A Talk About the Euro

     With two games down for each side in the Euro, it would be a bit easy for me to tell you who I thought would be going through.  In any case, I'll round it up for those who haven't been paying much attention. And if you haven't, shame on you because you've missed a great tournament.

    In Group A Portugal has wrapped things up with the top seed, and tomorrow Turkey and the Czech Republic will play to see who goes through, with Phillipe Senderos' Switzerland already knocked out. In Group B, its all wrapped up by an Eduardo-less Croatia; who stole first place of the group from Germany, and on Monday it will be up to Germany to secure a win against Austria if they want to guarantee their place in the final 8, while Turkey attempt to prove a massive upset and sneak into the next round. In Group C, dubbed "The Group of Death," The Netherlands has secured first place. With a Romania win against the unbeaten Dutch, they could secure a spot in the final eight. But in what should be the marquee match of the tournament thus far, France and Italy fight for their Euro lives, and with a win by one of them and a lose or tie by Romania, they will be through to the next round. In Group D, Spain is through and in a do or die match Sweden and Russia will play one another in the final round of the group stage. 

      Now that I've gotten all that garbage out of the way, lets talk about the games a bit. I've been saying it for years, but without fail, the games in which your heavy weight teams (E.I. -- France, Germany, Spain, etc) are not always the best. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the best games are the ones where you have two less skilled teams fighting for the vital points that they need to stay alive.  I would have to say, watching Turkey against Switzerland was just amazing, a game where Turkey stole a last minute goal, it really had it all.

Other than that, today's Spain vs Sweden match proved for some excitement. You really began to think that Spain had once again played themselves out in their first match, just as in World Cup '06. But, David Villa proved once again why he's in the line up with the goal in the 92nd minute.

  Now so far the games have been great, commentators have been questioning a few of the calls made my the referees, but in truth; there really haven't been that many missed calls. They seem to be cracking down on the tussling in the box on corner and free kicks, and to them I'd say fair game. Defenders should not have arms around their opponents neck and chest, leave that for the bedroom. And of course, their has been some concern over the Netherlands first goal against the Italians, where Christian Panucci was knocked out of bounds by Buffon, and as such was considered as the last defender, leaving Ruud able to smash in a goal from close range. Personally I think it was the right call, he wasn't escorted of the field, and if anything, he was knocked out by his own teammate; so I think its cut and dry, thats about it on that.

     Now, at the beginning of the tournament I was certainly backing the French and The Spanish to take it all the way. The French, as usual; have been lackluster at best in the group stage. They showed little to no life against Romania, and other then Ribery and Henry; against the Netherlands, they just seemed completely outmatched. The Spanish on the other hand looked great against Russia, but against Sweden; once again they got stuck and bogged down in the midfield. With so much talent in the middle of the field, they do dominate it, but on a few occasions, a shot would have been preferable to another harmless pass. One worthy note is that both times Cesc has come on for Spain, he's been a catalyst and has created opportunities. I can't see Aragones sitting him again in favor of Senna, who in my opinion has been dull at the best.

    I would have to say that after the first two games, there is not a better team in the Tournament than the Dutch. If someone was to have told me on June 1st that by June 13th, the Netherlands would have beaten both Italy and France by a combined score of six goals, I would probably have taken them to the nearest doctor to get checked out. But the Netherlands has made a believer out of me. Not only are they playing brilliantly and winning games, they are simply fun to watch. While their starting line up the first two games was without Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben, they still found more then enough attacking force to get by two formidable defenses. And, when those two players did come on, the chances just kept coming. (RVP and Arjen both scored after coming on against France.) And, defensively, they just have been tight all around. With Van De Sar playing in goals, even the most attacking minded teams are going to have a tough time into the back of the net, and he's playing at possibly the best level of his career. They'll most likely be playing Sweden (but possibly, although less likely Russia) in the next round, and frankly I don't see them having a problem with either of them. Sweden likes to play defensive, but they'll get torn apart by the counter attacks of the Dutch, a place where the Spanish exploited them today. So at this point in time, I'd have to toss the money in on the Dutch, unless Portugal gets rolling; or the Germans wake up, I think that even against Spain the Dutch are all around simply a more sound side. 

Fair enough though, I'll leave you with that.