While the Dutch team seemed to be on fire in the earlier group games they were heavily beaten by the Russian team who took up their place in the semi-finals. Many peoples favourites the Czech Republic were next to fall by the wayside after a penalty shoot-out defeat by outsiders Turkey. While there are no surprises with the other two sides left in the tournament, German and Spain, it does make for a very interesting finale to Euro 2008.
The semi-final affairs have been confirmed as Germany v Turkey and Russia v Spain, with Germany favourites to go on and lift the trophy. But are we looking at yet more shocks in this tournament? Can Turkey emulate Greece and surprise the world?
Over the last few years the gap between the more established international teams and the so called minnows has reduced sharply. As more and more players from the smaller footballing nations look to ply their trade overseas they are gaining much need experience and developing as players. This experience is being used in the national teams, increasing the overall quality of outfits such as Turkey and Russia.
While the clever money is still on a Germany v Spain final, nothing in football is every that certain!
