The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football (soccer) competition of national football teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations).
The 2008 edition, hosted by Austria and Switzerland marked the second time that two nations co-hosted. It commenced on 7 June and will finish on 29 June. The final will be held at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna.
Well, this is just to introduce the subject, because I don’t expect that all the people living out of Europe (and several Europeans as well) might have the palest idea of what I’m speaking about.
I have nothing against a good football match, but during this cup, I don’t watch matches, I rather listen to them...
My small town is extremely cosmopolitan, we have representative of so many nationalities here, a real small “melting pot”, besides that the headquarters of UEFA are in Nyon too, just to explain way there is so much attention here for this Championship.
There are gigantic TV screens a little everywhere, so various supporters of different national teams collect here and there to follow the matches.
People who have been living and working in Switzerland for years suddenly feel burning with patriotism looking at the colours of their football national teams.
It was a long and quite tedious prologue, I know...

As I was saying, I don’t watch the matches, but I listen to them. Summer keeps all the windows open.
Downstairs there is a pub with a big TV screen.
I get amused to guess what is happening according to supports’ cries and shouts.
“Arriba, arribaaaaa” ( Ah, probably Spain scored...)
“Madonna mia, noooooo” ( Uh, I suppose Italy missed a penalty-kick...)

It’s lazy way to spend time in a sultry summer evening...
Yesterday Spain won the match and passed to semi-finals.
Italy was eliminated from the cup and sent back home.
The Spanish community of Nyon sang and blew some noisy trumpets for a while, then I don’t know, because the heavy and hot summer moist had an hypnotic effect on me and I fell asleep with an exotic Spanish lullaby in my ears.
This morning, the first person I met in the street was this lady walking away.
I like imagining her as a soccer metaphor...