Day 11: France euthanased by Italy

So it was probably the most anticipated day of the competition so far – the (third) rematch between the two World Cup finalists. It was hyped pre-tournament as the group decider – but for first and second place, rather than potentially as low as third, depending on Holland and Romania. I was thrilled to see the game meaning so much to both teams, but once again France showed just how inflated their expectations were.

To be fair, they had a disastrous start. Franck Ribery was the one player they absolutely couldn’t afford to lose, but he succumbed to what looks like a really nasty ankle and knee injury (there’s no word yet on how long he’ll be out, but I’m guessing a good couple of months at least) after only seven minutes. The second disaster was entirely their fault, however – Eric Abidal (who despite noises from the BBC has proved himself in the past to be a competent centre-back as well as left-back) made a rash, doomed-to-failure challenge on Luca Toni in the penalty box for the clearest straight red I’ve seen in a while. It was at that point that Raymond Domenech proved there was no way back – he brought on Jean-Alain Boumsong to solve all their problems.

We should have seen this coming. France rested on their laurels far too much after a flattering trip to the World Cup final and relied on fast-fading old hands like Thuram, Makelele and Henry. The former two have now announced their international retirements (again), in the first of what must be a series of radical overhauls of the team. Benzema, Ribery and Nasri must become the focus, and Henry, Vieira, Govou, Sagnol, Coupet et al must be jettisoned.

In the game I didn’t see so much of (I caught a few minutes after it became clear that France-Italy wasn’t going anywhere), Holland’s second string (and what a second string it is, by the way) cruised to a 2-0 win over Romania, slicing through the defence that had caused so many problems to the French and Italians to further boost their hopes of going all the way. Their goals were far too easy, showing up the Romanians a tad, but Mutu et al will remain threats in World Cup qualifying.

So Italy set themselves up a mouth-watering quarter-final with Spain in what is probably the best result for the quality of the tournament. From what we’ve seen so far, though, you’d bet on Spain.

Day 7: Wow.

What a day of football that was. Firstly, Italy 1 – 1 Romania. Of all my pre-game predictions, this was the one I least expected to get right, but somehow it came off. It was a fair result, as well, as both teams would have felt severely hard done by if they’d lost. Romania were more attacking than I’d expected but showed that they can compete on more levels than just backs-to-the-wall defending, Mutu in particular having an excellent game, harassing the Italian defence and grabbing a deserved goal from Zambrotta’s terrible header. The immediate riposte from Cristian Panucci only served to ramp up the excitement for both teams, and it could have gone either way.

I suppose I’d better touch on the Toni goal that was disallowed wrongly for offside – yeah, it should have stood. Other than that, the referee had a pretty good game, but Italy will feel very aggrieved. They will probably see it as karma that Mutu’s penalty was later saved by an excellent Buffon dive.

Basically, that could have been the only game of the day and I’d have felt good about it, but no, there was even better to come. Holland 4 – 1 France was by far the best game of the tournament so far, featuring more stunning Dutch counterattacking and a fightback from the French. I certainly felt throughout the game, even when France were bombarding the Dutch box early in the second half, that Holland could probably go and score another goal at will, which they then proceeded to do in jaw-dropping fashion. All the goals were impressive, Dirk Kuyt’s opener because he connected with the header while being wrestled determinedly to the ground by Florent Malouda (how did he get picked again after the Romania game, by the way? He hardly justfied his selection last night), Thierry Henry’s clever touch into the corner to make it 2-1 for its precision and subtlety, and the other three were all sparkling examples of playing on the break.

Gregory Coupet was unlucky not to keep Robin van Persie’s effort out – it was so quick and difficult to save but he got a hand on it and nearly kept the score to 1-0 – but he had no chance at all with the third and fourth. Arjen Robben’s instant reply to the French goal, even quicker than Panucci’s equaliser, was absolutely stunning. The angle of the shot was just insane. Since his introduction at half-time, Robben showed exactly what he can be week-in, week-out, but isn’t because of his penchant for moodiness, diving and disinterest – he was my man of the match. Finally, Sneijder’s finisher in the final minute of stoppage time was an unstoppable rocket executed after a perfect turn around the French defender. I’ll need to see them all again to decide on the best, as well as Sneijder’s goal in the Italy game and Ibrahimovic’s wonder strike the other day, but I feel my life is enriched for having seen that game. It was the perfect example of the best of international football – on its day, it’s infinitely more entertaining than any club game. Tomorrow can’t possibly top it – right?

David Pleat Watch

Italy v Romania was one of Pleaty’s better days, but of course it was that man Mauro Camoranesi who proved his kryptonite. “Caroramesi”, “Canomaresi”, and “Camaresi” all made appareances. We were also informed that Romania were using Mewtwo, the popular Pokemon, as their penalty taker. Hmm.

Day 3: French snoozefest and Dutch drama

…and how they proved me wrong! Last night’s Holland 3 – 0 Italy was easily the best game of the tournament so far and probably the best game I’ve seen for a few years. More even than the score suggested, some uncharacteristically dogged Dutch defending kept the Italians at bay in the second half in between a couple of cracking counterattack goals.

Now, of course, the first goal looked like a clear offside, but apparently the law is on van Nistelrooy’s side – Keith Hackett, chairman of the Premier League referees, says that because Christian Panucci was bundled off the pitch by his own goalie he counted as active, so the goal was right to stand. Never have I been so pleased to see Ruud van Offside (as I always knew him) do what he does best – a combination of unexpected relief for the Dutch and some level of karma for Italy’s injury-time penalty against Australia in the World Cup quarters for Fabio Grosso’s Olympic dive. Now that justice is done I feel I might be able to enjoy Italy smash the French in their final group game – which they surely will, given yesterday’s evidence.

On that note, I don’t think I have ever seen two more contrasting games in so close a space of time ever. Romania 0 – 0 France was quite simply horrendous, with Raymond Domenech earning himself a sacking in my book. It’s been a while coming, but playing two holding midfielders for ninety minutes against that Romania side, actually reducing the amount of strikers he had on the pitch with fifteen minutes to go, and just generally failing to inspire any sort of desire at all in the French to win the game – all of which are criminal offences where managers are concerned. Even now, having had time to sleep on it, I still feel the pain that my brain was suffering through that festival of inanity. Not only have France made it nigh-on impossible for them to qualify, facing next a Dutch team who got the biggest confidence boost imaginable, and then an Italy side who will almost certainly need a win against them. It’ll take more than Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry to make this side good enough to get through, I suspect.

But let’s focus on the good, and Holland have certainly had the best possible day. They probably only need a draw against France to all but ensure qualification, with a win guaranteeing coming top bar any Romanian miracles. Wesley Sneijder’s goal, their second, has set the bar very high for Goal of the Tournament, and if we get a few more goals (and games) like last night’s, this tournament will have been more than worthwhile.

David Pleat Watch

A surprisingly subdued night for Pleat’s inaccuracies last night, though of course there was an exception – Mauro Camoranesi seems to have been named purely for the purposes of confusing the poor sod. Oh, and Dutch defender Joris “Mat Assen”. Will somebody teach this man to speak?