Portugal go through and Swiss go home...ish

As a Manchester United fan it is always good to see Christiano Ronaldo shine on the international stage, however, even as Portugal clinched a birth to the next round I wonder how much longer the Portuguese run will last? The Czech Republic could have easily tied and won that game but in the end were unable to put away a handful of close range chances on goal. If the Portuguese are to advance deep into the tournament they are going to need to continue to defend by attacking because it is becoming more and more apparent that a solid dose of corner kicks and crosses could mean defeat for the Portuguese (see Greece 2004) and more rest time before next year's Premier League for Christiano Ronaldo.

My regards to the Swiss for their solid hosting yet unfortunate performance in the European Championships. Good thing it's not a long trip home for them.. I don't even think a "WARM UP THE BUS" chant even applies. HA! According to the ESPN crew the Swiss have yet to gather 3 points in any Euro Championship. I already hear the arguments against automatic qualification for host countries building up. Let's be honest... what would have been a more competitive side... the Swiss or the English. I'm not sure you even need to know who Wayne Rooney is to answer that one. Anyway, cest la vie. The Swiss will go back to their homes at weeks end and be able to watch the rest of the championships with their Italian brethren I imagine (Yes, that is me going out on a very small branch).

Youth Soccer Focus: I hope all of the players out there saw the goal scored by the Czech Rep. What a great goal built solely on the ideal that Sionko wanted the ball off the cross more than anyone else in the 18 yard box and was willing to take out his own teammate to make the goal happen. The most important aspect of attacking or defending a corner kick is that your mentality is committed to winning the ball no matter where it is in the goal box. Goals off of corners aren't always as beautiful as the one scored today but they are more often than not won by the team (and players) that simply wanted the ball more.
A great bit of advice that was given to me during my NSCAA coaching licensure course by Paul Marco (Head Men's Soccer Coach, Binghamton University, NY) is to make sure that you jump in the air first before the player next to you when fighting for a head ball. If you jump before the player next to you does when they go to jump up they will be jumping into you and thus will not be able to jump as high.

PREVIEW for June 12: Should be an interesting day of matches tomorrow with the Germans expected to bring home 3 points and it should be a battle between Austria and the Polish team to avoid being eliminated from the tournament. I'll take the German-Croatia match as my choice for the day and an overall 3.5/5 stars with the expectation of a strong defensively organized match.

Yours in the beautiful game,
Coach Butler