Serie A @ the Euros: Day 10
(And another one bites the dust.)
After the Czech Republic and the Swiss both went out yesterday, taking with them six Serie A players, the Austrians joined them today, which means we lose two more Serie A boys. Man, if this keeps up, we're going to be left with nothing but Zlatan and some Croatia scrubs! (Oh, and Rosetti, of course.)
So, that's Garcis there, on the lower left. He plays for Napoli, in case you're not familiar.
I don't know what he's usually like for Austria, but today he was everywhere.
He plays right back, but spent most of his time bombing forward and sending in crosses.
(In between crosses, he lay on top of Germans.)
And getting hurtled into by them.
He really was quite ferocious, and believe it or not caused the Germans a lot of problems from the(ir) left.
(And also, sometimes, crossed his eyes. Yikes.)
This, however, was his biggest contribution.
Mario Gomez somehow managed to nearly whiff on the ball in front of an open goal, and it went straight up in the air, headed toward goal.
Garcis somehow beat Gomes to the ball, and headed it back when it had all but crossed the line.
In the end, though, Ballack pulled out a rocket free kick, and it was all for naught.
I think Bilic made nine changes in his lineup for the Poland match, which meant there was room for Milan's forgotten Dario Simic (#2, the guy with the armband down there) and Livorno's Dario Knezevic (#15 -- the one with The Nipples), who had appeared as a sub in both the previous matches. And, yes, the goalie scares me, too.
Knezevic, unfortunately, had a really short night.
The match wasn't even 30 minutes old when this happened.
Poor baby -- everyone was super worried about him.
(How is it that Simic is looking right at the camera?)
The scary keeper tried to comfort him, but it really didn't go very well.
(He never came back -- I've not seen a report on what's wrong with him yet, but it can't be good.)
Look, Dario Simic! He's alive!
Despite being buried on the bench at Milan, he's got more caps than anyone else for Croatia (ever!), and still earned a call-up.
(His thighs, clearly, have not suffered from the lack of playing time.)
I didn't pay real close attention to the match, but I don't think he did anything spectacularly wrong.
I did notice, however, that he spent a lot of time watching.
Both the match ....
... And the celebrations. I guess he just wasn't feeling the joy.
He was, however, feeling mad love for his country -- according to Wiki, that's Croatia's motto. It means "God and Croats."
No idea who the guy is, though.
PADDY!!!!
The photographers loved him today, even when he was trying to hide.
(He hates the cold, does Paddy. He's always all bundled up.)
(Keeping an eye on baby Nasri, as usual.)
He trained hard today and looked fit but then, apparently, told the press he's not physically ready to play tomorrow. WOE.
(Captain's privileged: Umbrellas.)
Keepers! (Does it look to anyone else like Seb's starting to let the hair between the stripes grow? Could a nice muttonchop be next?)
"HEY YOU GUYS! IT'S RAINING! I LOVE RAIN!"
"I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO WEAR MY COAT! I LOVE THE RAIN THAT MUCH!"
*sighs and reminds himself for the zillionth time that the muppet really, really is a good captain*
Romania played monkey in the middle today. It seems like Chivu was the monkey the entire time.
Not that he minded.
"WHEEEEEEE!"
During the few moments he wasn't the monkey, Chivu kept an eye on Mutu, like the good captain he is.
"Heeee. I'm WET."
*dreamy sigh*
Best. Smile. Ever.
(Working sort of hard.)
He really seems ok, but there are still moments of pouting -- it's hard to tell if those are depression, or just Mutu being Mutu.
Either way, Piti's not letting him out of his sight. Just in case.
Gah, so much Lobont bonding today! &hearts
(Mutu!squee)
According to AJ, Daylife claims this is Mutu and Chivu. I'm 50-50 whether it's Mutu, but there is a sideburn, which narrows down the possibilities. No matter who it is, though: &hearts .
Awwwwwwww.