Lviv New Stadium

Europe's finest have been fighting hard for a place at Euro 2012 (with the exception of Spain, who've just been fighting for the hell of it), but it turns out they may not actually have enough stadiums to play all of the games in next summer's tournament.

With less than 280 days until it all kicks off, three out of the eight host stadiums are behind schedule. I ran the numbers, and after some careful analysis discovered this is almost half of the tournament's stadiums.

The picture above is the Lviv stadium, a project so far off completion that it doesn't even have a name yet.

Our old friend Ryan Bailey, former editor of The Spoiler and a member of the DT World Cup 2010 dream team, makes his triumphant return with a look behind the curtain at Wednesday's 0-0 draw that allowed Spurs to advance to the Champions League quarterfinal over Milan.

The life of a football blogger isn't always glamorous (unless you consider sitting in your mom’s basement in your underwear furiously tapping into a Pop-Tart-crumb-covered laptop glamorous) but writing for a classy affair like Dirty Tackle sometimes affords a reporter the kind of bewitching access that makes it all worthwhile. Tonight was such an occasion, as Champions League sponsors Heineken invited me to Spurs' encounter with Milan, where the fascinating behind-the-scenes access more than compensated for the slightly crappy match.

Here's five things I learned in my evening in North London...

1. The Spurs players arrive at White Hart Lane on a team coach, but their stupendously exotic cars are driven to the ground for

South Africa 2010 has been a huge success: a colorful, noisy and vibrant celebration of the Beautiful Game that reflects the proud heritage of its host nation. Sycophantic reflections aside, it's now time to look forward to the next World Cup, to be held in Brazil in 2014. Based on what we have seen over the past month, here's 10 things we would like to see at the next meeting of the greatest talents in international football ...

1. More superstar performances
Some of the biggest names in football simply didn't turn up at this tournament. Predicted Golden Boot winner Leo Messi failed to find the net, new daddy Cristiano Ronaldo did little other than fumble a comedy goal during Portugal's North Korea walkover, and Wayne Rooney seemed to forget how to run, let alone kick a ball. The capitulation of the box office names may have allowed rising talents like Thomas Mueller to take center stage, but we hope the big stars shine the brightest in Brazil.

2. A less annoying fan craze

As Andres Iniesta scored the 116th-minute goal that helped Spain to its first World Cup victory, he took the opportunity to pay tribute to a colleague who passed away before the start of last season. In front of a TV audience of more than 750 million, the Barca star removed his shirt to reveal the message "Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros," which translates to:

Dani Jarque always with us

Espanyol defender Jarque suffered a heart attack before a preseason game in Italy in 2009. He never played club football with Iniesta, but they were the same age as they rose through the Spanish national team ranks. After the match, Iniesta explained his gesture:

“I wanted to keep Dani with me and with the other teammates. We wanted to pay tribute to him and we thought this was the best opportunity to do so.”

The diminutive midfielder may have earned a yellow card for the gesture, but what better way to pay tribute to a lost friend.

Image: AP

[Photos: More images of Spanish hero Andres Iniesta]

Disproving the typical Premier League fan's opinion that all English referees are ‘rubbish,' Howard Webb's consistent performances on the domestic and international stage have earned him the biggest officiating gig in the world.

While FIFA have deemed the former policeman worthy of refereeing the World Cup final, the Spanish press fail to hold the same opinion.

Real Madrid-lovin' daily newspaper Marca may have published a delightful video of the imposing Englishman on safari, but they also ran the doom-filled headline "Bad news - Webb will referee the final." They are unhappy with the way Webb handled their World Cup opener with Switzerland, arguing that two key errors cost La Roja the match - his decision not to award David Silva a penalty and Switzerland's suspiciously offside goal.

AS professed similar concerns for the Webb's appointment, calling FIFA's decision "debatable." And Barcelona-based sports paper El Mundo Deportivo says the chrome-domed man in charge will bring back "bad

This chimp may or may not know your destiny

It's not often that one gets to use the phrase "jumping on the psychic animal bandwagon" but several zoos and pet owners have been exploiting their animals for publicity using their beloved creatures to predict the outcome of World Cup games.

After the raging successes of Paul the octopus, and the significantly less impressive success of Mani the parakeet, an Estonian zoo has put Pino the soothsaying chimpanzee to the test for Sunday's World Cup final. AFP reports:

Pino, who has been in Tallinn since his transfer from the Amsterdam zoo in 1994, was offered two paper bags containing snacks, each decorated with a Dutch or Spanish flag.

He instantly picked the Netherlands' red, white and blue over Spain's yellow and red.

Tallinn zoo owners are concerned for the accuracy of Pino's prediction, not because he's a primate with no knowledge of football or experience of predicting things, but because he was born in the Dutch capital. (Such a bias,

Not pictured: Angry German lady wielding octopus clubbing device

When Paul the soothsaying octopus predicted that Die Mannschaft would lose to Serbia in the group stages of the World Cup, no one in Germany batted an eyelid. However, since foretelling Spain's semifinal triumph, "Das Krakenorakel" is a wanted mollusk. "Throw him in the frying pan," said a Berlin newspaper, summarizing the thoughts of the nation that would rather see Paul on a dinner plate than in a tank messing around with mussels in labeled boxes.

While the Germans are deeply embroiled in octo-hate, the Spanish are now in awe of Paul's predictive powers, and the government has actually expressed its desire to keep him safe from harm. Laboriously named Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been quoted on the radio. From AFP via DeccanChronicle.com:

"I am concerned for the octopus... I am thinking of sending him a protective team."

Spain's Environment and Fisheries Minister Elena Espinosa went one step

The 2010 World Cup Final will be a groundbreaking game in more ways than one. What's that? You want to know exactly how many ways it will be groundbreaking? You got it — here's why Sunday's match at Soccer City, above, will see a number of firsts...

1. This year's final will be the first time a team from Europe wins the tournament outside of Europe. Only Brazil and Argentina have won away from their home continent.

2. This is the first final that will not feature one of Argentina, Brazil, Germany or Italy.

3. It will be Spain's first time in the final. Their best performance so far is fourth place in the 1950 edition, and this tournament is the first since then that they have even reached the semifinals.

4. This could be the Netherlands' first World Cup victory, if they overcome David Villa et al. They've been losing finalists twice.

5. If you followed the two previous points closely enough, you will see that World Cup 2010 will definitely see a first-time winner.

6. Additionally,