The story so far

Seeing as I’m having a couple of days off and watching the matches from home, and as by this evening every team will have played two games, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the first week of Euro 2008.

The Netherlands – bloody hell. Their second goal against France came somewhat against the run of play as the French seemed to finally wake up, but they have largely been breathtakingly good. And enjoyable. Perhaps this is part of England’s non-qualification (in that I don’t look at other good teams with a mix of envy and fear), but there’s something very likeable about this Dutch side. Van Basten is an affable fella, they have lots of pace down the wings and score some lovely goals. Sneijder has scored twice now and both will probably compete with themselves for goal of the tournament.

His first (against Italy) is probably the purist’s pick – as good a counter-attack as you’ll wish to see – but my personal favourite was his strike against the French. Neat turn on the edge of the box and one of those shots that you know is in as soon as it leaves the boot. And it kissed in off the underside of the bar which, as those of you who know me will be aware, adds several points in the aesthetically-pleasing column in my book. Marvellous.

So the Dutch look very, very good. I’ve just watched Spain look not-quite-so-good against a solid Swedish side, but they have some seriously talented individuals – Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Puyol, and of course Torres and Villa. In injury time I was mentally composing this post and was decided on something along the lines of “Villa had an ultimately fruitless day but still looked the dog’s bollocks”. So…er… Villa had an ultimately fruitful day and still looks the dog’s bollocks. Ah, the benefit of waiting until full time.

France! WTF! You can’t just stroll around you know, this is the European Championships. After Makelele’s hilarious one-man red-card mission yesterday and their general lethargy, they’re in serious trouble. As it is, but for Gianluigi Buffon’s penalty save, they would have been joined in the Deep Shit Pit by Italy, who are apparently world champions.

Does anyone know why Buffon seems to be wearing some sort of highway robber’s scarf round his neck? Is he expecting a sandstorm? Whatever, it was a good save and Italy will probably go on to win the bloody thing now.

                                  

Germany face the possibility of being knocked out by Austria. It’s a remote possibility but surely the fact that it’s even being contemplated is embarrassing enough. Expect them to stuff the hosts though and stick around for a good while yet. Portugal will always be fancied as long as Ronaldo is on the pitch – but Deco and Simao have also been excellent.

Croatia are the real winners so far, in terms of reputation relative to achievement. I’m intrigued to see how the rest of Europe views them, given that the English have become so familiar with them over the last 12 months or so. This seems horrendously arrogant of me to say, but aside from Modric (and the injured Eduardo) they don’t have any “stars” like all of the above. But they don’t need them – Bilic is a canny chap and has them playing for each other and to their strengths. Which, unlike Greece in 2004, is still attractive to watch. Good luck to them.

The Czechs have disappointed – perhaps bored of their tag of “dark horses” and keen to downgrade to “donkeys” instead. But they face an intriguing one tomorrow against Turkey. The way the group has panned out means that both they and Turkey have the same points, the same goal difference, and the same goals scored, which means that a draw will result in the game going to extra time and penalties to decide who goes through. Should be exciting, and I’m going to hunt for a Czech bar in which to cheer them on.

Team So Far (based on players I’ve seen play well, rather than heard/read about)

Goalkeeper: Artur Boruc (Poland) – a wall against Austria

Left-back: Giovanni Van Bronckhurst (Netherlands) – scored a great goal against Italy and gets forward at every opportunity

Centre-half: Andre Ooijer (Netherlands) – purely for last night’s block when Henry looked destined to score. I don’t care that it hit his arm, it was a legal block and a crucial one

Centre-half: Pepe (Portugal) – had a goal ruled out against Turkey so decided to score an even better one later in the game. Big strong fella who looks excellent on the ball – even outshining Ricardo Carvalho

Right-back: Sergio Ramos (Spain) – although probably better going forward than coming backwards

Left midfield: Umit Korkmaz (Austria) – terrifically skillful performance against Poland – they simply couldn’t get near him

Centre midfield: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) – slightly out of position here perhaps, but no room for him up front. Undoubtedly one of the players of the tournament so far

Centre midfield: Luka Modric (Croatia) – impressive – for a Spurs player. He looks like a nerdy schoolkid but somewhere in that tiny body is a hell of a lot of strength and no little skill. Will surely be a huge success in the Premiership.

Right midfield: Deco (Portugal) – Frank Rijkaard must be wondering what the hell he was playing at all season at Barcelona, marginalising this chap. Needs to stop pulling that “I CANNOT BELIEVE IT REFEREE” face though.

Striker: David Villa (Spain) – who else?

Striker: Lukas Podolski (Germany) – Headers & Volleys World Champion 2008