Something Interesting

Yes, i know they only fly for a very short time while they jump out of the water. but this flying fish is special

Flying fish

Evolution working in front of out eyes, hmm, maybe.

With the final sixteen teams decided and the Euro 2008 finals due to kick off soon, it’s time to place your bets on this immensely popular football tournament. If you are trying to get the heads up on which team to bet on in Euro 2008, this article will help you by taking a look at the potential in Group B.

Qualifying for the European Championships as Group E winners, Croatia go into Euro 2008 lying thirteenth in the FIFA World Rankings, and have been drawn in Group B alongside hosts Austria, and tournament favourites Germany and Poland.

Not content with topping their qualifying group, Croatia also masterminded England’s failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals, beating them twice including a 3-2 victory at Wembley in the final qualification game.

Coached by Slaven Bilic, Croatia, whose squad includes a number of current Premier League players in the form of Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar and Vedren Corluka of Manchester City, is tipped to make an impact in this year’s Euro finals. Another Premier League player, Arsenal’s Eduardo, is due to miss the Euro 2008 tournament after suffering a broken leg and dislocated ankle in a Premier League match against Birmingham City in February.

There is the also the certainty of more Croatian talent moving to the Premier League after this year’s European Championships, as Tottenham recently equalled their transfer fee record of £16.5 million to sign Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb. The creative midfield player will certainly be at the heart of any Croatian success this summer and also light up the Premier League next season.  

However strong the potential for the current crop of Croatian representatives, tournament favourites Germany will be a tough challenge, and group qualification still remains a credible objective.

Holding fifth spot in the FIFA World Rankings and qualifying as runners-up in Group D, Germany came third in the 2006 World Cup and will certainly be looking to build on that with much of the same squad.

With seasoned professionals including Michael Ballack of Chelsea, Miroslav Klose of Werder Bremen and David Odonkor of Real Betis named in Joachim Loew’s Euro 2008 squad, Germany boasts experience from some of Europe’s top domestic leagues.

With three World Cups and three European Championships to its name, the German team is certainly a hot candidate to lift the winner’s trophy this summer.

Hosts Austria gained automatic qualification in return for their hospitality. In recent history, they have struggled to qualify for major finals, their last being the World Cup Finals in 1998. The weaker of the host countries, Austria, are 102 in the FIFA World Rankings and so, with little expectation placed upon them, could be this summer’s Cinderella story. 

Although unable to boast the talent levels scattered across European leagues by group competitors Croatia and Germany, Austria does have some Premier League recognition in the form of Emanuel Pogatetz of Middlesbrough, who has won both league and cup titles in his native country.

Completing Group B are Poland, who qualified as runners-up in Group A. Ranked 28 in the FIFA World Rankings, they are likely to be contesting second spot and qualification to the knock-out stages and, as they proved with a 2-2 draw against Portugal to reach the finals this summer, they are more than capable of challenging the big names in the competition on their day.

Leo Beenhakker’s squad for the Euro 2008 championships is likely to include the familiar name of Manchester United’s reserve keeper Tomasz Kuszczak.

Looking to back a team for success in the European Championships? Bet365 has a comprehensive catalogue of betting coupons for Euro 2008 that will ensure you don’t have to miss any of the betting action in this year’s Euro Finals. With betting options including individual match betting, together with bets on group winners and the tournament winners, bet365 has all the bases covered to satisfy all your Euro 2008 betting needs.

Following up from my Conservatories post last week (that had some very interesting comments on) i heard this morning that house prices in the UK have fallen again for the 9th month in a row.

This leaves the housing market in the worst states its been in for 30 years. This fall in house prices has also seen the value of the streling drop against the dollar and the euro.

This morning while sitting in bed i watched a tv commercial for the new Vax range of vaccum cleaners. Now i’m not usually the kind of person to be overly excited by the war of the vacuum cleaners, but on the tv ad this morning i heard the phrase “no loss of suction”. Now this is very much a Dyson vacuum cleaners phrase, and i’d be very interested to know how they have achived this.

Dyson have had alot of trouble proving the whole “no loss of suction” thing, so it will be interesting to see if VAx have to show the same leave of testing to prove the statement?

This is a quick something for those of you that enjoy a good game of Sudoku.

Westin Hotels and resorts are inviting you to espace to a purpose built ‘Sudoku Square’ in the Broadgate Arena ont eh West side of Liverpool Street Staion from Monday 5th to Monday 12th of May, open 10am - 7pm.

Heres a quote from Westin Hotels and Resports

“Westin Hotels and Resorts would like to invite you to escape to our Sudoku Sanctuary where you can unwind your mind and indulge your love of Sudoku with one our Sudoku Squares

We invite you to help us celebrate our relationship with Nikoli Company Limited, the leading creator and publisher of puzzle magazines in Japan, by visiting our Westin Sudoku Sanctuary in Broadgate Arena, London just on the West side of Liverpool Street Station.

From the 5-12th May , the Westin Sudoku Sanctuary is open daily from 10am to 7pm.”

So if you are in the area in the middle May, pop in and chill out.

No, not the bathroom cleaning type of Bleach. I thought it was about time i blogged about another anime that i enjoy.

Bleach is about a  Japanese school boy called ichigo that has the gift to see ghosts (hold on, it gets better). One night a stranger appears in his room, this stranger is supriesed that Ichigo can see her,  this stranger is the shinígami Rukia Kuchiki. During the twos following conversation a Hollow appears (an evil spirt) and Rukia and Ichigo go and confront the spirt, who is trying to kill Ichigos family. In the battle Rukia saves Ichigos life by jumping infront of an attach aimed at Ichigo. Rukia is badly hurt, and decides that the only way to beat the hollow is to transfer some of her shinígami (death god) powers to Ichigo. This unlocks a series of events currently covering 168 episodes and 315 manga chapters.

This is a very entertaining anime, great style of drawing, packed with action, humor and a little romance.

Catch up with the series here at Bleach World.

I have been think lately about adding a conservatry to our home, and got to thinking about how much it could add to the price of the house. But what about the reported drop in house prices at the moment? My thoughts are that thought adding a conservatory to your home will in no doubt add value, will that gain be reduced if the current housing martey continues to decline.

I know that the housing market is not exactly crashing, but there has been a downward trend to house prices this year. I would be very interested in hearing peoples appinouns on this subject.

Though, on the subject of conservatories, i have been looking around and found some lovely different designs on the Anglian site, i think i might look into a local distributer.