GROUP
A
Czech-ing
In!
The
second round of games kicked off in Group A with the Czech Republic
going some way to right the wrongs of their opening day hammering at
the hands of Russia. Petr Jiracek
and Vaclav Pilar's
early strikes allowed them to relax and see out a victory without
needing to get out of second gear. The only scare came when a
horrific Petr Cech
error allowed Fanis
Gekas
to give the Greeks something of a lifeline at the start of the second
half. Again, it is baffling to see one of the best goalkeepers of a
generation perform so badly when representing his country. His
butter-fingery here was reminiscent of the cross he mishandled four
years ago against Turkey which ultimately led to the Czechs being
eliminated at the group stages. On the face of it, this faux pas does
not look as costly but when goal difference could prove so decisive
in these tight groups, the spill may not look too clever come Sunday
morning.
On
a similar note, it was curious to see the Czezhs happy to settle for
the narrow win rather than push on for more goals. The ease with
which they carved open the Greek defence at the start of the game
suggested they could have easily racked up a far more handsome
scoreline. The two quick-fire goals they scored in the opening six
minutes should have been something of a catalyst or springboard to
cancel out the deficit suffered in that Russia game. Instead,Tomas
Hubschman's
through ball for the opener and the adventurous overlap by Theodor
Gebre Selassie
to set up the killer second proved only to be fleeting examples of a
quick, direct style that surely would have been more fruitful had
they been brave enough to continue it throughout the match.
Greece's
defending for the opening two goals was atrocious. One could almost
suspect that they were fed up of all the unfair criticism they
received for the rigid, solid, defensive approach that made them a
success four years ago and decided to abandon any sense of discipline
in an attempt to shed themselves of that perceived negative tag. In
fairness, they could well have found their way back into the game
after a strong second half display. A striker younger than Giorgos
Karagounis
or one better than Georgios
Samaras might
have yeilded greater rewards in advanced positions.
The
bum's Russ
Russia
and Poland renewed pleasantries both on and off the pitch in the
later game on Tuesday. The violent scenes of both sets off fans
kicking seven bells of shit all over the streets of Warsaw pre and
post match will turn out to be some of the lasting images of the
tournament. It would be easy to write off the ruckus purely as
hooliganism but given the long, complex political history between
these two nations, the strength of feeling on both sides is almost
understandable. Whether that condones what we saw is obviously open
to debate. On the pitch, Poland once again played with the kind of
attacking endeavour that should have seen them do better against
Greece last week.
Once
again, however, a lack of cutting edge in the final third meant they
had to be content with a 1-1 draw. The Russians were once again
looking to exploit the openness of their opponents with some slick
Andrei Arshavin
inspired counter attacking. However, with an out of sorts Aleksandr
Kerzhakov
leading the line and Poland showing far more resistance than the
Czechs, they were always far less likely to repeat the emphatic
scoreline from the opening day. In fact, it needed an Arshavin set
piece to be glanced in by Alan
Dzagoev to
give them the lead. The CSKA Moscow hotshot has three goals in two
games so far and with his current contract reportedly expiring at the
end of the calender year, seems to be using the competition to
showcase his talents to any potential suitors. Already, Arsenal are
rumoured to be interested.
Poland's
equaliser came through a fantastic left footed strike by the
unpronounceable Jakub
Blaszczykowski. A
true 'captain's goal'
which
lifted an entire nation and is undoubtedly one of the goals of the
tournament so far. If, for whatever reason, you haven't seen it yet,
it's certainly worth a look.
GROUP
B
Bendt
Double
If
Blaszczykowski's rocket was goal of the tournament so far, then match
of the tournament has to be the five-goal thriller between Denmark
and Portugal in group B. After many a less than enthusiastic
appraisal of their conservative gameplan to stifle the Germans last
weekend, Portugal set out to remind the world that they still very
much adhere to their attack-minded philosophy of years gone by. After
a Pepe
header from a corner gave them a deserved lead, Helder
Postiga,
a striker who struggled to find his feet during a miserable spell for
Tottenham, swept in a superb second from a continuously frustrating,
but sometimes incisive, Nani
cross.
Another
striker who has failed to set North London alight is Arsenal's
wantaway striker Niklas
Bendtner
who pulled one back before half time before scoring what many thought
to be the goal that salvaged a draw and crucial fourth group point
for the Danes with 10 minutes to go. Bendtner's perception as
something of a misfit in Arsenal colours is arguably down to Arsene
Wenger's insistence down the years to try and play him as some sort
of fleet-footed silky skilled playmaker type forward when it in fact
obvious that his best position is as a centre forward target man –
a position in which he thrives for his country for whom he has now
scored 20 goals. Astonishingly, six of these have now been scored
against Portugal. For years we have been bored to tears by everyone
bemoaning Arsenal's lack of 'Plan B'. In theory, Plan B could be
'Plan Bendtner' if Wenger could be flexible enough to make him the
focal point of their attack in certain situations and actually
instruct his players to cross that ball properly.
It
might be worth mentioning that Bendtner landed himself in hot water
with UEFA by celebrating one of his goals by revealing his 'Paddy
Power' sponsored underpants. A stunt well worth doing given the fact
you expect the gambling firm to pay him more than enough to cover
whatever meaningless fine the authorities hand down.
But
I digress, Bendtner's heroics ultimately proved to be futile as
Portugal substitute Silvestre
Varela
slammed home a brilliant goal three minutes from time to put Portugal
in a fantastic position for qualification. Cue: delirium.
However,
one Portuguese who may have been more relieved than ecstatic at the
dramatic late win is golden boy Cristiano
Ronaldo
who once again somehow flattered to deceive on the international
stage. During another typically unremarkable performance, Ronaldo was
almost guilty of costing his team the points when at 2-1 up and
presented with the kind of one-on-one chance he would ordinarily be
able to score in his sleep, he put embarrassingly wide of the post.
Moments later, the Danes scored their would-be equaliser.
Instead
of wasting his time sniping, unprovoked, at Lionel Messi, Ronaldo
will do well to start raising his performance levels for his country
lest he wants to be compared to a certain Mr. Arjen Robben.
Dutch
down to last life in Super Mario's World
Speaking
of whom, another lacklustre showing in the orange of his native
Netherlands in their 2-1 defeat against Germany means he will be
facing Ronaldo in a must-win showdown on Sunday. The two men who lit
up this year's Champions League semi final with their respective
clubs and will now do battle for the unwanted crown of the most
selfish under-performer in the tournament.
Robben's
Dutch team failed to put up anything resembling a fight in their
match against the old enemy and came away with exactly what they
deserved; nothing. Whereas they were creating but missing chances
against Denmark, the toothless nature of the Holland attack this time
around meant that Germany were content to contain and keep then at
arms length for much of the game. The Germans were predictably
organised and used their possession both intelligently and patiently
to create openings – two of which fell to much maligned Mario
Gomez who didn't require much of an invitation to do what he does
with curious regularity; score. Twice.
Holland
improved massively after the restart but a disciplined German side
prevented them creating many clear cut openings. It was only a fine
long range effort by Robin van Persie that was able to finally
penetrate their rivals' back line in the end but it wasn't enough and
the Dutch are now on the brink of elimination.
GROUP
C
Moderate
performance enough for Croatia
Italy
versus Croatia was your archetypal 'game of two halves' where one
side controlled the first half an the other the second resulting in a
1-1 draw that neither could really argue with.
The
Italians were the better side in the opening 45 playing with an
attacking intent not usually associated with Azzuri teams of the
past. The bold deployment of both Antonio
Cassano
and Mario
Balotelli for
the second game running caused the Croatian defence a number of
problems with the Man City striker in particular looking very much in
the mood. Unfortunately, neither man seemed capable of breaking
the deadlock for the Italians and it was left to the evergreen Andrea
Pirlo
to break the deadlock with a trademark free kick which outfoxed a
flailing
Stipe Pletikosa
in the Croatia goal.
The
main narrative from the game was the clash of the creative
midfielders and provided an opportunity to compare and contrast the
above mentioned Pirlo with the Croat's own pivot Luka Modric.
It's safe to say that Pirlo won this duel with an impressive first
half shift where he seemed to be at the heart of everything good this
expansive Italy side were creating. It was only in the second half
when Italy sat back that Modric was allowed to come into the game.
However, the diminutive playmaker's underwhelming performance was a
continuation of his last six months in a Spurs shirt where his loss
of form coincided with the team's slump. Of course, other factors
came into play but you had to think if Modric had been playing to his
usual high standards, Tottenham may well have hung on to third place,
qualified for the Champions League and Harry Redknapp may still be in
gainful employment today. Who knows?
Mario
Mandzukic's equaliser came from a defensive lapse by Georgio
Chiellini but it was no less than Croatia deserved after finally
finding thier feet in the match. As predicted right here, Croatia
could well find themselves progressing to the quarter finals. All
they have to do to make absolutely certain is beat Spain on Monday.
Simple really...
Spanish
fly and leave Irish to stew
And
of course, one has to ask, who are Spain, really? I mean all they
managed to do against Ireland was exercise their overwhelming
dominance and play the kind of sublime passing football that makes
one wonder if the two teams out there were even playing the same
sport.
In
a way, the 4-0 victory actually taught us very little about the
defending champions. A slight formation tweak saw Vincente Del
Bosque do away with the strikerless formation used against Italy
and give Fernando Torres the opportunity to redeem himself
following his hapless cameo in that game. Torres didn't disappoint -
scoring twice in the rout before making way for Cesc Fabregas
who himself scored his second of the tournament after coming on.
False 9 or real nine, it really made no difference as Ireland
wouldn't have had a chance if Spain had only played with 9.
Again,
I'm baffled to the point of dismay that, realising thier limitations,
there seemed to be no obvious game plan from Trappatoni's team.
Whereas the Spanish seemed to know what pass to make three passes in
advance, Ireland found them in a state of panic on the very few
occasions they were able to retain possession for more than half a
second. There also seemed to be no defensive cohesion or strategy to
speak of. Evidenced by the frequency with which the like of Richard
Dunne and co found themselves on the turf having been
continuously turned inside out by scorer of the second David Silva
among others. When you lack the personnel as Ireland so obviously do,
there needs to at least be an attempt to prevent embarrassment.
It's
a testament to how awful Ireland were that the only positive about
the match was the unrelenting noise generated by their supporters.
But as Roy Keane so aptly pointed out in the ITV studios post
match, there's no point in only being out there for a sing-song.
GROUP
D
France
toast after getting better of UkRAIN
France
showed their class as they coasted to victory over hosts Ukraine in
an otherwise unremarkable game that was only really notable for the
extreme weather conditions that interrupted and delayed the the game.
Thunderstorms and lightening proved very, very frightening as players
were withdrawn just minutes into the game before returning an hour
later. France were dominant in the first half but were unable to find
the breakthrough. Ukraine's defence were given such a run around they
were merely seeing a silhouette’s of the men the they were supposed
to be marking. The poor boys needing sparing from the monstrosity
that was the France sustained attack.
It
was only a matter of time before they finally scored through Jeremy
Menez
and the feeling amongst the partisan home supporters was that Menez
just killed a man. The French fans found somebody to love and after
Johan Cabaye
added a second, they were probably doing to the Fandango. Another one
bit the dust in Les Bleurs 23 game unbeaten run. At this point they
were having such a good time, Laurent Blanc was asking his team to
don't stop (me now) but they weren't able to add to the tally. The
result leaves Ukraine under pressure to win their final game while
the France will be thinking that similar performances and fighting to
the end will also get them to say 'we are the champions' come July
1st.
England
have Swede dreams despite nightmare performance
Football
can be a strange game. Sometimes the worst matches can somehow be the
best. The absence of quality can lead to great excitement. Such was
the case when England took on Sweden. Poor passing, dodgy defending
and questionable goalkeeping lent considerable weight to the view
that 'bad' football can actually be more fun to watch than good
football. I think it was the Italian (obviously) Gianni
Brera who
said that the
perfect game would end 0-0.
This was the polar opposite of that mantra. A match that was the
blueprint of bad football has lit up the tournament. England secured
a 3-2 victory by virtue of managing to be only the second worst team
on the pitch.
'Star'
performers on the day were the likes of Glen Johnson, Jonas Olsen,
Johan Elmander and James Milner who showed that competency
is actually not a requirement for a top level footballer. Andy
Carroll put England ahead with a fine header from a Steven
Gerrard cross before woeful defending allowed 107 year
old[citation needed] defender Olaf Melberg to TWICE score to
put the Swedes 2-1 up. Roy Hodgson then showed the managerial
nous that his critics would do well to acknowledge by introducing a
fresh, hungry Theo Walcott to the proceedings and was rewarded
as the Arsenal man first scored and then provided the assist for
Danny Welbeck's improvised finish. Although, Walcott's admission that
he wrongly thought his long range effort to level the scores had
taken a deflection is, to me, an admission that his shot was merely
hit and hope and further confirms the lack of anything resembling
finesse in this game.
Sweden
now exit the tournament which is probably for the best given how
poorly they've played in both games while somehow England are on the
brink of the quarter finals. Last Monday England drew against France
thanks to a rigid, resolute defensive display. It wasn't pretty but
the major positive was that the team were difficult to break down.
All of that went out of the window against Sweden and while it is
easy to praise the resilience to come back from a losing position,
performing that badly against a better team will simply add more
numbers onto those years of hurt Ian Brodie so famously sang about
back in 1996.
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