GAVIN HAMILTON
Editor of World Soccer, writes for worldsoccer.com.
ONE FOR THE LITTLE GUYS
29/06/08
This was a victory for the little guys. Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta, Senna, Silva. None of Spain's midfield could look their German midfield counterparts in the eye. Yet they outplayed Germany, ran circles around them, teased and tormented them to claim their first European Championship for 44 years.
The hoodoo has been broken. Spain did it their way. And they did it without their leading scorer, David Villa, injured in the semi-final defeat of Russia. Instead, Spain relied on their magical midfield and Germany had no answer to the mesmerising passing patterns that the Spanish weaved through the 90 minutes.
As I write, Spain's players are dancing a jig on the pitchside podium, roared on by the delighted fans who have travelled from Spain in increasing numbers and with rising confidence as this tournament has progressed. Tonight, Euro 2008 reached a fitting climax, a tournament that featured some wonderful attacking football has been won by a gifted team of players whose technique and talent shone from start to finish.
Michael Ballack had been expecting to run the show tonight. His training 'injury' had turned to be nothing of the sort. But Germany relied on their traditional virtues of strength and organisation. Against a Spanish side who valued speed of thought above more physical values, the Germans were found wanting.
If there was a clash of footballing cultures on the pitch, there was also a generational divide on the benches. There have been two types of coaches at Euro 2008. Spaion coach Luis Aragones has been one of the old guard, the 'grumpy old men' along with Karel Bruckner of the Czech Republic, Switzerland's Kobi Kuhn and Swede Lars Lagerbeck. Rather than ratchet up expectations, their job has been to keep a lid on things, safeguarding national reputations. Aragones has occasionally put his foot in it, but there is no doubt he has his finger on the Spanish footballing pulse.
At the other end of the coaching spectrum are the ambitious young guns, the sharp-dressed rising stars with their hearts set on landing a big club job. Marco Van Basten is already on his way up the greasy pole, handed the challenge of reviving the fortunes of Ajax. Croatia's Slaven Bilic will surely follow. Joachim Low has already coached at club level, with Stuttgart and Tirol Innsbruck among others. He is set to stay with Germany for another two years, but a major club is bound to come calling at some point.
Tonight, Aragones looked on anxiously from the edge of the technical area, his belly hanging over the edge of his tracksuit bottoms, as Germany dominated the early stages. In contrast, Jogi Low, his tailored white shirt rolled neatly above the elbows, looked calm and in control, just like his team in the first few minutes.
When Fernando Torres muscled his way past semi-final hero Philipp Lahm to fire past Jens Lehmann for the only goal of the game, the entire Spanish bench were almost on the pitch. Not so Aragones, who slowly swung his arms to and fro like an agitated orangutang.
Germany may have had the greater possession in the first half, but it was Spain who had created the better chances. Torres, leaping above Per Mertesacker, had hit the base of a post from Sergio Ramos' cross and Lehmann had stretched to palm the ball away when Iniesta's cross deflected off Christoph Metzelder.
At the break, the momentum was with Spain and Low responded by ditching the off-the-pace Lahm and giving Marcell Jansen, the full-back who had made mistakes against Croatia, another chance. More significantly, Kevin Kuranyi replaced Thomas Hitzlsperger and the extra striker gave Germany a new impetus. Ballack's volley flew just wide but Schweinsteiger wasted a promising deadball situation after Silva had been penalised for facing up to Podolski.
Spain had three chances in as many minutes halfway through the second half that would have sealed the title there and then.
Lehmann pushed away Sergio Ramos header from Xavi's brilliant free-kick, Iniesta cut in from the resulting corner but struck a post and Iniesta, again, played in by Cazorla, dug out a shot that struck Lehmann on the chest.
Senna came within inches of converting Daniel Guiza's knockdown as the clock ticked down. But no matter. The little guys had won the day.
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One welcome innovation at Euro 2008 is that UEFA has waited until after the Final before announcing the team of the tournament. So the embarrassment of Zinedine Zidane being voted the competition's best player (as happened two years ago in 2006) is avoided.
In this case, however, it's hard to see any outstanding performers from the Final who suddenly came to people's attention in the last match of the tournament.
My team, in a 4-1-4-1 formation, naturally, is: Casillas - Hamit Altintop, Marcena, Chiellini, Van Bronckhorst - Senna - Arshavin, Ballack, Sneijder, Silva - Pavlyuchenko.
Not many Germans, but then Ballack was their only truly world-class performer.
Lehmann made some important saves in the Final, but he looked edgy throughout the tournament. Bastian Schweinsteiger, outstanding against Portugal in the quarter-final, blotted his copybook with his red card against Croatia.
There are only two Spanish midfielders, Senna, and Silva, who was their most consistent performer. Pavlyuchenko gets the nod as the lone striker ahead of Tores and David Villa because Villa missed the Final and Torres was not consistent over the course of six matches.
At the back, Carlos Marchena was the tournament's outstanding centre-back. He kept Luca Toni at bay in the quarter-final did a similar job on Miroslav Klose in the Final.
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The general concensus here has been that this has been a tournament to savour, largely because of the attack-minded football. An alternative argument, put by one of my colleagues, is that very few teams at Euro 2008 have true quality and that most struggle if they were forced to compete in the Champions League on a regular basis.
In response, it can be argued that at least 10 teams here could hold their own in the Champions League, where the number of teams who can win the trophy barely runs to double figures. Jose Mourinho, when he was presented as the new coach of Internazionale, claimed that there are 11 teams "who want to win it: four from England, three from Italy, one from Germany and three from Spain."
For every Greece or Austria, there is a Sparta Prague or Rosenborg. The real difference between the European Championships and the Champions League is the structure of the respective competitions. The Champions League rewards the clubs with the strongest squads and the deepest pockets in the transfer market. The European Championships (and the World Cup) tend to be won by the country who wins the mental battle over the short three weeks of the competition. It's a very different ball game.
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SMOOTH PROGRESS
27/06/08
It wasn't quite the firecracker that some people had predicted but Spain made history in Vienna tonight. The confidence imbued by the penalty shoot-out victory over Italy in the quarter-final carried Spain through to their first European Championship Final of the modern era.
An early injury to top scorer David Villa only served to emphasise Spain's collective attacking strength. The goals were spread around - between Xavi, Daniel Guiza and David Silva - as Spain took Russia apart for a second time this tournament.
Cesc Fabregas had had to make do with a place on the subs bench throughout this tournament as coach Luis Aragones found space for two strikers, Villa and Fernando Torres, at the expense of an extra midfielder.
It took an injury to Villa to bring Cesc into the action far earlier than expected, in the the 35th minute. Cesc's arrival meant Spain were mirroring Russia's formation, with a playmaker lurking behind the lone striker. But while Russia's little general Andrei Arshavin struggled to make a serious connection with his forward partner Roman Pavlyunchenko, Spain's attacking midfielders clicked.
Arshavin was a huge disappointment. Maybe the attention surrounding him, with a move to Barcelona mooted, had taken its toll. But just when a commanding performance would have sealed his status as the tournament's best players, he froze. He never found the rhythm that had destroyed Holland in the quarter-final.
Instead the breakthrough came in the 50th minute from Spain, for whom Cesc and Xavi were running the show. Iniesta danced his way into the area and found the forward run of Xavi, who arrived unmarked to meet the cross.
Russia coach Guus Hiddink wasted no time in changing his personnel. Bilyaletdinov and Sychev replaced Saenko and Semshov. But they could not break the Spanish stride. Prompted by Cesc, Spain pressed forward and were rewarded with further goals, from substitute Guiza and Silva, the Valencia midfielder who has quietly been Spain's most effective player of the tournament.
The convincing scoreline of their opening group match had flattered Spain somewhat. Russia had created chances in the first half in Innsbruck. But after the Spanish had gone ahead, Russia had been forced to chase the game, and Spain took them apart in a devastating final half-hour spell.
Tonight, Spain were in control from the start. On this form, and after Germany's mistake-laden performance against Turkey, Spain will start Sunday's Final in Vienna as worthy favourites.
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There have been heavy thunderstorms here in Vienna. They delayed late afternoon and early evening flights into the city's main airport and prevented a number of fans from attending the semi-final between Russia and Spain. That probably explains the empty seats in the Spanish section of the Ernst Happel stadium, though UEFA's clampdown on ticket touts may also be having an effect. It's been easier to take action against the touts under Austrian law than Swiss law, which also helps to explain why the tournament matches in Switzerland were officially "sold out".
You can always tell when Russia are playing. The oligarchs fly in by helicopter and the fans arrive in their 4x4s. Before Russia's group games in Innsbruck, the local skyline was like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Roman Abramovich was, apparently in one of the choppers that landed near the Ernst Happel stadium. But no word on which players he fancies adding to Chelsea's squad for next season.
A Spanish colleague who is close to David Villa's family told me the Valencia striker would prefer to stay in Spain, but with Real Madrid concentrating on landing Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona after a different type of striker, he may have to consider a move abroad. England is the most likely destination, with both Chelsea and Spurs tracking him. Valencia's 40 million euro price tag is unlikely to put Mr Abramovich off.
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THRIVING IN ADVERSITY
25/06/08
One last upset was beyond Turkey, but they so nearly did it again. Turkey have surprised everybody at the this tournament, not least themselves. But then they came up against Germany, the team that does not deal in surprises.
Turkey were the better side for much of this pulsating match. But just when the Turks looked to be on the verge of another amazing comeback, thanks to Semih Senturk's late equaliser, Philipp Lahm popped up, played a terrific one-two with Lukas Podolski, and fired home the winner to send the Turks home.
Turkey were down to their last 14 players, including reserve keeper Tolga Zengin and the walking wounded, Tumer Metin. Four players were suspended, another two were injured and a further two out of the tournament completely. And they were facing a German team that had overpowered a talented Portugal side in the quarter-final.
No problem. Turkey faced the challenge with gusto and took the game to a clearly rattled Germany.
This would be no walkover for Germany. Kazim hit the bar in the 13th minute and again in the 22nd, when the rebound was turned in by Ugur. With Turkey pushing up and playing a high defensive line, there was always the danger they could be caught on the break. And so it proved in the 26th minute when Germany engineered their first attack and scored through Schweinsteiger, again showing his eagerness to run from midfield, who turned in Podolski's cross.
With Torsten Frings replacing the injured Simon Rolfes at half-time, there was a slower pace to the start of the second half. Germany should have been awarded a penalty when Sabri, the midfielder who always looked uncomfortable at left back, clattered into Lahm on the edge of the area. But the German claims were waived away.
With Turkish resources so limited, there was always a danger that they would run out of gas. But something has been driving this team on throughout the tournament. And they did again in the 86th minute, responding to Miroslav Klose's 79th headed goal with a well-worked goal of their own. Sabri, always much happier going forwards, skinned Lahn and cross for Semih to turn the ball past a surprised Jens Lehmann.
As I write, the German squad, to a man, are on the pitch, saluting the fans who are now preparing to invade Vienna in their thousands. There has been an inevitability about Germany's progress through this tournament, from the moment Podolski's first goal thumped into the Polish net in their opening game. There was a blip against Croatia, but that defeat to Slaven Bilic's side only forced the pragmatic side of the German character to the fore. The players convened, discussed the situation and decided on a tactical rethink, from 442 and 4231.
So the German machine rolls on, but only after Turkey threw a serious spanner in the works. Lahm's late winner demonstrated the remarkable spirit of the nationalmannschaft, a team who thrive in adversity, and never give up.
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Euro 2008 has been an exceptional tournament, possible the best ever. Aside from the outstanding football being played, one factor has contributed more than any other to spectacle - the fans.
The Dutch takeover of Basle typified the spirit of Euro 2008. Thousands poured into the city last Saturday for the quarter-final with Russia, and thousands poured out again. And yet there was only a handful of arrests. Throughout the tournament, on trains and trams, in centre centres and the fanzones, supporters from different countries and different cities have mixed without any cause for concern. In many ways, that has been the biggest achievement of the tournament.
After a mix-up over my ticket in the media tribune, I watched the Spain-Italy quarter-final with the fans, thanks to a Spanish friend (gracias, Rogelio!). It was a chance to see the tournament in a way most journalist don't normally experience. There were plenty of Italian and Spanish supporters in the neutral areas, but very few of them were actually from either country. Instead, they spoke German and English, French and Dutch.
What struck me most was the lack of stewarding inside the ground. Security, as ever, was tight at the stadium perimeter. But once inside, fans were generally left alone. There was none of the nightclub-bouncer mentality that afflicts stewarding at English grounds like Old Trafford, where anybody attempting to stand up from their seat is pounced upon as if they were about to throw a hand grenade onto the pitch.
Whisper it, but Euro 2008 has been such an enjoyable tournament because England are not here. There are plenty of English people here, watching the matches as genuine fans. But there is no En-ger-land. And there's the rub. The atmosphere is far more relaxed. Nobody is looking nerviously over their shoulders. Nobody is relieved when arrests are kept to a minimum. Instead, everybody is celebrating a commonality, united by football. That might sound cheesy, but it would not have been possible if England had qualified.
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In the stands, away from the media tribune with its TV monitors, you have to rely on the giant TV screens for replays of key incidents during the match. But censorship, UEFA style, means that very few controversial refereeing decisions are shown. Just when TV viewers around the world are watching a tight offside call or a high tackle, the stadium screens cut to far less controversial shots of the fans. Only occasionally, if it is apparent that the referee has made the right decision, do the censors relent. They did this with an extravagant dive from David Villa against Italy, as if to say: "Ha! We told you so!" But most of the time, they don't have the guts to let the fans see what the rest of the world is seeing.
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CASILLAS TO THE FORE
22/06/08
It is a measure of how entertaining Euro 2008 has been that we had to wait until the fourth quarter-final before we got the first goalless 120 minutes. But then, perhaps it wasn't that surprising with the world's best keepers on show.
Iker Casillas won the battle of the number ones with Gianluigi Buffon. With an instinctive feet-first save in the first half, an acrobatic tip over from Antonio Di Natale's second half header and two terrific penalty stops, Casillas was the night's hero for Spain. In contrast, Gianluigi Buffon had looked on edge, with a post sparing his blushes when he let Marco Senna's shot slip through his fingers.
Casillas's status as the world's best keeper has become something of an obsession for the Spanish media, who feel the Real Madrid man does not get the recognition he deserves. Part of the problem is that Casillas plays for a club where so many other stars hog the limelight. But tonight, with the world watching, Casillas demonstrated his worth.
So a little bit of history is made by Spain. After losing three penalty shoot-outs on the same date, June 22, they finally triumphed. It was no less than they deserved after they showed the greater urgency in extra time. Italy missed the suspensed Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, but Alberto Aquilani did a decent job in their place. Ultimately, the Italian inquisition will focus on Luca Toni's goalless tournament.
The neutrals in the Viennese crowd, of which there were many, chose to back the Spanish and that appeared to lift Spain. The crowd took particular exception to Di Natale for feigning injury in extra time. Did the intense whistling contribute to Di Natale's penalty miss? Possibly, but taking the spot-kicks at the Spanish fans' end certainly did.
Some Spanish observers believe the national team suffers from an inferiority complex when they play Italy. Results down the years certainly back that argument, but others will also argue that the Spanish suffer from a wider psychological flaw about playing on the big stage. Now for the first time in 24 years, Spain are in the semi-finals. For once, the stereotypes have been broken.
It was ferociously hot yesterday in Vienna, even hotter then in Basle the day before. Everybody attending the fan zones could enjoy the sunshine but it was less than ideal for the players, who had to endure conditions of extreme humidity in the Ernst Happel stadium.
One of the reasons Euro 2008 has been such a great tournament on the pitch has been the unseasonally poor weather. It rained for much of the group stages and that created mistake-inducing conditions. Under such hot and humid conditions in Vienna, was it any surprise that Spain and Italy did not create that much goalmouth excitement? If the intense heat continues next week, what are the odds that Turkey, their squad back to bare bones through injuries and suspensions, try to play it safe against Germany?
*One of the benefits for TV audiences watching from the comfort of their own living rooms is that they miss the inane ramblings of the cretinous stadium announcers before, during and after the matches.
Football's obsession with turning matches into "entertainment experiences" has reached a new low at Euro 2008. It's impossible to ignore the clueless announcers, who seem to have been hired from Austrian kids TV. Their pronouncements from the side of the pitch are relayed around the stadium via the giant screens. In the Spain-Italy quarter-final, the perma-tanned buffoon on duty excelled himself by announcing, as the tension was mounting before the penalty shoot-out: "And let's watch the highlights of the 20 minutes of extra time."
*It cannot be a coincidence that three group winners have exited the tournament after resting their first elevens for the final group match.
Physically, the players from Portugal, Croatia and Holland may have been given a break. But in terms of their mental wellbeing, it proved to be an interruption, breaking up each team's momentum just when they needed to move up a gear.
In contrast, Russia are motoring along after a very shaky start against Spain. In general, great tournament teams triumph because they win the mental battles as well as the physical ones. Think Italy two years ago in Germany, with their siege mentality induced by the Calciopoli scandal.
Russia have a coach in Guus Hiddink who is a magnificent motivator with the knack of getting players to feel better about themselves. He did with South Korea in 2002, and he looks to be doing it again with the notoriously insular Russians.
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RUSSIANS ARE COMING
21/06/08
Two assists, one brilliantly taken goal and his team in the semi-finals of Euro 2008. All in an evening's work for Andrei Arshavin. Russian football has a new hero and the European game has a genuine superstar in the making.
As Russia's players rushed to celebrate with Dmitri Torbinsky after he had scored his side's second goal, Arshavin, the creator, walked gently back to the centre circle, his work seemingly done. And yet he was not done, ghosting past Andre Oijer to fire Russia's third goal in the final minute.
In the first half Russia had stretched and tested Holland in a way no other team had this tournament. As early as the eighth minute Roman Pavlyuchenko rose in the considerable gap in between Andre Ooijer and Joris Mathijsen but headed over.
The clever prompting of Arshavin and the darting forward runs of Konstantin Zyryanov and Ivan Saenko caused Holland problems.
Only a succession of saves by Edwin Van Sar suggested that Russia might live to regret the goalless state of affairs at half-time. Yet the breakthrough came early in the second half. Sergei Semak, played in by - guess who? - Arshavin, crossed for Roman Pavlyuchenko to volley home.
For the first time in the tournament, Holland had to chase the game. Gone were the sweeping counter-attacks that had blown the cobwebs from the creaking Italian and French defences. Instead, Marco Van Basten's men had to play their way through the massed Russian ranks.
Holland finally found a way back with Ruud Van Nistelrooy's equaliser in the 86th minute. But the Dutch had no answer to Arshavin's brilliance in extra time.
*So farewell then, Holland. The Dutch took over Basle last night. Half of the country seemed to be here and they were an incredible sight. On Friday night in Vienna Croatia's fans were the loudest I've witnessed at the tournament (until the 121st minute, at least). But the Dutch are by far the most colourful - and the best natured.
It's hard not to be charmed by the orange masses, even if they did invade the tranquillity of my empty train carriage for the last leg of my journey from Zurich to Basle. At least 120,000 Dutch are estimated to have made the short weekend trip over from Holland. Most of them seemed to be in my carriage. But we will miss them now they are gone.
So much for games getting less exciting in the group stages as defensive anxiety sets in. Friday night's extraordinary game in Vienna was shaping up as the worst of the tournament so far, until the final two minutes. It will now be remembered as one of the best games of the tournament, and not the stinker it was for 119 minutes.
There was also panic in the press box as the match took its dramatic last-minute twists. In the space of a minute, the story changed from Ivan Klasnic, kidney transplant patient and Croatia goal hero, to Turkey's third amazing comeback of the tournament.
*Tournaments are a great chance to catch up with people, and Euro 2008 is no exception. In addition to our reporting team of Keir Radnedge, Nick Bidwell, Paddy Agnew and myself, many of our correspondents are here. I've just met our man from Bulgaria, Rumen Paytashev, for the first time after years of communicating by phone and email. He's here along with our guys from, among others, Serbia, Poland, Turkey, Sweden, Moldova, Estonia, Austria and Croatia. Small world.
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COMEBACK KINGS
21/06/08
You have to hand it to Turkey. A goal down against Switzerland and seemingly heading out of the tournament after their first two games, they recovered to score twice and send the co-hosts out of the tournament. Four days later, they were two down with 15 minutes left against the Czech Republic; they scored three times to pull off a comeback that we thought could not bettered.
But now this. Has there ever been a later, greater turnaround than this in the history of the European Championship? Croatia thought they had won it with Ivan Klasnic's 120th header. We all thought they had won it. And it would have been nothing more than Croatia deserved. They had played all the best football, especially from the clever playmaking of Luka Modric, and created all the game's best chances. But the misses from Ivica Olic, Nico Kranjcar and Darijo Srna were to prove costly.
Turkey, by contrast, did not force a save from Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa until extra time when Tuncay ran to the byline and pulled a cross-shot back towards goal. Remarkably, their 122th minute goal, with the last kick of the game, was their first proper shot on target.
There was an inevitability about the penalty shoot-out as soon as Modric sent his kick wide of Rustu's post. Croatia's fans may have turned the Ersnt Happel stadium into a messy cauldron of smoke and noise during the match but the real drama unfolded in front of the Turkey fans at the other end. Was it any surprise that the Croatia players, their bodies drained after 122 minutes, made such a hash of the shoot-out.
Take nothing away from Turkey's astonishing achievement, but Croatia should be playing Germany in the semi-final.
* No doubt about the theme tune of the tournament. Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes is the song that accompanies the teams as they walk out for every match and its infectious riff - 'Dah de de de de dah de' - is everywhere.
The song was a staple on English terraces last season and its popularity is spreading, helped by the ease with which fans can add their own lyrics, whether it's Crystal Palace ("We're-the-red-and-blue-ar-my") or Italy (Cam-pi-o-ni-del-Mon-do"). Apparently, there is an official song by Enrique Iglesias entitled, appropriately, "Can You Hear Me?" No we can't, Enrique.
*It's Friday, so it must be Austria. Even with the benefits of traditional Swiss and Austrian organisation, there are aspects of Euro 2008 that are problematic. Co-hosted tournaments are always difficult and never run smoothly. My pockets are currently a confusing mixture of Euros and Swiss francs; that might sound like a minor inconvenience, but when you're travelling back and forth between the countries, it becomes a real drag. Different currencies, different dialling codes, different web browsers. The little things add up to one large problem.
I'm not really complaining; I'm lucky to be here. But you do wonder how much greater the problems will be in four years' time, if Poland and Ukraine co-host Euro 2012. I say 'if' because there is a whispering campaign that the tournament may be taken away from the eastern Europeans. The whispers are growing louder by the day. Not only are stadium preparations way behind schedule but the deteriorating political climate in Ukraine is a particular cause for concern.
UEFA is to send a delegation to the countries next month. With president Michel Platini attending as the delegation's high-profile head, it could mean curtains for Poland and Ukraine.
For UEFA, the question is probably not if, but how, to withdraw from an agreement with the Polish and Ukrainian federations. It will be a fascinating test of Platini's political skills to see if he can commit UEFA to such unprecedented action while saving political face at the same time. After all, Platini was elected with eastern European votes and the Euro 2012 decision was payback time for his supporters in the East.
The other burning question is who would take the place of Poland/Ukraine. France, keen to bid for Euro 2016, is one contender, as is Italy, who were beaten into second place by the Polish-Ukrainian bid. Spain are long overdue to host a major tournament after being beaten by Portugal for Euro 2004. But they may want to keep their powder dry for a 2018 World Cup bid.
UEFA general secretary David Taylor has again been floating the idea of an expanded 24-team European Championship for 2016. The idea will be considered by UEFA later this year but there are very few countries capable of hosting such a bloated, top-heavy tournament. Co-hosting, despite its obvious problems, is politically attractive to UEFA. It may become the norm.
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DESTINY DENIED
20/06/08
Quarter-finalists in 1996, semi-finalists in 2000, runners-up in 2004. There had been a degree of inevitability about Portugal's progress in this tournament that had led the Portuguese to believe that this really was their year.
Yet tonight in Basle the talented class of 2008 ran into the brick wall that is Germany tonight. The Portuguese weakness at crosses was exposed by a German side which played to its strengths, even if Michael Ballack's winning goal was secured with a push on Paulo Ferreira. The Portuguese media are bound to seize on Ballack's minor misdemeanour but they would do better to focus on Ricardo's failure to assert his authority when dealing with high balls.
Who needs coaches, eh? Joachim Low watched the game from the discomfort of an executive box, clearly frustrated by his lack of influence on the game. I sat a few rows back behind the Portuguese dugout, and witnessed at first hand Scolari's very own Graham Taylor moment, when he argued with the fourth official over Ballack's goal. Scolari's calls from the touchline went largely unheard by his players. But at least he made the right noises with his substitutions.
Russia looked good last night in Innsbruck and they now face Holland in what is effectively a re-run of the 1988 Final. Guus Hiddink's side have some momentum behind them now and the former Holland coach would love to get one over his fellow countrymen.
There's a feeling among Dutch colleagues here that the Oranje defence cannot hold out for six matches without showing some sign of weakness. Khalid Boulahrouz, a revelation at this tournament compared to the player who struggled at Chelsea, is unlikely to play after his wife suffered a miscarriage.
How Van Basten reorganises his defence to cope with Boulahrouz's absence, as well as the emergence of Russia's playmaker Andrei Arshavin, will go some way to determining whether the Dutch make it to the semi-finals.
The tournament is getting serious now, and not just on the pitch. The timetable of the knockout stages means alternate games between Basle and Vienna. For most of the group stages, it's been possible to negotiate a route between the venues by car and train. But now there is no option but to fly between the two remaining venues.
UEFA likes to call on fans to "respect the game, respect the environment". Shame that it's so hard to practice what UEFA preaches.
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COUNTING YOUR CHICKENS
19/06/08
Quarter-finalists in 1996, semi-finalists in 2000, runners-up in 2004. There had been a degree of inevitability about Portugal's progress in this tournament that had led the Portuguese to believe that this really was their year.
Yet tonight in Basle the talented class of 2008 ran into the brick wall that is Germany tonight. The Portuguese weakness at crosses was exposed by a German side which played to its strengths, even if Michael Ballack's winning goal was secured with a push on Paulo Ferreira. The Portuguese media are bound to seize on Ballack's minor misdemeanour but they would do better to focus on Ricardo's failure to assert his authority when dealing with high balls.
Who needs coaches, eh? Joachim Low watched the game from the discomfort of an executive box, clearly frustrated by his lack of influence on the game. I sat a few rows back behind the Portuguese dugout, and witnessed at first hand Scolari's very own Graham Taylor moment, when he argued with the fourth official over Ballack's goal. Scolari's calls from the touchline went largely unheard by his players. But at least he made the right noises with his substitutions.
* Russia looked good last night in Innsbruck and they now face Holland in what is effectively a re-run of the 1988 Final. Guus Hiddink's side have some momentum behind them now and the former Holland coach would love to get one over his fellow countrymen.
There's a feeling among Dutch colleagues here that the Oranje defence cannot hold out for six matches without showing some sign of weakness. Khalid Boulahrouz, a revelation at this tournament compared to the player who struggled at Chelsea, is unlikely to play after his wife suffered a miscarriage.
How Van Basten reorganises his defence to cope with Boulahrouz's absence, as well as the emergence of Russia's playmaker Andrei Arshavin, will go some way to determining whether the Dutch make it to the semi-finals.
* The tournament is getting serious now, and not just on the pitch. The timetable of the knockout stages means alternate games between Basle and Vienna. For most of the group stages, it's been possible to negotiate a route between the venues by car and train. But now there is no option but to fly between the two remaining venues.
UEFA likes to call on fans to "respect the game, respect the environment". Shame that it's so hard to practice what UEFA preaches. Click here
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STEPPING STONE
15/06/08
The way the tournament draw is panning out, a Final between Holland and Portugal is a distinct possibility. Neither side has a great history in penalty shoot-outs - probably the biggest single factor likely to halt their progress - but if they do both make it to Vienna, there will be a repeat of the explosive second-round match at the 2006 World Cup, when a record 16 yellow cards and four red cards were brandished during an extraordinary game in Nuremburg.
When I interviewed Holland coach Marco Van Basten a couple of months ago, he spoke at great length about that match. Indeed, he gave his longest answer of the interview to a suggestion that the reputation of Dutch football had been tarnished by the indiscipline of that match. He was more concerned about post-match criticism that he had made the wrong substitutions and failed to win as a result. He had had to made the changes, he said, to deal with the early sending-off of Khalid Boulahrouz. It meant he ran out of options and was not able to introduce Ruud Van Nistelrooy, his most likely match-winner from the bench.
Van Basten's strange Dutch English - which makes sense in conversation but can often look incomprehensible when transferred to print - can mean that he appears more of a philospher than is actually the case. But at Euro 2008, Van Basten is compounding the critics who doubted whether he had the necessary qualities to be a coach.
Van Basten is one of a new breed of ambitious young managers who are using international football as a stepping stone to club football. By moving to Ajax this summer, he will be following in the footsteps of Jurgen Klinsmann, Mark Hughes (surely destined for bigger and better things then the circus of Manchester City) and Frank Rijkaard. Slaven Bilic of Croatia will surely follow them.
The strong team spirit that Van Basten had instilled in the Dutch squad was evident from the goal celebrations against France. I was sitting behind the bench, a few rows back from pitchside in Bern, and saw at first hand how delighted the entire camp - substitutes, coaches, medical staff - was when the goals went in. Arjen Robben ran to the bench to celebrate with Dirk Kuyt, the player he had just replaced and his closest rival for a starting place.
Austria never looked likely to get the better of Germany last night, but it is still a great shame that neither of the co-hosts have made it through to the knockout stages. A tournament always loses something when the hosts exit prematurely, but this has been a strangely disjointed tournament. With travel difficult between the two countries, people have been forced to base themselves in one country. I've spent most of my time in Switzerland, which makes it hard for me to analyse Austria's contribution to the tournament.
The Swiss celebrations that followed Sunday's defeat of Portugal's reserves were muted, and not just because Switzerland had been the first team to exit the tournament. Kobi Kuhn was given an appreciative send-off after seven years as national coach, but it was a typically Swiss occasion, understated and low-key.
It's been hard for Switzerland, a nation of foreigners, to get too excited about the national team, especially when a real national hero, tennis player Roger Federer, was competing in the French Open final at Roland Garros. In Geneva, I've been staying with my cousin, who typifies Swiss attitudes to the tournament. Though undeniably proud to be welcoming the rest of Europe to her city, with an English mother, Italian father and Polish husband, her loyalties are split.
The closest Geneva's locals came to nationalistic fervour was when the local Portuguese community, most unable to afford tickets for the match against the Czech Republic, lined the streets leading from the stadium, to cheer the Portugal team bus as it made its way back to the Portuguese hotel in Neuchatel.
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TOURNAMENT TO SAVOUR
15/06/08
First Italy, then Germany, now France. The big names are being humbled and Euro 2008 is being hailed as a tournament to savour. Steady on.
For the moment, at least, defences are looking vulnerable. Even the tournament's most exciting team, Holland, have a defence underpinned by those defensive giants Andre Ooijer, Khalid Boulahrouz and 33-year-old Giovanni Van Bronckhorst.
The defence of the other outstanding team of the first two rounds, Portugal, is commanded by two centre-backs, Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho, whose tendency to stroll forward, discarding their defensive duties, leaves them vulnerable.
The lapses at the back - from established defenders like Gianluca Zambrotta - have meant goals for the taking, but the goal frenzy is unlikely to last. We saw a similar pattern in the group stages of the last World Cup, before things tightened up considerably in the knockout stages, with penalty shoot-outs looming.
Both the Dutch and the Portuguese are showing how effective a 4-2-3-1 formation can be at international level. The French have used such a system for some time, with considerable success in 1998 and 2000. But on Friday night, against Holland, the system failed to deliver. Jeremy Toulalan, in particular, struggled as one of the two defensive midfielders.
Part of the problem was that his partner, Claude Makelele covers the ground of two men, leaving Toulalan lost for a role. But France's Raymond Domenech made no changes to his midfield, while Dutch coach Marco Van Basten made a match-winning substitution by taking off his underperforming midfielder Orlando Engelaar at half-time, bringing on the outstanding Arjen Robben and moving Van Bronckhorst - a revelation at this tournament - into midfield.
I knew the Dutch were in town when I drove up to stadium in Bern and passed a car park full of camper vans. While the French won the anthems contest hands down - La Marseillaise is far superior to the Dutch anthem, with its bizarre references to the King of Spain - the Dutch fans were far noisier during the match. That was not surprising given that the men and women in orange occupied three-quarters of the ground.
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PAYING THE PENALTY
13/06/08
The odds on Howard Webb taking charge of an important game in the knockout stages of Euro 2008 will have shortened after his performance in charge of yesterday's game between Austria and Poland in Vienna.
There will be plenty of people delighted by Webb's controversial decision to award Austria an injury-time penalty after Polish defender Mariusz Lewandowski had tugged Sebastian Prodl to the ground. But Poland coach Leo Beenhakker, angered by Webb's decision to allow Austria to retake the free-kick, was not one of them. Ivica Vastic's late goal denied Beenhakker's side victory over an Austrian team that had fluffed three good chances early on and did not look like equalising Roger's Guerreiro's goal for Poland.
However, by intervening to force the set-piece to be taken again, Webb gave a clear signal to the players that he would not tolerate misbehaviour from players jostling for position when the kick was retaken. Lewandowski can't say he wasn't warned. The real problem with such situations is that referees so rarely take action to deal with what has become an endemic problem. There is now little difference between football set-pieces and rugby line-outs. Beenhakker's anger was understandable given most referees‚ indifference to the problem. But Webb was only doing what more referees have been told to so. It's just a shame so few have the courage to take the appropriate action.
Webb's decision revive memories of Anders Frisk's penalising of Spain's Fernando Hierro for pulling the shirt of Ireland's Niall Quinn at the 2002 World Cup. Frisk's flamboyant refereeing style had its detractors but the Swede was praised for taking a stand and he was unlucky to lose out to Pieluigi Collina, who eventually took charge of the 2002 World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany. Webb must now be a serious contender to be in charge in Vienna on June 29. England may get to the Final of Euro 2008 after all.
*Chelsea's appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari may have ended Roman Abramovich's protracted search for a new manager and set up an intriguing contest with Manchester United next season. But Portugal's problems may just be starting. Player agents have been banned from the Portuguese training camp since the start of the tournament in a bid to keep the squad focused on the task in hand. So how will the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Carvalho and Deco, all unsettled by transfer speculation, react to the news that their manager has not been practising what he preaches?
His imminent arrival at Chelsea also makes you wonder whether he will now be encouraging Cristiano Ronaldo to move to Madrid. After all, would you want him terrorising opposition Premiership defences on behalf of your closest rivals when he could be doing the same in La Liga?
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COMPLETE PACKAGE?
11/06/08
Four days in and we've seen all 16 teams. Admittedly, it's only one round of matches, but already some favourites are emerging. Germany, Spain and, more surprisingly, Holland all confirmed their potential in their opening matches. But all three also showed a soft centre in defence. Germany's Christoph Metzelder looked rusty after an injury-plagued season in Madrid. Despite the scoreline in Innsbruck last night, Russian forward Roman Pavlyuchenko demonstrated that Spain's defenders struggle under pressure and could be punished by sharper finishing. And the Dutch defence allowed Italy to creates which Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale, on any other day, would have snaffled up.
Portugal, though, looked the complete package against Turkey. Cristiano Ronaldo may have struggled to start the tournament the way he finished last season with Manchester United, but his team-mates more than compensated. Deco and Joao Moutinho were outstanding in midfield, while Brazilian-born defender Pepe looked impressive at the back. In previous tournaments, Portugal have lacked a cutting edge in attack. But it may be that gap will be filled by Ronaldo, who switched to a central role in the second half against Turkey. With the likes of Queresma, Simao and Nani, Portugal certainly do not lack for talent in wide positions.
David Villa's performance against Russia was spell-binding. The Russian defenders appeared to have done their homework on Fernando Torres, paying him close attention, but they forgot about Villa. Spain are masters at flattering to deceive, of course. They won their opening game at the last World Cup in similar style, slicing through Ukraine to win 4-0. Yet it was the Ukrainians who reached the quarter-finals, not Spain. The Spanish may come up short again, but the early signs suggest otherwise.
It was pouring with rain in Innsbruck, but Spain made light of the conditions. The speed with which they passed the ball around, with such precision, bodes well for the tournament. Four years ago, Greece's safety-first approach carried them all the way to victory in the Final. But the defending champions‚ defeat to Sweden last night exposed the limitations of such an approach.
The signs are that the attacking teams will thrive as the competition progresses, though I fear Romania, with their defensive-minded approach, will spoil somebody's party.
*There's a peculiar mix of footballing cultures at Euro 2008, and not just on the pitch. The journalist sitting opposite me in the media centre as I write is proudly sporting a Man United replica shirt. He's from Thailand and he's not untypical of journalists from that region, for whom English football holds a particular attraction.
It's the same with a lot of American soccer writers, who like to wear their European club allegiances as a badge of honour, feeling it gives them extra credibility. European journalists, myself included, tend to take the opposite view.
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DUTCH COURAGE
10/06/08
Holland’s victory over Italy has given the tournament a much needed kick up the backside. After the comfortable victory for Germany and the unfortunate defeats for both co-hosts, the competition was in danger in slipping into a rut. But Group C was always capable of producing a surprise, and so it proved.
While the Dutch have been acclaimed in some quarters for invoking memories of yesteryear, their performance was a largely prosaic one. Italy badly missed Fabio Cannavaro, while Luca Toni had an off-day. That’s not to disregard the Dutch performance. Their second goal, the sweeping move that ended in Sneijder’s volley past Edwin Van der Sar, was sensational, easily the best goal of the tournament so far.
The great irony of the game was that Italy set themselves in a 4-3-3 formation, while Holland, playing with two defensive midfielders, won the battle in central midfield and hit Italy in classic counter-attacking style.
One of the revelations for Holland was the huge midfielder Orlando Engelaar, who only a few weeks ago was only an outside contender for a place in the final Dutch squad. My seat in Bern was a few rows from the front, just behind the dug-outs. While it wasn’t best position to observe the wider match, at least I could see from close quarters what a giant Engelaar is. Dutch colleagues say that the 28-year-old is a late developer, but now looks to have found his best position in defensive midfield,
Having played a key role in Twente’s surprise Champions League qualification, Engelaar is now on the radar of Premiership scouts. But he’s already been snapped up Schalke for next season, following coach Fred Rutten to his new job in Germany.
* Italy’s defeat, along with the draw for France, has at least led to one particular conspiracy theory being shelved. As the two strongest teams in Group C, France and Italy might have been in the position, come their final group game against other in Zurich, to “settle” for a draw, and proceed to the knockout stages, Instead, it is now Holland and Romania who could be in a position where they might be accused of going easy on each other in their final match.
* Italy coach Roberto Donadoni may now be accused of over confidence for basing his squad in Vienna in the belief that they would progress to the Vienna quarter-final as group C winners. But to his credit, Donadoni refused to blame the decision to allow Holland’s first goal for his team’s poor performance. Despite the clear evidence that Rudd Van Nistelrooy was offside, Donadoni accepted the view of referee Peter Frodjfeldt that Christian Panucci, who had stepped off the pitch, had played the Dutchman onside.
* Travel around Austria and Switzerland is not proving as easy in Germany, despite the media being granted free first-class rail travel. But colleagues making the long journey up from Klagenfort, having covered Germany-Poland the previous day, struggled to get to Bern in time for the kick-off of Holland-Italy after rail delays of up to two hours. Germany may have been a big country to get around, but at least the trains ran on time.
* England may not have missed out on their first European Championship finals for 24 years, but the UK media are here in force, and not everyone is enamoured with the media arrangements. With priority being given to media from the 16 competing nations, many English scribes were not allocated desks in the media tribune for the Holland-Italy game. Instead, they had to perch laptops on their, er, laps, as they filed copy from ordinary seats in the stands.
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GENEROUS HOSTS
08/06/08
The Swiss were unlucky to lose to the Czech Republic in last night's opening match.
It's generally seen as a bad thing if the hosts fail to shine on the pitch as it can, so the argument goes, set the tone for the rest of the tournament. But the Swiss were only following the time-honoured tradition of the hosts failing to win their opening game. In the history of the tournament, only France in 1984 and Holland and Belgium in 2000 have won their first group game.
Geneva town centre was a noisy place to be last night as the Portuguese celebrated their stylish victory over Turkey by taking to their vehicles and letting their car horns do the talking. There's a big Portuguese community in Geneva and though they are well established, they are still mostly employed in menial jobs. So the joke among the less enlightened locals (including my taxi driver) was that the city's offices would not get cleaned today.
Nice to see UEFA being honest on the issue of attendances. In previous tournaments, the organisers have insisted that matches have been sold out when a cursory glance at empty seats in the stands would have told a different story. Portugal-Turkey was watched by 29,106, just short of the official 30,000 capacity.
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MAKING A NOISE
07/06/08
I have left sunny London and arrived in grey, overcast Geneva.
The Swiss have been criticised for not taking an interest in the tournament that is taking place on their doorstep but my first impressions are that things are bubbling up quite nicely. That's largely because of the Turkish and Portuguese fans, who are already out in force, but the locals are making an effort, too. There are plenty of Swiss flags on display, as are the Euro 2008 volunteers, clad in light blue baseball caps and T-shirts that make them look alarmingly like UN peacekeepers.
No surprises about the early candidates for the tournament's noisiest fans. The Turks are already here in numbers, and judging by the German number plates of the honking cars and vans making a nuisance of themselves on the streets of Geneva, a lot of ex-pats have the trip across the border from Germany.
I'm not hopeful that this tournament will deliver on the culinary front. Once again, McDonalds is the "official restaurant" of Euro 2008 and as a mainline sponsor has a highly visible presence both at the stadium and in the fanzones.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be the centre of attention at tonight's game. The media circus surrounding his likely transfer to Real Madrid threatens to overwhelm the Portuguese campaign, despite the best efforts of the Portuguese federation to keep a lid on it. There are shades of David Beckham at the last World Cup. The main difference, though, is that while Sven Goran Eriksson gave in to every request from Beckham, Ronaldo is not likely to be indulged in the same way by Phil Scolari.
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LET BATTLE COMMENCE...
06/06/08
Less than 24 hours to go till Euro 2008 and judging by the conversations I’ve had with colleagues already out in Austria and Switzerland – who I meet up with tomorrow – there isn’t much in the way of pre-tournament excitement. But that’s not going to stop me making some rash pre-tournament predictions.
Given their record, both in qualifying and in previous finals, it is understandable that Germany are the tournament favourites, but their defence does look a little suspect. The selection of Jens Lehmann as first-choice goalkeeper, despite his lack of first-team action at Arsenal this season, also suggests that Joachim Low may be taking a different approach to his predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann, who benefitted from a selection policy that put form ahead of reputation.
The Germans should have no trouble coming through their group, but they may struggle after that. The other big favourites, Italy, look stronger, despite the loss of Fabio Cannavaro. Ironically, the big factor in the Azzurri’s favour is their lack of success in this season’s Champions League. One of the major reasons cited for Greece’s success in 2004 – as well as the failure of the big five of Italy, England, France, Germany and Spain – was the freshness of their players, many of whom had spent the 2003-04 season as reserves at their clubs.
Fitness could also be a big factor in Russia’s favour. Guus Hiddink’s side are being tipped by many as dark horses and it is easy to see why. Hiddink’s tournament record, with Holland, South Korea and Australia, goes before him. Add the UEFA Cup success of Zenit St Petersburg, which has given Russian football a huge psychological boost, and the fact that the Russians are in the middle of their league season, keeping legs comparatively fresh, and there are definitely shades of Greece four years ago.
As for other upsets, I fancy Romania. If you’re of the betting persuasion, at 28-1, the Romanians look good value. Yes, they are in the toughest group, but Greece had a tough group with Portugal, Spain and Russia four years ago and in 1996, eventual finalists Czech Republic came through a difficult group containing Germany, Italy and Russia.
France, Italy and Holland will inevitably take points off each other, and I have a sneaky feeling that if the defensive-minded Romanians can hold Italy and France in their opening two games, they could beat the Dutch in their final match. Then anything is possible.
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COUNTDOWN BEGINS
03/06/08
Barring a few last-minute tweaks, the final Euro 2008 squads have been announced and without wishing to blow World Soccer’s trumpet too much, our correspondents have done pretty well in predicting the final 23-man parties of their respective countries.
Such are the deadlines for a monthly magazine that for our Summer edition previewing the tournament, our correspondents were required to file copy in
the first week of April. That meant predicting the final Euro championship squads at least six weeks before the actual announcements were made.
If past experience is anything to go by, it’s virtually impossible to predict a final tournament squad. Anything over 85 per cent accuracy is quite an achievement. So congratulations to Zdravko Reic (Croatia), Dariusz Kurowski (Poland), Harry Miltner (Austria) and Lou Economopoulos (Greece) for exactly predicting the players who made their respective final 23-man squads.
There have been a few surprises – Henrik Larsson coming out of international retirement for a third time to play for Sweden was totally unexpected, while St Etienne striker Bafetimbi Gomis had a sensational debut for France in last week’s friendly against Ecuador, scoring two goals to edge out Djibril Cisse from the squad.
Elsewhere, selections went pretty much as unexpected. Raul was overlooked by Spain coach Luis Aragones, while the Czech Republic’s Karel Bruckner decided against a recall for veteran Pavel Nedved despite great speculation that the Juventus midfielder would be called up.
There are very few big-name absences from the squads, with the possible exception of Italy’s Francesco Totti, who was never likely to go back on his decision to quit the international scene. Only the injuries to Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic) and Eduardo (Croatia) are likely to have a serious impact on their respective teams’ chances.
For everybody else, the excitement is mounting.
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