The morning after the night before, the Holland v Italy game was still the big topic of conversation in Kilwinning's finest wine bar. Watching an open entertaining game in such a high pressure situation served only to underline the dross we put up with for so much of last season. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a pop at Walter here, its just that when you see the game played the way it should be played you realise how far adrift we are. Unlike previous big tournaments, when we hoped we might see a star or two being lured to Ibrox, the ongoing downsizing programme has killed off any ambitious notions and left us sniffing around the lower end of the market. Well, who wants to sign a top quality player or two when you can play king of the castle with a couple of vineyards?
Having been captivated by the previous night's game in Berne, I was right up for Spain v Russia and, although I expected the Spaniards to win, I was a wee bit surprised that they did it so comfortably. David Villa's hat-trick, every one an excellent strike, grabbed all the headlines, with a host of English clubs tipped to be checking him out (yawn), but Fernando Torres certainly played his part. The Liverpool man did much to take the weight off Villa's shoulders so I couldn't understand the early subbing of Torres but it didn't do too much damage to the fluency of the team. Could this be the year Spain finally gets it right? On the evidence of their 4-1 victory over Russia, I wouldn't bet against it.
The Russians must feel well pissed off to have lost so comprehensively. They came so close to pegging it back to 1-1, lost the second and third goals from classic counterattacks, got back to 3-1 and might even have set up a grandstand finish, only to be caught out yet again on the break right at the end. But their disappointment must have mellowed considerably when they saw Greece and Sweden bore the arse off all and sundry an hour or so later.
Take Ibrahimovich's stunning strike out of the game and you're left with two negative outfits giving the impression they were happy to keep it at 0-0, then nick something right at the death. The opening goal was totally out of character in a dreadful game which would not have looked out of place on a public park. Ferfuxxake, I've seen better SPL games!!! With Soti Kyrgiakos on one side and The Diver on the other, I was behind Greece in the first half and, having tipped a draw, I reckoned I was spot-on. However, the appearance of Amanarse for the Greeks made me think again and I wasn't sure about how I wanted things to pan out when Ibramovich crashed his shot into the net. Significantly, where Big Soti had been outstanding in the first half, he was guilty of switching off on a couple of occasions after the interval (sound familiar?) and, not long after the first goal, I don't know what he was thinking about when he decided to lean into Hansson instead of heading the ball clear. 2-0, game over!
Clearly Otto Rehhagel, having won the thing last time around by sending folk to sleep, is going for the same approach in Euro2008. But at no time in Portugal was he forced to have a rethink, Greece tended to score first then shut up shop, forcing the opposition to change their approach, but Ibrahimovich's goal asked questions of Rehhagel's strategy and it looks like there was no Plan B. Greece won't pick up a point in this tournament but, with the Scum Of worried about a couple of impressive performances from their Greek signing target pricing him out of the transfer market, it looks like the contents of the biscuit tin are safe.
I expect Russia and Spain to win the next round of games on Saturday, which will set up a real belter when the Russians meet Sweden in Innsbruck next Wednesday night. I'm sticking with the Russians to edge through in second place behind Spain who are on course to win the group with a 100% record.
LITTLE BOY BLUE