Spain and Sweden met today - with Sweden trying above all not to lose while Spain really put in some effort to win. It was a close call and in the end a draw would have been fair to both teams, but then Spain scored the winning goal shortly before the final whistle. You had to feel sorry for the Swedes even though Spain clearly was stronger.
Todays highlight should have been a negative one - Greece against Russia, after the scandalous play the Greek, defending European champions, showed against the Swedes in their first game. Surprisingly though Greece at least tried to win - and even almost managed to score (and once even did, which the referee decided was offside, which it wasn't really, not quite, as the replay showed), due to a faulty Russian defense who let them have a few very good chances.
But nevertheless with the Russian team the better team won: they played the better and more modern football - aggressive, quick, and offensive. The Russian team just seems to be young to make more of the qualities they undoubtedly have; and they will have an extremely hard job at hand in their last play against the Swedes which they must win if they want to reach the quarter finals.
The Greek, of course, are out. With no points scored, and no goals shot; their last chance of doing so, to save their honour, will be their last game in this Euro against Spain. But at least they have tried to show what they can do (which admittedly wasn't very much), and for this effort the turtle awards this flower of Bryonia dioica*) (Zweihäusige Zaunrübe, a poisonous cucumber weed):
*) The leaf above the flower is of Clematis vitalba, our local liana, and not of Bryonia dioica, just in case you have some knowledge of Central European fauna and might object to my description. In addition to that I have to add that I am only 99% sure this really is Bryonia dioica; it might be Bryonia alba, but I think not - I'll just have to wait for the plant to fruit as B. dioica has red fruits while the ones of B. alba are black.
Now that the first two rounds of Euro 2008 are completed, lets summarise the results so far:
- Group A: Portugal is through to the quarters and has to be considered an outside favourite for the title; the Czechs and Turks still fight for second place, both not looking like they might reach the semis or even the final; and the Swiss are out even though playing at the same level as Czechs and Turks
- Group B: Croatia is through without looking convincing, Germany still has to fight its way through which (pray) may prevent the Austrians, and the Poles have an outside chance still of marching through to the quarters; neither of these teams looked like it could march through to the final, the Austrians really were the only ones playing above the level whitch was expected of them: but our boys seem to be too green yet to achieve something
- Group C: the Dutch team was by far the best team of Euro 2008, of all four groups, and they won their group easily - if they do not reach the finals no one else could be blamed for it than they themselves; the other three teams played approximately at the same level, with Italy probably having a slight advantage over France and Romania, but neither of them was convincing so far, and which one of them will march through to the quarters only will be decided in the last round
- Group D: Spain is through without too much trouble, and even though they certainly have to be considered a favourite for the title they weren't nearly as convincing as the Dutch, but they may improve against stronger opponents as they weren't under too much strain in this group; defending champion Greece of course now is out; and of Sweden and Russia the former have the advantage of a very experienced team which, however, is rather slow - so against the young Russians they might still have an advantage even though the latter are faster, more passionate, and more aggressive
But history shows that it is not always the best team that wins. Imagine, in 2004 Greece won, with the exact same strategy as this time: man-to-man marking, and hope for a lucky goal. Thank God that history is not repeated in 2008.
