FanHouse Euro2008

Do you kind of miss EURO 2008 this week? You're not alone. After three weeks of memorable games, fantastic goals and surprisingly awesome coverage from ESPN -- not to mention the wall-to-wall dominance of the Spaniards -- it's hard not to look at the clock and think, "Man, I can't wait to see who's playing at 2:45 today." Even one-time soccer haters are sad that it's over.

Alas, it is over, and we have nothing but MLS, SuperLiga and the silly season to tide us over for the next six weeks. So before we close the book on EURO 2008, let's take one more look at some of the great goal highlights it left behind. It'll be a while before we get Samba De Janeiro out of our heads. Let's hope we can get half as good a show from the FIFA Confederations Cup next summer.

Memo to erotic film festival organizers: Next time you schedule your big shindig, don't count on your home country's soccer team to bottle it in a major tournament that only comes around once every four years.

All the strippers and porn stars at the Barcelona Erotic Film Festival found this out the hard way. Attendance for the film festival dropped 70% from last year, in no small part because the event opened on Thursday, the same day as the EURO 2008 semifinal between Spain and Russia, and closed on Sunday, when Spain won the EURO 2008 Final. So all the boys stayed home. After all, you can see strippers any time you want, but a European Championship only comes around once every 44 years.

Besides, there were probably a lot more naked women dancing in the streets of Madrid and Barcelona after Spain won on Sunday. Why pay for nudity when you can get it for free?

(H/T: Deadspin)

After weeks of frustration in front of goal, Fernando Torres finally got the goal that brought him glory.

In the 33rd minute, Torres ran after a through ball from Xavi Hernandez and managed to poke it over a diving Jens Lehmann, who turned to watch it roll slowly into the net. It was a well-deserved goal for Torres, who had countless opportunities in the previous four matches but couldn't convert. It also gave Spain a 1-0 win over Germany in the EURO 2008 Final and its first European Championship since 1964.

We're only minutes away from the start of the Euro 2008 Championship final between Germany and Spain. The FanHouse is geared up and ready to go with live commentary and chat from the anthems to the final whistle. It's sure to be an action packed match as two top international sides face off for all of the glory.

Join us after the jump for some unscripted discussion and watch the action unfold with FanHouse.

A reminder to all soccer-inclined FanHousers that we will be providing live commentary during tomorrow's final and hosting chat all the way to the final whistle. Stop by and put in your two cents/marks/lira/euros on the action while we all wait and see who will take home the title. Will it be the brutally efficient German offense or the will the flawless Spaniards complete their undefeated run?

We'll be here for all of the liveblogging goodness at 230et

EURO 2008 has been a wildly successful tournament on many levels. The quality of play has been very high, the games have been memorable, and the organization, by all accounts, has been top notch. So naturally, UEFA decided to go out and fix what isn't broken.

According to The Guardian, UEFA has received "universal support" for expanding the European Championships from 16 to 24 teams, starting in 2016. The Scottish Football Association put the measure forward, and by all accounts, nobody has spoken against the idea, which means it will likely be approved soon.

Personally, I think this ruins a good thing. The current 16-team format is perfect for an international summer tournament like this. Adding two more groups complicates scheduling, especially in the knockout stage. How many teams get through? 12? 16? Expanding the tournament might bring more talent to the table, but it takes away some of the challenge of qualifying. Why make it easier for teams to get through? Isn't having too many teams make the playoffs the biggest complaint fans have with American sports?

Of course, I'm sure most Scottish soccer fans would disagree with me on this. Scotland hasn't gotten through the qualifying rounds since 1996. No wonder they proposed this idea. I bet England's even more enthusiastic about it than they are.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good day for Arsenal supporters.

For starters, Emmanuel Adebayor, the Gunners' leading scorer last season, has decided to let the world know he's not some Machiavellian egomaniac whose only goals in life are to stay in the media spotlight and break the world record for highest transfer fee. He did that with four words: "I'm staying at Arsenal."

AC Milan was ready to make an offer for Adebayor, but why would he go there? They're not even in the Champions League.

Another Arsenal star, Cesc Fabregas, is having a good day, too. The 21-year-old midfielder is slated to start in Sunday's EURO 2008 Final against Germany after David Villa, the tournament's leading scorer, was ruled out with a thigh injury. Fabregas earned this start after replacing Villa in the semifinal against Russia and setting up two of Spain's three goals in the second half.

Finally, this news should give you Gunners a laugh. German Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has vowed to use the EURO 2008 Final to show Arsene Wenger what a mistake he made by benching him. This, of course, comes just two days after this:

When lightning struck at EURO 2008, most broadcasters around the world didn't have a backup plan to bring viewers details of the game. As this video clip shows, though, the BBC, had radio presenters in the stadium, so they could at least tell you what was happening. ESPN wasn't quite so lucky, though they're not nearly as angry about it as German broadcaster ZDF, who also had no one at the stadium and is threatening to sue UEFA over what they call "the most annoying balls-up imaginable." (Uh, guys? That might be the wrong part of the anatomy you're using.)

UEFA plans to use backup diesel generators to make sure this doesn't happen during the final. As for the outage itself, I prefer The Run of Play's romantic take on the situation: "Can you think of a more dramatic way for the mythic to anoint these three weeks than for a thunderbolt to fall on them from above?"

(H/T: 101 Great Goals)

Roberto Donadoni was doomed from the start. He replaced Marcello Lippi as manager of the Italian national team right after Lippi won the World Cup. Anything short of another appearance in a final at EURO 2008 just wasn't going to be good enough.

That's not the only reason, though, that Italy sacked Donadoni, shown here leaving with an envelope containing his severance package -- which is not actual money, but the advance results sheets for the upcoming Serie A season and a note advising him to keep his bets small so that the authorities don't get suspicious.

No, Donadoni was sacked because the team he put together for EURO 2008 was horrible. Yes, losing Fabio Cannavaro hurt his cause, but aside from the loss to the Netherlands, Italy was not terrible defensively. The problem was that Italy played nothing but defensive. Their entire attack consisted of hoofing it forward and hoping Luca Toni did something with it, which he didn't. Compare that to the creative and relentless attacks shown by the Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Turkey. Italy played for penalties from the first minute in their quarterfinal loss to Spain. The Italians played ugly football that soccer fans couldn't stand to watch, and they deserved an early exit.

Reports are now suggesting that Lippi will take his old job back. After this tournament, many Italy fans probably wish he hadn't left in the first place.

Apparently, promising soccer players a free threesome for every goal is really, really distracting. Who knew?

Spain had the better run of play for 45 minutes but came up empty against a more solid Russian defense. That all changed in the second half -- a strike by Xavi Hernandez in the 50th minute, a nifty one-touch lob from Cesc Fabregas to Daniel Güiza in the 73rd, a counterattack goal by David Silva in the 82nd minute, and that was that. By the time the smoke cleared, the Spanish armada had yet another 3-goal victory against Russia and a date with Germany in Sunday's EURO 2008 Final.

The result was never in doubt. Spain had the better of possession (65% to 35%), had more shots on goal (12 to 4), and simply looked stronger and faster than Guus Hiddink's kids, who had looked pretty strong and fast themselves in their last two. Andrei Arshavin disappeared for large stretches, while Fabregas, who came on in the 34th minute for the injured David Villa, contributed directly to Spain's first two goals.