So the city of Basel awoke today to the sight & sounds of the Orange army. Certainly, last night, the Fan Camp at Pratteln was heaving with Dutch fans and bright orange everywhere, 20 minuten reporting both Fan Camps are full.. Basel has a plan for the expected army and the traditional Dutch march to the stadium will take place at 5pm today.

Working inside the stadium yesterday I witnessed that the pitch was being watered constantly to help the newly laid pitch bed in further (though it seemed fine for the Portugal v Germany game). You can see in my photos the Dutch Dressing Room door sign as well as a view from the Tunnel at St Jakob Stadium.

It seems that most neutrals (i.e. The Swiss) have taken sides with the Dutch due to both the football the team plays but the friendly invasion from the Dutch fans. However, with 2 of the 4 group stage winners already knocked out and a wily old Guus Hiddink on the opposition bench the party may fall flat!

Despite winning the game last night, celebrations in Turkey did result in a death of a Turkish fan - reported in L'Equipe.

And finally, some (old) Arsenal news reported in L'Equipe, Wenger doesn't want Kompany apparently.

During the day yesterday in Basel I came across those most odious of all human beings, ticket touts. I've seen a few during Euro2008 already but I was able to see them in operation, at close hand, yesterday. One approached an asian couple asking if they wanted tickets and tried to persuade them to part with too many Euros for, probably, a fake ticket. His mate, meanwhile, looked as if he was contacting someone to arrange to pick up said tickets. Along with these 2 guys(visible in my photos) - stay clear - I saw the "infamous" American touts who have been spoken about on and Off the Ball podcast earlier in the tournament (I think it was that podcast anyway). I hate 'em almost as much as bloody Spanish journalists (see Arseblog).

Anyway, on a cheerier note, I heard on the Guardian Euro2008 podcast, yesterday, that the Austrian fan camp in Vienna was not that good, according to their Scouse sources. So, with deep trepidation, I visited my local fan camp at Pratteln to watch the Germany v Portugal game there. This was much more your traditional fan camp with tents etc rather than the Austrian "prison camp". 100s of 2 man tents were on display as well as quite a number of Dutch fans own tents. The drinking / eating are looked good and we had some good food and local beer during the game. I think the main Dutch army arrives today!

 

There was a small story in the Guardian today about the potential impact of the housing market slowdown in the UK on the sale of Highbury flats. Nothing definite yet but maybe a potential worry for the future?

Starting from today Basel plays host to 3 big games in Euro2008 in the next 6 days. Today the crowds will be huge with Germany on our doorstep and there being a huge Portuguese population in Switzerland (though I think the press underestimate the numbers here). However, most of the focus has been on the expected 100,000+ Dutch fans expected for the game on Saturday. The 3 existing fan zones will be augmented by a further zone in Marktplatz but the belief is that this week will be even bigger than Basel's annual festival, Fasnacht. Certainly the Fan Camp at Pratteln might actually see some customers this week! Hopefully, I can get some photos up of events as they take place over the next few days.

In other news it seems the BBC are reporting a slight cock-up on Swiss TV with the wrong German subtitles being shown during the National Anthem. I didn't see the game on Swiss TV so have no idea but it doesn't seem to have registered much here in Basel. L'Equipe mentions the new UEFA quota system for next season's Champions League game, which is a European Law friendly version based on a player having started his development at a club rather than nationality. Basically 8 of the 25 squad must have spent 3 years between 15-21 in the country of the club but do not have to be born in that country. Anyway Platini likes it!

Oh well off to town today as finally some warm and sunny weather has arrived at EURO2008 so we're expecting a party in Basel today.

One of the great things about visiting different cities during Euro2008 is the chance to discover certain places that are uniquely equipped to help you enjoy football. Yesterday, as the main game was taking place in Zurich, it was a great opportunity to visit the city and enjoy the atmosphere (especially the Radio 11 zone). France/Italy didn't provide the same rocking scenario that I saw in Bern last week with the Dutch. However, there was much more space around the Lake to enjoy a drink and food without needing to resort to the "official" UEFA fanzone. The weather worsened, though, and thanks to a local Zurich resident amongst our group we found the best bar in the world (Probably).

The bar is called The Sportsman Bar and, apparently, according to my Zurich friend is only open during major football championships (which is the World Cup and European Championships). The bar has screens galore, a wall painted as the world's biggest wall chart and great local beer. There is also one huge screen with rows of seats and a big bar at the back. What more can you want! Articles on this bar are few and far between but here is a pdf file, a newspaper article and a review in this blog.

As for the game itself, the bar was  predominantly Italian and so was very happy with the result and the general feeling was that their poor group performances will matter little once the quarter final begins.

Okay it was their second team and there was no fancy dan Ronaldo to contend with, but well played Switzerland last night. It meant sod all except to the local fans, who got the chance to both celebrate a victory (their first ever in a Euro Finals) and say goodbye to Kobi Kuhn.

L'Equipe is reporting that there could be a number of changes in the French team to face Italy, in Zurich, tomorrow with the old guard being replaced and Benzema playing upfront with Henry. There will be a group of us volunteers all travelling to the fanzone in Zurich for that match.

Anyway, short blog today as I stayed up to watch the golf last night, listened to the Turks celebrating and have to go off to the Accreditation Centre today for a short shift.

I've just watched the incredible comeback by the Turks in Geneva and so there will now be a parade of car horn tooting fans! In fact there was the first. What a comeback by Turkey and I'll just relax now and watch the rather quieter atmosphere of the US Open golf. The car horn tooting Turks are the equivalent of those annoying American golf fans shouting, "in the hole" whenever Tiger Woods hits a shot. Anyway for info Tiger has Double Bogeyed and Bogeyed his first two holes so maybe they will shut up.

I apologise for my ranting today, in advance.... 

Watching the TV coverage of football has always involved the necessity to listen to inane punditry. It seems from discussing with German & Swiss colleagues that it is also a common theme across Europe and, probably, the whole world. However, the Schwiiz-Deutsch of SF Zwei is somehow preferable and made more sense than the complete rubbish from Big Fat Sam (BFS AKA Sam Allardyce for those non-UK readers) and Andy "where's me Tactics Truck gone" Townsend on ITV yesterday.

There has been endless discussion and comment on the offside rule, both in general and specifically on the Dutch first goal against Italy, by many analysts and journalists but somewhere these two idiots missed the point. BFS wanted to lay into "officials" by saying 2 potential good goals should be disallowed because attacking players had ended up in the same position as the defender Panucci had against the Dutch. Has he not realised that for years attacking players have always been treated differently, they've needed to be "active" whilst defenders are in play wherever they are. An attacking player on the left wing has always been played onside by a full back on the opposite wing but for attackers it's been different for a long time. I'm not saying there couldn't be a debate here about the relative merits of "active" attackers and passive defenders but they waffled on with this ridiculously stupid idea.

Anyway, some gossip from Switzerland/Germany today is that Stuttgart want Pizzaro from Chelsea. They have obviously been impressed by the Peruvian's excellent form in England! Despite the elimination from the competitio, Swiss fans will say thanks to their manager, Kobi Kuhn, as he prepares for his last game in charge tonight. Arsene has said that France's defence is too old and has too much experience as well as the team missing Zidane. Not really much surprise there as it seems to be common comment across Europe. Strangely Thierry Henry has managed to link Arsenal's 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford to the current French predicament.

At a certain age you realise that the potential for injury at any form of football is ever present. This does not, however, actually stop you taking part in said activity. Yesterday, as part of the EURO2008 volunteer event, a "games" day was hosted in the Volunteer Centre, here in the St Jakob Arena. Whilst there were less strenuous activities like Pool, Table Football and Darts, there were also 3 football skill related challenges. During one of these, a slalom dribbling course, I managed to turn over on my ankle and this morning I awoke with a huge swollen ankle.

You will be pleased to know that in best British tradition I excelled at the pub games (pool and darts) whilst doing well at the football skill challenges but being beaten by the Germans!

Meanwhile back in Bern, you can see the mad orange coloured world of delirious 150,000 Dutch fans after their 4-1 victory over France. Many people now seem to think that the Dutch will be happy to let the Romanians beat them so France & Italy both get knocked out. Maybe, but I think the Dutch may prefer to play teams they've beaten 3-0/4-1 in the Semi-Final rather than a team they only got one point from in the qualification campaign. L'Equipe trys to explain how the French can qualify but no one really knows what the attitude of the Dutch will be.

The best bit is the possibility of Dutch and Swedish fans being in Basel for the quarter final... Need some evidence.... refer here for more.

It seemed that the Austrian Press quite liked the idea of reminding their neighbours and co-hosts, Switzerland, that they got knocked out first. Here's the Euro-Kurier's take on the game.

Luckily for them the Austrians even managed to get a point against Poland last night, though this is probably just delaying the inevitable exit to Germany on Monday night.

For me, here in Basel, it looks like we will see the Germans against the Portuguese in the first quarter final. This will test the locals enjoyment  of Euro2008 as there will probably be half of Germany crossing the Rhine for that as well as the huge local Portuguese immigrant population.

With the French playing tonight, Willy Sagnol in L'Equipe defends the more experienced (i.e. old men) in the French team. Since he seems to have been playing for ever he should know. The Italians know anything other than a win for them tonight will be disastrous.

The Geneva based newspaper, Le Temps, has four coaches saying what they would have done differently than poor old Kobi Kuhn. There is also a wonderful set of quotes from the "Nati" fans, here.  I particularly liked:

"I'm now Portuguese", "The Turks - the real Italians", "We have a good water-polo team"....

Meanwhile 20minuten allows us to forget the Swiss tragedy with a game about the WAGs here in Euro2008! They also have some great pictures of the waterlogged pitch during the game.

Bis Morgen, A Demain..... 

I'm only a visitor to this country but I was truly hoping that they would manage to survive, at least, until the quarter finals. It would certainly have kept the atmosphere in, and around, the major cities at a good level. However, it wasn't to be and the Swiss press have been writing plenty of words as to why they didn't make it. Le Matin reports that the Swiss coach has no regrets. 24 Heures says "it's already over" after 5 years of planning it's been just 5 days lasting!

Unfortunately there was some trouble afterwards, 20 minuten reports that there were 85 arrests as frustrated Swiss Nati fans took out their disappointment on Turkish fans.

Before the match I had been working at the Accreditation Centre but it was very quiet, the only happenings of note being the odd media person appearing outside (see below) or eh arrival of the Swiss fans with very large Cow Bells. You may also have seen the thunderstorm that hit the game about 20 minutes in and I was lucky enough to get drenched by this when walking to the tram stop.