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Five Things We Learned in Swissaustria, June 11
Comments(13)
1. Drawing lots is a thing of the past
Five Things We Learned can be a bit tongue in cheek at times (see 2., 3. and 5.). But here’s something I genuinely learned today:
Should Czech Republic vs Turkey be even stevens after 90 minutes on Sunday, then the two teams will have equal points (4) an equal head to head record (obviously), equal goal difference (-1) and an equal goals scored record.
There’ll be nothing to separate them. Except one thing.
Should the above come to pass (which is very much in the realms of possibility) then second place in Group A will be decided by penalty shootout.
The new rule is no drawing of lots, no messing about, not even extra time. Just straight to penalties and winner goes to the quarters. In other words: drama.
2. Switzerland: slippery when wet
They Swiss team was definitely harder to play against when the rain was coming faster. When the downpour hit Niagara Falls proportions, the co-hosts took a 1-0 lead. When it slowed to just regular rain, Switzerland conceded two goals and lost. Next time they host a tournament, all their home games to be held in swimming pools.
3. How to stop Cristiano Ronaldo
Poke him in the face! Tomas Ujfalusi found that when marking and tackling C-Ron, he’s a big strong lad who can hold his own. But poke him in the face (his Achilles heel?) and he goes down [tip: don't let the ref see you do this]
4. Two years is a long time to wait for something that lasts five days
Switzerland exited World Cup 2006 on penalties to Ukraine on June 26th 2006. After that it was all friendlies and preparation for doing well on home soil in Euro 2008. The dream lasted five days: June 7th to June 12th. International football is a harsh mistress. But with young players like Johan Vonlonthen and Eren Derdiyok, the future should be less frustrating than the past few days.
5. Ricardo has a special form of horizontal vertigo
When the Portugal keeper comes of his line, he gets dizzy. So technically he suffers from horizontigo. Sadly, there is no known cure. But standing behind Ricardo Carvalho and Pepe seems to ease the symptoms.
Yeah, I really don’t understand the no extra time deal. I know matches have to be decided, but penalties really are a lottery. Not fun to watch who advances to the next stage based on that. Having an extra half hour of extra time before penalties wouldn’t kill them, would it?
I’m wondering if it’s not the TV schedules driving this.
Posted from 
United States
Yeah I don’t know about the TV thing, if it was one match after another I could see the thinking being ” Come on lets get this over with before the next match.” But on the final group stage day both games start at the same time so theres no next match to hurry up for.
Posted from United States
Geez English fans glad they won’t have to watch another penalty shoot out!
Ouch that hurts I know!
by the way “Laurie/France Blogger” I am shut out of the Les Bleus blogs for some weird reason, could you do something?
The spam filter won’t let me in!
Here’s a question. If the match order were reversed but the same results in the matches, you would end up with Turkey playing Portugal on the final day and the Czech Republic playing the Swiss. When and where would the teams have their shoot out? Would it be in an empty stadium?
To think, if the Czechs would have just taken the loss and not ALL gone forward at the end of the Czech-Portugal game, then a simple draw against Turkey would have seen them advance.
Posted from United States
The Shootout rule only applies if the two teams play their last game against each other. Had the schedules been reversed, then the ranking would have been determined by Turkey and the Czech Republic’s performance in qualification for the Euro 2008 AND World Cup 2006.
Yeah, I know. Complicated.
Posted from United States
To clarify, if the Czechs had not conceded that last, throwaway goal to Portugal, then they would go into the last match with a superior goal differential.
Posted from United States
ForeverZidane, I just went in and changed my spam settings and pulled your two comments out of the spam bin. If this doesn’t fix the problem, please drop me a note at laurie[at]theoffside[dot]com.
Posted from United States
The peanlty thing only works if the two teams happen to be playing each other on the last game though – otherwise it goes through other odd critieria like Qualifying points, and then eventually drawing lots.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
If the Turkey-Czech Republic match ends in a tie, that match goes all the way to penalties in the same match, same stadium. Just like in any other UEFA tournament.
Posted from United States
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Really? No extra time no nothing? Straight to the spot?
Posted from
United States