Everyone is supporting Austria

Tonight is a big night for the hostes. If they win they are through to the next round but even if the austrian fans are optimistic about the game, not many really belive in a victory. Germany did a good first match against Polen but Croatia was to strong for them in the second match. Lukas Podolski is a name that a lot of people say when I ask them about the tournamnets top scorer. If Germany are going to the next round they will be dangerous as usual. But they will face a Portugal in the quarter final that have impressed, despite the 0-2 defeat against Switzerland last night.

In the Fan-zone their are many homefans at the moment. Even a lot of germans but almost everyone (except the germans) will be supporting the red hometeam tongiht. If Austria do not make it to the next round this will be the first tournament ever (or atleast in many, many years) where no host team are in the finals. If you look in the history from 1990 you will find that Italy, Sweden, USA, England, France, Netherland (Belgium failed), Japan & South Korea, Portugal and Germany all survived the group stages. Except for USA and Japan who was knocked out in the first round, all the others made it to the semifinal or the final!

Tomorrow will also be a great night when at least one of the World Cup-finalist will have to leave the tournament. My feeling says that Italy will proceed by winning over a weak France, while Romania failes to take advantage of their position. Even if Netherland not are playing with their best team, I don't think Romania is strong enough to win. That gives Italy or France the chance to advance and my feeling are saying Italy. It happened before that Gli Azzurri have started a tournament very bad and two weeks later they are playing for the cup.

Time will tell