The Dutch are it's said playing total football and you'd be hard pressed to disagree!They are though perennial underachievers, and I'm just not sure they'll win this tournament. Their attacking skill and potential is probably unmatched in the competition but at the back they are relying heavily on Edwin Van der Sar.The back line may have performed well up until now but they must win three of the next four games to lift the trophy. Giovanni Van Bronckhorst has played well but in my opinion, I don't think he's a defender.Andre Ooijer was left out the last two European Championship squads by Frank Rijkaard and Dick Advocaat. I wonder why? There must be a question mark about his ability at this level.Khalid Boulahrouz is in my humble opinion "dodgy" and with the likes of Mario Melchiot and Wilfred Bouma in reserve, it wouldn't get any better.I'd love to see the Netherlands win EURO 2008, especially the way they are playing. I just think they are vulnerable and will at some stage slip up. Always amongst the favourites and always out pretty early!This year though they've joined the above mentioned in the quarter finals already, thanks among others to Valencia's David Villa, who's late late winner last night against Sweden (2-1) was his fourth goal in just two games.So Spain and Sweden to advance from group D but who'll win the whole thing?It would be easy to say Spain, Portugal or Holland so I'll say that!Just don't count out my conquering heroes, Croatia!. In the second game of a three game series, the New York Yankees defeated the Houston Astros on Saturday night by a score of 8-4.Mike Mussina, the starter for New York, was on his game.

Mussina pitched six innings, gave up three runs, walked no one, and struck out four.In the bottom of the first, Houston's Carlos Lee crushed a three-run homer, giving the Astros a 3-0 lead after one inning.In the top of the second, Alex Rodriguez smacked a solo home run, his 11th of the year. The Yanks added another run, making the score 3-2.The Yankees would strike for three more runs in the top of the third, taking the lead by a score of 5-3.Houston would not score again until the bottom of the seventh. The Astros added a run, and the score was then 5-4.The Yankees answered that run in the top of the eighth, and added two more in the top of the ninth, making the score 8-4.Edwar Ramirez of the Yanks came in the close out the game in the bottom of the ninth, and he secured a Yankee win.The Yankees saw run production out of Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Jose Molina, Robinson Cano, and Wilson Betemit, who all recorded at least one RBI.Lee and Brad Ausmus powered the Astro offense.Mussina picked up his 10th win of the season, tying him with Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians for the most wins in the American League. In addition to that, Mussina is now the sixth pitcher in MLB history to record 10 or more wins in seventeen consecutive seasons.Yesterday was also Mussina's 260th career victory, and he now needs 40 wins to get into the exclusive 300 wins club.Ross Ohlendorf and Kyle Farnsworth each recorded holds as they pitched the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.Wandy Rodriguez of Houston took the loss and is now 2-3 on the campaign.The Yankees will look for the sweep this afternoon at 2:05. The Bronx Bombers will pitch Chien-Ming Wang (7-2, 4.30 ERA) On the mound for the Astros is Roy Oswalt (5-6, 5.06 ERA).. Let the speculation begin.The new salary cap era of the NHL seems to be leaving many teams with little to do but let some of their younger talents go the way of the free agent market come July 1st. In a 30-team league, this makes it even harder to build a dynasty and keep it that way.In Pittsburgh, the dilemma comes with the resigning of their big forwards Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Jordan Staal, and Petr Sykora along with netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Brooks Orpik.With much of their cap space devoted to Sidney Crosby, how is Ray Shero going to keep a young, talented, and potentially dynastic Penguins team together for a few years?At the outset, it looks like Malkin is the one on the outside looking in. Malkin may have led the Penguins to the playoffs with Crosby, but he is not the one who is saving the NHL by being its next superstar.

Thus, Malkin's stock isn't as high and his cheque will probably not be in the Ovechkin/Crosby range.Along with Malkin, there are rumors that the Columbus Blue Jackets are already interested in Ryan Malone and would be willing to pay $5 million per over five years.We saw what happened in Edmonton, despite no salary cap, and the Oilers couldn't keep their dynasty longer than eight to ten years. The Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s lasted about the same amount of time. Last time a "dynasty" caliber team was in Pittsburgh, the team fell apart after only two to four years.Not even remotely close to thinking dynasty, the Minnesota Wild are just hoping to be able to keep one superstar and not lose two. Both Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra are UFAs this summer, yet Wild GM Doug Risebrough has only devoted his efforts to signing one, and so far the frontrunner is Rolston.Risebrough has said that both are not coming back, yet if he cannot get Rolston signed, he will turn his attention to possibly resigning Demitra, if possible.In Montreal, Bob Gainey must act quickly to avoid losing one of the best power-play defenseman again. Mark Streit may command at least a $2 million per year contract, if not more, this coming off-season, yet the Canadiens have made forward Andrei Kostitsyn and his 29 goals this last season a priority.Rumours have been spreading that the New York Rangers may be interested in Streit and may give him a full-time defensive role, unlike his constant shifting in Montreal.Jul.