www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

No more playing for points and the only strategy is to play to win as we reached the Knock Out stage. Beat the opponents four more times and you are the Champions of Europe. Sometimes your path to glory needs the luck of the draw such as when you are drawn to face a weaker side but to be champions you need to ready and good enough to face anyone at anytime.  So into the last 16 we go. Wales v Denmark looks quite equal. Italy are strong favourites v Austria. Netherlands maybe slight favourites v the Czechs. France are clear favourites v Switzerland. Spain should be favoured v Croatia. Sweden v Ukraine could go either way but the mouth-watering ties are England v Germany and Belgium v Portugal.  After the Group stage, the top scorers are: (1) Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - 5 goals, (2) Patrick Schick (Czech Republic) - 3, (3) Emil Forsberg (Sweden) -3, (4) Romelu Lukaku - 3, (5) Georgino Wilnaldum (Netherlands) - 3, (6) Robert Lewandowski (Poland) - 3, (7) Memphis Depa...

How is each team performing thus far? Some as expected, some above expectations, others below par and a few have been quite poor. Individual players have been the same too. At this very moment, let us see who and where they are. North Macedonia - They are the only team already eliminated after two matches. Their giant-killing acts before the tournament have come to nought but they did score in both games and have been unlucky not to pick up at least a point or two. The Dutch were too good for them and so fight has come to an end.  North Macedonia have already done very well to be here. Finland - Finland's win over Denmark was owed to their hard work and I suspect partly due to the fact that Danish players were quite severely affected by Christian Eriksen's collapse. UEFA should have replayed the match rather than to carry on. The very good thing was Eriksen has survived the ordeal. In perspective, there are more important things in life than soccer. They still did ...

Covid has caused unprecedented death, pain and suffering around the world. Economies have been ravaged. Societies and a simple and normal way of life have been severely affected. Freedom of meeting family and friends or going to work have been totally disrupted. Even eating out at restaurants, food courts and coffee shops amid the warm and humid weather here with family, friends and strangers which we often take for granted were done for. Everywhere, the sights of tables and chair stacked away are disheartening. Business closures and hawkers waiting for customers have been a most painful episode. We can only hope for things to get better.  That was why I have not been talking about food. This time I wish to share with you this food stall which a good friend recommended to me perhaps like a couple of years ago but I never took the time to visit at its original location at a coffee shop below the old Rochor HDB. As Rochor was being designated for renewal they have since moved on....

  Continued..... Finland v Russia  - They have met only 4 times all won by Russia but over the years Finland have improved while Russia declined. The FInnish did well at the Nations League and even had France beaten 2-0 in a friendly. Drew 2 WC matches with Bosnia 2-2 and Ukraine 1-1 but since then 3 friendlies were disastrous. Russia struggled against minnows in the Nations League but won their 2 WC ties .  2-2. Italy v Switzerland - Their head to head record has Italy with 28W22D7L. In the last 3 friendlies long ago they drew 1-1, 0-0 and 1-1. Italy have since improved much. 2-1. Ukraine v North Macedonia - This is one where North Macedonia may claim a surprise. 0-1. Turkey v Wales - Wales record in this tie was 3W1D2L whicj makes this tie quite even. Aaron Ramsey, Harry Wilson, Daniel James and especially Gareth Bales can conjure a win. 0-1. Denmark v Belgium - History record showed they are even with W6D3L6 but in 2020's Nations League Belgium won 2-0 and 4-2. Denm...

It is strange to be talking about Euro 2020 when we are in 2021 but it helps to keep your boredom at bay for a month. Like league results across the continent, do expect some surprise results. Firstly, let's look at the groups, the teams and their FIFA rankings in 2021 (in bracket): Group A - Italy (7), Switzerland (13), Turkey (29), Wales (17). Group B - Belgium (1), Denmark (10), Finland (54), Russia (38). Group C - Austria (23), Netherlands (16), North Macedonia (62), Ukraine (24). Group D - Croatia (14), Czech Republic (40), England (4), Scotland (44). Group E - Poland (21), Slovakia (36), Spain (6), Sweden (18). Group F - France (2), Germany (12), Hungary (37), Portugal (5). Now the latest bookmakers' odds (various bookmakers have different odds) for the favourites are: England at 4/1 (20%), France 5/1 (17%), Belgium 13/2 (13%), Spain 7/1 (13%), Italy 8/1 (11%), Germany 8/1 (11%), Portugal 10/1 (9%), Holland 12/1 (8%), Denmark 25/1 (4%) and Croatia 30/1 (3%). Some  ot...

It is all over. The pandemic season which is very strange. A season like no other. Soccer without fans. All over Europe's top league, there were surprises. Only Bayern Munich took the crown in the Bundesliga with plenty to spare. Polish striker Robert Lewandowski first brought to Dortmund by Jurgen Klopp and moved to Munich was top scorer at the ripe old age of 32 breaking Gerd Muller's impossible record with 41 goals where Muller's record of 40 goals stood for almost half a century.  In France's Ligue 1, PSG's big money players missed out where Lille took the crown by one point. In Italy's Serie A, Inter Milan claimed the title by 12 points where Juventus perennial favourites Juventus even with Cristiano Ronaldo could only finished 4th behind 3rd placed Atlanta but at 36 years old he became the first Juventus player to score 100 goals in 131 games in less then 3 seasons (29 goals in 20/21)!  At Spain, Diego Simone's (what a manager/coach)  Athletico Mad...