Mental Strength 3, Flair and Skill 2 Knew those bloody Jeermans would win. Portugal were in my final four but then again so were the Germans and when mental strength takes over from keepy-uppy then you'd have to back the Germans in a one-off over the Portuguese. I listened to talk of rumblings of discontent in the Portuguese camp particularly regarding Ronaldo's club situation and the strange timing of the announcement of Luiz Felipe Scolari's move to Chelsea. I just hope that doesn't happen to the Dutch, although their quarter final against Russia looks like being a cracker.

Unfortunately that might be a game I'll miss Saturday as we travel down to see some friends who live on Lake Michigan. I'll have to persuade them to switch the cross-town derby baseball game between the Cubs and White Sox over so we can see the footie. Tomorrow I plan to watch the Croatia v Turkey game with my Croat mate in the afternoon, a match of contrasting styles if ever there was one. I play football Sunday but should be home in time to see the Latino non-love affair in Vienna between old rivals Italy and Spain.

Otherwise it's a weekend of catching up with people before we leave. Both Friday and Sunday nights we are seeing friends, this moving thing is getting very real now!  ¶ 02:05