Word: croatia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...meeting. And then, to everyone's surprise, South Africa, which up until then under the direction of President Thabo Mbeki had accommodated Khartoum (much as they are accommodating Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe today), criticized Sudan and the Security Council's acquiescence to Khartoum. Panama and Croatia joined in. The exuberant speeches caught people short...
...just what it means to be Brazilian. Many fans believe that when Brazilian players make it big and are signed to play for major European professional teams, they lose their identity and national pride. (Indeed, there are currently more than ten other countries, ranging from Spain and Portugal to Croatia, Poland and Japan, that have awarded citizenship to Brazilian pros in order to field them in their national soccer teams.) Players earning millions of dollars abroad on their pro teams don't have the same passion for representing the national team as do those that stay close to home, runs...
...that is a lesson of experience they will learn. Turkey's last-gasp comeback in the cloudburst that was Basel was the game of the tournament - until its even more insane win over the Czech Republic, and its you've-got-to-be-kidding-me last-second draw with Croatia. The semis was a just reward for their "why not win?" attitude. Give us more of that, please, although it's possible that Turkish coach Fatih Terim retired because his heart couldn't take any more excitement...
...winner over an undermanned, overachieving Turkish side, the road to the final has been studded with mediocrity. "There's no consistency in this tournament but we've reached the final," admitted German coach Joachim Löw. The Mannschaft starting brightly in beating Poland, looked dreadful in losing to Croatia, barely adequate in dismissing co-host Austria and strategically sound in mauling the more skillful Portugal in the quarters. But nothing in this team strikes fear into the hearts of its opponents, other than the fact that it's Germany. Which is often enough...
...rest of the semi-final draw belongs to the underdogs. The Russians pulled off the upset of the tournament - which is saying something given Turkey's incredible win over Croatia - by beating the Dutch at their own game in a stunning 3-1 win in extra time. "What the boys did in their commitment, what they did to outplay tactically, physically the Dutch team. It's almost a miracle," said Russian coach, the Dutchman "Lucky" Guus Hiddink. What the Russians did is learn and adapt in the course of a long tournament. In their first game, against Spain, the Russian...