Euro 2008 Recap

Congratulations to Spain, which showed it had a worthy defense and potent offense. The key game of the tournament was outlasting Italy in penalty kicks in the quarterfinal. Russia's speed was killed by the rain, which set up a classic test in the final. No shenanigans this time, and Germany was thoroughly beaten by the end.

I jump Spain to the top of the list of European teams, which makes them #3 in their chance to win South Africa in 2010 (after Argentina and Brazil). England, which didn't make the Euros (and thus made the whole thing a lot more fun), might well be #2 of the Europeans. However, that doesn't necessarily put them at #4 in my rankings: Russia and Turkey, both questionable in their "European-ness" despite their memberships in the European federation, might be good longer-shot picks for 2010, which would then finesse the classic World Cup dichotomy--Europe wins when it's there, Brazil or Argentina when it's not (one exception in history).