Up For the Occasion

Today marked the final group stage matches in the Euro Championship for Group B, labeled the group of death. Group B earned this name because it was deemed the toughest group in the whole tournament with all four teams ranked in the top ten in the world by Fifa. Coming into today's fixtures any of the four teams had a chance to qualify for the knockout stages. Germany (3rd in the world) was pitted against Denmark (9th in the world), while Portugal (10th in the world) was facing the underachieving Netherlands (4th in the world).

The most intriguing story line was the Portugal versus Netherlands game. The lackluster Dutch side needed a two goal victory over Portugal who had not seen much production at all from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) in the first two games. CR7 showed up for this one, scoring two goals and hitting the post twice in a game where Portugal defeated the Netherlands 2-1 to secure a spot in the knockout stages. Ronaldo has been under some heat for not performing as well for Portugal as he does for his club team, Real Madrid. He silenced the haters, at least for now with a great performance. He also nearly had an assist, too, on a great pass to Nani, but Nani's shot was denied by a brilliant save by the Dutch keeper.

I score goals and look great

CR7 played aggressively throughout the game, went on many great runs, and created commotion near the Dutch net weather by shooting or creating opportunities for teammates. The Netherlands came out on fire with a quick goal from Rafael van der Vart in the opening moments of the game, but Portugal dominated for the most part from that point on. Only van der Vart's shot that hit the post in the second half looked threatening as Robin van Persie failed to make an impact despite getting at least one golden opportunity.

This is probably the worst showing for the Netherlands at a Euro cup given that the team lost all three games it played, but credit must be given to their opponents. Germany is a great side and Denmark fought hard in it's three games. Apparently there is unrest flowing through the Dutch team, but it looks like they all developed some Arjen Robben choking habits, maybe with the exception of van der Vart who looked great when given a chance to start. It's also time for people to calm down the shit talk on CR7, he's a wonderful player and he'll always look better than you, too.