Qualifying for the 2008 European Championship is just past the halfway stage, and most of the leading teams are rising to the top of their groups. In Wednesday’s qualifiers, three-time winner Germany can go five points ahead in Group D, while World Cup winner Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, France and defending champion Greece all are well positioned to finish in the top two spots in their groups and advance.
It’s been seven long and grueling years since United did the treble, and two since Liverpool’s stunning Champions League fightback against AC Milan in Turkey. Now England’s big four are ready to go in for the big one again.
English clubs have won only two of the last 22 European cups, which is not great news for the supposed ‘best league in the world’. However, recently they have seen an improvement, with Liverpool winning on that famous night in Istanbul and Arsenal grinding their way to the final last year.
Soccer, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each. It is played on a rectangular grass field, or occasionally on artificial turf, with a goal at each end of the field. The object of the game is to score by maneuvring the ball into the opposing goal; only the goalkeepers may use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play; the rest of the team generally uses their feet to kick the ball into position, though occasionally they may use their torso or head to intercept a ball in mid air.