Euro 2008, arguably the world's most important football tournament, kicked off on Saturday night, and possibly the best place to watch throughout June is at Champions Sports Bar on the roof of Zamalek's Cairo Marriott Hotel. Previously known as a summer cinema called Almaz, the Marriott roof amphitheatre will show the football on the cinema sized screen, which has diner style booth seating and waiter service. The Marriott used the roof theater in 2006 to broadcast the Football World Cup from Germany, which proved an extremely popular venue where one could catch the Nile breeze and catch-up with friends and colleagues. If schmoozing is not your thing and you take your football seriously, Champions Sports Bar offers an experience similar to an Imax theater, where you feel part of the action. Outdoor cinemas do offer something special, and with our footprints almost on the beach, Champions is the perfect excuse to get off the lounge and start the summer fun. The Marriott roof is one of Cairo's hidden treasures. To access it you take the elevator adjacent to the money exchange booth next to the main lobby. It would be worth booking a table now for tonight when the Dutch take on World Champions Italy, or on Friday June 13 when the Dutch play France. Spain and Russia, Tuesday 10 or the Czech Republic and Portugal on Wednesday 11, all look to be exciting games. Planning further ahead, the Euro 2008 final is on Sunday June 29 and the two semi-finals are on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26. Champions will book out for these dates as the word spreads about the venue, so book early if you want to secure that VIP, velvet rope feel for the finals. If you're new to Cairo and are yet to experience Ramadan, which starts this year on September 1, then an evening at Champions will give you an early taste of Ramadan nights; the wafting shisha smoke, trays of yummy food and Cairenes deconstructing and reinventing the lounge lizard lifestyle. The Marriott has gone to a lot of effort to give Champions a US-style sports bar feel: decorated with flags, waiters dressed in replica football kit and the trademark Marriott hostess complete with micro-mini. Of course all sporting fans await the arrival of the Hooters franchise to the Middle East. Dubai no doubt, the mecca of the nouveau riche and flashy extravagance, will at some point stoop to picking up this worst example of Americana. The irony of course is not lost on our American friends in Cairo either. The Middle East's appetite for Yankee brands and Hollywood culture proves to some the hypocrisy of the region s rhetoric. Americans can feel demonized for their foreign policy one minute, but then all around them is "stuff they invented, popularized or successfully marketed first. Speaking of Americans, I was wrong in January about Hilary Clinton winning the Democratic nomination and I was wrong about Chelsea. Not the daughter, the football club winning the Champions League in Moscow. So I think it is only fair that I make yet another baseless prediction for Euro 2008. It has to be the Germans, a great tournament team. They could have just as easily won the World Cup, instead of the Italians, and I think for the most part they still have the same outfit. In Group B, the Germans should win against Austria and Poland, though they may be challenged by the feisty Croatians. As winners of their group, the Germans would then take on the runners-up in Group A. Co-hosts Switzerland, may scrape past Turkey and the Czechs. As winners of the first quarter final, Germany would likely have a semi-final against Portugal. The tournaments sentimental favorite, Portugal, who lost in the final of Euro 2004 to the Greeks, boast the world's 'best' player in Christiano Ronaldo. Cairo's hip guide to booze and all things bitchin', The Croc has picked Portugal, and given Ronaldo's renown now in Cairo following Man U's Premiership League and Moscow double, even the Portuguese Vs Swiss match on Sunday 15 will pack the cafes and streetscape. Hot though, already the temperature has been nudging 40 Celsius, so be sure to match your Stella intake with water and get somewhere cool, where you can catch the breeze and debate England's demise, Turkey as part of Europe and when - it is all done and dusted - dream of South Africa 2010, just two years away. For reservations at Champions Sports Bar, call: (02) 2728 3000, ext [email protected]
