they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?
Philippe Senderos, along with the cuckoo clocks.
The other lot have had a few years of Adolf, Arnie and Amadeus and what did that get them – Emanuel Pogatetz, Hard to figure which is worse.
Tournaments tend to be better when the hosts do well, think South Korea in the 2002 World Cup, Portugal in the last Euros, England in ’96. But these two have so far matched the fare on show, insipid.
Mainly it’s been down to three things, most of the games so far have been between the so called favourites and the lesser teams which has lead to the latter taking a lead from the second problem – Greece’s victory in the last competition. Flat back nine, no guile, no craft, try and nick a win with a set piece goal, be happy with a point.
And the final problem is the lack of any real great strikers out there in most teams, it’s no surprise the countries with a proper forward upfront have done the business and looked the part – Holland in their 3-0 victory over Italy and Spain who manage to have two on the park in Torres and Villa against an inept Russian side who certainly missed their front man Pogrebnyak as well as brilliantly named Arshavin oh and a defence.
All the rest have some lightweight shot shy individual posing as a striker or a useless lump who makes Andy Cole look international level and show that scoring goals in certain leagues doesn’t count for very much indeed. Ibrahimovic and Toni spring to mind there, I do wish we’d get some real commentary on the former’s strike partner for Sweden I don’t think I’ve seen someone hide as much in a game, makes Jenas look like he wants the ball, he took it to new levels when he hid in Scotland for all those years.
So we get a load of fannying about, aimless passing for passing’s sake, not cutting edge, no chances created, no excitement as highlighted by the France Romania bore-a-thon – one shot on goal.
Ah well it could only get better, can’t it? Must win games, the Spanish will implode the Dutch will fall out, the Portuguese will dive more and the Germans will slowly work their way through the opposition with efficiency.
At least the games have no real meaning, no stress involved, blood pressure kept down, cause unlike what the BBC would like us to do and adopt a nation I don’t actively support other countries.