The quarterfinals started with a result that wasn't a surprise but, still, wasn't expected. Germany defeated Portugal in an amazing match that Lothar Matthaüs predicted perfectly: “Germany is the favorite because Portugal doesn't have a goalkeeper”. The slight difference that Joachim Loew's team obtained in the result was, considerably, a result of two mistakes Ricardo made in two different crosses. Loew made another difference with the inclusion of Schweinsteiger, who had a very nice record against the Iberian goalkeeper: the young boy scored once and it was because of him that two other goals happened. From the side of the team coached by Scolari, not much to say. Ronaldo was almost absent in the match as it happens very often with the big stars of football in the matches that really matter. “What about Deco then?” you might ask. Not much either. The Germans threw to the trash any possible speculation about the Portuguese name weight and brought back to present a strong quote by Gary Lineker: “Football is a game played eleven against eleven, in which the Germans always win”. No matter how bad they've been doing in the last matches, no matter nothing, they win -and even to those, like the writer, who dislike the German game, they do it most of the times.

As said, Germany was the only one holding the history flag. Turkey kicked it down with it brand new win-in-the-last-five-minutes style. Another shocking match with a shocking end, and, if it wasn't enough with the intensity of the match itself, the had to take it to the penalties definition. Deserved or not, Turkey has made great efforts to make it through each round, and it has reached this stage with nothing to be ashamed of. Croatia, as the Netherlands, the other big favorite that is already out of the cup, couldn't reach its past level and ended up paying it to hard. The only big thing that this match left -besides the increasing and potentially dangerous heroic spirit developed by the Turkish team- is the possibility that some of the best players in the first surprising semifinalist won't make it to their match against Germany.

If fans were not surprised enough with the result achieved by Turkey, Russia was responsible for a big -really big- shock. Nobody at all imagined that the Russian team could make it to the second round, in fact their victory against Sweden was the beginning of this very nice results. The new “Clockwork Orange” was exactly what that great Dutch team of the 70's was: a seriously offensive and effective football team which, in the key matches it faced, couldn't reach its great level. Russia left the Netherlands out of this Euro in the same way Van Basten's team did it to make a great first round. Fast, precise, strong and with some great individualities -an impressive Arshavin and a great Pavlyuchenko playing the Sneijder or Van der Vaart role-, it took advantage of a surprised orange team that have very little reaction all along the match. Probably, Van Nistelrooy's goal in the end of the second half made everybody believe that the Dutch team was going to react in the extra-time period, but that didn't happen and Guus Hiddink's team faced that critical thirty minutes with the same decision and strength. Netherlands didn't react at all, and was surprisingly eliminated, exactly in the same way the last great Dutch team used to be kicked out of big competitions thirty years ago.

Spain and Italy made of the end of the quarterfinals a less stressing day, still with the strong emotions created by the penalties. The Spanish team also defeated its own history and finally made it through the Euro quarterfinals after many -24- years. With the strong image Villa and Torres represent in offense, the team coached by Aragonés deserved a better score against Italy, but Buffon made it extremely hard again. Italy had its few but clear scoring chances, but again the goalkeeper made it impossible. Casillas, later the star of the penalties shoot-out, was a wall in the goal. Italy missed the absence of the soul of its midfield: Gatusso and Pirlo watched the match with the crowd and Donadoni's team suffered it a lot. Still, Spain is getting nice rewards from its fast, offensive game, and will have to faced a much stronger Russian team than the one it defeated in the Group D. That time, Russia didn't show this new confident game, and the Spanish team took advantage from it, still suffering when the white team stepped close to Casillas.

The semifinals are coming, promising loads of emotions and great matches. Germany is the favorite to make it to the final, as it has proved that it can reach -and no more than that- the level of its rivals. Turkey and Russia can play the “new Greece” in this Euro, with the Russians facing a less confident team, as the last results show. In two days we will know if, like until now, the always welcome surprises occur again or if the final would show that history is never wrong.