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VIENNA — The playing surface at Ernst Happel Stadium for the European Championship final between Spain and Germany tomorrow is expected to be in excellent condition despite the spectacular thunderstorms of the past two days.
The storms around Vienna led to power outages and an 18-minute worldwide TV blackout during Wednesday's semi-final between Germany and Turkey, even though that game was played in Basel, Switzerland. UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, is still working out how many channels were affected.
Despite forecasts there would be only a 15-per-cent chance of rain for Thursday's semi-final at Ernst Happel Stadium, another storm hit the venue only a few minutes into Spain's 3-0 victory over Russia and heavy rain continued to fall for several hours.
The playing surface appeared to stand up to the conditions, however, and UEFA spokesman Thomas Giordano said yesterday that even the forecast sporadic showers shouldn't cause problems because conditions over the next three days are expected to be mostly fine.
"We had experts go onto the pitch straight after the game [Thursday]," Giordano said. "Even though it rained quite a lot we were really satisfied with the playing surface after the match, so we are quite confident that the pitch will be in excellent condition for the game.
"The weather forecast ˇK is quite sunny. We still expect from time to time some showers, but we are quite confident that even if it continues to rain from time to time the playing surface will be in a very good condition."
Italian referee Rosetti says he's prepared for final
The task of refereeing a soccer match takes more than just physical preparedness, according to the man who will work tomorrow's European Championship final.
Italian referee Roberto Rosetti, a 40-year-old hospital manager from Turin, has been charged with making sure the match between Germany and Spain at Ernst Happel Stadium goes according to the rules.
But for Rosetti, there is more to a referee's job than just being physically and mentally ready for his duties on the field.
"Above all, he has to have a high internal motivation, which then has an influence on his decisions," Rosetti said in an interview with UEFA's website posted yesterday. "So a great mental preparation and courage is needed. Courage especially should be one of the top qualities of a referee — to take difficult decisions in difficult situations."
At Euro 2008, Rosetti will also be remembered for his compassion.
When Turkey beat Croatia on penalty kicks in the quarter-finals, Rosetti hugged Mladen Petric to comfort him after his shot in the shootout was saved by goalkeeper Rustu Recber to give the Turks a 3-1 win.
"It was absolutely spontaneous," Rosetti said. "I think it's not the player who is important, but the human being behind a player, and it's not the referee, but the human being behind a referee.
"It was a very sad moment; there was a player that had experienced a huge sporting drama. For tomorrow's match between three-time champion Germany and perennial underachiever Spain, Rosetti said he won't need any special words to get him and his crew — assistant referees Alessandro Griselli and Paolo Calcagno — ready for the match.
Brazilian players brought their style to Europe
The Brazilian influence has been strongly felt at Euro 2008, though not always where you would expect.
The flow of play in both semi-finals was largely dictated by players from Brazil, and in the defence-minded holding midfield role. Not quite the samba style most nations go for when they add a naturalized Brazilian to their roster.
Sao Paulo-born striker Roger Guerreiro's reward to Poland for fast-tracking his citizenship papers in time for the tournament was to score its only goal in three Group B matches. Croatia got to Euro 2008 largely on the back of 10 goals in 12 qualifying matches by Eduardo da Silva from Rio de Janeiro. Eduardo missed the finals with an injury.
By the semi-finals, two converted Brazilians remained: Mehmet Aurelio of Turkey and Spain's Marcos Senna. Both were outstanding in a role designed to stifle their opponents' beautiful game.
However, the success of players such as Aurelio and Senna has made it harder for fellow Brazilians to follow in their path.
World governing body FIFA passed a rule last month requiring players to have lived continuously in a country for at least five years before being allowed to change their soccer citizenship.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter had grumbled that otherwise, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil would be played with a bunch of Brazilians on every team.
Enrique Iglesias rooting and singing for Spain
His father was in goal for Real Madrid. Now, the son gets to play at the European Championship final.
Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias was never more than a youth-team goalkeeper before he went on his silkily suave singing career. And his son Enrique won't really be wearing the red colours of Spain in tomorrow's final against Germany. Instead, he will be singing at the closing ceremony.
"Really, I only wrote the song to get the chance to play at a Euro final. It's a real honour to perform at the final," he told reporters of his song Can You Hear Me?
Once the song is finished, though, he will use his voice for one team only.
"The time has come," he said. "If not now, when?"
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