Good or bad news for the European Championship? Last Saturday the idea to increase the amount of teams to 24 in the Euro was unanimously agreed upon by several top officials from the 53 UEFA nations. Supposedly the proposals for this idea were first submitted by the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland (Cumann Peile na h-Éireann).

Gordon Smith of the Scottish FA: “It is something that the members of UEFA saw no real disadvantage to. Expanding to 24 teams would only add a few extra days to the competition. There was no downside in terms of revenue and the feeling in the meeting was that everyone was in favour. There is an appetite for it and everyone appreciates the advantages.”

Just a few extra days? I’m sure that is an understatement. UEFA has gradually expanded the amount of teams in the Euro from four to eight and now to today’s 16. The main argument in favor of the addition is that it helps the smaller nations. There were talks that UEFA would just move it up to 20 teams, but now they are close to securing 24 teams: “It was 100 percent, it will happen for 2016, it will boost the smaller nations, and everyone was in a agreement.” -Sergio di Cesare (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio spokesman).

24 teams means that future Euros will have half of the UEFA nations competing! I read that this is what the tournament could have looked with 20 teams:
Group A: Portugal, Czech, Swiss, Turkey, England.
Group B: Germany, Croatia, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria.
Group C: Holland, Italy, France, Romania, Norway.
Group D: Russia, Spain, Greece, Sweden, Scotland.

That actually doesn’t look too bad, but why change what we have now? UEFA keeps trying to add more teams to the Champions League, too. Why can’t they just keep these competitive and exclusive competitions the way they are? Is it really worth it to pander to the “weaker” nations. One reason I love both of those tournaments is because they don’t “give” spots away like the World Cup and UEFA Cup do. Shouldn’t qualifying be difficult?! What the hell UEFA?! I guess UEFA has never heard of the expression “if it is not broken don’t fix it.” I would like to see Belgium in the next Euro, but not if it hurts the tournament. The European Championship is perfect as it is (minus the poor officiating). Aren’t you guys pleased with this year’s Euro? UEFA needs to shut up, listen to the fans, and avoid screwing up one of the best sports tournament in the world.

Euro 1980 Final
Belgium-West Germany
June 22, 1980
Match Time: 20:30 CET
Stadio Olimpico – Rome

Lineups
Belgium
1 Jean-Marie Pfaff
2 Erik Gerets
3 Luc Millecamps
4 Walter Meeuws
5 Michel Renquin
6 Wilfried Van Moer
7 René Vandereycken
8 Julien Cools
9 Raymond Mommens
10 François Van Der Elst
11 Jan Ceulemans

West Germany
1 Harald Schumacher
2 Manfred Kaltz
3 Karl-Heinz Förster
4 Uli Stielike
5 Bernhard Dietz
6 Bernd Schuster
7 Hans-Peter Briegel
8 Hansi Müller
9 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
10 Horst Hrubesch
11 Klaus Allofs
Substitutes:
12 Bernhard Cullmann

1st half
-Early offside for Belgium.
-West Germany won two early corners and dominated possession early on.
-W. Germany had trouble breaking through the Belgian defense.
-Hrubesch scores for Germany from just in front of the penalty area. It was a nice buildup to the goal. There was crisp passing.
-A nice through ball almost creates a goal for the Rode Duivels.
-The Germans played very calmly and confidently in this half.
-1st big chance for Belgium was saved by Harald Schumacher.
-Schuster (GER) nearly scored from a fantastic shot on Pfaff’s goal.
-A pass from Mommens to Ceulemans created a nice opportunity for Belgium, but the shot from Ceulemans missed.
-Germany’s Schuster continued to play well.
-Renquin passed the ball to Gerets but he spoiled a header close to the German goal. Another missed chance for the Rode Duivels.
-At the end of the half Millecamps (BEL) wastes time by staying down on the field and receiving treatment from a foul.

2nd half
-Opening seconds of the half have the Rode Duivels pressing and nearly scoring from a Ceulemans/Vandereycken buildup. The play soon was stopped for offside.
-Briegel (GER) almost was substituted for a foot injury, but instead he walked to the bench for treatment.
-Dangerous and cynical foul on Schuster in the penalty box. The referee said no penalty.
-Briegel returned to the pitch and drew a foul just outside of the penalty box. The free kick afterwards is saved, but it wouldn’t have counted anyway since there was a Germany foul in the box.
-Briegel appeared to be suffering from the earlier foul.
-Kaltz (GER) set up a nice play that troubled Pfaff in goal.
-Cullman (GER) warmed up again for a Briegel substitution. Briegel’s day ended with Cullman entering the match.
-A low shot from Gerets went wide.
-You could tell that Belgium was unconvinced that they could somehow pull out a victory.
-Julien Cools’ corner was poorly placed allowing the German defense to just head it away.
-A Vandereycken left footed shot almost scored Belgium’s first goal. The score was still 1-0 at this point. Belgium could get back in it.
-Cools got a breakaway, but was then tripped in the penalty box leading to a Belgium penalty kick. Great news for the Rode Duivels!
-Vandereycken tied the match for Belgium after taking a solid PK.
-The pace of the match picked up immensely after the Vandereycken goal. Belgium attacked more and it turned into end to end football.
-Belgium passing has become more fluid.
-Mommens took a nice shot but it flew just wide of the goal.
-Belgium really pushed players forward at this point.
-Germany succeeded in suppressing the quick Belgian momentum by feigning an injury.
-Pfaff played like former French keeper Fabien Barthez during the closing minutes of the half.
-It is all over for Belgium now. Hrubesch scored a late and lucky goal from a nice Rummenigge corner. 2-1 West Germany.

Belgium 1 – 2 West Germany
Vandereycken 75 pen Hrubesch 10, 88

Referee: Nicolae Rainea (ROU)

Euro 2008 Qualifying Stats: Played in 3 matches (2 starts and 1 substitution).

In 2007, he played in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship for Belgium. There Lombaerts captained the young Belgians through 4 matches and led them to the semi-finals. Belgium had a great tournament. They made it out of a tough group with the Netherlands, Portugal and Israel. Then the Belgium U-21 lost in the semi-finals 0-2 against Serbia. Lombaerts’ performance and form attracted Zenit St. Petersburg. He soon signed a four year contract with the Russian powerhouse. It is one of the richest clubs in Russia. Nicolas Lombaerts is currently part of Zenit St. Petersburg’s starting 11. Zenit St. Petersburg won last season’s UEFA Cup and Russian Premier League.

Club Stats With Zenit St. Petersburg :
Season Tournament MatchesPlayed Starts Goals Assts YCards RCards
2007 Premier Division 13 13 2 0 2 0
2007/2008 Russian Cup 2 0 0 0 1 0
2007/2008 UEFA Cup 9 9 0 1 0 1

Glad to see that Spain won’t get bad calls again like yesterday’s match against Italy. I hate when a referee negatively impacts matches. The ref’s favoritism was absolutely ridiculous such as the numerous times he stopped Spain’s attack when an Italian feigned an injury. Some quotes about Fandel’s poor officiating: “With Herbert Fandel, a German piano player as a referee who seemed so intent on blowing his whistle that he seldom allowed a flow to the play, we were clearly in for a long night of patience” (iht.com), “Fandel was awful tonight. I won’t say that he made mistakes – rather, he seemed to be either completely aloof of various calls or too harsh on others. Ironically enough, it appeared that he was blatantly favoring the Italians. I remember watching the Spain – N. Ireland qualifier, and much like in this match, he denied the Spaniards a clear penalty. That being said, whether or not the Italians had his ear, their strategy to allow him to call the match their way did not have the desired effect. Without a doubt this will be Fandel’s last match of the tournament, and it couldn’t be soon enough. He could very well have swung the outcome tonight. Poor performance” (RateTheRef.net). Lucky for the Spaniards they somehow pulled a win from the penalty kicks.

Rode Duivels Selections:
11/05/2006 Saudi Arabia 1-2 Belgium
20/05/2006 Slovakia 1-1 Belgium
24/05/2006 Belgium 3-3 Turkey
16/08/2006 Belgium 0-0 Kazakhstan
06/09/2006 Armenia 0-1 Belgium
07/10/2006 Serbia 1-0 Belgium
11/10/2006 Belgium 3-0 Azerbaijan
15/11/2006 Belgium 0-1 Poland
07/02/2007 Belgium 0-2 Czech Republic
24/03/2007 Portugal 4-0 Belgium
02/06/2007 Belgium 1-2 Portugal
06/06/2007 Finland 2-0 Belgium
22/08/2007 Belgium 3-2 Serbia
12/09/2007 Kazakhstan 2-2 Belgium
13/10/2007 Belgium 0-0 Finland
17/10/2007 Belgium 3-0 Armenia
17/11/2007 Poland 2-0 Belgium
26/03/2008 Belgium 1-4 Morocco
30/5/2008 Italy 3-1 Belgium

Euro 2008 Qualifying Stats: 50 saves in 13 matches with no clean sheets.

Since late 2006, Stijn Stijnen has been René Vandereycken’s top goalkeeper. He plays decently in goal. When I think of him I can’t help but laugh and feel some disappointment. I don’t like how he represents Belgium. His sportsmanship is questionable considering his past comments. Before the Rode Duivels’ Euro 2008 qualifying match against Portugal he openly condoned injuring Cristiano Ronaldo: “After two minutes we will normally have massacred him so much that he will have to leave the pitch on a stretcher. What else do we need to do? Portugal have greater quality and that’s why we have to do things our way. If we try to play like them we will certainly lose.” These were strong and disturbing comments from the Rode Duivels keeper. That type of mentality is bad for the national team. Hurting the other team’s players to win shows no class and is really low. In some ways it is similar to Zidane’s stupid headbutt on Materazzi. Instead of continuing the match and playing for a win he let the anger get the better of him. Wait till the end of the match to kick Materazzi’s ass. Why let your whole country down? Anyway, we ended up losing that Portugal qualifying match badly 0 to 4. Did we deserve it? Yes. Stijnen’s behavior was unexcusable and we should have played better. Belgium fan or not I can’t support his actions. FIFA fined Stijnen 2000 euros for his comments. Furthermore, several days before that same match he refused to speak to the French speaking Belgian media. Political tensions have always been high in Belgium among the Dutch and French speakers. Stijnen, of course, added fuel to the fire.

So Belgium missed a trip to Austria and Switzerland, but who should Belgium fans support? Well first and foremost being a neutral supporter is always a great option. Although matches are not as passionate for neutrals, you are able to really enjoy matches without the bias and nail biting. You just sit back and watch the beautiful game. Another option is supporting your qualifying group’s winners. Usually in sports, you want the team that beat you in a tourney to go all the way and win it all. I would feel content seeing Portugal or Poland win the Euro. It helps justify some of our losses. You could also support one of your other favorite national teams. That sounds good to me unless you are an Oranje and Rode Duivels fan. That just doesn’t work, in my opinion. Another option is taking a quiz to see who you should support:
http://www.the-onion-bag.com/euro2008/whotosupport.php
That test gave me Switzerland, which is odd. I will be supporting my dad’s country, France, as they struggle to win with Domenech pulling the strings. Let’s hope that Belgium will make it to the Euro 2012 Poland/Ukraine.