Well, what a tournament so far, huh? The less said about my prediction for a Dutch victory the better, and although it's still early days, it will be difficult for them to advance. But on to them in a moment- the opening games deserve attention.
Poland 1-1 Greece
Well, at least I got something right in tipping Robert Lewandowski to fire. He carried his Dortmund form into the tournament and scored and impressive header. However, he was missing in he second half when the Poles needed him to wrestle back control of the game after the sending off of Szczesny handed the initiative to the Greeks. Nevertheless, what many tipped to be a boring, dull game with little quality was a superb opening to Euro 2012. Bags of chances, two sending offs, missed penalties, and horrible officiating. I don't know what the ref was on, but he let some dreadful tackles go in the first half and then sent off Sokratis Papastathopoulos(Cheers google) for nothing tackles. the first booking was for some bullshit tackle no one saw, and the second one appeared to be for being near a Polish player when he lost his footing. The Greeks were lethargic in the first half, and Poland took advantage, and another Borussia Dortmund player, midfielder Blaszczykowski was influential and the Poles should have been more than one up at the break. A reshuffle was needed for the Greeks, but i never expected Ninis to be taken off. But that's why managers are paid to make the big decisions, because his replacement Salpigidis was excellent, scoring a goal after an error from Szczesny, and then winning the penalty, for which Szczesny was rightly sent off. The Arsenal keeper almost single handedley lost the game for Poland with his stupidity on both counts. I felt sorry for Giorgos Karagounis when he missed the penalty- he had been brilliant before then, at at 35 is still a master at retaining possession and finding space. Unlike Celtic man Samaras, who I pointed out in my preview as a man who couldn't be relied upon. As pointed out on Match Of The Day, he could barely pick a pass, and surely he cant start the next game. Overall, I think a draw was a fair result in an incident packed game.
Russia 4-1 Czech Republic
Erm, I didn't expect this. As I wrote in my preview, i expected these two teams to go through the group... that seems unlikely now, as the Czechs were blown away by a Russian side inspired by Andrei Arshavin.
clearly re energised about his loan back to Russia, he drove with the ball, provided two assists and was a constant danger. The contrast between the two skippers though, Rosicky and Arshavin (arsenal teammates) was not that great. Rosicky was always available, carried the ball intelligently and held up the ball well. Unfortunately for him, he was let down by terrible displays elsewhere. Apart from goalscorer Pilar and Jiracek, the Czech's were awful. Plasil in midfield has over 70 caps and with that experience is someone who can be relied upon to perform. Not so. he was completely given the run around by the Russian midfield and gave the ball away every time he had it. left back Kadlec was also terrible at keeping the ball and gave two goal hero Dzagoev tons of space. (Admittedly you still have to use that space, and Dzagoev had an awesome game). Striker Milan Baros didn't hit double figures for Galatasaray this year and he didn't look sharp at all. He deserves some slack due to his great record for the Czechs, but needs to improve fast if their going to recover form this defeat. Even Petr Cech had a crap game, and should've done better for at least two of the goals. On the flip side, Russia will be delighted with their start. It didn't even seem to matter that Kerzhakov missed about 5 great chances, because when you can bring on quality like Pavlyuchenko, who needs him? The Russian midfield trio was slick in their passing and were constantly pressing. Based on this showing, a repeat of their semi final appearance in 2008 is not beyond them.
Netherlands 0-1 Denmark
Shows what I know about football. The team I tipped for the Euro's lost against the team that many perceived to be a gimme in the group of death. The Dutch had 28 chances but couldnt take any of them, whereas the Danes had very few but scored when it mattered. Khron-Dehli's goal was against the run of play, but it was coming. The injuries to both Joris Mathijsen and Erik Peiters were big blows to a previously watertight defence. Whatever his real fitness, it seems certain that Mathijsen will return for the must win game against Germany for Vlaar. 18 year old left back Jetro Willems did well on his competitive debut for Holland, and didn't seem nervous, but his inexperience showed on a few occasions and he gave Rommedahl a lot of space on the right. It seems this tournament has come too soon for the talented PSV player. One player who was definitely ready for it was Klass-Jan Huntelaar, in great form for Schalke. the fact that he didn't start was a shock, but even worse was that Van Marwijk waited until the 71st minute until he was introduced. The Dutch team also had two holding players, Van Bommel and De Jong, which worked so well in the World cup. But against Denmark, they needed to seize the initiative and now the pressure will intensify on the coach to pick either Van der Vaart or Strootman in a deep lying playmaker role to add more guile and threat to a side that looked pretty slow. This all would've been glossed over if Robin Van Persie had remembered he's become a world class player in the last year. It was like he was taking lessons from Heskey. Robben's seventh-minute cross found him but the Arsenal captain hit wide with the goal at his mercy. Then Wesley Sneijder, the one dutch player who performed as his reputation demanded, played him in perfectly only for a shocking first touch to force him wide, wasting the chance. Robben was unlucky to hit a post but he too, underperformed, and in the second half went missing. Van perise got even worse in the second period to take the blame of robben however. He inexplicably missed the ball after Sneijder again played him in. When Huntelaar came on, there was more urgency and Sneijder played a gorgeous outside of the foot pass, but he couldn't convert. Although the Dutch could point to two penalty appeals, one of which was stone wall, they can only blame themselves for not winning. Sneijder did his best to keep things moving but Afellay's annoying tendency in the second half to drift inside denied the Inter man the space to conjure up something. His passing as usual was excellent, but the strikers couldn't finish the moves he started. Denmark's two enforcers Kvist and Zimling were both excellent, and Agger and Kjaer are a great centre back partnership. But even so, the onus is on the Dutch to break through them, and they didn't.
Germany 1-0 Portugal
A fairly dull match enlightened by the erratic Mario Gomez with an awesome header. It was disappointing to see such a defensive line up from the Portuguese side. As I said in my preview, the burden to score and create fell on Ronaldo and Nani. The latter only really got into the game after Portugal went behind, whereas the most expensive footballer in the world flattered to deceive. he excited the crowd when he was on the ball, but failed to take on Jerome Boateng and failed to test Neuer. The midfield trio was too deep, and Veloso in particular was guilty of giving the ball away. On the other hand, Schweinsteiger and Khedira kept the ball well, Ozil ran at the defence, and the Germans just always looked in control, and will only get better. Mats Hummels of Dortmund was hugely impressive in shackling Helder Postiga and looks a great defender. Germany have started as they mean to go on.
Thanks for reading, Adam.
No comments:
Post a Comment