Day 19: Campeones!

I told you so.

A decent final, not the best game of the tournament by any means but certainly enjoyable. Spain were dominant if not in the end clear victors and should really have wrapped it up far earlier, the problem being that despite some of the brilliant positions that the midfield runners were playing themselves into, none of them, particularly Andres Iniesta, had the striker’s instinct to run straighter into the path of the pass and really capitalise, which was obviously the great advantage created by the Torres-Villa partnership.

That was, however, the only problem with Spain tonight and it would be unfair to dwell. Germany, on the other hand, were awful and were lucky to get nil and dirty kit. Defensive ineptitude combined with attacking incertitude to terminal effect. Before the tournament I would have argued that Miroslav Klose was every bit as world class a player as Michael Ballack – now, definitely not. He was exposed as a flat-track bully here, while his much-hyped former partner “Super” Mario Gomez has seen his reputation flattened by a truly horrific competition.

I’m not sure the German side needs an awful lot of changes, though. Joachim Low certainly needs to revive confidence but the potential is certainly there – witness their excellent World Cup two years ago. Podolski needs to return to a more central position, that’s for sure, as he’s been the only German striker to even look like scoring, and Bastian Schweinsteiger showed flashes of brilliance, and together with Ballack they should be the fulcrum of the team.

Spain are worthy champions. The best team has won and now that the duck is broken it’s quite plausible that they could push on to be the dominant force in world football – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Luis Aragones, objectionable racist prat that he may be, has certainly proved me wrong in terms of his enduring ability, and will be missed as he leaves at the end of his contract, possibly to Fenerbahce – now that will be interesting.

This isn’t quite the end of my Euro 2008 coverage, as I’ll be doing an awards post or two in the next few days, before broadening my horizons a bit into the wider sporting world. It’s been fun.

Days 9 & 10: Groups A and B resolved

Firstly, my apologies for not covering Day 9 yesterday – I’ve been busy setting up my new laptop. Hooray for me. Anyway, here’s a double-header to make up for it.

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So on Sunday it was the first of the simultaneous group wraps, with Turkey completing a stunning comeback to beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in one of the strangest fifteen minutes I’ve seen for a long while. The first half was a bore, the Czechs running the game without any real Turkish resistance at all. When Jaroslav Plasil made it 2-0 I was sure that was game over, and considered switching over to the Switzerland-Portugal game. Thankfully my decision to stick with it was worth it – first Arda Turan confirmed his growing reputation with the Turkish opener, then, more sadly, Petr Cech confirmed that he hasn’t been the same keeper since Stephen Hunt kicked his head in a year or so ago. That really was a first-grade howler – the Cech of two years ago would have caught that cross 100% of the time, no question. A real shame, but what made it more painful was the exquisite winner two minutes later, Nihat breaking the offside trap with ease and powering a fantastic shot in off the underside of the crossbar. Brutal.

As if that wasn’t enough, Turkish goalkeeper Arslan Volkan decided that it was a good time to blatantly push Jan Koller over in the penalty box. The most obvious red card you’ll ever see, you have to wonder what the hell he was thinking – and if I was Fatih Terim, I’d seriously consider not bothering to pick him after his ban even if they get past Croatia into the semi-finals. Luckily, I’m not Fatih Terim – I have no desire to be a Turkish Terry Venables any time soon. So, the Czechs were knocked out and Croatia-Turkey looks like being an interesting quarter-final.

As I said, I didn’t see any of the Swiss-Portugal game, aside from one replay of the disallowed goal (not enough for me to make a judgement on whether or not it was offside), and the two Swiss goals. I mean, seriously – what the hell were Portugal doing losing 2-0 to that side? I know they made 8 changes and were already through, but surely those 8 players wanted to earn a place in the quarter-final line-up? Difficult to argue with the heart of the Swiss performance, though, by the sounds of it. They’ve certainly given a better account of themselves than their co-hosts.

So on to last night’s action, where Germany qualified courtesy of Michael Ballack’s free-kick goal (the first decent free-kick of the tournament, I might add) in a 1-0 victory over Austria, who made a mockery of the nostalgia-fest covering their famous victory in Cordoba all those years ago by showing just how useless they are, particularly, again, in the opponent’s half. Despite the ineptitude of their opposite numbers, Germany weren’t great either, and again it was the strikers who were the issue. Miroslav Klose did pretty much nothing all night, though at least he did nothing wrong per se, which is more than can be said for his partner Mario Gomez. Having been hyped by everyone pre-tournament, including yours truly, he topped his anonymous first two performances by being actively bad last night, missing a tap-in nearly on a par with the easiness of Hakan Yakin’s puddle-aided goal last week. His confidence is clearly shot and I doubt we’ll see him start a game again in this tournament.

Meanwhile, what on earth went on between Jogi Low and Josef Hickersberger, the two managers, on the touchline shortly before half-time? I didn’t catch all of what was happening (more laptop fiddling) at the time, so am still quite clueless about the whole thing – but it looked surreal, Hickersberger not once but twice strolling into the German technical area and harassing the staff for no apparent reason, then as the two managers continued bickering, ignoring the referee’s attempts to get them to stop, they were quite rightly sent to the stands. Then, Low had the cheek to go and get his jacket first, before the two managers shook hands on the way out. What on earth was all that about?

In other news, Croatia top the table with 9 points having beaten Poland 1-0 thanks to Ivan Klasnic’s goal. That is all I know about the match, having seen none of it. Sounds like Croatia did pretty well despite playing a second team. I tell you, they’re going to the final.

Day 2: Croatia disappoint and Germany win

Hello mum!

Austria 0 – 1 Croatia. OK, so it’s a win for Croatia – we all expected that much – but looking at the two sides on paper it really should have been a more convincing scoreline, never mind performance. I was thoroughly disappointed with Slaven Bilic’s team yesterday, particularly as they’re my tip for losing finalists, and on this form there’s no way they’ll get past Germany in the semi-final. For the first twenty minutes of the game, they were brilliant, carving through Austria at will, with Modric running the show. And then, for some inexplicable reason, they stopped caring. Austria huffed and puffed and nearly snatched themselves an equaliser – more embarrassingly for Croatia, they deserved one. Bilic emphasised the positives to the press afterwards but he must be frustrated that his side didn’t finish the co-hosts off before half-time. Must try harder.

Germany 2 – 0 Poland was a better game, as I suspected it might be regardless of the outcome of the previous encounter. A repeat of a great game at the 2006 World Cup, Poland matched the Germans for long periods of the game, though the difference was in the final third. With Podolski on the left, Germany essentially had three forwards, though Klose was out of sorts and Gomez wasn’t quite the immediate sensation I’d been looking forward to. Poland, on the other hand, struggled to create chances for Smolarek, with the captain Zurawski remaining mostly anonymous. The slightly fortuitous second goal killed them off, but if Zurawski gets his act together they could give Croatia a run for their money in terms of qualification, which I didn’t think I’d be saying 24 hours ago.

Tonight the Group of Death Relative Predictability kicks off, with France playing Romania in what should be three easy points, and Italy taking on Holland, which again should be a win for the former. I hope Holland prove me wrong, but I stand by my prediction of a comfortable third. See you tomorrow.

Euro 2008 Preview: Group B

Team: Austria

Manager: Josef Hickersberger, who played for Austria at the 1978 World Cup and managed them at Italia ‘90. Since being sacked after losing to the Faroe Islands in 1992, he’s been managing various Arabian teams (including the Bahrain national side) before returning home to the Austria job in 2004. Suffice to say, he isn’t the messianic figure Austria need.

Strip: Red shirts and socks, white shorts. Second strip is black with gold trim.

Captain: ‘The Austrian Beckham’, left-winger Andreas Ivanschitz is Austria’s only good player going forward. Only 24, he’s played regularly for his country since 2003 and has a beastly shot. He is, however, it.

Form: It doesn’t matter. They’re screwed. (for the record, it’s been abysmal.)

Man to Watch: Sturdy centre-back Martin Stranzl is good enough to be occasionally linked with Birmingham. Yep, that’s the best I could come up with. This is probably the worst squad ever in the European Championships.

Prediction: If they’re lucky they might get a  0-0 against Poland, but anything more is impossible. It’s not going to be fun for the co-hosts.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Alex Manninger (Siena)

21. Jurgen Macho (AEK Athens)

23. Ramazan Ozcan (Hoffenheim)

Defenders

2. Joachim Standfest (Austria Wien)

3. Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow)

4. Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough)

12. Ronald Gercaliu (Austria Wien)

13. Markus Katzer (Rapid Wien)

15. Sebastian Prodl (Sturm Graz)

16. Jurgen Patocka (Rapid Wien)

17. Martin Hiden (Rapid Wien)

Midfielders

5. Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg)

6. Rene Aufhauser (Salzburg)

8. Christian Leitgeb (Salzburg)

10. Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos)

11. Umit Korkmaz (Rapid Wien)

14. Gyorgy Garics (Napoli)

19. Jurgen Samuel (Sturm Graz)

20. Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen)

Forwards

7. Ivica Vastic (LASK Linz)

9. Roland Linz (Braga)

18. Roman Kienast (HamKam)

22. Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Wien)

Team: Croatia

Manager: Slaven Bilic looks like being a very good manager indeed, having success with both the Croatia Under-21s and now the full national side. Numerous club sides have come calling, but to his credit he’s refused the big bucks (for now) in order to continue working on the side he’s turning into real contenders.

Strip: You know, the red-and-white checked shirt. Second strip is blue with, er, red-and-white checked trim.

Captain: Erstwhile central midfielder Niko Kovac is retiring after this competition, and, though a little slower than he has been, is still the most powerful force in the Croatian engine room, complementing well with Luka Modric. He’s done this sort of thing before and will be ready to lead the charge.

Form: Only one defeat in qualifying but they’d already secured their place anyway. We all know about their victory over England, where they showed just how good they really are, though they were surprisingly held by Hungary in their final pre-finals friendly. I wouldn’t read too much into it, though.

Man to Watch: Difficult to go for anyone other than Modric, who’s just signed for Tottenham for 16.5 million pounds. A brilliant creative central midfielder, he’s gaining more and more authority in the team as he grows and much of Croatia’s play will go through him.

Prediction: Dark horses. They’ll probably beat Portugal or the Czech Republic in the quarters and I can see them potentially overcoming Germany as well. Watch out – Croatia mean business.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow)

12. Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos)

23. Vedran Runje (Lens)

Defenders

2. Dario Simic (Milan)

3. Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin)

4. Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund)

5. Vedran Corluka (Man City)

6. Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk)

13. Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco)

15. Dario Knezevic (Livorno)

Midfielders

7. Ivan Rakitic (Schalke)

8. Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kyiv)

10. Niko Kovac (Red Bull Salzburg)

11. Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk)

14. Luka Modric (Tottenham)

16. Jerko Leko (Monaco)

19. Niko Krancjar (Portsmouth)

22. Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen)

Forwards

9. Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split)

17. Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen)

18. Ivica Olic (Hamburg)

20. Igor Budan (Parma)

21. Mladen Petric (Borussia Dortmund)

Team: Germany

Manager: Joachim Low’s transition into the manager’s role has been seamless. An innovative coach, Low has continued in the philosophy of Klinnsmann’s team by defying tradition and playing expansive, attacking football. Recently had his contract extended until 2010.

Strip: White shirt, black shorts, white socks with a black stripe across the chest. Second strip is all red with a vertical black stripe down the chest.

Captain: Michael Ballack has really come into his own at Chelsea in his second season there, and a lot of people seem to have taken it for granted. I haven’t once seen an article praising his ascension to vital part of their central midfield, and I think much more should be made of it. He’s in good form and has always led Germany well. Ballack will be a big influence this year.

Form: The first non-hosts to secure qualification for the tournament, they still managed a couple of strange results – 1-1 with Cyprus anyone? 0-0 with Wales? More astonishingly, they somehow managed to only put 13 past San Marino… A good friendly win over Serbia the other day puts them in good stead for the finals.

Man to Watch: 22-year-old Mario Gomez (zero-time winner of the Most German-Sounding Name Award) has scored 33 goals in the last two Bundesliga seasons, propelling mediocre Stuttgart to the title in 2007 against the odds. He’ll be pushing Klose very hard for the starting berth and will probably use the tournament to secure a big-money move abroad.

Prediction: Quite capable of beating every side in the tournament, you’d be foolish to rule Germany out, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that they’ll lose to Croatia in the semis. Their (probable) two clashes will be fascinating.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Jens Lehmann (Arsenal)

12. Robert Enke (Hannover 96)

23. Rene Adler (Leverkusen)

Defenders

2. Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich)

3. Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)

4. Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen)

5. Heiko Westermann (Schalke)

16. Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)

17. Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)

21. Cristoph Metzelder (Real Madrid)

Midfielders

6. Simon Rolfes (Leverkusen)

7. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

8. Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)

13. Michael Ballack (Chelsea)

14. Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)

15. Thomas Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart)

18. Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen)

Forwards

9. Mario Gomez (Stuttgart)

10. Oliver Neuville (Borussia Monchengladbach)

11. Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)

19. David Odonkor (Real Betis)

20. Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich)

22. Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke)

Team: Poland

Manager: Leo Beenhakker, one of my favourite names in world football. Having defied expectations to get Trinidad and Tobago to the 2006 World Cup, the Dutchman’s done a great job at Poland qualifying them for their first ever Euros. A canny coach, he likes to switch formations – he used 4-4-2, 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 in qualifying.

Strip: White shirt, red shorts and white socks. The second strip is the inverse.

Captain: Maciej “Magic” Zurawski, formerly of Celtic but now with Greek side Larissa, is a clever striker but his goals-to-caps ratio isn’t great – 17 in 70.  At 31, this may be his last major tournament, so he’ll be desperate to take advantage.

Form: A six-match winning streak in qualifying helped them finish above Portugal in their group, having been solid throughout the campaign. Zurawski scored Poland’s 1,200th goal in international football in the 3rd minute to beat Albania in a friendly a few days ago, but they face a sterner test against Denmark tonight in their final warm-up match. That should tell us more about their form.

Man to Watch: Contrast Ebi Smolarek, who scored 9 goals in qualifying, and Marek Saganowski, who had a brilliant first half-season with my beloved Southampton but only 3 goals this year in a highly disappointing campaign. Potentially, they could complement each other well up front, but Zurawski will start ahead of Saganowski. Smolarek in particular should shine.

Prediction: They should beat Austria (hell, my granny could), but getting past Germany and Croatia will be too much to ask. They’ll be respectable, but third.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Artur Boruc (Celtic)

12. Tomas Kuszczak (Man United)

22. Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal)

Defenders

2. Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)

3. Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)

4. Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)

5. Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow)

6. Jacek Bak (Austria Wien)

13. Martin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)

14. Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos)

15. Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)

23. Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Krakow)

Midfielders

8. Jacek Krzynowek (Wolfsburg)

10. Lukasz Gargula (Belchatow)

16. Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)

17. Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)

18. Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)

19. Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)

20. Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)

Forwards

7. Ebi Smolarek (Racing)

9. Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)

11. Marek Saganowski (Southampton)

21. Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)