| 25.06.2008 |
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| There's a strange woman in my house. She's been here for about three days now. Usually there are 22 blokes hanging out in the living room but since Sunday, they've been missing and this woman has replaced them. I wonder what she did with them and what she wants. She asks me if I've paid the electricity bill. She asks me if I could pick up some milk on the way home from work. Why is she asking me these questions? Who is she? She shakes me, tells me to get a grip and assures me the football will be back on tonight and that everything will go back to normal. It turns out that this woman is my girlfriend and that she's been here all the time. Apparently, I haven't noticed that for the last three weeks… It's been three days since the last quarter-final and, even though my work keeps me in constant contact with the tournament, I've been slowly facing up to the realities of life without the European Championships. Since the knock-out rounds began, this gnawing dread has been building. Soon there will be no more Euro 2008 and I will have to wait at least six weeks to see a live competitive game. The English Premiership begins on August 16 for goodness sake! That's ages! The Bundesliga starts a day before that and I could even go and see Anderlecht in the flesh here in Brussels on that day. But it is still 52 days away.  It could have been so much worse of course. Without a summer tournament I would have been sitting around, reading the transfer gossip for three months - which can be as exciting and frustrating as dating a girl who says she won't sleep with you until "it feels right". Waiting to see if Liverpool sign David Villa or Andrei Arshavin is like wondering if you have made a strong enough connection to get lucky – it could end in sweet consummation or bitter disappointment. Either way, you're living on a prayer. Looking on the bright side, we have two semi-finals to enjoy over the next couple of days. Germany versus Turkey is a biggie, as anyone who has lived in either country will know. A place in the final is not the only thing at stake in that one. Then there's the potentially exhilarating clash between Spain and Russia to decide who will meet the winner of the "Game of the Century" in the final. The final. On Sunday. It's all so…well…final, isn't it? After the Spain-Russia match on Thursday night, the dread will crunch up a notch as we count the days down to the title decider in Vienna. In between, there will be another void before the big finish. And then it will all be over. We will look back with heavy hearts but also with happy memories of a great tournament. We will then look ahead to our coming domestic seasons, fostering the hope during those dark soccer-less weeks of more great games to come. Come Sunday, June 29 – we will bid "adieu" and "auf wiedersehen" to Euro 2008. Come Monday, June 30 – I'll be buying someone a bunch of flowers. |
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