhirkov, who kept sending in crosses that MOTM Roman Pavlyuchenko couldn’t get on the end of. Although maybe that was his way of saying “Put me on a team with a good striker and I’ll go @#$%ing bananas! Sign me!”.

Not Going To Be Sleeping Well Tonight Award: Antonios Nikopolidis. If you have any idea what he was thinking, we’d like to know.

Matchup of the Day: Spain v Sweden? Let’s hope they both go through and meet up in the semifinals once again. Where they can play best of 7 11.

V