The clash of the busiest period in the club youth soccer calendar with the European Championships in Switzerland and Austria has prevented me from commenting on the latter, which reaches its final stages this week.
To date, there have been many memorable games and some fine football (or futbol as my editor keeps reminding me) to keep the interest, despite the absence of all British teams and Ireland.
Standout games have included the quarter-final involving Croatia and Turkey, where a crazy final couple of minutes led to a penalty shoot out won by the Turks, and the 'Cardiac Turks' again when coming from 2-0 behind to beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in the group stages.
However, my advice to any youth player in the area is to get their hands on a recording of the quarter-final clash between the Netherlands and Russia, where the performance of Andrei Arshavin was simply phenomenal. He was at the heart of every Russian move and sliced the Orange defense like a knife on numerous occasions. The tireless energy and skill of the Zenit St Petersburg playmaker was a joy to behold, as was the performances of his team mates such as Sergei Semak and Konstantin Zyryanov.
For one, I'm looking forward to seeing awesome Arshavin in Russia's semi-final on Thursday against Spain, who are no slouches themselves with a lethal strike force comprising Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Valencia's David Villa. Arshavin missed the group game between the two, when Spain ran out 4-1 winners.
First up, though, is another intriguing semi-final tomorrow, when Germany take on Turkey. Both games are on ESPN, while the final, which will be held on Sunday, will be on ABC. All games are at 2.45 p.m.
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